Intro to the Corvair

The Corvair was a rear-engined automobile produced by General Motors from 1960 to 1969. It was offered in a wide range of body styles (such as a four-door sedan, coupe, convertible, station wagon, pickup, panel van, a window van called the Greenbrier) and featured an air-cooled engine, which was unusual for American cars at the time.

The Corvair remains one of GMs most unusual creations. Design began in 1956 under the auspices of Ed Cole, and the first vehicles rolled off the assembly line in late 1959 as part of the 1960 model year (in which it was named Motor Trend magazine's Car of the Year.

The Corvair engine was a flat-6 piston engine used exclusively in the 1960s Corvair automobile. It was a highly unusual engine for General Motors: It was air-cooled, used a flat design, with aluminum heads (incorporating integral intake manifolds) and crankcase, and individual iron cylinder barrels. The heads were modeled after the (excellent) standard Chevrolet overhead valve design, with large valves operated by rocker arms, actuated by pushrods run off a camshaft in the crankcase operating hydraulic valve lifters (which eliminated low temperature valve clatter otherwise seen with that much aluminum in the engine, due to its high degree of thermal expansion).