1965-66 Chevrolet Corvair Corsa

The most controversial car of the 20th century

by B. Mitchell Carlson

The author's '65, wearing late-model Chevy wheels.

Let's get this out of the way right off the bat: Ralph Nader didn't kill the Corvair. Blame can be more squarely placed on the Camaro, the pony car that rendered Chevrolet's weird, rear-engine small car irrelevant to its product planners. Indeed, when the Camaro was introduced in 1967, the top-of-the-line Corvair Corsa series was put out to pasture—and if not for Nader's polemic book, Unsafe At Any Speed, the whole line would've been axed at the the same time. But either to spite Nader or to give the impression that GM wasn't going to buckle under pressure, the Corvair was kept in production until 1969. Alas, safety standards requiring a locking steering column, which the Corvair didn't have, went into effect in 1970 and thus became an excuse to end production of what could rightfully be called the most controversial car of the 20th Century.

FUN AT EVERY SPEED All drama aside, the Corvair was actually a cool American sports car with a very...