Vintage shots from days gone by!

During WWII, when rationing was going on, we used to enjoy one of those "Knott's" chicken dinners, as the hot bisquits were being passed around, Mom would somehow come up with a cube of REAL butter from her purse & made the meal EXTRA better!!-------Don

 

Those " WERE " the days. Ever wish you could go back?

 

Wow, those boys look happy in the rumble seat! TWIN, does that say "National" on the hood side panel??? If so, thta may well have been the National V-12 under the hood!

 

Appears to spell "Hotrod" to me.

 

Look at the script on the block. Isn't it the same as what's on the side panel of the hood? Wheels may be a later swap, though.

 

"Hotrod" - looks like a pretty straight '28 A but with swapped out wheels, and who knows what under the hood. What kid wouldn't be happy in that rumble seat?

 

yup...

 

I suspect that it is an A-V8 .

It has '35 wire wheels although that is not conclusive. However looking through the hood vents you can see something angling upward and forward in the same manner that a radiator hose would on a flathead V8 with the water outlet in the centre. The A 4 banger doesn't have anything like that in that area.

That hood badge has 6 letters that spell "Hotrod" to me. I can't see "National" any way I look at it.

 

Funny you should mention that today. There was record heat in LA today.

I've lived all over California and parts of Nevada, where I live now it gets over 100 several days a summer...

Having said that. Southern California is the only place I've lived where I've seen blown out rear windows from heat...

 

Bump

 

Okay, gang, ya convinced me. I guess it was just a case of wishful thinking! LOL

 

More common than you think, My Uncle had one, came out in the morning and the windshield was setting on the Hood (er, trunk).

 

Nader was successful in killing the knockoffs, not so much with the Corvair.
Before Nader's book came out, GM had decided to discontinue the Corvair after the 1966 model run.
But after the book came out, they would not discontinue the car as it would appear Nader had to do with it.
So thanks to Nader, the Corvair continued on into the 1969 model year before being discontinued.

Lee Iacocca had more to do with the Corvair's demise.
Once the Mustang came out, with phenomenal auto sales, with an advertising campaign that captured the hearts of the people, the Corvair was done.
For the money you could buy a Corvair for, you could have a Mustang with a V-8. Pretty much a no-brainer in those years.
Profit margin was not there with the Corvair either. It was expensive to make, and shared virtually nothing with any of the other GM car lines.
The Mustang was a fancied up Falcon.

Another nail in the Corvair's coffin was the upcoming emissions testing and EPA standards. Same with the Fitch Phoenix. Costs would have killed it. And power would have been strangled.

 

-------------------
Well said. In addition, Corvair sales were
only a fraction on what GM had anticipated.
So much so that they were forced to come
out with the Chevy II in '62, in order to
compete with the totally conventional Ford
Falcon, Plymouth Valiant and Studebaker
Lark compacts that had launched at about
the same time as the Corvair but were
killing the Corvair in the market.

Mart3406
=============================

 

SWI & Mart, if I had not driven a Covair, I migh thave been lured into the myth of Nader. THAT was bullshit, pure and simple. I loved the handling, gas mileage, looks and general practicality of the car! SCREW the naysayers!

 

My memory of those days is a little fuzzy. Plus, my knowledge of the Fitch and the Yenko is all from magazines, never saw either in person. Cool cars though. Thanks again.

 

Murdock, MN

 

Nader's own words in testimony and in print regarding the Corvair speak for themselves.

Apologizing for people like that only encourages more of it.

 

I really liked the 2nd generation Corvairs. With 50lbs of weight in the trunk and snow tires all around,they were a blast to drive in snow!

 

The operative words there are "foced to...in order to
compete"

 

photos, guys, photos....

 

"Designed-in dangers at any speed"...Gotta love that message.