It was in Vintage Truck.
I used to have a Corvair van and a 61 station wagon and still have my 66
Corvair Monza
car. My brother has had several of the Corvair pickup trucks...usually with
nicknames
like Pokey or Gumby. The market segment that GM was trying to address was
those who
were defecting away from American cars to the VW bug and bus. You're right
that that
engine didn't have much useful power as a serious truck, but the cars got well
into the
upper 20s gas mileage wise. I would like to have one of the Greenbriar camper
vans...but they are
about as rare as the Pontiac equivalent of the Cameo.
The engine could be built up to about 225hp...turbo or naturally
aspirated...pretty
easily...and up to 350hp with difficulty...either is pretty good on a car that
weighs in
around 2300 lbs. My brother's 65 Corsa (which he also still has) used to beat
his
friend's 351 Mustang regularly. Then there's the mid-engine V8 conversions...
I still have a soft spot in my heart...er, head...for the Corvair cars. I
actually like
the way they handle; very fast if driven right. The technique is the same as
driving a
Porsche 911 correctly...most Americans aren't tuned for that. My only
complaint was the
heater.
Mark Noakes
On Sat, 5 Jul 2003 23:43:09 -0500, "Gary Perry" wrote:
>
> Wasn't that story in Vintage Truck this month or last? Big article, it looks
> just like the Corvair van that came out later. Wimpy air-cooled engine in it
> though, no V-8! Maybe it was some other mag like Custom Truck or ? Probly a
> sister mag to the one you have. Seems when one mag from a company has a
> story, each other ones get it or part of it to run in there's too.
>
> G. L. Grumpy's
> Old Iron Ranch
> Huntington, IN 46750
> AD trucks and MM tractors
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Hanlon, Bill (ISS Houston)" <bill.hanlon@hp.com>
> To: <oletrucks@autox.team.net>
> Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2003 3:07 PM
> Subject: [oletrucks] Another strange offering from GMC
>
>
> > Paging through the September '03 (current) copy of High Performance
> Pontiac I ran across a four page article on the 1955 GMC L'Universelle.
> This is a one-off show vehicle that GMC toured that year. It is about
> mini-van size, front wheel drive and uses a 287" Pontiac V8/Hydra-Matic
> mounted backwards for power. The front end looks like a mixture of
> Caddy/Pontiac/Chevy parts while the rear has one set of 55 Chevy tail lights
> over a second set with clear lenses for back up lights that are upside down.
> Rear bumper looks like Chevy Nomad/Pontiac Safari as does the "B" pillar.
> > oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
> oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
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