Ok for Empirical data. Ralph Nader Retracted all of his claims about the corvair. ( Re CAR AND DRIVER ARTICLE) 'Loook Out Ralph The Facts are Catching Up) The NHTSA never declared it as unsafe. Now for some observations of cars produced during the same time frame, VW beetle, Porsche 956, Ford Falcon, Dodge Dart, Chevy Nova, etc etc. All were subjected to the same NHTSA safety design criteria. If you have not seen the 59 chev vs new car crash vid on you tube, you should. New cars are designed to have crumple zones that absorb energy in a collision. The rational behind this is that when a moving vehicle impacts an immovable object, say a rock wall, then the energy absorbed by bending metal is not transfered to the occupants. If nothing bends then the occupants absorb the energy. In the day of model A Fords the car would look to be hardly hurt and the driver would be dead. some states in the north east have rules governing Modified race car's chassis rigidity due to driver deaths. COMPARED TO TODAYS STANDARDS NO OLDER CAR IS SAFE. I would not like to have an engine in my lap and die due to the FACT THAT YOUR BRAIN CANNOT WITHSTAND MORE THAN A FIFTEEN MPH IMPACT. any more than the front of a car crushing me. As for the Corvair's speed, They are great in the ice and snow, at speeding up, but not so good at slowing down. The major drawback in this regard is DRIVER ERROR and INCORRECT MAINTENANCE specifically TIRE PRESSUIRE. The rear / front pressure must be maintained at manufacturers spec. about 10 psi difference We all know how often tire pressure is checked. I OWN A 65 CORVAIR, AFTER SEEING THE ABOVE MENTIONED VIDIO I don't drive it as fast as I used to. ON THE OTHER HAND I FELL ASLEEP AT 30 MPH IN A 1986 THUNDERBIRD, HIT A VERTICAL DIRT BANK AND THE ENGINE CAME THROUGH THE FIREWALL Old medical records -"ruptured spleen major cause of driver fatalitiies" Car stopped driver didn't. Any old car is unsafe. drive carefully O

And as a rebuttal, ie pro Nader on this one. The Corvair was not manufactured with a brain. No matter how well the corvair's pilots may have been driving; 35-45-60 or 20 mphs. The tin can I was referring to really proved to be astronomically dangerous on head-on collision accidents. There were no typical hard metal frame work pieces, engine, etc to absorb the millisecond crashes. So, as a result, the unfortunate drivers of that auto would have been subjected to "rough times." Some of those drivers may have been driving like "pure angels."