In OTL Ralph Nader's Unsafe at Any Speed preceded his later lesser known attack on Volkswagen resulting in GM suffering huge reputational damage over the Corvair whereas Volkswagen got off very lightly with its rear-engined cars (despite almost going bankrupt trying to replace its rear-engine family prior to the Golf), dependent on whether the Corvair receives front anti-roll bar and other changes in ATL from the outset what if his attack on Volkswagen instead preceded his attack on GM?
Automotive WI - Nader vs Volkswagen in place of Unsafe at Any Speed
- Thread starter Masked Grizzly
- Start date
Driftless
Donor
Might a Volkswagen-focused "Unsafe" and Nader be viewed as a minor blip? Without the harpoon into GM and big news splash it made, the expose' may not have had the impact it did historically. Nader was viewed by some as a rabble-rousing troublemaker and by others as a hero of consumer protection. That's another piece of the impact - the general leap in consumer protection activity that came out of "Unsafe"
marathag
Banned
Slamming the VW Beetle, Corvair and most of the other imports as being deadly on the road in 1965 is different than OTL hitpiece on the Corvair.
Now the Corvair did have real high speed handling issues, but so did the VW, though by 1965 with only 50HP motor, it was hard for the Beetle to get into that high speed domain in the first place, having a top speed of just under 70mph, while the Corvair was around 110mph for most models
It is possible it would be a blip at best to playing a role in Volkswagen either going bankrupt or hastily replacing the Beetle at worst.
What intrigues me is would anything have changed from the above had the Corvair's problems been butterflied away with from the start (let alone had the Beetle faced any stiffer competition in North America)? Despite looking into a 3rd generation Corvair for the 1970s it seems GM were intent on washing their hands of the car and embracing a more conventional design in OTL.
Driftless
Donor
A small personal irony, I had the use of my older brother's 61? Corvair when the book came out. I read the book and still loved the car anyway. 
However, one of my high school mates rolled her Corvair on her first solo drive after getting her license. She took a big sweeping S turn at too great of speed and over she went. No injuries, but the car was toast.
However, one of my high school mates rolled her Corvair on her first solo drive after getting her license. She took a big sweeping S turn at too great of speed and over she went. No injuries, but the car was toast.
marathag
Banned
Nah the Hippies loved the Bug too much for VW to sink, but might see the switch to the Type III with an earlier IRS, and eliminate the Type II bus, one of the most unsafe vehicles ever to hit the Road in North America.
Getting rid of the Beetle sooner would do VW well for the future. It really was like Henry Ford and the T, staying with an obsolete chassis a decade longer than they should have.
Problem was, VW started to believe their advertising agency DDB, that less was more.
marathag
Banned
My neighbor had a '61, and his biggest gripe was the cooling fan.A small personal irony, I had the use of my older brother's 61? Corvair when the book came out. I read the book and still loved the car anyway.
Have to wonder whether the Hippies could have embraced alternative transportation in place of the VW Bug and Bus / Type 2, something that does not necessarily have to be rear-engined or European?
Agree that VW could have done much more to further develop and even replace the Bug with a suitable successor that kept its rear-engined formula fresher a bit longer before switching to FWD without any dramatic butterflies.
marathag
Banned
They seemed to like the advertising that VW wasn't like all the other auto companies, staying with basically unchanged vehicles since 1949, even though a lot had changed under the skin, and how its minimalistic design, being just enough car for what the Volk, err People needed, rather than desired.
That it was easy to work on, and cheap to repair was a bonus, though it didn't get any better mileage than a Ford Falcon or Dodge Dart, and worse than other small Euro cars.
Other foreign cars that may have worked in place of the Beetle were around, but didn't have the dealer network like VW built up over the '50s,and especially DDB advertising that really built up the cult following VW gained at that time.
Renault could have potentially been one of a number of suitable alternative candidates with the right circumstances in ATL. Beginning with a Dauphine featuring a 4-speed gearbox from the start and other regular Beetle-like improvements (to remedy OTL issues), followed by the R8/R10 (plus R8/R10-based successor to the Caravelle/Floride) later the R4/R6 and Estafette in place of the Bug and Bus with enlarged 1.3-1.6-litre versions of the C-Type engine (depending on the model).
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marathag
Banned
I don't know about the earlier US Imports, but AMC era Renaults I found horrible to work on,were the the earlier R4 also terrible, besides having half the HP of the already low powered for the USA, VW Beetle?
Going with the R4/R6 comparison against the Beetle that in its most potent guise put out 50 hp from 1.6-litres (outside of the South American 65 hp 1.6), even an earlier version of the emissions strangled 1.4-litre in the OTL US Renault R5 aka Le Car (that is related to the R4/R6) and Renault Alliance would put out around 50-64 hp, whereas an equivlent 1.6-litre version of the same-spec 1.4-litre unit would put out about 57-73 hp.