Back to the speedway on Saturday afternoon after the AACA show . . .
Read MoreWith the demise of the 400 CID and 403 CID V8s from the option sheet after 1979, the turbocharged version of Pontiac's 301 CID V8 and its became the top dog. Even though power output was similar, (210 hp for 1980 and 200 hp for 1981), contemporary road tests suggest that the turbo cars weren't as fast as what they replaced. Zero to 60 mph took around 8 seconds, and the quarter mile passed by in the mid-16s.
I continued my trek under the grandstands and passed by several foreign cars. The car in the photo above is a Holden Commodore VF from GM of Australia. Holden had a presence in the US with the 2003 - 06 Pontiac GTO, (a rebadged Holden Monaro), the Pontiac G8 (Holden Commodore VE), and the Chevrolet SS, (Holden Commodore VF). But seeing an actual Holden in the States doesn't happen that often. Holden was phased out of GM at the end of 2020.
The Chevrolet Corvair arrived for 1960 as a response to market conditions created by the Recession of 1958. Sales of smaller, more economical European imports throughout the 1950s, like the Volkswagen Beetle, were strong enough to get the attention of domestic automakers.
First out of the gate was successful 1958 Rambler American. That was followed in 1959 by the Studebaker Lark, (which was responsible for prolonging Studebaker's life by a number of years). While Ford was preparing its Falcon, and Chrysler was preparing its Plymouth Valiant for 1960, Chevrolet took a more exotic approach with its Corvair.A rare 1961 Chevrolet Corvair 95 Loadside pickup.
After all of the sales numbers were tallied, Chevrolet produced 250,007 Corvairs in its introductory year of 1960. For 1961, Chevy engineers adapted the car's air-cooled rear-engine layout for a pair of utility vehicles and christened the Corvair 95, (a reference to its 95-inch wheelbase). If this sounds familiar, it's because Volkswagen had been doing the same thing with its Type 2, a utility version of its Beetle platform, since the early 1950s.
The Corvair 95 platform was available as either a van or a pickup, with the difference being whether or not the cargo area was enclosed. The pickup version was available as either a "Loadside" pickup with a conventional tailgate, or a Rampside, which added a folding ramp on the right side of the bed. The pickup seen in the photo above is a Loadside pickup, and is one of 2,475 produced in 1961.