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Nadra and Nader

1970 something

In 1965 Ralph Nader wrote a book called “UNSAFE AT ANY SPEED.” The book was about design flaws in some American cars. Most of the material in the book was based on the design problems of the Chevrolet Corvair. The car had a rear-mounted engine, and a badly designed suspension that made it tricky to drive. The car tended to spin out, which resulted in some roll-overs and people being killed and crippled. Nader spoke in Washington on the subject, and it became a national news story.

In 1972, my sister Nadra was looking for a new car, and one day, she came in the house with a big smile on her face, and said to me, come outside and look at my new car. I followed her out and she stretched her arm out - like a game show hostess revealing the grand prize. In this case, the grand prize was an UNSAFE AT ANY SPEED blue Corvair.

I couldn’t believe it. I looked at my sister, and I said, Nadra, you remember Ralph Nader’s book, don’t you? She said, yes, and she added that Ralph is a sissy that doesn’t know how to drive. Then she said, you just have to know how to handle this baby. I was hoping that she wasn’t handling this baby on the highway.

After I looked it over, my sister asked me if I wanted to take it for a spin. The key word in her question being, ‘spin.’ I said not really, but she insisted, so I climbed in behind the wheel. It seemed weird, because there was no hump in the floor, for the transmission and drive train. All of that was in back with the engine. The floor was just flat with a shifter sticking up. It looked like a little living room floor. Once I got over the weirdness of the flat floor, we headed down the road. After fifteen minutes of driving around inhaling leaking exhaust fumes, I began to forget about Ralph Nader and I started to enjoy her little ride. She was right, you just had to know how to handle this thing. Mostly, don’t make any drastic moves with the steering wheel.

My sister only had the car for about a year or so, but I’m happy to say, that in that time, she always kept the nose of her little Corvair pointed in the right direction.

Description

Nadra and Nader

1970 something

In 1965 Ralph Nader wrote a book called “UNSAFE AT ANY SPEED.” The book was about design flaws in some American cars. Most of the material in the book was based on the design problems of the Chevrolet Corvair. The car had a rear-mounted engine, and a badly designed suspension that made it tricky to drive. The car tended to spin out, which resulted in some roll-overs and people being killed and crippled. Nader spoke in Washington on the subject, and it became a national news story.

In 1972, my sister Nadra was looking for a new car, and one day, she came in the house with a big smile on her face, and said to me, come outside and look at my new car. I followed her out and she stretched her arm out - like a game show hostess revealing the grand prize. In this case, the grand prize was an UNSAFE AT ANY SPEED blue Corvair.

I couldn’t believe it. I looked at my sister, and I said, Nadra, you remember Ralph Nader’s book, don’t you? She said, yes, and she added that Ralph is a sissy that doesn’t know how to drive. Then she said, you just have to know how to handle this baby. I was hoping that she wasn’t handling this baby on the highway.

After I looked it over, my sister asked me if I wanted to take it for a spin. The key word in her question being, ‘spin.’ I said not really, but she insisted, so I climbed in behind the wheel. It seemed weird, because there was no hump in the floor, for the transmission and drive train. All of that was in back with the engine. The floor was just flat with a shifter sticking up. It looked like a little living room floor. Once I got over the weirdness of the flat floor, we headed down the road. After fifteen minutes of driving around inhaling leaking exhaust fumes, I began to forget about Ralph Nader and I started to enjoy her little ride. She was right, you just had to know how to handle this thing. Mostly, don’t make any drastic moves with the steering wheel.

My sister only had the car for about a year or so, but I’m happy to say, that in that time, she always kept the nose of her little Corvair pointed in the right direction.