To throw industrial spies off the track in the early days of the Corvair’s development, the revolutionary air-cooled Chevy was slyly disguised as an experimental Holden.
Edward N. Cole (1909-1977) rightly could be called the father of the Chevrolet Corvair. He was also father of the Chevy small-block V8, the Chevrolet Vega, and the ubiquitous catalytic converter. Indeed: With the exception of Charles F. “Boss” Kettering himself, it’s difficult to name another engineer at General Motors with a greater impact on the automaker’s products.
Shooting up through the executive ranks, Ed Cole was promoted to chief engineer at Chevrolet in 1952, general manager of Chevrolet in July of 1956, and president of GM in 1967. And when the revolutionary Chevrolet Corvair made its debut in early October of 1959, Time magazine boldy featured Cole and the Corvair on the cover.
With an air-cooled, flat-six engine mounted in the rear and independent suspension at all four corners, the Corvair was sensational—for an American car of the period, anyway. The project was destined from the start to attract special scrutiny from the press, the public, other automakers, even Cole’s corporate rivals within GM. As the program took shape in 1956-57 in relative secrecy, early versions of the Corvair drivetrain were tucked inside a Porsche 356 and a modified GM Vauxhall sedan.
As the project advanced to the road prototype phase in 1957, Cole and his team raised their counterintelligence game another notch: They camouflaged the test mule as an experimental Holden. (GM’s Australian subsidiary, Holden was acquired by the General in 1931 and the division’s vehicles were marketed as “Australia’s Own Car.”) Nameplates, trim, hubcaps, steering wheel, and so on were borrowed from the 1956-58 Holden FE Special, Special being the top model in the Holden line at the time above the Standard and Business. (More about the Holden FE here.) Our Australian readers may enjoy seeing how many Holden items they can spot on the test mule in these photos. To make the subterfuge complete, stationery and purchase orders for the project also featured Holden letterheads.
By the spring of 1959 the Corvair name (first used on a 1954 Motorama show car) became official and the exterior look of the eventual 1960 production model (below) was taking shape. We can see a hint of the ’57 test mule’s styling in the ’60 production Corvair created by Bill Mitchell and crew in the GM styling studios. By the way, you can view the Corvair-Holden in testing in the GM film, The Corvair in Action. With just a touch of irony, we note the Corvair was never officially imported or marketed by GM in Australia. Reportedly, the Holden-badged Corvair prototype (we know there was one but there may have been more for all we know) was last seen in the mid-’60s, quietly moldering in a storage lot at the GM Proving Ground in Milford, Michigan.
The front of the Holden looks like early 1960s Thunderbird.
The Corvair proto doesn’t resemble any Holden I saw as a kid of 8 in Australia at the time. Actual Holdens looked a bit Chevrolettish from FB to FC, then they took a Vauxhallish look for a few years. The next influence on GM-H to my eye was a HK 1968 Holden that seemed to be inspired by the Iso Fidia S4 (while being a lot more pedestrian!)
The FX and FJ were scaled down Chevrolet of the same time period.
Actually not true. A car with some GM US influence but the Holden was a monocoque car, the Chev was a body on frame. As were all GM Fullsize cars of the period.
Australian Holdens, at least up to around 78 were Australian designed.
Though before then they inflicted some dreadfull pommy cars upon us. After 78 the Holden was an Opel, though heavily revised for Autralian conditions. Still never a real Holden! Just some bodged up Euro shitheap!!
The cars though did actually get Holden engines and transmissions up to 86 when the VL had the RB30 Datsun motor and trans and generic Borg Warner diffs. After that prehistoric harsh rattly V6 Buicks and later Saab engines. Though most were made here but to the GM US designs. The LS engines were imported after they stopped with the Holden V8 in 99.
There were three Holden test mules built. Two were 108″ wheelbase and a third was tried with (I think) 100″ wheelbase. It was determined that the 108 version was the winner and all production Corvairs were of that length. All three mules were scrapped, but one of the special engineering “X” ID plates was removed and saved by an engineer and can be viewed at the Corvair Preservation Foundation Museum in Springfield (Glenarm), Illinois.
Yes,… we all heard of Ed Cole and his innovative creations. However, I remember once being informed that Ed’s son was actually killed flipping over a Corvair at the GM Proving Grounds? Is that a fact that can be confirmed? Further, we all have heard the “Unsafe at any Speed” stories conjured up by Ralph Nader. I owned a 1962 two door. I had a lot of fun with that car,.. and never felt as if it might have been a vehicle unsafe?
Boy, that mule was uglier than the first gen Corvair! I never like the first gen, but by the second gen GM had the styling down pat into an attractive car.
My Grandma had a first gen Corvair, terrible piece of junk. I was just a kid, but still remember the oil spotted place where she parked it, it was always marking it’s spot! She only kept it a few years, trading it in on a 67 Chevy II Nova, a much better car that served her well for years.