![]() It was then that the official go-ahead to build the Corvair was given to Chevrolet. ![]() In the spring of 1957, Barr, Schilling, and Hansen made formal presentations before the top-level GM engineering policy committee and the executive committee. When he rose to head Chevrolet division in the summer of 1956, Cole put some of his finest engineering talent to work on preliminary design work. This was to be a brand new kind of car utilizing the lessons of past models and the advances of the latest automotive technology. But Cole and his associates were not in any mind merely to produce an American stereotype of the Volkswagen. Already an unpretentious import with a rear, air-cooled engine and independent suspension was “pre-testing” the American market with rising commercial success. In 1955, as chief engineer of Chevrolet, Cole saw a market for a small, “compact” car. To Cole, however, the idea of a rear-engined car remained attractive and he carried it over with him to Chevrolet and developed a project proposal as he rose in that division's hierarchy. A prototype, ponderously bedecked with dual tires at the rear for stability, was soon shelved. He was an old devotee of rear-engined cars and right after World War II became involved with a short-lived experimental Cadillac having a rear engine. ![]() It began with the conception and development of the Corvair by leading GM engineers-Edward Cole, Harry Barr, Robert Schilling, Kai Hansen and Frank Winchell.Ĭole, now a General Motors executive vice-president, provided the managerial ignition. Nor did it begin when Ford test drivers got hold of 2 Corvairs somewhat prematurely from a dealer in early September and lost control of them at the company's test track. The tragedy of the Corvair did not begin that thirtieth day of September in 1959 when it went on display in dealer showrooms.
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