Have to disagree a bit... Nader didn't kill the Corvair, it was a victim
of it's own success. By accident, GM discovered a market for a sporty
coupe with buckets and a floor shift the Monza). Their plan for a
economy car was hurt by the high manufacturing costs of the Corvair (and
Nader's bs), so they emphasized the sporty image.
Ford captalized on the concept with the higher-hp Mustang (the Corvair
was limited by displacement) and GM answered with the Camaro. If
anything, Nader helped keep the Corvair in production for 3 years past
it's planned end.
Nader's primary evil was bringing about the modern age of frivolous but
successful lawsuits against manufacturers of good products and getting
the federal government involved in telling us what kind of cars we could
drive and not drive... for "our own good". (Though motorcycles are still
legal... go figure!)
Sad, because the Corvair was the kind of car we should have had in the
70's (instead of Vega's and Pinto's).
Bill Elliott
Lake Mills, WI
Corvairs and LBC's
Tom Zuchowski wrote:
>
> I always found it ironic that Nader wound off killing off the best-handling
> car made in the US at the time-- the late-model Corvair. And the early
> Corvair had its handling faults, but it was clearly documented that the main
> problem the car had came from ignorant mechanics rotating the tires and not
> adjusting the tire pressures, which were very different front and rear. I
> owned a rear-engined Fiat 850, and I could see noticeable handling
> degradation when the tires were just a half-pound off. I shudder to think
> how it would have handled with the pressure off five or six pounds!
>
> Back in the Sixties, I remember reading a quote from the new CEO of BSA (a
> Lord something-or-other) to the effect that he didn't care if they ever sold
> another motorcycle, but they =were= going to do things =his= way. And they
> did. . .
>
> Tom Zuchowski
> '61 Bugeye
> Clemmons, NC
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jeff Boatright <jboatri@emory.edu>
> To: toyman@htcomp.net <toyman@htcomp.net>; spridgets@autox.team.net
> <spridgets@autox.team.net>
> Date: Saturday, May 29, 1999 9:19 AM
> Subject: Nader, was: Side Marker Reflectors
>
> >Toyman,
> >
> >Gotta disagree here. No doubt Nader had influence, but that's not what
> >killed the Brit car industry. Poor management killed the British car
> >industry. There were several articles in British Car Magazine, written by
> >those who lived through it, detailing this. There are also entire books
> >written on this. Management was unable to read the market(s), had little
> >interest in making a better product, aided in creating poor labor relations
> >(though the gov't had a lot to do with this), could not cope with gov't
> >regulations (theirs and ours), and finally, had gone too far down the tubes
> >by the time the pseudo oil crisis hit. Conversely, the Japanese car
> >industry coped with all these problems and changes and thrived.
> >
> >Nader was one part of the equation. Given the direction some European car
> >manufacturers were heading (MB and Volvo) with safety options pre-Nader,
> >the industry may have eventually made safer cars. I don't see that Nader
> >directly did much good, but as a center of controversy, he got safety
> >issues on the table.
> >
> >Jeff
> >"Light fuse and get away!"
> >---
> >On 5/29/99, toyman@htcomp.net wrote:
> >> One of my 69 Midgets has two wipers, no side reflectors, and no
> headrests.
> >>
> >...
> >>the Spridget
> >>went to the three wiper system in the mid-68 production year at the urging
> of
> >>'ugh' Ralph Nader aka the man that killed the british sports car,he placed
> >>so many saftey requirements on the manufacturing of these cars that
> England
> >>couldn't keep up,since the U.S.imported the majority of the cars,England
> >>finally gave up trying to please this pain in the ass advocate of saftey
> who
> >>had way to much influence,and stopped making the LBC,s(the ralfph nader
> info
> >>was read in a different source of info and will not be found in the book I
> >>previously mentioned"DISCLAIMER")
> >>
> >
> >Jeff Boatright __o_\__ '65 Austin-Healey Sprite
> >http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~jboatri/sprite/sprite.html
> >
> >
> >
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