Re: JZD's Corvair Involvement. (was: D's for sale (kinda silly))

["Robert Rooney" <dmcvegas@xxxx>]

Yes, John DeLorean was involved with the Corvair. The relationship 
was not about engineering though. Before the Corvair entered 
production, it had horrible results on the test track. Drivers were 
flipping the cars upside down. The solution to cure it was to have an 
anti-sway bar installed. The cost to GM: $8.00 additional for every 
car. The 14th floor felt it was too expesive even though GM analysts 
predicted a large death toll for Corvair drivers. JZD and others 
decided to fight top brass on the ethics of the issue of profit vs. 
human lives. But the anti-sway bar wasn't installed untill after 
Ralph Nader wrote his famous book "Unsafe at any speed" about the 
Corvair, and by this time the car had already claimed a huge number 
of lives. All of this is from the book "On a clear day you can see 
General Motors." I don't know if it still has the record, but I 
believe at the time, the Corvair had the worst death rate of any car 
on the road.

I've never seen any designs, or even a prototype such as 
the "Banshee", but I have been told that the Fiero was a JZD concept 
from his Pontiac days. Given JZD's, "Bunkie" Knudson's, and Ed Cole's 
taste in sports cars & personal feelings, it's probably true. But 
more than likely wasn't allowed into production due to office 
politics. Though it probably looked alot different then...

-Robert
vin 6585

--- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxx, "DMC Wannabe" <jzd_88mph@xxxx> wrote:
<SNIP>
> Was John involved with the corvair? I seem to recall 
> him being in the (ill fated) Vega thing but not Corvair. what about 
> the Fiero? It looks very similar to our beloved beauties but...