From Larry Claypool and the Corvair Preservation Foundation.
MONDAY MORNING HISTORY CLASS is now in session! 6/8.
Today we loook at a couple of short subjects- tihe shipping brackets used to tie down Corvairs, and what to do about that new fangled gas heater!
Ever wonder about the threaded hole in frame rail that extends under the front floor pan or the threaded hole in the flat brace between the rocker panel and rear floor pan just forward of the rear wheel? Why did Fisher bother to weld a nut in there? Well, the answer was to attach a shipping bracket so the car could be chained/strapped in place during transport. At some point it was decided to use a hook to enter the tie down point, thus eliminating the bolts , special brackets, and to speed up the process, so only early cars had the threaded hole. I haven’t come accross a bulitain that notes the change (if they ever issued one).
Our other short is the gas heater. This was a completely new device for the GM dealers and did require some special tools. Surely some dealers were cluelless when a customer drove in a new early 60 with gas heater problems. What to do??? The heater was a product of the South Wind division of Stewart Warner who did have some service centers across the country. Dealers were advised those SW dealers could make authorized repairs for the dealer and Cheverolet would pay the bill. As a point of interest, the heater used in the Corvair was NOT an all new contraption- the same basic heater, with differences in mounting arrangemnts, was an option for higher end Chrysler products from 55-59. Availble in the big Chrysler, Imperial, Desoto, and Dodge lines , it lived in the right front fender area. Unlike the Corvair where it was the *only* heater availbe (in 1960), those Chrysler cars all had the conventional hot water heater as a lower cost option which was the overhwelming choice for most buyers. I am sure those Mopar dealers looked upon the gas heater with the same fear and dismay that was seen at the Chevy service department several years later….!
Another chapter of Corvair History from the CPF!
Leave a Reply