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Chevrolet Corvair Coupé Speciale Pininfarina - Design evolution

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Created on August 9, 2022

Text:

Bruno von Rotz

Photos:

Brian Henniker - Courtesy Gooding & Co

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Archiv Reinhard / Max Pichler

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Archiv

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Brian Henniker - Courtesy Gooding & Co

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Archiv Reinhard / Max Pichler

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Archiv

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Chevrolet Corvair Coupé Speciale Pininfarina (1960) - hardly reminiscent of the production version of the Corvair

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Chevrolet Corvair Coupé Speciale Pininfarina (1960) - large glass house with straightened A-pillar

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Chevrolet Corvair Coupé Speciale Pininfarina (1960) - originally the car was orange-red, then dark green and now signal red

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Chevrolet Corvair Coupé Speciale Pininfarina (1960) - the headlights were added in the second iteration

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Chevrolet Corvair Coupé Speciale Pininfarina (1960) - the rear looks wide and pleasing

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Chevrolet Corvair Coupé Speciale Pininfarina (1960) - bright interior, the 2+2-seat configuration was only available from the second iteration onwards

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Chevrolet Corvair Coupé Speciale Pininfarina (1960) - around 80 SAE horsepower had to be enough for the concept car

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Chevrolet Corvair Coupé Speciale Pininfarina (1960) - the "frunk", luggage had to share the space with the spare wheel

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Chevrolet Corvair Coupé Speciale Pininfarina (1960) - indicated twin headlights

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Chevrolet Corvair Coupé Speciale Pininfarina (1960) - the Pininfarina sign on the flank

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Chevrolet Corvair (1959) - the first pictures of the new rear-engined sedan

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Chevrolet Corvair (1959) - Transparency drawing

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Chevrolet Corvair (1959) - Transparency drawing - Silhouette

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Chevrolet Corvair (1959) - the six-cylinder engine with boxer layout

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Chevrolet Corvair Speciale (1960) - various designers used the Corvair platform for special bodies - here a successful version by Pininfarina

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Chevrolet Corvair Coupé Speciale Pininfarina (1960) - as it was presented at the Paris Motor Show 1960

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Chevrolet Corvair Coupé Speciale Pininfarina (1960) - as shown at the Paris Salon on the cover of Road & Track March 1961

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Chevrolet Corvair Pininfarina (1962) - Coupé 2 Posti

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Chevrolet Corvair Coupé Speciale Pininfarina (1960) - redesigned and in green color on the cover of Road & Track February 1963

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Chevrolet Corvair Coupé Pininfarina (1963) - elegant special body on Corvair chassis by Pininfarina

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Chevrolet Corvair Corsa Sport Coupe (1965) - with completely revised styling

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Chevrolet Corvair Corsa Sport Coupe (1965) - new look for the rear-engined car with six-cylinder boxer engine - Geneva Motor Show 1965

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Chevrolet Corvair Coupé Speciale Pininfarina (1960) - grosses Glashaus mit begradigter A-Säule

Chevrolet Corvair Coupé Speciale Pininfarina (1960) - ursprünglich war das Auto orange-rot, dann dunkelgrün und nun signalrot

Chevrolet Corvair Coupé Speciale Pininfarina (1960) - die Scheinwerfer kamen in der zweiten Iteration dazu

Chevrolet Corvair Coupé Speciale Pininfarina (1960) - das Heck wirkt breit und gefällig

Chevrolet Corvair Coupé Speciale Pininfarina (1960) - helles Interieur, erst ab der zweiten Iteration gab es die 2+2-sitzige Konfiguration

Chevrolet Corvair Coupé Speciale Pininfarina (1960) - rund 80 SAE-PS mussten dem Konzeptfahrzeug reichen

Summary

In 1960, Pininfarina presented the Chevrolet Corvair Coupé Speciale in Paris. The car has survived to this day, albeit not in its original form, as Tom Tjaarda redesigned the car twice until 1963 to adapt it to the times. Now the car is looking for a new owner. This report tells the story of the Coupé Speciale and shows it in current and historical pictures.

This article contains the following chapters

The anti-American
Tom Tjaarda's first project at Pininfarina?
Series production?
Adaptations
Even more customizations
And the effects?
Survives

Estimated reading time: 6min

Preview (beginning of the article)

At the end of the fifties, compact cars were all the rage in the USA. The VW Beetle was becoming increasingly successful and the big three did not want to be left behind. General Motors, Ford and Chrysler soon presented their own ideas of what a compact car should look like, the most consistent being the Chevrolet Corvair from GM. The Corvair was presented at the end of September 1959. The new car was not compact by European standards, but by American standards its 447 cm length and 170 cm width with a height of only 130 cm seemed considerably more manageable than the large saloons we were used to. The Corvair was also very light, with a dry weight of just 1050 kg. This was achieved thanks to a self-supporting body and a not too heavy six-cylinder boxer engine, which was installed in the rear and thus dispensed with the cardan shaft.

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Images of this article

Chevrolet Corvair Coupé Speciale Pininfarina (1960) - grosses Glashaus mit begradigter A-Säule

Chevrolet Corvair Coupé Speciale Pininfarina (1960) - ursprünglich war das Auto orange-rot, dann dunkelgrün und nun signalrot

Chevrolet Corvair Coupé Speciale Pininfarina (1960) - die Scheinwerfer kamen in der zweiten Iteration dazu

Chevrolet Corvair Coupé Speciale Pininfarina (1960) - das Heck wirkt breit und gefällig

Chevrolet Corvair Coupé Speciale Pininfarina (1960) - helles Interieur, erst ab der zweiten Iteration gab es die 2+2-sitzige Konfiguration

Chevrolet Corvair Coupé Speciale Pininfarina (1960) - rund 80 SAE-PS mussten dem Konzeptfahrzeug reichen

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