Corvair Concept Cars

 There are many theories today about why the Chevrolet Corvair, America's first and only air-cooled rear engine car, died in 1969. Many blame Ralph Nader and his book released in 1965, others attribute it to the Ford Mustang and Falcon. The Mustang took the competitive edge away while the Falcon took away the economy aspects. Yet, Corvair is more technically advanced than either Ford and its own successor, the Camaro.

Behind the scenes, as the Corvair sold to millions, engineers continued to create and play with potential production cars called "concept cars". The first of them for the Corvair appeared in 1961 the Sebring Spyder, which contained a two seat compartment with a shorter wheelbase. The 1962 Super Spyder was much more radical and did not look like a production model. It had a very short 93 inch wheelbase and a stock 150hp turbo engine. It looked and moved like a race car. It was a two seater.

In 1962 and 63, Corvair designers toyed with another version, the Corvair Monza GT and SS. These cars were your "mako" design that you would see in the 1968 Corvette production cars, but in 1963, when debuted to the public, stole the show. Both had a fiberglass body with disc brakes. They were bumperless. The Monza SS wheelbase was only 88 inches (20 inches less than the production model). The SS model used the four carb 140 hp engine, the GT used the two carb 110 hp motor. The code name for both cars was XP-797.

Of the two, the SS model almost became a Corvair production model and could have been a huge success as it would have been one year before the Mustang appeared. Instead, Chevy redesigned the Corvair in many ways for the 1965-69 model. It was popular in 1965-66, selling well but not well enough for Chevy to release the SS model in 1967 ( a strictly two seater). Instead, the Camaro arrived to compete with the Mustang.