The suspension was redesigned–upgraded in 1964, complete redesign in 1965. By all reports, the later suspension fixed a lot of problems.
So much misinformation in one post is quite impressive. :rolleyes:
For sure. They went astray a bit with the '58, but the '59 with those gull wings made my heart go pitty-pat. Then came the dark year of 1960, but Chevy soon began redeeming themselves with the finless models and monster engines, and then those beautiful Chevelles and Malibus.
Of course, GM has produced mostly crap in recent years.
I Prefer the 55 bel-air, a much cleaner looking car IMHO
Technically, yes, it was, but by then the reputation of the car was so bad among the public and inside GM that it’s fate had been decided.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=697_1250381363
And as for what Dinsdale is talking about, who the hell knows? Is that the epitome of laziness? Make a post saying “you’re wrong” and then taking a powder.
Just for some context to the OP…
The '50s nostalgia boom happened in the '70s, but I didn’t notice the '57 Chevy craze then. It seemed to me that people really started going nuts for them around 1980. Nineteen-eighty was also when I got my first car, a hand-me-down 1966 MGB roadster that my mom gave me after it had been sitting unused for a number of years. The MG was low sleek and handled very well. And the top came off. The '57 Chevys just seemed bulbous and old-fashioned to me. (The MGB was still in production, until 1980, and still looked pretty much like it did in 1962.) The '57 Chevy was before my time, when I was little my dad had a Ford Galaxie 500 7-Litre, my friends drove c.1970 American Iron, and I had the roadster and motorcycle. So I just never got the appeal of the '57 Chevy.
I can tell you that we were nuts for them in the early 60s, along with the '55 and '56 BelAirs, which, like akira, I prefer.
Yeah, I’m so lazy I actually spend a tiny amount of time learning about things before simply spouting off. Here’s a start. But I doubt you are interested.
Agree, always liked '55s more than '56 or '57.
Yea, so what’s your point. From your own site:
So this car handles great as long as the tire pressure doesn’t get a little off then you are on your own, sucker. THAT sounds real safe.
The suspension system was shit and could have been corrected from the get go. GM didn’t bother. VW and Porsche had similar designs that weren’t inherently unsafe. After the kids and relatives of people influential with GM were killed or maimed they started to take notice. Nadar made an issue of the safety limitations of American cars in general and the Corvair specifically. He was right. Steering columns were unnecessarily impaling people and they did nothing about it until Nadar’s book was published. The reaction of GM to the problem was to spend a ton of money investigating Nadar’s sex life hoping to find something, anything. They found nothing. (The guy may be the only total celibate on the planet.)
Nadar is the good guy in this story. GM and the American auto makers are the bad guys. The Corvair was just the poster child. What Nadar did was one of the best things to happen to the American auto industry. If the Corvair was a victim there is no reason to cry any tears for it.
The whole problem with the American auto industry is that they have to be dragged, kicking and screaming, to make them advance automotive engineering. It always been that way with safety, emissions, fuel economy and ergonomics. (But they are good at designing bells and whistles.) The suits in Detroit are their own worst enemy.
But I doubt you are interested.
It was the last car Chevy ever made.
Duckin’ and runnin’!
A 57 Ford Fairlane with a 312 Thunderbird engine could run circles around all 57 Chevys except the fuel injected models. The Ford cost $300 less too. Ford dominated NASCAR in the late 50’s except for a few Hemi Chryslers and Oldsmobiles with thier new V-8. Dodges with the Red Ram V-8 also would out run the Chevys of the day.
A 57 Chevy with a 283 weighed almost 600 pounds more that the 55 and 56 models, they needed the extra horsepower just to keep up the the earlier shoebox Chevs. It wasn’t till aftermarket companies started making aftermarket parts for the small block Chevy that the 57 became more popular in racing circles. Even then, the lighter 55 and 56 Chevys were more popular race cars.