Wes,
I don't remember Andy running a Corvair. He may have had some
sponsordhip interest in one, however. Tom Kesobabian(sp?) ran a turbo
charge Corvair at Bonneville in the 60s. Did very well as I remember.
There was another Corvair that was impressive which ran the 1/2 mile
under the "Joe's Garage" name. It had no cooling tin on it. He regularly
shut down Covettes at the drags. Bill Thomas was the best resource that
I know of in those day. A friend of mine, Mike Jones, worked for Thomas.
They did some eye popping things with these cars. Nader did everyone a
disservice with his attack on the Corvair. It was a great car.
Tom, Redding CA - #216 D/CC
wester6935@comcast.net wrote:
> Speaking of air cooled engines and racing reminded me.
>
> I remember Andy Granatelli being on the salt with a Corvair and STP
>sponsorship in the early sixties. If I'm not mistaken he was competitive in
>his class. Tom Bryant would possibly remember more than I do about that. I
>flat out don't recall if he was running in a supercharged class ... the
>turbocharged Corvair engine produced some serious power in it's day. The guy
>who wrote the California Bill books on Chevrolet engines built a Porsche
>Speedster with a Corvair engine. He bought the car because he liked the looks
>and was very disappointed with the performance, hence the Corvair transplant.
>A friend test drove it in Palo Alto in the late sixties when he was
>considering buying the car. He picked me up for a ride because it was so much
>fun. We flat shut down an Olds 442 but lost the fan/accessory belt and had to
>buy another to get us home. (He didn't buy that car but had another somewhat
>rare 356 series Porsche that he restored and sold at auction for some serious
>mo
ne!
> y.)
>
> Being in the clothing business I've often thought of Andy and his white suit,
>emblazoned with STP logos. At the time it was funny ... today it's not so
>unusual to see larger logos on clothing, although they are usually far less
>conspicuous than Andy's white suit.
>
>
>
>> Hmmmm.......???????
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