Word: corvair
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...General Motors, the big Pontiac is steady, while the intermediate Tem pest is up; the big Olds is slightly down, the F85 is up; the Chevelle and Chevy II are up, but sales of the compact Corvair are down by more than $100 million so far this model year, partly because of publicity about accident suits. Ford Motor can scarcely produce enough Mustangs and Lincolns to meet demand, but its Comet is a disappointment, and the compact Falcon is 13% behind last year's sales. At Chrysler, the compact Dart and Valiant are down, but the big Chrysler...
...There is no such thing as a minor traffic violation [Sept. 3]. The self-righteous Mrs. Placente could have slammed her Corvair into a carload of school children...
...thoroughgoing defense. It hired St. Petersburg Attorney Robert Nunez and another local lawyer, dispatched two G.M. general counsels from Detroit, also sent down G.M. Engineer Horatio Shakespeare. To counter the claim that the Corvair's doors were weak, the company brought in a metallurgist from the University of Illinois and an accident specialist from U.C.L.A. G.M. reconstructed aspects of the accident by crashing three cars, took motion pictures of the crashes in both color and black and white...
Unanimous Acquittal. The trial in Clearwater's state circuit court lasted six weeks. Judge Victor O. Wehle directed acquittal verdicts for both U.S. Rubber and the local Corvair dealer, thus leaving G.M. the sole defendant. He instructed the jurors to hold the company up to a standard of strict liability-meaning that G.M. would be held responsible if the car had any inherent defect. After deliberating for 13 hours, the Clearwater jurors unanimously acquitted...
Though the decision is only one jury's opinion and does not set a binding legal precedent, it will probably discourage future suits against Corvair. It has already influenced Lawyer Nunez's life in several ways. While gathering evidence for the trial, he searched long and hard for the death car. Tracing it to a used-car lot 213 miles from the scene of the accident, he bought it with G.M.'s money, had the company put it through a series of tests that proved useful in preparing the defense. Nunez still has the Corvair. "I drive...