Chevrolet Corvair

[Ferrer]

The Eshelman Eagle (1965-1966)

Eshelman was a marque of small American automobiles and other vehicles and implements including motor scooters, garden tractors, pleasure boats, aircraft, golf carts, snowplows, trailers, mail-delivery vehicles and more. The Cheston L. Eshelman Company was incorporated on January 19, 1942 and was based on the sixth floor of an industrial building at 109 Light Street in Baltimore, Maryland, with aircraft production facilities located in Dundalk, Maryland.

The Eshelman company began production of commercial light aircraft in Dundalk after World War II, but was best known toward mid-century for its inexpensive light garden tractors and similar machines (including the Kulti-Mower) which were widely promoted in small advertisements in the back pages of mechanical and scientific magazines.

[...]

Eshelman turned to buying new fleet-model Chevrolet Corvairs in quantity, which were re-trimmed and re-badged with special gold-colored Eshelman insignia and other appearance changes and marketed to the public as "Eshelman Golden Eagles". By When General Motors learned of this operation, it ordered Eshelman Motors to cease and desist, but Eshelman continued to market the appearance package for those who wished to apply them to their personal cars.

Concurrently, Cheston Eshelman moved to Miami, Florida and worked on marketing his patented "crash absorber," a pioneering 15 mph (24 km/h) energy-absorbing front bumper fashioned from a vehicle's spare tire. He often demonstrated the bumper by ramming his own car into retaining walls.

In 1967, Eshelman produced the final Eshelman Golden Eagle Safety Cars based on new 1967 Chevrolets, all equipped with front "crash absorbers" and sold through several used-car agencies. This marked the end of Eshelman's automotive efforts and other operations.

Source: wikipedia.org

[Ferrer]

The Corvair 95 (1961-1965)

Chevrolet introduced the Corvair lineup for the 1960 model year as the first of a series of generations of passenger compact cars. Chevrolet introduced a more utilitarian style of vehicle the following year under the model designation "Corvair 95". In appearance and design the vehicles were similar to the competing Volkswagen Transporter, which was essentially a bus-like adaptation of the Volkswagen Beetle that moved the driver over the front wheels (Forward control), also commonly defined as a cab over vehicle.

The Corvair air-cooled horizontally opposed 6-cylinder engine was located in the rear of the vehicle under a slightly raised cargo floor. It was similar in principle to the 4-cylinder engine of the Volkswagen, but unusual for most contemporary cars. The 145 cu in (2,375 cc) engine developed 80 hp (60 kW) at 4,400 rpm. Engine size was increased to 164 cu in (2,683 cc) for the 1964 model year, raising output to 95 hp (71 kW). Unlike the Corvair cars, the Corvair Greenbrier had a 95 in (2,400 mm) wheelbase and were thus known as "95s." They came standard with a three-speed manual transmission but could be ordered with a two-speed Corvair Powerglide automatic transmission (distinct from the usual Powerglide); eventually a four-speed manual was also made available.

There were essentially two different bodies available in the 95 series: the van and the truck. The base version was the panel van (Corvan) with no side or rear windows. The van was named Greenbrier. The Greenbrier normally had windows all around and six doors, although an option was to have eight doors where there were opening double doors on both sides. The Greenbrier seated up to nine people with the available third-row seat. The 95s and cars had an optional heater running off of gasoline from the vehicle's tank. The Greenbrier also had a camper option.

A Corvair truck could be ordered as a "Loadside" or "Rampside". The Loadside was essentially a pickup truck with a standard tail gate. The Loadside was only produced two years and is the rarest of the Corvairs; production totaled 2,844 in 1961 and 369 in 1962. The Rampside had a side ramp to be used for loading and unloading cargo. These were used by the Bell Telephone Company, because loading and unloading of cable drums was eased by the side ramp.

Ford and Chrysler introduced compact vans of their own (the Ford Econoline and Dodge A100), using a more conventional water-cooled engine mounted between the front seats. As these became successful, General Motors responded with its own design which placed the Chevy II sourced engine in a "doghouse" between and behind the front seats. The forward engine design allowed a flat rear floor with low deck heights in the rear of the van for loading/unloading cargo. General Motors stopped producing the truck versions of the Corvair in 1964 and the Greenbrier was the only remaining 95 in (2,400 mm) wheelbase Corvair for 1965. Eventually, Chevrolet and Volkswagen would abandon rear-engined vans in favor of conventional or front-wheel drive water cooled engines.

Although the Greenbriers were a limited success, passenger vans would continue to evolve through full-sized vans. The similarly sized 7-8 passenger would become a successful vehicle segment by the 1980s as alternatives to station wagons.

Source: wikipedia.org

[Ferrer]

The Corvair 95 #2

[Ferrer]

The Electrovair Concept 1964 & 1966

A 1966 concept vehicle, the Electrovair II, was a 1966 Monza 4-door hardtop modified with a 532 volt 115-horsepower electric motor replacing the gasoline engine — following a 1964 version known as Electrovair I. With the 1966 model, silver-zinc batteries were used and placed in the trunk and engine compartment, and the body was slightly modified to accept the conversion. The car was handicapped by the high cost of the batteries ($160,000), a limited driving range (40–80 miles), and short battery life.

Source: wikipedia.org

[f6fhellcat13]

The General tried out so much cool stuff on this car; it's really too bad it got penny-pinched into being the automotive-safety bugaboo that it is. One day I will own a turbocharged second-generation Corsa: better looking that a Porsche of similar vintage and a whole lot less obvious. They're prabably only as dangerous as a Porch of that era once the Corvair's brakes are addressed.
It's also too bad that GM has, apparently, not learned from its previous trespasses with the whole iginition switch bruhaha currently ongoing. It seems that despite all the goodwill (gub'ment $$) in the world, GM is still hamstrung by its GMness.

[Ferrer]

It's also too bad that GM has, apparently, not learned from its previous trespasses with the whole iginition switch bruhaha currently ongoing. It seems that despite all the goodwill (gub'ment $$) in the world, GM is still hamstrung by its GMness.

I find this quite curious, the way the case has developed is not a good sign for General Motors; surely a business has to maximise profits but at what cost? However, much like Toyota's pedalgate I doubt it will affect GM's sales much, if at all. I mean, have Toyota's sales actually gone down after the problem with throttle pedal was discovered? Furthermore, while we know of these cases, the average man on the street may have never heard of them, so actually they affect the big corporations' reputation very little.

As for innovation there are many postwar car with very interesting stories and engineering solutions, on both sides of the pond, but it has to be recognised that back then pretty much everything had yet to be invented and tried and that car's development budgets were considerably smaller and break-even points considerably lower; all of these characteristics are gone today, which makes innovation much harder. There's still some interesting cars out there from mainstream car manufacturers (XL1 springs to mind) but they are much more specialised, exclusive and expensive, up to the point that they are almost unattainable for the average customer.