There was no question that in the 1950's; 60's and 70's almost all American
cars in particular were not even reasonably safe. Most had brakes that were
inadequate for the power and speeds the car was capable of achieving, many you
needed to take sea sick pills to go on any extended trip because they wallowed
around so much and heaven help you if you needed to make any kind of rapid
maneuver. Among the various problems with Nader and his crusade was that he
had no hesitation to lie if it would fit his purpose and as best as I can tell
never consulted any technical person as to his claims to mechanical items.
As for the VW van almost the entire report that his group did was false. This
is not to say that there were not safety problems with the VW van. But the
Nader group report was aimed at killing the van as they had done with the
Covair by the use of false information. Times had changed by then and Road &
Track took them to task to support their claims which they could not do. Even
in the light of this Nader refused change his support for the report. Maybe
some one has a big collection of R&T and can look this up, mine are gone.
As far as Nader making the world a better place is a matter of opinion but
having spent a life time doing research I can see where the work done by me and
my colleagues has improved our world.
Bob Kitterer
1960 Austin Healey Sprite (Mk IV in disguise) - in storage
1966 Austin Healey Sprite Mk III (Trevor) - still in boxes - in storage
On Jul 3, 2010, at 6:16 AM, Mark Wemple wrote:
> Funny guys, cause I remember indepedent video, not by Nader, that showed the
>carvsir's propensity for not only spinning but for flipping. Aldo, having
>owned a VW bus I would not want to be the one to argue that they were safe. I
>love them but they are very dangerous in the wrong hands. Also, having met
>Nader several tes, I am proud to have known him and the world is a better
>place because of him. Can the same be said of you?
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