Rick & His Yenko at Americarna LIVE Car Show

[lakeholme]

And if you actually read to the end of the "bad press" the corvair got, I think it was in the last paragraph or so of the corvair segment of Unsafe At Any Speed by Ralph Nader, he concluded that with the improvements made during production the corvair at that was the best handling, performing car in it's class or price range anywhere. Some of the turbo versions were incredible.

Yep! But Nader, et. al., went after the Vega in the 70s, as well... 

[tom]

sure did, and in the states that salt in winter, the vega didn't last long. Most I remember were rusted through the front fenders within a few years off the lot.

[69Z28-RS]

.. and in the HOT states, as soon as the engine overheated one time, the engine *warped*.....

[JohnZ]

.. and in the HOT states, as soon as the engine overheated one time, the engine *warped*.....

Actually, it didn't "warp" - what happened was that due to the difference in thermal expansion coefficient between the iron cylinder head and the aluminum block, when it overheated, it micro-sheared the head gasket seal between the block and head. That made it more likely to overheat the next time, and it went downhill from there, with coolant dribbling out of the overflow hose on the ground. A larger radiator and a coolant recovery system cured that problem in 1973, but by that time the engine's reputation was toast. Had Ed Cole allowed Chevrolet to proceed with their own design "L-10" aluminum cylinder head, this problem would never have occurred.

[lakeholme]

John,
Interesting to hear you say that about the Chevy L-10 design, since you were there.

[69Z28-RS]

Thanks for clarifying the issue with the Vega engine heating issue, JohnZ...  I *may* have heard that before in the latter days, but I heard so many others who owned those cars say the 'block warped'...  I never owned one or worked on one myself.  (My memory is OLD too) *G*

[KurtS]

John,
Can you post your other article, Vega Development and Production History, 1968-1975?

Thanks!

[ko-lek-tor]

Never thought I'd be mentioning this, especially on this site, but among the artifacts in my shop is my 76 Pontiac Astre. Long story, but a good one. A gift from my long time, but now deceased friend C. Koch, father of Jim Koch, as in Boston Beer Co. {Sam Adams}.

[JohnZ]

<< John,
Can you post your other article, Vega Development and Production History, 1968-1975?

Thanks! >>

Sure - got lots of this stuff. 

[lakeholme]

Love this stuff! Thanks, John.

[KurtS]

I really do enjoy this stuff. Esp how they were - let's make something totally new. And cheap!
Then kept adding complexity because the customer didn't want cheap.
They really didn't understand the real competition and quality.

Then they repeated the whole thing again with Saturn - let's make something totally new!