Word: reared
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...Three's new generation of compact cars. Smaller and simpler than Detroit's chromespun standards, the Corvair is like no other model ever mass-produced in the U.S.; its engine is made of aluminum and cooled by air, and it is mounted in the rear. To Chevrolet's folksy, brilliant General Manager Edward N. Cole, 50, who is as square and compact (195 Ibs., 5 ft. 9 in.) as a Corvair, the new car marks the fulfillment of a 15-year dream; for that long, off and on, he has been trying to produce a rear-engine...
Such claims have stirred up an angry argument. Ford contends that a rear-engine car tends to oversteer and veer out on curves because the greater part of its weight is in the rear. It has less luggage space-only 15.6 cu. ft. in the Corvair v. 24.5 cu. ft. for the Falcon and 24.9 cu. ft. for the Valiant. (But the Corvair has an optional folding rear seat, for $32.50 extra, that provides another 13.3 cu. ft. of luggage room in the back.) Many engineers insist that a rear engine is not practical on the basis of present knowledge...
...Spells Simplicity." Whether front engine or rear, the compacts are all made to wipe out the longstanding complaints against U.S. car craftsmanship. "One reason that Europeans have achieved a reputation for excellent craftsmanship," says Cole, is that "their cars are relatively simple, but American cars have been getting more and more complicated." Cole has built a car whose six-cylinder engine has fewer parts than standard engines, is easily accessible, can be completely removed from the car in less than 30 minutes. "Everything about it spells simplicity," says Cole. "The engine is handy enough for any do-it-yourself mechanic...
With a dozen first-class engineers, Ed Cole for four years designed and discarded scores of wooden mockups. He tried everything: front engine with front-wheel drive, front engine with rear-wheel drive, rear engine with front-wheel drive, but he always returned to rear engines with rear-wheel drive. By the spring of 1956, when Cole's team produced a prototype power plant and suspension, he disguised it with a German Porsche body shell. One of Cole's friends recalls the scene that day at the Chevy Engineering Center. "Ed jumped...
...Through the '30s Cole made giant strides in reducing engine noise and solving problems of engine cooling. The U.S. Army, whose tanks were regularly breaking down from engine over heating, grew attentive. Just before Pearl Harbor, Cole got his toughest job: developing a new rear engine for the Army's M-5 light tank in 90 days. Cole beat the deadline, and during the war Cadillac built 12,500 M-55. After the war, Cadillac assigned Cole to apply his tank know-how to building an experimental rear-engine Cadillac. It was a weird monster, with the engine...