'67 Camaro Ad

[erco]

The debut of Corvair's younger but bigger sibling. Lots of similarities.

[66vairguy]

The debut of Corvair's younger but bigger sibling. Lots of similarities.

The Corvair books mention the Corvair was suppose to go out of production during the 1967 model year as Camaro production ramped up.

The Corsa model and 140HP engine were cancelled because the Camaro GM team were concerned Corvair sales would reduce Camaro sales and GM was determined to beat the Mustang sales numbers. Due to a prior order for Stinger cars GM had to bring back the 140HP engine, and Camaro sales were robust so the Corvair was no longer considered a threat to Camaro sales.

So why did the Camaro stay in production through model year 1969??? The story in some automotive magazines claim GM issued a "quiet" notice that Corvair production was ending. A "character" at one of the automotive news companies knew that usually when a model was cancelled a big press junket was put on (last car made, etc.) and the automotive press got "wined and dined". Well --- no such plans for the Corvair shut down so the "character" called the Chevrolet press department and supposedly said "I guess you folks are so embarassed by the Corvair and Nader's lawsuits your going to kill it off quietly". The story is supposedly true, but even more likely the GM lawyers were STILL fighting Nader lawsuits and cancelling the Corvair could seem like an admission it was an unsafe car. So the Corvair stayed in production until GM could truthfully say in 1969 that the car could not be revised to meet upcoming safety standards and sales were so small a new "Corvair" would not be developed. BTW --- Chevrolet DID put on a press junket for the last Corvair built with lots of pictures.

Decades later there was a lawsuit about the "last Corvair" since the last Corvair sold was NOT the last Corvair built.