Interesting tid-bit I found on the net
A friend of mine is having a birthday today, and someone mentioned on her journal that today the mustang was introduced, and linked to wikipedia. So I change the link address from Ford_Mustang, to "Chevrolet_Corvair". I check out the info, and this paragraph stands out.
"However, a young lawyer named Ralph Nader had written a book called Unsafe at Any Speed in which the Corvair (and its tendency to roll over) was used as a dramatic case study. Even though a 1972 safety commission ultimately exonerated the Corvair and declared it no more unsafe than any similar vehicle of its era, Nader's book, which was published in 1965, was a severe blow to the Corvair line. The sporty, inexpensive Ford Mustang, based on the conventionally designed Ford Falcon and introduced in late 1964 in response to the Corvair, ultimately finished off Chevrolet's bold experiment."
I've been saying this for years, but no one believed me. Nader picked the Corvair because it was a new car done by evil GM, and despite being wrong about it (at least, in the manner that the Corvair was unsafer than cars of that era (turns out they were actually safer)), he made a name for himself.
Thats not to say that what ended up happening BECAUSE of what he did wasn't good. Just that the choice of cars seemed to be counter productive. The Corvair was more fuel efficient and cleaner to run. They were economical cars before economical cars were an issue.
"However, a young lawyer named Ralph Nader had written a book called Unsafe at Any Speed in which the Corvair (and its tendency to roll over) was used as a dramatic case study. Even though a 1972 safety commission ultimately exonerated the Corvair and declared it no more unsafe than any similar vehicle of its era, Nader's book, which was published in 1965, was a severe blow to the Corvair line. The sporty, inexpensive Ford Mustang, based on the conventionally designed Ford Falcon and introduced in late 1964 in response to the Corvair, ultimately finished off Chevrolet's bold experiment."
I've been saying this for years, but no one believed me. Nader picked the Corvair because it was a new car done by evil GM, and despite being wrong about it (at least, in the manner that the Corvair was unsafer than cars of that era (turns out they were actually safer)), he made a name for himself.
Thats not to say that what ended up happening BECAUSE of what he did wasn't good. Just that the choice of cars seemed to be counter productive. The Corvair was more fuel efficient and cleaner to run. They were economical cars before economical cars were an issue.
posted by Hap (Dan) at 11:21 AM
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