In the Motor City, model names are recyclables. The first Corvair from Chevrolet was a fastback Motorama show car based on the 1954 Corvette.

Introduced at the General Motors Motorama in 1953, the original Corvette was a qualified success for Chevrolet. The sports car brought considerable publicity and excitement to the GM division, but the actual sales demand was weak and there was a struggle to find takers for the initial 300-car production run. Studying ways to broaden the appeal of the two-seat roadster, Chevrolet brought a small flock of Corvette-based show cars to the ‘Motorama the following year.

The special Corvettes included a full-sized wagon with Corvette styling called the Nomad, a yellow show car with a removable fiberglass hardtop, and a fastback coupe that offered full all-weather amenities—a Corvette GT if you will. Its distintive name was Corvair, a portmanteau of Corvette and Bel Air, suggesting the comfort of a full-size Chevrolet with the excitement of a Corvette.

Above, entertainer Dinah Shore, Miss Chevrolet, and Chevrolet general manager Thomas Keating, Mister Chevrolet, admire the Corvair in its debut at the Waldort Astoria in January of 1954. While the Corvair was clearly based on the production roadster, there were significant differences, too: distinctive side trim and chrome vent gadgets in the hood and  front fenders. But most importantly, the windshield, A pillar, and doors were redesigned to support roll-up windows. (The hardtop Motorama Corvette wore similar modifications.)

Of course, the Corvair’s most striking feature was its sweeping fastback roof with fixed quarter panes and an abrupt cutoff at the rear, creating an aperture that housed the license plate. The orifice was intended to suggest a jet aircraft.  “The ultra-streamlijned top sweeps back to a jet exhaust-type rear opening,” the Motorama brochure declared.

In its later appearances, the Corvair was no longer deep red but a light blue-green. Ordinarily, this would suggest that the original Walforf car (S.O. 2071, its GM styling designation) had been repainted  But no, many Corvette experts assert this was actually a second car. In fact, they believe that as many as five Corvair prototypes were built as Chevrolet engineers seriously pursued the possibilities for a fixed-roof Corvette. In the end, management chose the removable hardtop option, and there wouldn’t be a production Corvette coupe until 1963.

The one, two, or five Corvair coupes were destroyed, reportedly. However, a 1954 roadster (S.O. 2151, a GM styling study for the 1955 Corvette) that shares the jet-exhaust deck lid aperture still exists. Also, two authentic Corvair coupe recreations have been built, one for noted collector Ken Lingenfelter, with both colors represented. The Corvair name would next appear in October of 1959 on one of GM’s most remarkable and controversial cars.