"Bob Ackley -> Ross Sauer"  wrote in news:20590
$MATZDOBRE{at}JamNNTPd:

 RS>>>> Did some research last night, found it again. It was
 RS>>>> mentioned in Ralph Nader's book, "Unsafe At Any Speed."

 BA>>> That book was fiction back when Nader wrote it back in the
 BA>>> early 1960s - IIRC I was in HS at the time.  'course,
 BA>>> Nader was able to build a very nice career from it.

 RS>> The problem is Nader's book wasn't entirely fiction.
 RS>> Cars in the late 50's and early 60's could be really junk.

 BA> Nader's book was specifically about the rear engined Chevrolet Corvair.
 BA> The early Corvair models *did* have a tendency to spin on slick
 BA> pavements, but that problem was fixed by the time Nader published
 BA> his book.

Also the Corvair had different handling, the engine being in the rear.
But GM didn't market the car as having any different handling, so it was
sold to people who drove it like they would the family car.
That was a disaster in the making.

 RS>> And GM could have just ignored Nader, thus ending the
 RS>> problem. Instead they put a private investigator onto Nader
 RS>> to dig up dirt. Very dumb mistake.

 BA> GM had already addressed and fixed the problem with Corvairs by the
 BA> time Nader's book came out.  IIRC it was a weight distribution problem -
 BA> too much weight behind the rear wheels.

It was the publicity of GM hiring the private investigator on Nader, that
really was GM's big mistake.
The book also took other cars to task as well, and some of those reports
were true.
Cars from the late 50's and early 60's were sheet-metal montrosities with
overpowered engines.
They were junk.

--- Xnews/5.04.25