Word: corvair
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Corvair Controversy. The California Supreme Court defined the new doctrine even more sweepingly in the 1963 case of a man who had yearned to own a much advertised power lathe. His wife bought him one; it promptly shot a hunk of wood into his head. In upholding a verdict based on faulty design, the court ruled that injured consumers need not claim a theoretical "implied warranty" but may rely simply on "strict liability in tort." Said the court: "A manufacturer is strictly liable in tort when an article he places on the market, knowing that it is to be used...
Silent as a Ghost. The G.M. sleds resemble the Podars about as much as a Corvette does a Corvair. The innovations include shock absorbers and sports-car-type "direct" steering (v. the Podar's rope-controlled runners). In trial runs at Lake Placid, N.Y., last month, a two-man G.M. sled beat the best time of a heavier, four-man Podar -and the four-man G.M. was faster yet. At St. Moritz last week, astonished European bobbers nicknamed the two man sled "the Ghost" because its rubber-seated runners merely whispered over the ice-while the Podars clattered...
...from a set of proven plans, but some advanced experimenters lay out their own templates on the garage floor, which they change as they go along. The average plane costs between $1,800 and $2,000 in materials, including a second hand airplane engine or one adapted from a Corvair or Volkswagen. They also cost about 3,000 man-hours, or two or three years of spare time...
Pistols in the Basement. Like many an ancient riche, Copeland works at underplaying his wealth in public. He leaves his Cadillac at home and each morning drives himself eight miles to work in a Corvair. But his private pleasures are elegantly expensive: salmon fishing in Scotland, cattle breeding on his 3,000-acre farm in Maryland, duck-shooting parties on the Chesapeake (he keeps his eye sharp on a pistol range in his basement). Copeland is also a gourmet and oenological expert who belongs to Le Tastevin, an exclusive society devoted to fine wines, and he employs a French chef...
...supporters, however, did not favor any one particular make so much as they favored individuality in their cars. Seven different makes were represented among ten cars; a sleek Mercedes Benz sporting Dartmouth and Wellesley decals, a black Corvair with two red stripes, a Volkswagen bus from South Carolina decked out like a traveling hotel with curtains and bar, a Nissen De Luxe buried in Goldwater and Ted Kennedy stickers...