Spotted on La Mesa Drive in Santa Monica, CA. The houses on the other side of the street overlook the Riviera Country Club and go for $7-15 million. So this is probably some rich guy’s toy. But it’s cool anyway. Look how shiny it is!
Santa Monica, CA
Photographed June 2011
The Corvair, of course, was highlighted in Ralph Nader’s book Unsafe at Any Speed, after which sales fell more than half from 220,000 in 1965 to less than 110,000 the next year. Nader’s book crippled the reputation of the Corvair, and sales never recovered.
This is not the most attractive example of a Corvair imaginable–the knockoff wire wheels and the drab color and trim do nothing to help its looks. However, it is a fairly-well preserved example of a none-too-common convertible model, which makes it a worthy picture target.
Santa Monica, CA
Photographed February 2012
Most cars with “Landau” in their name have a vinyl roof of some sort; it seems that this one’s is restricted to the rooftop, which looks like it has a different texture. This 1981 model likely has the 5.0L V8, unleashing all of 155 horses under full throttle; or 31 horsepower per liter. Compare this to the Mercedes-Benz CLA45 AMG of today, which makes 355 horsepower from its 2.0L turbo 4, translating to 177.5 horses per liter. That’s over 5 and a half times as many HP/liter! And it gets better fuel mileage!
But that vinyl though…
Portland, OR
Photographed August 2011
Westside Village, Los Angeles, CA
Photographed May 2013
Brentwood, Los Angeles, CA
Photographed May 2011
Camarillo, CA
Photographed April 2013
Camarillo, CA
Photographed April 2013