Corvair Monza Design Studies

Eyes On Design at the General Motors Technical Center

While photographing the cars on display at Eyes On Design, I hoped to encounter someone who had worked in the design studios during the Corvair period. That didn't happen. However, months later, I was delighted to receive an email message from Jim Musser, designer and builder of the chassis for the Monza GT and SS. I requested and received his approval to post the following personal account of events surrounding the development of the GT and SS.

In the words of Jim Musser, designer and builder of the GT and SS chassis...

In the early '60s we had a number of very interesting projects in Chevy R&D. Ford had announced its Cardinal project, a small front drive vehicle. Chevrolet R&D responded with a project to build a prototype front drive vehicle using the Corvair engine and drivetrain. I was assigned to the project. For packaging reasons we placed the Corvair engine ahead of the front axle by simply reversing the ring and pinion gears.

When Bill Mitchell became aware of our project he felt that the forward engine arrangement could be the basis for a low cost mid-engine sports car that was then the direction sports cars were taking. There of course was a lot of interest at the time for the next Corvette to be a mid-engine design, but the cost of a unique drivetrain was prohibitive. Since we already had the low cost Corvair drivetrain he envisioned a low cost sports car, not as a replacement for the Corvette, but as a broader addition to the Chevrolet product line.

Bill had a secret studio in the basement of the Styling Building to work on pet projects outside the overview of Corporate Management. Larry Shinoda was the designer. Bill invited Frank Winchell (the head of Chevy R&D) and me to come over and see the clay model that Larry had made and asked if we would build him a chassis. Frank agreed to do it and I was given the project.

Bill liked to have a GM display of show vehicles at Elkhart Lake each year and said he would love to take this vehicle but since Elkhart was only two months away it would not be possible. I said we could design and build a chassis in time. Bill became excited about the project and worked very closely with Larry to jazz up the clay model which initially was not very exciting, looking like a Porsche coupe.

Corvair Monza GT (rear view)

Bill envisioned a tubular space frame chassis like that being used in racing sports cars of the time, but I convinced him that a monocoque chassis was the new, better approach. We designed and built a running chassis in one month and delivered it to Styling for installation of the body. At the rear I used the suspension from the Corvair front drive project which used torsion bars rather than coil springs to make room for the half-shafts. The same suspension was also used at the front. We made it to Elkhart Lake.

Corvair Monza GT (side view)

An interesting aside is that Jim Hall and Hap Sharp, who were in the process of designing their mid-engine Chaparrals, came over to inspect the vehicle at Elkhart because of its similarity to what they were doing. It was this chance meeting by Jim and Hap with Frank and me that lead to Chevy R&D's association with Chaparral Cars.

Because the Monza GT was going to be tied up as a display vehicle we built a second chassis for development purposes. Accessibility to the mid-engine was a problem with the monocoque chassis. For that reason we decided to use the standard Corvair transaxle with the engine hanging out the rear where it was very accessible.