Ep. 3 The Compact Cars of the Early 1960's

[@dancrawford2202]

You should have mentioned Rambler. They had a really interesting role in the 1960s compact car history.

[@michaelwhite2823]

Yes. I mean if he was going to mention Studebaker.

[@alanrogers7090]

He actually did, for about three seconds, although most of what hew showed on the screen were two seaters, trying to compete in a six-seat race for best affordable car. If you live alone, a two seater makes sense. If you have a family, it's not going to be an option. Lot's of people would like to buy a Corvette, although, for most, it would be a second car, as Mom has to take the kids to soccer practice in the station wagon, minivan, or SUV.

[@paulkosoff8851]

@@alanrogers7090 but it's not about two-seater Rambler Metropolitan (actually, 2+2), but regular Rambler, which was 5-seater, introduced in 1950, considered as the first US compact! By 1955 there appeared even 4-door compacts, like Willys Aero, Hudson Jest and bigger Rambler. However, these compact cars might have been ill-timed before 1958, and disappeared by 1956, with an exception of Rambler, which grew larger and competed with full-size cars, still pretending to be a compact car. Then came Studebaker Lark and small Rambler American again.

[@gymnasiast90]

2:44

[@antiqueshistoryandconspira3791]

The Ramblers really are a neat car. I just bought my first one, that being a 1966 rambler American 440 and it's such a neat and simple little car.

[@robertbraden3889]

All we owned was Valiants when I was growing up, we started with a 1956 Plymouth Savoy it kept breaking down, then on to the Valiants in 1962, 1966, and 1970. Those cars were so reliable with their slant six 225 cu. in. engine! I bought a 1963 Falcon Futura convertible in a field for $75.00 in 1979 and I still have it in my garage today.

[@law-sb2pe]

Saw a slant 6 at the Bonneville Salt flats in a 1965 Valiant

[@maddhatter3564]

Yes the A bodies were great cars especially with the slant 6. i owned a 72 duster,61 dart and a 74 dart with the slant (the 61 had amazing power for a 6) and all got 32-35 mpg

[@johnherdt]

I was a gas station guy in high school 70-74 and saw a lot of slant sixes. One of the great engines. I love tough engines, fun to read about them now when I took them for granted back then.

[@mclaynebalzly1739]

The corvair was way ahead of its time and after it was revamped in 1965 it fixed the styling and axle which made it just as safe as any other car

[@gmzx3]

Drivers were used to easier to control under steering and with the engine and transmission in the back, the handling could be different under certain circumstances. The chassis design may have made this issue worse. Like the Fiero by the time GM got it right, the public lost confidence in the car and it was toast.

[@old-corvair-guy]

After 50 years I still have mine.

[@gavinmclaren9416]

The swing axle on the Corvair could be fixed with a z-bar. The z-bar worked like a sway bar, but in addition to controlling body sway it also limited the camber change with wheel travel. The camber change was what made the car unstable, as it would occur with weight transfer on braking and acceleration. IIRC Chevrolet moved away from the swing axle in 1965 to a more conventional IRS with u-joints at each end of the axle and a control arm arrangement similar to the Corvette. 65 and up Corvairs can be set up to be tremendous sports cars, such as was done with the Yenko Stinger.

[@tracynation2820]

Americas Porsche 911. 💙 T.E.N.

[@obfuscated3090]

Unfortunately build quality sucked as much as the heater was worthless, quite like the VW Beetle which was for a fun time not for a long time. Vair engine and transmissions OTOH were excellent and that car should have been America's Porsche but GM apparently didn't want to cannibalize Vette sales. Being rear-engined made it a deathtrap which ensured it wasn't going to be worth continuing long-term. Nicely styled both early and late, Vair was a "might have been". My bro collected them and we tried to roll one of our engine donors in a parking lot but the tires lacked sufficient grip being old and harder than woodpecker lips. If I wanted one to drive I'd get a '68 and turbo it with a modern turbocharger. We quire enjoyed my bros and it was sort of a baby Camaro.

[@skunkbucket9408]

My first car was a '65 Corvair. That was the first year of the revised, safer rear axles and proto-Camaro styling. It had four wheel independent suspension and a very low center of gravity, so if you used the correct tire pressures (18 front / 30 rear) it handled way better than any other American car of the era, other than the Corvette. And since a flat six has much better primary and secondary balance than a V8, V6 or inline 4, the engine was remarkably smooth, if not terribly quiet.

[@dogmatix2008]

FYI, The Ford Falcon sold really well in Australia and a variant was made until 2016 and in Argentina until about 1985, and the Valiant brand lasted until about 1982 in Australia

[@Onizukachan915]

Australia had new generations of falcons. They were sold in Argentina until the 90s and were the ex act same 63 chassis and body panels with only taillight and headlight/ grill upgrades. We had an 88. And those were the large cars of Argentina, their equivalent of a Crown Vic!

[@dogmatix2008]

@@Onizukachan915 I did see the Argentinian Falcons when I was in Buenos Aires 21 years ago. No Australian Falcons were ever sold there because none were ever made in left hand drive. The Australian falcons from 1972 onwards were unique to Australia and New Zealand

[@johnd8892]

Falcons only sold well in Australia when the make or break upgraded XP model did well after 65.

[@bertmeinders6758]

@@johnd8892 The first 18 months'Falcon production in Australia were all recalled to replace the fragile front suspension. The original Falcon was not engineered for the Land of Pies and Flies, but the Ford Australia General Manager hated the (more expensive) Zephyr, which was.

[@alexanderbjork6451]

But the aussie Falcon was a different car than the american falcon. I prefer the aussie falcon and my favourite is the XY Falcon GTHO Phase III :)

[@johnkaczinski468]

The photo of your 50’s “comfy cozy 4 door cruiser” is actually a 2 door.

[@unclemarksdiyauto]

You noticed that 4 dr, is really a 2 door also!

[@andrewhowarth4578]

@@unclemarksdiyauto I got a good chuckle out of that one too!

[@snowhunter819]

and the fuel pump with gas prizes from 1950`s America is actually German

[@johnmurray4656]

My dad made me buy a 1967 Chrysler crown imperial in1966.didntlikethe car then paid175for it he said to me it's not what it looks like. Guarantee you that you won't get hurt in this car...(smart man)

[@BuzzLOLOL]

Gas guzzlers really didn't start until 1971... to about 1993 for last of them... 1950's and 1960's cars weren't that bad on gas... when driven gently... Small European imports usually had the engine puke out by 25K miles... early Honda Civics lasted about 40 - 60K miles...

[@volkswagenk7017]

the Chevrolet Chevy II was more conventionnal than the Corvair but it was a closer competitor to the Falcon, Valiant, Comet, (Dodge) Lancer, Tempest, F-85, Special and the Rambler American

[@chuckmoore8668]

Agreed, the Corvair was more of a specialty car. And the Chevy II was their Chevrolet's compact at the time.

[@gcfifthgear]

@@chuckmoore8668 The Chevy II was rushed to market after the Falcon handily beat the Corvair in its debut year in 1960

[@chuckmoore8668]

@@gcfifthgear yes, you are right. But your missing the fact that the falcon being a family car vs the corvair being a specialty car is why the Chevy ii was created. Like the falcon the Chevy ii was easy to work on. The common everyday man could tinker with, where as the corvair was more like a some European cars were more significant knowledge was needed for minor repairs.

[@gcfifthgear]

@@chuckmoore8668 we're both right. The Corvair was exotic for American iron, but the Chevy II was much more traditional

[@budlewis721]

@@gcfifthgear It was exotic if exotic means you needed to keep 1 case each of fan belts and oil in the frontrunk. It tended to shed both with impunity; the belt because of its convoluted 90° bend at the back of the engine; the oil because the engine had an oil plate, not an oil pan; even with the engine off the oil was always sitting on a bolted seam. Unless it was torqued properly after an RnR, if the plate bolts were tightened too much, it warped and leaked; too little and it just leaked. What kid uses a torque wrench on an oil pan? Also, a friend who owned one said cornering too quickly ("quickly" was a very subjective description) was like swinging a bucket of sand on a rope around in a circle. The bucket end always keeps going after you stop your end. This was involuntarily demonstrated to me on a number of occasions - we always ended up facing traffic. The car was meant for those who loved to take meticulous care of a car; teens were better off with a Nova or Falcon. I had one of each at separate times, a 21mpg '62 SS 194ci 6 and a 27mpg '63 Ranchero 170ci 6, respectively. Aside from a ≤60-minute head gasket RnR on each one, no major repairs were needed on either, though they both turned more than 200,000 miles when I sold them.

[@billm23456]

My first car in 1972 was a 1961 Valiant - styling by Ghia, spare tire bulge on the trunk lid, push button transmission. Wish I still had it.

[@danielulz1640]

Guia had nothing to do with the styling of the Valiant, entirely Virgil exner.

[@robertpryor7225]

I think those cars styling is underappreciated. I hope that someday there are electric conversion kits that can save cars like that that you can't easily drop a chevy crate motor in.

[@gregoryclemen1870]

at least the push button trans. selector worked on the chrysler cars , unlike the "EDSEL", if you parked that land yacht on a hill without setting the parking brake first, you were "STUCK" the servo- motor was not strong enough to get it out of "PARK POSITION", just remember "FORD HAS BETTER IDEAS!!!!!!!!" ( the "O" was a light bulb,, that came to light in their commercials)

[@PockyFiend]

Actually, the first late '50s compact car was the Rambler American, a rehashed Nash/Hudson Rambler in 1958.

[@billyjoejimbob56]

Correct.

[@michaelweizer7794]

@@billyjoejimbob56 And yet they, the Rambler. Wasn't even mentioned!.,

[@robertpryor7225]

I think it closely resembled the Studebaker Lark. I had front seats that fold flat with the back seats like a bed

[@sunsetusa6926]

@@billyjoejimbob56 '54 Nash metropolitans were common cars around here, Crosley (radio manf) made cars that were tiny enough to fit through dept store doors, 4 cylinder waukeshas. I remember our neighbor doing a quick resto on both those models, he was embarrassed to have them in the garage.

[@HerrBjork]

I would've gone into more detail about GM's other compacts, as all of them are worthy of note: - The Buick Special debuted the Buick 215 aluminium V8, which was later sold to BMC and rebranded as the famous Rover 3500. It also got a V6 version of that engine, making the Special one of, if not the, first American production car with a V6 - The Oldsmobile F85 had a special version named Jetfire, which was one of the world's first production turbocharged cars - The Pontiac Tempest could be optioned with the "Trophy 4" 3.2 litre slanted inline 4 engine, which was almost literally a 6.4 litre Trophy V8 cut in half, making it slanted 45 degrees

[@tuckercannon7063]

The Tempest also had a rear transmission and four wheel independent suspension because of it. Quite different compacts from the 4 GM company, with the Chevy II being the most conventional.

[@gregoryclemen1870]

yup, the "V-6" buick engine was a 60 degree opposing cylinder block, not 90 degrees, like all the engines of the time had been.

[@MichaelPoage666]

I had a '61 Buick Special when I was in high school. Mine had the V8. People always thought it was a Corvair, lol. I loved that thing but the transmission was shot and it had a lot of other problems.

[@cavecookie1]

I had a '62 with the 198 V-6. Mine had a 2 speed auto tranny, and reverse was a little iffy sometimes. Owned mine in the 80s, and parts were really hard to find, and very expensive when you could find them. Had to sell it because, back then I didn't have the bucks to do a resto. I did sell it to someone who eventually did restore it, so it ended up good! That was a fun little car when I had it, though!@@MichaelPoage666

[@jayarnold8883]

You pronounced comet just fine. Your English is very good . Your dutch accent could even be mistaken for a new York accent. Keep up the great work.

[@carolramsey8457]

It should. New York was originally called New Amsterdam!

[@Synchromesh123]

So that's what that accent is! I was trying to pinpoint it. It sounded pretty American but also a little foreign. Now that makes sense. And no, it's not like a NY accent either.

[@2lotusman851]

Good English, but a heavy accent. Not American at all if you come from America.

[@HDTomo]

ironic the dutch colonised new york. it was designed by the dutch too making it more dutchlike

[@robkunkel8833]

Sorry, your fans are being nice to you. Comet is not Co (long O) met. It is pronounced “Ca (a nasal short O, like a Boston “pak ya car” a. Don’t worry about dictation. Americans aren’t leading the pack in being correctness leaders, lately.

[@secton832]

Why doesn't this guy have more subs?

[@EdsAutoReviews]

Thanks for the compliment! I just started out, but please spread the word!

[@mustafaadamjee9863]

yea ikr, his videos are so professional. I expect him to grow big. good luck Ed.

[@russellrobins5320]

Maybe because he can make this video without mentioning the amc rambler??? It’s much more of an economy car than any of them he spoke of

[@Al-thecarhistorian]

Because he does not know what he is talking about.

[@johnd8892]

Because he concentrates on jokes rather than relevant facts.

[@russellrobins5320]

How can you create a video about domestic economy cars and glaringly omit the RAMBLER! Nash kelvinator amc was the epitome of the economy car company with a true economy car

[@garyfrancis6193]

Because he’s not American.

[@1956fordss]

Yep, my mother had Ramblers from '59, '63, 67, 70. I had an '81 AMC Jeep. (wish it'd been a '68 AMX, though)

[@russellrobins5320]

@@1956fordss in 1969 my grandfather bought my grandmother a new rambler coupe because he wouldn’t let her drive his imperial! That rambler was handed down through three generations and then was sold, still running well. In 1995 I bought my brother his first car. It was a 68 rambler four door from the original owner. He hated it at first but it became the favorite of his friends due to its iconic status. They were good inexpensive cars

[@lookbovine]

2:42

[@budlewis721]

It's an ironic shame that part of the reason good cars like Rambler, Studebaker, Packard and a couple others folded was because the cars they made lasted too long, so people didn't replace them as frequently.

[@karlpiepenburg3157]

Rambler was a compact and a major success from about 58-59 and, along with Studebaker, pushed the big three

[@williamclarke4510]

Drove a friend's Lark occasionally.Liked it.

[@aneuno2]

He also left out the Nash Metropolitan.

[@d.o.m.494]

The Ford Falcon was an American compact car yet a large car in Australia!

[@mebsrea]

To be fair, a compact American is a huge tub of lard in most of the rest of the world. 😉

[@ferrofilos]

The falcon It was also build in Argentina, from 62 all the way up to 91

[@d.o.m.494]

@@ferrofilos In Australia it went until 2016.

[@gradypatterson1948]

While I get that the Corvair is an interesting case, the Chevy II / Nova is more in keeping with the general theme - it was designed specifically to compete with the Ford Falcon, was introduced in the 1962 model year (the Corvair was introduced in 1960, of course, but was really designed to compete with the Beetle or Fiat 500).

[@heikosteffens1661]

Compare the size of a tiny Fiat 500 or even a Beetle with the size of a Corvair and you will see that this cannot be correct. You could attache a Fiat on the roof of a Corvair to use it as a Dinghi... It nearly fits under the bonnet :-)

[@scootergeorge7089]

@@heikosteffens1661 - the Ford Falcon, Plymouth Valiant, and Chevrolet Corvair were all originally meant to compete with VW.

[@maddhatter3564]

i forgot that, he did miss my favorite chevy compact. the early novas were very nice ( not so much for the mid 70s like i had) 63-73 novas had best styling

[@MightyMezzo]

Yesterday, I pulled up alongside a 1961 Ford Falcon Ranchero with a cap that made it look remarkably like the Falcon station wagon of my childhood. My parents came across the bill of sale some years ago. $2,800, loaded. (In 1961, “loaded” meant AM radio, heater, seat belts and Ford-O-Matic transmission.)

[@MightyMezzo]

Ha ha our 1961 Falcon was a station wagon. And it was, as I said, loaded.

[@racheledwards8126]

I owned several Corvairs. The early ('61 to '64) models had a swing axle that was tricky. Curves with a decreasing radius were dangerous in those early models. Hence the "Unsafe at Any Speed". The '65 to '69 had a different rear suspension and handled very well. I raced my '66. It could maintain over 70 MPH around a 25 MPH cloverleaf.

[@SockyNoob]

The NHTSA proved that the early Corvairs were perfectly fine for the era. The cause of any control issues were from a lack of experience driving rear engined cars.

[@jayarnold8883]

I love the fact Ralph Nader doesn't drive. Compliments to you for your research 😁

[@foreyfriend145]

What is more, he's a car fan (some 90% sure).

[@navret1707]

That a-hole didn’t even have a driver license.

[@yi_hou3092]

@@navret1707 yeah but he knew 60-70s era Cars were already unsafe so I mean it's thanks to him cars are required to be more strict in terms of safetly

[@stevepowsinger733]

Nader is the ultimate curmudgeon. A zealot who didn’t care if he wrecked the car industry to make a point.

[@sageoz9886]

We had a corvair coupe when I was a kid. It was sadly totaled when rear ended by an inattentive driver in a large Cadillac, which suffered a dented license plate.

[@arnbo88]

Top level management in GM during this time were quite ignorant as to the potential of the economy car. My father was a Chev/Olds dealer in 1964 and was told by the Canadian head of GM that Japanese cars would never gain more than 5% market share.

[@gmzx3]

Arrogance. The world changed with oil prices, better quality imports and gov't regs. Consumer's tastes changed too. I worked for a big multi billion dollar computer company and it like others were killed by the rise of networked PC's.

[@Vicus_of_Utrecht]

@@gmzx3 Same, health insurance company. The Obamacare insurance exchange was being rolled out. Top boys I overhear in the office, the focus of concern over a labor strike (which none of us was whispering about anyways). No, not the chaos of the exchange...

[@sanseijedi]

Really appreciate your fact-filled presentation with your humor. Subscribed!

[@christinemcgowan6086]

If you don’t mind incorrect facts!

[@cavecookie1]

First new car my dad bought was a '56 Bug...Two years before I was born! Said he used to run Volkswagon car rallies, and Volks' drivers would wave and beep at each other when they saw one another. Back in those days, Bugs were still a novelty!

[@TheHelado36]

This channel has to be the most underrated car channel ! Hope the best for it!

[@bearinmind50]

Let me say that I do appreciate the effort you put into these videos.

[@daveallen8824]

And you somehow totally ignored the cars with the greatest impact on Detroit - the Rambler., which was there long before Studebaker, and had its best year in 1958.

[@robkunkel8833]

Watch the whole video. 2:41 he mentions the Nash series. Admittedly, it was not much of a mention but the Nash cars were serious cars that had smaller engine advantages. They were not compact cars, unless you consider the Metropolitan. The purpose of this piece is to address the “quirky” answers that the Big Three called “compact” cars. They cannot be compared to the sensible, rather serious AMC cars.

[@sonoranrain2330]

Spot on....My Dad's first "family" car purchase was a Rambler American. Wonderful car that I have fond memories of...My Dad predominantly bought AMC until their demise... Remember the Matador? Yep,my Dad bought one in 1971.

[@sonoranrain2330]

@@robkunkel8833 I couldn't agree more. They should have had a much larger market share given the quality of automobiles they were producing.( American Statesman and the Ambassador) They had certainly secured a niche market,but couldn't increase their market share beyond that. And to change their vision and overall quality of vehicles in their waning years saddens me even more. To devolve from a once great car company to a dying company based on novelty cars (Gremlin,Pacer and Matador) is beyond the pale. Just my 2 cents....

[@dennischallinor8497]

You must be as old as me mate? I think the Rambler American '66 was the ideal car for a young guy just starting out. My uncle had a '61 Rambler Classic, owned it five years and not one minute of trouble. A buddy of mine had a '68 Valiant slant 6 -- unbeatable car, put over 500K MILES before she died!

[@chrisgraham2904]

@@dennischallinor8497 As a teenager, my 1966 Rambler CLASSIC was an ideal car. My friends considered the Rambler to be "an old man's car", but with some luxury interior features and the 287 V8 engine, it met all of my needs. Also, remember that the generously upholstered front seats reclined all the way down to create a wall-to-wall bed. The fathers of daughters did not like Ramblers.

[@sonnie6210]

Thank you for your interesting and entertaining presentations. I also love your accent it makes it different in a good way. Thanks Ed

[@saintmichael1779]

I really like your humor, both broad and subtle.

[@chrismoody1342]

Love your stuff Edward. Most of all your voice overs are highly entertaining. Carry on.

[@manthony225]

A big part of the decline in Corvair's sales was the introduction of the Mustang and Chevy's own Camero.

[@Diap842IV]

And maybe because every Corvair engine leaked oil. If you had the Powerglide and kicked it down over 40 mph you’d throw a belt. If you didn’t stop, you’d overheat and further harden those oil seals. Today we have seals that take the heat but they were just messy in their day. Had four in the family. I remember.

[@danr1920]

@fpeletz Nope! Mustang and Camaro. Chevy was going to drop the Corvair when the Camaro came out, but thought it would look like Ralph made them do it, so it made it through the 1969 model year, and extra there years.

[@WhittyPics]

My dad had a 1963 Corvair. Nadar gave the Corvair a bad name. It wasn't as bad as he claimed

[@horseyhorselips3501]

My uncle had a Corvair Van and the engine caught fire 🔥 all the time because of the fan belt braking, yes was a very dangerous car,

[@packingten]

@@horseyhorselips3501 Then your Uncle was doing something wrong you wouldn't know a Corvair if it bit you in the butt.😡,You liberal braindead believe anything they tell you Comrade!.

[@jaysgood10]

My family died in one.

[@2lotusman851]

@@jaysgood10 So you are posting from beyond the grave? Spooky!

[@rnreajr9184]

My parents bought a 1961 Corvair. They tried to save money by extending the oil change, and ended up buying a new engine. My mom's mother had a Lark, which she loved (it was her favorite car). December 1964 floods of northern California destroyed it (and her house, and her neighbors' houses, etc.), so my parents gave the Corvair to her. She drove it for many years, and it was a good car. What Nader said in his book was still true, though. The Corvair it had its flaws, just like most cars did back then. GM did fix those flaws, but not before acting like complete asses by harassing Nader (and getting caught.) My father's mother had a 1961 Valiant (black with a red interior - it looked like a Nazi staff car) which she loved, and drove it for decades until she could no longer drive.

[@bobanundson9247]

I enjoyed the video. I am 78 and thought I would give an eye witness perspective. Many of the comments of the the others have pointed out the 50s compact cars from Kaiser (Henry J), Hudson(Jet), Nash (Rambler) especially in 1956, and Willys (Aero). !960 was significant was the Big Three were countering imports, and Rambler which was very successful. The suspension of the Corvair was basically the same as VW except Corvair had a much wider wheel making it safer. VW has understeering and Porsche as well. Nader has admitted that Corvair was no worse than its German counterparts. An element for the success of foreign cars was a sizable counter-culture wanted a more practical and cheaper car and disliked the big three as being greedy corporations typical of American in general. The winner was VW which even though at the time, I thought it was a horrible design but had great marketing. Marketing and great quality of fit, a reputation of reliability (overstated) and fit and finish worked in the counter culture. All that made the resell value very good. Think about the popularity of jeans with holes as an example of some folks buying to be cool with their subculture. There was something about being cool if you drove a VW for some people.

[@drakec.9327]

Don't forget the Crosley

[@johnherdt]

Comet is pronounced "Com" like "Tom" for sure in the states. Or "Comedy." My dad was a garage station mechanic (me too at 15) and in 1974 he bought an old lady's 1963 Corvair 4-door that I drove for about a year between high school and college. I LOVED it. My first car was a half-beaten 1966 GTO so I knew speed, but the Corvair felt so low to the ground and cornered flat. I didn't drive it like a sports car, more like touring rate. The terraplane. First car I drove that didn't float around. Nader can take a hike. Cheers!

[@richardmerriam7044]

The 1965 Corvair had a well designed rear suspension. It was safe enough to race in SCCA competition. The Monza Spyder is now viewed as a valuable collectors car. I briefly drove a 1965 Corvair that my sister owned. The handling was excellent.

[@whyme3286]

I have a 63 Corvair and it’s so much fun to drive!

[@tomfrazier1103]

3 Toyopet Crown sedans were on offer in Honolulu, arriving 27 Dec. 1957. They were sold in some mainland towns in 1958. Soon enough they were rebranded as "Toyota", and their compact pickups, and bigger than a Jeep Land Cruiser 4x4 sold more than the passenger cars until the 1965 arrival of the Corona RT 43, a bug-sized Galaxie.

[@KDoyle4]

The Toyopet Crown of the mid/late 1950s was a huge failure in the U.S. It was both underpowered and geared too low, which caused engine a high percentage of engine failures. A Rambler American could run rings around it, while getting about the same MPG.

[@drakbar5957]

The Valiant may have looked like crap, but at least you got the toilet seat on the rear deck. Thank you, Virgil Exner!

[@4thstooge75]

The styling of the Valiant was awful, but the engineering made up for it. The bulletproof "slant 6" engine a true 3 speed automatic (GM & Ford had crappy 2 speed automatics) which made them ponderously slow. The Valiant was the first car with a Alternator while the others had lousy generators.

[@gmzx3]

I think the full size cars had that fake spare thing on the trunk too. Electronic ignition in '72-'73 before GM and Ford. Chrysler was a solid engineering company back then. Remember those ballast resistors on the firewall?

[@barrycuda3769]

@@4thstooge75 valiant's after that shape I'd imagine would have been designed by Elwood Engel??? .

[@trevorjacobs1282]

Where has the man been my whole KZbin viewing life? Brilliant

[@drfalcon4102]

so, why did you forget AMC and the Rambler American, that came out in 1958???

[@CreatorCade]

Yeah I was wondering the same thing.

[@AMCMag]

He didn't forget. He mentioned that the "Nash Rambler existed" early on then ignored it. The stupidity of this is that the 1950-55 Nash Rambler is considered the first truly successful American compact. It wasn't the first, but the first with reasonable acceptance, mainly meaning popularity and sales. It got larger and was sold as it's own brand in 55. In 58 the 1955 model was reintroduced as the Rambler American, and this time an economy model. One reason the 50 Nash Rambler was successful was that it was sold as a premium model, not a budget model as all compacts before it. The 58 Rambler American is the ONLY US car ever successfully reintroduced after being out of production for a time. The recession is why AMC did this. They just dusted off the old dies and molds, made some minor changes, and had a cheap to produce proven compact. It helped propel Rambler to the #3 sales position in the US in 1961. That makes ignoring it in an article about American compacts even more stupid.

[@packingten]

NO you guys probably weren't around I see all the "Experts" making comments,..ERRONEOUS ONE'S...This little car was the FIRST COMPACT...Sorry. kzbin.info/www/bejne/aGXXdpWjls1-iLs

[@wolfgangblack8035]

The Hudson Jet beat them out by a few years. 1953. Americans hated the small Hudsons.....

[@computernerdinside]

@@AMCMag He was focusing on more of "the big 3" and their answer to "compact cars", hence why he didn't focus on the Rambler.

[@calbob750]

I owned a 1964 Corvair. Like the Volkswagen the engine in the rear caused serious oversteer. In other words if you went into a corner too fast you would go off road rear end first. This was known by GM and corrected In 1964 and beyond with sway bars added to the suspension to prevent this. One advantage the Corvair had was that it had great traction in the snow. If you lived in the “snow belt” you would appreciate the better traction that a rear engine car offered.

[@kkarllwt]

The other nice thing about the corvair was that backing into a curb or parking block gave you a chance to crawl under it and repair the exhaust with muffler bandage.

[@fossil-bit8439]

My favorite cars are the 62-63 Larks also love the wagons with the retractable roof section!

[@AnexoRialto]

My first car was a 1965 Plymouth valiant with a slant 6 cylinder engine. Great car and extremely durable.

[@dicksanders8206]

Those Chrysler 6 cyl engines were very reliable, but cold blooded.

[@billyjoejimbob56]

Agree that the Lark was an exceptionally well engineered car for its time. So was the Valiant, although its looks were more than a little polarizing. One additional reason Studebaker was headed for bankruptcy... Its merger with the hemoraging Packard Corporation drained limited resources. When you are drowning, you better flag down a ship that has a life preserver to throw.

[@barryismygod]

I had always heard that AMC was interested in buying studebaker/Packard maybe if they had they would have become the independent version of General Motors

[@nicholascortez728]

@@barryismygod issue was Packard and Studebaker where both pretty stubborn in not wanting to admit to the reality that they were both circling the drain. They both flat out refused to merge with Nash and Hudson and decided to merge with each other despite neither of them being very solvent. Packard could have been the much needed luxury feather in AMCs cap that they never really had and Studebaker could have been the affordable sporty option.

[@barryismygod]

@@nicholascortez728 Exactly !

[@michaelweizer7794]

@@nicholascortez728 Studebaker also had a good line of trucks as well!.

[@sutherlandA1]

Actually Packard more or less purchased Studebaker but found out once the sale was finalised that their new acquisition was in worse shape than led to believe. The merged of Nash, Hudson, Studebaker and Packard was a close reality but it's proponent, former Nash-Kelvinator chairman and CEO died before a formal merger could be inked

[@peterdaniel66]

love your wit and sense of humor!

[@d.o.m.494]

The Valiant was the Chrysler Valiant in Australia.

[@MrTonaluv]

The Falcon was the Ford Falcon in Australia.

[@humakhan80]

I am a cultured man I see Corvair I like

[@danr1920]

I own a '65. 😎

[@StephiSensei26]

You mention Studebaker, and I'm so glad you did. it was my first car! No, not the Lark, but, a real full size1957 Studebaker with the renound Studebaker V-8. But, you failed to mention the Studebaker comeback car, "Avanti", which pretty much sounded the death knell for Studebaker. But it was a beauty. OK, it's not a compact, but I just thought I'd bring it up, while Studebaker was on the floor, uh, so to speak. THX!

[@rafvanraevels]

Great show. I'm enjoying your light, interesting and very interesting view on car manufacturing.

[@Trebuchet48]

My first car was a 1965 Corvair. Still my favorite car I've ever owned. Wish I still had it.

[@chrischoin7402]

Fun fact... the Corvair was at on point supposed to be air cooled front wheel drive. Next fact.. the 1965 and up Corvairs handled incredibly well with Corvette style independent suspension. I know because I had one in the late 80's and on.

[@DoctorT327]

We had 3 corvairs in our family I liked them. they gave good gas mileage and I never noticed any handling problems. We lived in a small town and never really did any aggressive driving.

[@Steve101747]

At 2:06...that's a two-door coupe. Ah ha! gotcha. But honestly, I am really enjoying your videos. Keep them coming.

[@EnriqueLopez-hb5jn]

The Mustang, which today is still a big seller for Ford,and has been the only car to remain on the Ford Platform, while Ford has concentrated on SUVs, trucks.

[@gcrav]

The Corvair wasn't killed by Ralph Nader, it was killed by GM's bean-counter driven decision to imitate the Mustang with the Camaro instead of continuing with what was an early sports sedan with the Corvair. The parts bin approach was the path of least resistance but it landed GM in Palookaville about 10 years later, when the pony cars were a bad joke and the sports sedan market (BMW, Audi, etc.) was taking off.

[@marcolforoso4001]

Ed, the Corvair issue was created by the aggressiveness of the workshops and tire specialists in inflating the tires as if it were a front-engined car! Just think that even today in 2022 I saw it happen for my BMW I3!!!

[@davidkleinthefamousp]

Dear Ed. T. Y. 4 a delightful romp thru my youth. In the 70’s I had a 63 Plymouth Valiant (3 on-the-tree)You have a fine accent, thanks for coming 2USA. People make USA Great Again!

[@timturner3481]

the original 60 valiant was actually a great car. a bit rust-prone but a wonderful little car with wild-assed styling. first year for any manufacturer to use an alternator...first year for the venerable slant-6....torsion bar suspension....way ahead of its time.

[@ShaneAcree]

I love the way you say compact car! And all your videos!

[@bertmeinders6758]

The Lark was brilliant. All they did was shorten the wheelbase and lose a lot of heavy, mostly useless overhang. Performance, economy and handling all improved, and useful carrying capacity remained much the same.

[@kaboombox1581]

Yeah, Chevrolet had the Corvair which was interesting in its engineering, but it also had the Chevy II/Nova at the same time. Compact but in the more traditional front engine/rear drive layout.

[@chrisyu98]

The Corvair suffered loss of sales due to changing demands. Muscle cars were in and the air cooled engine was HP limited. Even in the turbocharged model it didn't compete with the big blocks.

[@gmzx3]

The Camaro, Mustang etc also helped bury it.

[@guycraig2030]

The Corvair,,is 100% identical to my wife and i’s First Car..paid 2300+ auto, Posi, radio, ww, caps,,etc..was truly a great car for us.

[@88SC]

The Pontiac Tempest had the same swing axle IRS as the Corvair, as well as a transaxle. It was revised to semi trailing arms with half shafts in 1963. The road racing and autocross crowds knew exactly how to take advantage of the Corvair’s oversteer; not a problem for them.

[@Diap842IV]

But the four cylinder engine was up front. Must have had better weight distribution than average for the time.

[@88SC]

@@Diap842IV yes, and they pressed the point in marketing, as they should have. I wonder what the weight difference was between the big, iron four and the optional aluminum Buick V8.

[@catjudo1]

The Henry J, a product of Kaiser automobiles, was introduced in 1950 and ran through 1954. This compact car was offered with four and six cylinder engines and was also sold through Sears as the Allstate. It gets forgotten when American compacts are mentioned. Even earlier was American Austin/American Bantam, which initially sold versions of the Austin 7 built under license in the USA. These sub-1 liter engined cars could return 40 mpg in the early 1930's. Interestingly, American Bantam built the original Jeeps, most of which were sent to Great Britain and the Soviet Union.

[@sutherlandA1]

Not to mention the Nash/AMC/Rambler models which were not acknowledged and overlooked

[@hampstead2010]

Owned a62 Corsair convertible and love it

[@mcm730]

I have a Corvair. They’re great cars, can keep up with the new ones surprisingly well, if you don’t mind the lack of safety features.

[@yadayadayada4173]

General Motor's small car of the same class as the Ford Falcon wasn't the Corvair - it was the Chevy II; later named Nova.

[@danr1920]

The Chevy II came out 2 or 3 years later.

[@4thstooge75]

@@danr1920 2 years later after GM realized the Corvair wasn't selling due to its unconventional design.

[@jakekaywell5972]

@@4thstooge75 A real shame, that. The American public has been too conservative in it's thinking for too long.

[@keonikaig9247]

Most enjoyable...Love your humor ....Thank you ... 🌴👍😎🌴

[@henryvorster3734]

This channel is seriously underrated .

[@daveh893]

Great video. My family drove from Chicago to Springfield, Illinois in a borrowed Corvair. I guess the experience made them decide to buy a Ford Falcon a year later.

[@jamesstuart3346]

Rambler has been mentioned but you could also buy various compact British and French cars during that time, both in Canada and the US

[@wilhelmtaylor9863]

When I returned from RVN in '71 I purchased my first car: a '68 Corvair. Sweet coupe, red with white leatherette interior. One winter, driving I25 from Cheyenne to Ft. Collins, in the middle of nowhere, I saw a huge cloud of smoke trailing me. I pulled off at a ramp. When I opened the rear deck I was enveloped by smoke. The belt had broken and knocked off the top of the oil pump. So the oil was being thrown on the engine and not IN the engine. An engine was going to cost more than a car so that was the end of that. But I loved that car while it was alive. By 1968 they had apparently fixed the Ralph issues.

[@tomcarlson3913]

The Pontiac Tempest was interesting because it was rear Transmission (more specifically trans-axle), front engine. A configuration rarely seen in American cars. The engines of the senior compacts: an Aluminum V8 and the cast Iron V6 derived from it (because one GM division thought they could make a better iron 6 out of the V8) are interesting too. The V8 became a popular boat engine, then was bought by Land Rover who continued to put it in cars and SUVs into the 2000s. The V6 got sold to Jeep/AMC until the first US fuel crisis when Buick was looking for more efficient engines and bought the tooling and design back from AMC. That engine found it's way into legendary cars like the Buick Grand National and survived in Gm products into the 2000's too.

[@4thstooge75]

Only the '61-'63 Pontiac Tempest had the rear transmissions (Corvair transmissions) The F85 Olds & the Buick Special had conventional transmissions.

[@tomcarlson3913]

@@4thstooge75 correct. I never stated or implied the others had the trans axle, because I know they didn't.

[@genegoodwin8925]

It is a shame that Corvair sales dropped like they did especially since GM corrected the handling problem in 1965 by adding another u-joint to each of the rear axles. Ralph Nadar killed the Corvair, but the handling problem was corrected in 1965. I owned a 1963 model when I was a teenager and it was the best car I owned out of seven cars I owned when I was a teen.

[@scootergeorge7089]

The Nader book, "Unsafe at any speed" may have hurt Corvair sales some but it was the Ford Mustang that killed it. The Chevy II Nova took the economy car sales and the Mustang the sporty car market made popular by the Corvair Monza and Corsa.

[@vicromono4799]

Ralph Nader had nothing to do with the low sales and end of production of the Corvair. GM executives were to blame by attempting to blackmail and strong-arm Nader. They should have just left him alone because in the end they did more harm to the car than Nader and boosted his credentials in the process. Several private studies concluded that it was as safe if not safer than most cars of that date. Full independent suspension was introduced in 1965 and the second generation was beautiful. 1969 was the last year of production of this fuel stingy, sporty little car and just four years later the OPEC embargo had the big three scrambling to build such cars as the Pinto, Gremlin and Vega. GM had the perfect car already designed with most of the bugs worked out but no, they gave us the Vega.

[@bearinmind50]

I think you need to do a little more research on the response of Ford and GM to the increasing sales of imports. Ford was planning on bringing over the German Ford Taunus as it’s primary import and GM was going to bring over an Opel. After more study, it was decided the easier route was to build US designed cars. The Corvair was a stand-alone design with no siblings designed as their answer to the Beetle. GM decided a more conventional design would be the one shared across the fleet and created the Chevy II with its siblings at Pontiac, Buick, and Olds. The Plymouth Valiant also had a sibling at Dodge called the Lancer.

[@williambodine4105]

The Valiant was always a model, not a marque. It was only sold at Chrysler-Plymouth dealers. And was branded a Plymouth from 1961 on. For 1960 and '61, the Comet was technically a separate marque. It was sold by Lincoln-Mercury dealers. Some states would have allowed it to be registered as make: Mercury; model Comet. some others as just a Comet. And you can't discuss the switch to small cars and 1958 without mentioning AMC/Rambler, the only US automaker with increased sales in recession 1958.

[@gmzx3]

I thought of Rambler too. He touched on Nash (Metropolitan). Nash (Rambler), Hudson, Jeep became AMC. They were mostly small cars but later made full sized ones too.

[@willgeary6086]

Funny enough the independent makers already made compact cars in the early 50's, Nash Rambler, Hudson Jet, Willys Aero, Kaiser's Henry J., and Crosley made only small cars.

[@billyjoejimbob56]

Funny, or out of necessity? You are absolutely right. If colliectively they had had some financial critical mass behind them, and survived into the mid 70s, automotive history could be very different today. Woulda, coulda, shoulda?

[@danlove4270]

Americans are so affected by marketing....purchasing a cheap car means you don’t have money like your neighbor does...

[@od1452]

Yes people forget about them.

[@MrSkeltal268]

@@billyjoejimbob56 I know in Kaiser’s case it was not out of necessity but a pet project of Henry Kaiser himself. Some say his stubbornness in making a “people’s car” (the Henry J) vs developing a V8 sunk the company.

[@ericjohnson9468]

‘Swing-axle’ rear suspension wasn’t restricted to just the Corvair,. As a kid it was my first car, a coupe w/ manual transmission.......so it wasn’t like I didn’t drive it HARD as a teen, so I’d know about ‘how it handled’.... as in dangerously. At the time, the SAME rear suspension was found in the VW, the Porsche, the MB sports car, the Triumph Herald.... it was a cheap way to provide an independent rear suspension that was the mark of sophistication in ‘handling car suspensions’ then. Plus, with those cars with rear engines, it was mandatory..... the bulk of a ‘solid rear’ would never work. The second design of the Corvair was much more curvy ‘Italian’ in body style, & with a truly 4-wheel, all-independent suspension.... the ‘swing-axle’ was gone. Like all successful designs, GM improved it to make it competitive, & even today that supple body styling is appealing. Like many young American guys, I improved the performance of my Corvair..... better tires, better ‘shocks’, anti-sway bars front & back..... all aftermarket items readily available & affordable.... .... including scavenging performance parts from wrecks in auto salvage yards. The ‘flat-six’ engine could easily pump out more power than the ‘pedestrian version’ offered in most models. The Corvair was a clever [& copy-cat] car design very much of its time, with lawyer Ralph Nader using it as a scapegoat to make a name for himself as a ‘consumer-protection crusader’.

[@TommyChardonneret]

Having found out about your magnificent YT videos only recently, Ed (like within the last month), I'm a little late to the game about your tremendous channel. But I must say that at one time in my younger years, I was very thankful to Ralph Nader for making the resale prices of Corvairs dirt cheap! For only $100 in 1975, I bought from the original owner a 1965 Corvair Monza 2-door coupe (that had all of its possible options) with an automatic transmission that was shifted with a small lever ON THE DASHBOARD! And they had only raked up about 9,000 miles in its ten years of use. The car was one seriously fantastic driving machine that I sold about 6 months later for a whopping $500 to a teenage neighbor who didn't know any better - talk about "Buyer Beware!" Yet, I saw that guy driving that Corvair around for the next 3 years before I moved about 350 miles away. In my own defense (admittedly self-serving), I only advertised cars for sale at a certain price "or best offer." Just because nobody ever haggled down the price was far from my fault, am I right? And whenever I wanted to buy a used car, I always asked the seller what price they wanted, and through some major streak of sheer luck, all of those sellers had no idea of the true worth of their cars. Therefore, I simply said, "Okay!" and then paid them the $20 bill I had in my pocket to hold the deal, quickly followed up with the remaining cash for the title and keys as soon after I could get to my bank to withdraw that cash balance. A few of those sellers even complimented me afterward for Simonizing their old car, replacing all of the tires with brand new radials from Sears (that had the French tire company Michelin making their Sears branded tires back then), and putting to good use the car they had left gathering Autumn leaves, Winter snowfalls, roadside grime, and Springtime pollen aplenty! Ah yes, living back then in the beginning of the end of the excessively wealthy USA had its perks!

[@mikebaginy8731]

In the mid 60s I lived in northern New Jersey. Our neighbour was forever fiddling with his Corvair, which I never saw him driving. After three years my family and I moved and for all I know, his grandchildren may still be trying to get that old car on the road again!

[@LasVegas68]

I owned a 1965 Corvair I bought from a friend. The car ran great even though I had to always carry a FEW extra fan belts with me. Lol

[@sepperD3]

I like the fact you give not only a world automotive history but also an American one from a " yuro" perspective

[@nealammerman6768]

The engines in the compacts were smaller. The Falcon had a small 144cid 6 cyl..in 1961 a 170 cid was offered. Valiant had either a 170 cid or optional 225cid Slant Six, the larger engine was also used in the full size Plymouth and Dodge.

[@MartinSage]

In the '60's my Dad drove a new Sunbeam 2 cylinder and then a new VW squareback while my Uncle drove a Renault Dalphine (tiny). I drove at 16 a 57 Chevy PU...ha ha while my Sister had a Ply Fury. Ha ha kids drove V8's!! My grand father drove a 66 Ford Mustang while Grand Ma had a Ford Falcon

[@Diap842IV]

I’m curious about the 2 cyl Sunbeam. There were a number of 2 cylinder cars around 1960 but I never heard of a Sunbeam with less than 4 cylinders. What model?

[@robinj.9329]

Curious! My Family owned and drove Larks for years back then. And we never thought of them as "Compact". Or even as being particularly "Economical"! Q. How did we miss THAT ?

[@michaelwhite2823]

Edward! You forgot all about the Rambler. You re usually so thorough.

[@Oldcarnut63]

The Studebaker lark was a better looking Autombile than the others. And studebaker ended production of automobiles in 1966 . Studebaker continued on into the 1980s and phased out during that time but Automotive production ended in Canada in 1966

[@billhowes7464]

My sister had a '63 Corvair. Blue four door. Fun car to drive. Handled well.

[@BillyAlabama]

Great article! Thank you.

[@sarahdawn7075]

My first car was a 1964 Chevy Corvair Monza that looked exactly like the one in the title image for this video. I loved that little car.

[@alan6832]

Smaller cars can get better mileage even with the same engines, especially if they have higher rear end final drive gears, which they usually do. They will also be faster, except the same at launch, about 0-15, which should be the same if both are geared to maximize efficiency. Also, Chevy brought back 4 cylinders for the Chevy 2 around this time and the Valiant had the 170.

[@breckschwartz635]

I owned a 63 corsair monza, it was awesome! Handled great!

[@kevinhaggerty3007]

I remember all of those. Thanks for the info !

[@arthurcahill5941]

Good video . The last scene on your video showing this car image would be a ford mustang. This is my quest on this video.

[@pcno2832]

The dilemma for the U.S. carmakers was that the public expected to pay less for smaller cars when, with similar levels of equipment, they cost about as much to build as big cars, even more in cases like the Corvair or the "rope drive" Tempest, in which lots of unique parts were needed. Volkswagen had the advantage of German labor (still cheaper in the 1950s), favorable exchange rates and much of its R&D having been done free of charge under Hitler. Even the relatively successful Mini, with a long production life and a much more receptive home market, lost money for years. So a boring compact car like the Falcon, which cost little to develop and was the basis for many successful cars like the Mustang, 1960s Torino, U.S. Granada and nearly everything Ford built in Australia, was a better bet. GM wisely cancelled plans to build a FWD F85 and used the "UPP" technology to build the Toronado and Eldorado, both expensive novelty cars that gave GM the experience it needed to build profitable FWD cars two decades later.

[@tomhoyer2313]

I saw a Corvair pull into a parking lot and drop the passenger side front wheel flat on the ground. The whole front suspension failed because the lower arm wore through the bolt and allowed to spring to push the whole assembly flat on the ground with the wheel cover pointing up to the sky. I now knew why Nader was so intent on killing this lemon. Ugh! The woman fell into tears.

[@tjoelfoster]

In 1958, the year I was born, my Dad had a 40-mile one-way commute. In late 1958 he bought a new 1959 Vauxhall. In 30k miles the car had 2 valve jobs (under warranty) due to burnt valves. After the 2nd valve job in late 1959, he traded it to the same dealer that he had bought it from for a brand new 1960 2 door Falcon. He traded it in 1966 for a Fairlane (1964 model that he traded for a 1967 Fairlane about a year later), but the memory of the Falcon remained, and, after a couple of late 50s Simcas for beater cars he bought a 4 door 1960 Falcon as a beater. He sold it and upgraded to a 1962 Falcon Wagon, then again to a 1965 Falcon Wagon. The 1965 Falcon was so "nice" that we took it on a trip instead of the nice family car (a 1969 LTD). My Dad was a Ford man until the 80s. My Grandfather was a Chrysler man, however. He traded his 1955 Desoto in late 1962 for a 1963 Valliant. Traded that for his last car in 1973 - a 1973 Plymouth Valliant. I was never impressed with that "Chrysler engineering". Oh, both had 225 slant 6s and ran like sewing machines, but both leaked. Bad. Both Valliants leaked around the front windshield and in the trunk. The dealership could never fix the leaks in the 63, and the carpet rotted as a result. They got the leak in the windshield in the 73 to stop leaking, but it wasn't until I crawled in the trunk with a flashlight and my Grandad used a garden hose that we found the trunk leak ourselves. We were able to stop it by adjusting the trunk lid, but it was always hard to close and was misaligned on the body panels after that. But it was the only way to stop the leak. Those Valiants had quality issues I never saw in the Fords.

[@Steve101747]

Aprox 2:00...where are the other two doors?

[@cjr3559]

Cute image of the wrecked Corvair radiator steaming from the trunk