The Story of the least successful Corvette: 1954 Corvair Fastback
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- Опубликовано: 13 сен 2024
- This is the story of the 1954 Chevrolet Corvair Fastback concept car created for the 1954 GM Motorama. The Corvair was a fastback based on the 1953 Corvette. I consider it one of the most beautiful cars ever designed.
The pictures of the interior are from the 1954 Corvette Fastback show car. After looking at them for the umpteenth time, I noticed that there was no hood vents in the picture shown through the windshield.
I met Bill Mitchell in 1979 at a classic car show in California and he was showing his custom built 1964 Corvette sport coupe finished in red inside and out. He pointed out this car had full factory air conditioning. The prototype for the first production factory air Corvette for 1965.
I asked him about the 1954 Corvette Corvair coupe and he was sure there were six of the Corvair and six of the Corvette Nomad made in 1954.
You would think that at least one of the Corvairs would still be around someplace. Hidden away someplace.
Thats one beautiful car!
It is!
Cool video! After looking at the picture at 0:22, I see why the A pillars on the Nomad and the Corvair were vertical- they had the roll up windows! The regular and Hardtops still used side curtains.
BTW, I'm a Corvair lover- the rear engine, air-cooled kind.
Cool, thanks!
Great video thanks for sharing very educational.
Glad you enjoyed it
What you are calling the Corvair convertible was an internal proposal( Special Order 2151) for the 1955 Corvette this car discovered a few years ago has recently undergone a complete restoration. And is now very well known among the concept car community.
How interesting, thanks for mentioning this. I found an article about it here: www.corvetteblogger.com/2022/04/07/video-1954-shop-order-2151-styling-corvette-revealed-after-lengthy-restoration/
I saw the light blue Chevrolet Corvair at the Gilmore Car Museum a few years ago.
Yes, there are a few replicas that have been made in the past 10 years.
@blanchae , the 1953 Chevrolet Nomad in blue with white roof was with the Corvair concept and the Motorama sign was with them.
Wonderful video,Thank you
Glad you liked it.
Wow thanks for making this video!
Our pleasure!
Remember, these replicas are effectively a ‘54 Corvette with a fastback-that’s simply what GM did when they created the prototypes.
Yippur
These cars are both located at Lingenfelter Museum. Both replicas were built by Mike Terry and Brett Henderson. The red one is owned by Mr. Terry and the Sea Foam green replica is owned by Mr. Lingenfelter
Sorry, the cars built by Mike and Brett are replicas of the cars shown in the video. I was "remotely" involved when Brett was making the roof molds from a plastic model kit 3D drawing. The replicas, they built, are nice but if you compare them to the original images in this video, you can see the differences.
Thank you, Eugene! Very informative. What differences are their between the replicas and the original prototypes? Also, do you think this could be a desirable custom car for buyers? Either original stylized build to suit or restomod?
@@tomdicarlo3380 It would be very desirable but EXPENSIVE. At one time, I had a 54 Corvette kit car body that I was going to modify into a 54 Corvair. It was going to be my retirement fund - build and sell. Example: hubcaps - $500 each, steering wheel $500, side trim $500 each piece. Seats - $3500 pair, custom windshield and it goes on and on. I had installed a 1984 Corvette front and rear suspension, tripower 350 SBC, 5 speed manual transmission and then ran out of time. Never got to building the roof, I realized that after 10 years that I would never finish it so sold everything. I live in Calgary, Alberta, a guy bought it in Red Deer (1 hour North), he sold it later to someone back in Calgary, then last I heard it was in Merrit, British Columbia. 10 years after I sold it, it is still in the same condition that I last worked on it. And most of the good stuff was sold off like the grille, tail lights, headlight bezels, etc.. I was collecting parts for 10 years. It would be cool if you could make a removeable fastback hardtop but there's a very limited market - something like 3 or 4 thousand 1st gen Vettes. There was a guy in Seattle, I believe who was going to make a carbon fiber replica at one time from Brett's mold but I don't believe that went anywhere.
@@tomdicarlo3380 Brett did a great job replicating the Corvair using the 3D model. There was a lot of time and effort put in. Best way to see the differences is to compare pictures of the original with the replicas. My eyes are tainted because I first started my dream of building a 1954 Corvair back in 2000 and now I notice every little detail.
Wow! Great insight-I’m grateful. I’m actually heading up to Detroit to meet Mike Terry this up coming week at the Lingenfelter museum. I very well may buy the red one. I’m about to embark on a restomod project with a ‘69 Mustang. New Kaase 429, Roadster Shop chassis, Tremec transmission etc. Everything is in the process of being made for a November build to occur. Eugene, when I first saw the Corvette-Corvair something clicked. I’ve been admiring the car for about a year. I guess what I’m getting at is that I would welcome the opportunity to purchase a ‘54 vette and retrofit it with the Corvair Fastback. My builder feels confident his team could execute the build, however, we’d need to learn a lot more about the assembly. Therefore, Mr. Henderson and Mr. Terry would hopefully be available to consult. Are there any modifications or enhancements you would incorporate into a Corvette-Corvair build project?
Maybe you've noticed at this point, but if you haven't... The picture that shows the detail of the door latch, also shows that in front of the side script, it has the flag or wing in front of the script. In the pictures you show of all of the 4 proposed Corvette variants for the motorama show, the only one that had the wing or flag in front of the fender side scrip is the supposed production version convertible Corvette. Basically what I'm saying is, based on the pictures, all four motorama Corvette variants were all prototypes. Including the one that appeared to be the regular production convertible Corvette.
I have another hi res picture of the 4 Motorama Corvette variants that has the white production Corvette in the front and the yellow hardtop right next to it. The picture clearly shows that both have the identical orientation of the flag and position script as you describe in the door latch image. In reviewing the video, it is difficult to see that the yellow hardtop has the flag. In looking at the original images, you can clearly see the hardtop has the flag and script.
You brought up an interesting point that I never really looked at before. In addition, the Nomad wagon has the flag upside down compared to the production Corvette and the Corvair has no flag.
@@blanchae Okay I did a quick Google search for the yellow 54 motorama car, I found a photo that clearly shows that it did have the script & flag. One of your pictures that would have clearly shown the script & flag on the yellow car, the problem is, the female model standing beside the car has her dress blocking it from view. So now doesn't this most likely mean the photo showing the detail of the door jamb & striker is from the yellow motorama car? Because it shows the script & flag on the fender, in which we know it wasn't the nomad because it would have been a downturn flag and the red fastback didn't have the flag?
It not have been the most successful Corvette, but it sure was pretty.
I agree.
I'll bet those are extremely rare.
As I understand, it was one car that was first burgundy red for the New York show and repainted in sea foam green for the LA show
There is controversy about whether there was only one like you suggest or two. It would be interesting to find some documentation on what happened. Maybe in a couple of years, one will resurface like the Olds F-88 show car after being hidden away in storage.
I have a book with most of those photos.
Cool, what is the name of the book?
I have two pics of the Corvair at the Lingenfelter collection.
Cool. That must be the replica from Illinois?
You’re right. I didn’t remember this, but the signs says “Built by Brett Henderson & Michael Terry”.
Looks like the love child between a "cougar" '54 Corvette and a Triumph GT6+.
Except it was at least 10 years before the cougar and GT6
@@blanchae "Cougar" as in an older lady getting it on with a younger guy. You know, like the movie " the Graduate".
For more information about the 1954 Corvairs, get a copy of my book, "Motorama: GM's Legendary Show and Concept Cars." It is actually the second book I wrote on the subject. This one is more thorough than the original titled, "GM's Motorama: The Glamorous Show Cars of a Cultural Phenomenon."
I've owned both and they are excellent references and most enjoyable books to read. Kudos to David for his time and effort.
It is easy to visualize the 1954 Corvair design, certainly looks to have been incorporated significantly, into both of the later Aston Martin DB4 and Porsche 911 designs.
How true!
Was the Corvair Coupe supposed to be a 2+2 fastback? It looks like there would be room for rear seats.
No room for rear seats. The gas tank was located behind the seats just in front of the rear axle. The seat backs are behind the rear door line. On the Corvette convertible, there is a shallow shelf to store the top when it was down.
The Corvair name would be revived starting in 1960 for the rear air cooled engined compact car.
Didn't realize it started in 1960, thought it was a few years after. Thanks
Where are these cars today?
That's the million dollar question. No one knows where they ended up. Hopefully, it will be like the Olds F88 showcar and just show up one day. ruclips.net/video/Jz1hEcgsSP8/видео.html
There are a few replicas that have been built lately but their proportions are off quite a bit on the roof line and trunk. The replicas were based on the 3D CAD drawing of a plastic model kit. I had the drawings but it would take a immense amount of work to rework the proportions to the original.
The originals were indeed destroyed by GM. The two in existence are replicas
Both are located at the Lingenfelter museum
They only made 300 Corvettes the first year 1953 not 1500.
Thanks for correcting me. Don't know where I got 1500 from. Old age is getting back at me.
Check out this video of the model shown at 7:45 now fully restored: ruclips.net/video/kPSZ77Hp7Pg/видео.html
Wow that is so cool. Thanks for sharing.