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Read "Unsafe at Any Speed" for the full story. The early years with the swing axles were dangerous cars if pushed beyond certain limits. Quotes from enthusiasts after introduction of the '65 were totally different and included in Nader's book. I owned both iterations of the car. The later model had Corvette type rear suspension and was virtually impossible to get to swap ends. The reasons given by GM for dropping the car was in part due to the bad publicity associated with the "bathtub" version, but mainly because of the uniqueness of the design and the non-interchangibility of parts with other GM models...Over 85% of the parts were unique to the Corvair.
I was a long time "ACORN" member (Association of Corvair Nuts) and worked on dozens of them. The engine and transmission were virtually bulletproof. The heater and defroster sucked. The turbo version was, for its day, a rocket above 40 mph....
ALtogether a valiant efffort and GM at least tried thinking outside the box..BTW....look at the similarities between the 911 early engines and the Corvair flat 6 that predated it.
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Bob S. former owner of a 1984 silver 944
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