1963 Chevrolet Corvair Testudo Concept Car

The 1963 Chevrolet Corvair Testudo concept/show car escaped my knowledge for many years, perhaps because at the time it was publicized, I was in the Army not long before being sent to the Far East.  I came across it recently only because I was researching a post about the Porsche 928, where it seems the Testudo influenced Porsche's head designer Tony Lapine.

But there's more!  The Bertone-built Testudo was styled by the great Giorgetto Giugiaro, apparently the first design for which he had a free hand.  No doubt that was due to its show car status -- a production design imposes many more constraints on a stylist.

The Testudo link suggests that General Motors supplied the Corvair (that Bertone shortened) and presumably funded the project.

Despite its Giugiaro heritage, I don't consider the Testudo a very good design.  See the captions below for my thoughts.

Gallery

A cropped version of a Giugiaro sketch of the Testudo's front end.

Full-scale side rendering of the Testudo.  At the left is Nuccio Bertone, and on the right is Giugiaro.

Now for a few images, probably from Bertone.  The front end is simple.  Headlights apparently rotate upwards when turned on.  The girl in the car lends scale -- the Testudo seems larger than it actually is when such scale is absent.

How one enters the car.  Interesting, but not practical given the high sill and flanges on rotated unit.

The rear is extremely clean.  Perhaps too much so.

As seen from above in a photo whose source I could not identify.

Finally, three images via RM Sotheby's auctions.  The Corvair motor is at the rear, so the front trunk is low and proportionally wide.  While this can be justified logically, my conditioning makes me think it is wrong, aesthetically.  Note the extreme windshield panorama.

The bumpers and side fold line tie the car together.  That low front trunk contrasts with the after end of the passenger compartment, making the latter seem more bulky looking than otherwise.  Note the small side-window that opens for ventilation or perhaps handing over toll money on an autostrada.

I normally like long hoods, but the low trunk and fenderline make the car ill-proportioned.

1962 Chevrolet Corvair Super Spyder Concept

General Motors created two 1962 concept cars based on the Chevrolet Corvair platform.  The more interesting one was the Corvair Monza GT that I wrote about here.

The other one, less well-known today, was the Corvair Super Spyder derived from the Corvair Monza convertible. The only detailed background I could find on the internet is here.  Scroll down a little to find an excerpt of General Motors publicity describing the car and how it differs dimensionally from a stock Corvair Monza.

The Super Spyder is a sports car version of the Monza, seating two people rather than four.  It is shorter than the production car both in wheelbase and overall length.  In terns of styling, it retains the Corvair's distinctive should-height crease extending from front to rear, and its rear-end design is similar to production Corvairs.  The greatest difference are at the front, where styling is aggressive, presumably befitting a sports car.

The images below all originated at General Motors.  They are too small to bother clicking to enlarge.

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The Corvair Super Spyder still exists.  Here it is seen at the GM Tech Center.

Rear quarter view.

Overhead publicity photo.

Note how low the Super Spyder is.  Being a show car, front bumper protection is scant.  The side character line is brought forward around the headlight assembly -- a nice way of dealing with the front-fender transition problem stylists need to face.

Front end.

Rear view.

A 1962 Corvair Monza Convertible of the kind altered for the Super Spyder.

The Exciting 1962 Corvair Monza GT Concept Car

The Corvair was a "compact" (USA terminology) car marketed by Chevrolet for model years 1960-69.  Unusual features (again, for the USA) included an air-cooled motor with six cylinders in "boxer" format.  In addition, the engine was mounted at the rear, VW Beetle fashion.  During Corvair's first year in the market a sporty version of its coupé was added: the Monza.

Monzas proved so popular that General Motors used the name for a Corvair-based concept car in 1962.  Unlike production Monzas, the Monza GT show car had the motor mounted ahead of the rear axle, making it a mid-engine vehicle.

The Wikipedia entry for the Monza GT is here.   A General Motors Web page devoted to the car is here.  Wikipedia claims the GT was displayed at the New York Auto Show in 1963, but the GM page says it was 1962.   I mention this because I was able to see the Monza GT at a New York Auto Show since I was stationed in the army within striking distance of New York City both years. What I don't remember is which year I saw the car.

Credit for styling the Monza GT is given to Tony Lapine and Larry Shinoda.

When I viewed it, I was excited by the sculpting of its front end and fenders as well as the fastback roof line.  I still like the design even though I'm more amused by the way it combines some practical engineering with plenty of jazzy show-car features.  In theory, it could have become a production car.  But making it street-legal and ergonomically practical would have neutered many of its design features, destroying its looks.

Gallery

I don't have a source for this photo taken GM's Technical Center.  I include it because it's one of the few images found on the Internet that show the car about as it would look to someone standing nearby -- most photos are taken from unrealistic angles.  The plaque in front of the GT includes the word "Spyder," which seems incorrect.  That refers to the Corvair Monza SS concept car convertible.

Flashy image of the Monza GT that emphasizes the sculpting.

Showing the rear aspect.

Side view.  At the auto show the GT was placed on a raised platform, perhaps with a turntable.  So this low-angle shot is close to what I saw.  It certainly dramatizes what's already a dramatic design.  The various air intake vents clutter the design, but were necessary for cooling the motor.

Poor-quality front view showing the clamshell headlight openings.  Totally impractical for street use.  Ditto the absence of a front bumper.

Passenger compartment opening.  Also impractical if used on stormy days.  An instance of show-car jazz.

This shows how the engined was accessed.  A whiff of show-car jazz, but more practical than the passenger access.

1960 Chevrolet Corvair Monza Coupé

I wrote about Chevrolet's rear-air-cooled-engine Corvair here, mentioning in passing that there was a coupé version.  (For more detailed information about Corvairs, link here.)  In this post, I want to go into more detail on the first-generation (1960-64) coupé.

Corvair coupés came in three varieties.  There was an entry-level model 500 that sold in modest numbers (usually around 16,500 in the USA) each year.  Above it was a model 700 that sold 35,500 at first, falling to 12,800 in 1963 before being dropped from the lineup.  The best seller was the Monza 900, a sporty version whose sales peaked around 152,000 in 1962.  The Monza name (from a high-speed Italian track) was strong enough marketing juice that it was used on Corvair sedans starting in 1961 and on convertibles beginning in 1962.

Corvair coupés of all types were marginally practical in terms of passenger space.  The driver and the passenger seated next to him did well enough, but the back seat was basically for youngsters.  I remember when one of my fellow commercial art students gave some of us a lift in his new Monza and it was extremely cramped in back.

Gallery

Setting the stage, here is a 1960 Corvair four-door sedan, the basis for the coupés.

A General Motors publicity photo of a 1961 Monza.  This was done in a studio.  Note that the background appears to be a backdrop painting.  The "snow" seems granular and fake.

Brochure image of the entry level 1962 Corvair Club Coupe.  It is virtually free of chrome trim.

Side view of a 1960 Monza (Mecum Auctions photo).  This shows how cramped the rear seating was.  I am not sure why the passenger compartment couldn't have been extended a little farther towards the rear.  The aft end of Corvair sedan roofs were slightly to the rear of the rear axle line, so a more curved Monza roof could have extended that far back as well.

Rear 3/4 view of the same car 1960.  This photo and the one above suggest to me that the short greenhouse negatively affected the Monza's proportions: the bustle-back is too long.

Publicity photo of a 1962 view of a coupé.  The shoulder level character line seems too static, even on a smaller car such as this.  Even from this flattering angle, the greenhouse seems too short.

Chevrolet Corvair: The First Generation Sedan and Coupe

Good intentions often get rewarded in negative ways.  Consider Chevrolet's radical (for the American market) Corvair.  It was one of three "compact" cars introduced by Ford (the Falcon), Chrysler (Plymouth Valiant) and General Motors for the 1960 model year in reaction to strengthening sales of small, imported cars, especially the Volkswagen Beetle.

Besides being smaller than standard American cars, the Corvair had an air-cooled opposed-cylinder engine (conceptually similar to the Beetle's) mounted in the rear (also à la Beetle).  For nearly 50 years, the standard for American cars was a water-cooled motor placed at the front of the car driving the rear wheels, so the Corvair concept was indeed bold.  But that engine layout was flawed because it creates a weight bias towards the rear of the car that usually causes handling problems under certain conditions.

So it was that lawyer Ralph Nader wrote an exposé of the Corvair that benefitted his career and destroyed the Corvair brand.  That and other Corvair information is reported here.

As for styling, the first Corvair series (1960-1964 model years) can be classified as "functional," but not at all beautiful.

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I include this photo because the people give a sense of the Corvair's size.

Some makers of rear-engine cars placed a fake grille at the front to give their cars a "normal" appearance.  GM stylists were in a functionalist mode when the Corvair was designed, so gave it a plain, solid front.  An important style feature is the shoulder line chrome trim that is at the same level all the way around the car save for a small drop at the front.

Side view showing how plain (devoid of ornamentation) early Corvairs were.  The little kink at the base of the A-pillar was found on many GM cars starting in 1961.

Rear 3/4 view of a Corvair apparently taken at the Paris auto show.  Note the wraparound backlight (window) and how it relates to the flat roof and C-pillars.

That same design appeared on 1959 four-door pillarless sedans of all GM brands.  This is a Chevrolet Impala Sport Sedan.

First-series Corvairs eventually were available as station wagons, convertibles and coupes.  Shown here in a 1962 Corvair Monza.  It was somewhat sportier than the sedans, but had a cramped back seat.