Word: corvair
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...rival camp, Chevrolet's Boss Edward N. Cole showed off his compact, rear-engine Corvair. Compared with Ford's Falcon, the Corvair is shorter (wheelbase: 108 in. v. Falcon's 109½ in.), lower (4 ft. 3 in. v. 4 ft. 6½ in.) narrower (66.9 in. v. 70 in.), less powerful (80 h.p. v. 90 h.p.). Compared with the standard Chevy, the Corvair is one-third lighter (2,375 Ibs. v. 3,760 Ibs.), will burn 25% to 40% less gas, sell for about $225 less than the cheapest Chevy when it goes into the showrooms...
Cole hopes to sell at least 300,000 Corvair '60s, plus 1,500,000 standard Chevies. If he does, he will beat 1955's alltime Chevy sales record of 1,720,000. He also expects the U.S. market to be big enough next year for all comers, big and small, to prosper. "Car sales for 1960," says Cole, "should be at least 6,900,000, including imports...
Ever since plans for the new compact cars got around Detroit, competitors of General Motors Corp. have been kicking at the rear engine G.M. will use in its Corvair. Chrysler Corp. President Lester Lum Colbert announced that Chrysler's small-car offering, the Valiant, would have its engine "up front, where it belongs." Ford Motor Co., whose small Falcon will also have a front engine, launched TV commercials demonstrating that an arrow weighted at the back end will fly erratically and miss the target, but that a "properly weighted" (i.e., heavy at the front) arrow will go straight...
Last week Chrysler's fast-selling import from France, the Simca, joined the critical chorus. Aiming at foreign rear-engine cars as well as Corvair, it launched a massive ad campaign proclaiming "the advantages of front-engine cars over rear-engine cars.'' Among them: "Cornering is better . . . more luggage area . . . greater driving stability ... To relax your grip on the steering wheel [of a rear-engine car] at highway speed would be dangerous...
...MODELS will be introduced earlier this fall than in other years, with 16 of 19 models scheduled by first half of October. Ford's Falcon is expected to bow first, followed by Chevrolet's small car, Corvair, and other General Motors makes, American Motors, Chrysler and Studebaker-Packard...