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Reprinted courtesy of Popular Science Monthly (c) 1963 by Popular Science Publishing Company, Inc. Popular Science Popular Science Tests the Hot Compacts Economy was the word back in the fall of 1959 when the first covey of U.S. " comp act?╟╓?╟╓ cars were introduced. And, as "economy?╟Ñ vehicles, they were . ... fashioned to compete with a growing flood of little cars from Europe. In number . . . there were four of them. As befitted automobiles of modest pre- tensions, they were relatively cheap, rela- tively small, and delivered relatively mod- est performances. Since then, the list has grown. Now there are 10 U.S. compacts, and it is time to take note that some of them have been gradually growing out of their britches while nobody was looking. This is less a matter of physical size (though some are inches longer) than it is of price and per- formance. Legible gauges are important on high- performance cars. The Lark?╟╓s dashboard layout is the best. It has a full array of instruments, no idiot lights. Gauges are round, and white-on-black graduations are easy to read. Two of the five cars ?╟÷- Sprint and Jetfire [?╟÷I have hard-to-read horizontal speedometers. They are flossier. They are heavier . . . But the real index to their change of character lies in their power. No longer are they compacts when the light turns green. In horsepower-for-weight, they challenge and excel quite a passel of bigger cars. To see what?╟╓s happened to U.S. com- pacts as of this bright green spring of 1963, POPULAR SCIENCE decided to test them out. We put flow meters on their fuel lines. We put stopwatches on their accelerations. We slewed them around sharp corners to see how they rode and handled. We stood on their brakes at 80 miles an hour. We chose five cars ?╟÷ the Corvair Spy- der, Falcon Sprint, Olds Jetfire, Pontiac Tempest and Studebaker Super Lark. The five cars chosen (are) the truly hot compacts. In engine design, the five hot compacts offer considerable contrast. Two schools of thought rule the automobile industry?╟╓s engine engineers?╟╓ doodlings. One believes that the easiest path to power is the big, "freely aspirated?╟Ñ engine, with cylinders opened up to great draughts of air and fuel from the carburetor. The adoption by the industry of the four-barrel carbu- retor in some instances two four- barreled carbs or three two-barrels, is an CORVAIR SPYDER FALCON SPRINT OLDS JETFIRE TEMPEST LE MANS STUDEBAKER SUPER LARK MODEL MONZA COUPE 2-DOOR HARDTOP Sports coupe 2-DOOR HARDTOP 2-DOOR SEDAN ENGINE: TYPE 6 V-8 V-8 V-8 V-8 CARBURETION 1-BBL. (fi) 2-BBL. 1-BBL. (B) 4-BBL. 4-BBL. HP. @ R.P.M. 150 @ 4,400 164 @ 4,400 215 @ 4,600 280 @ 4,800 300 @ 5,000 (C) BORE & STROKE (IN.) 3.4375 X 2.6 3.8X2.87 3.5 X 2.8 3.72X3.75 3756 X 3.62 DISPLACEMENT (CU. IN.) 145 260 215.5 326 289 COMPRESSION .RATIO (:1) 8.0 8.7 10.25 10.25 8.5 WEIGHT (LB.) PER HP. 16.8 17.7 13.4 11.7 10.5 PISTON TRAVEL PER MILE (FT.) 1,329 1,340 1,317 T.889 1,619 FUEL REQUIRED P R P P P FUEL CAPACITY (GAL.) 14 14 16 20 18 CRANKCASE CAPACITY (QT.) 4 4 4 4 5 TRANSMISSION TYPE AND RATIOS (:1) (Z>X 4-SPD. MANUAL 3.65-2.35?╟ 1.44 4-SPD. MANUAL 2.73-2.04-1.51 4-SPD. MANUAL 2.54-1.92-1.51 3-SPD. MANUAL 2.94-1.68 4-SPD. MANUAL 2.54-1.92-1.51 AXLE RATIO (:1) 3.5fi. 3.25 3.36 3.90 3.54 STEERING RATIO (:1) AND TURNS LOCK TO LOCK 23.5-4.6 | 27-4.64 25.8-5.2 23.6-5.25 28-24-28 (E)?╟÷4.7 BRAKE SWEPT AREA (SQ. IN.) AND MATERIAL USED 197.7 SINTERED METALLIC (F J t 251.3 MOLDED ASBESTOS 224 MOLDED ASBESTOS 197.9 MOLDED ASBESTOS 377 (G) MOLDED ASBESTOS 1 TIRE SIZE 6.50 X 13 7.00 X 13 6.50 X 13 6.00 X 15 6.70 X 15 WHEELBASE (IN.) 108 109.5 112 112. 109 TRACK: FRONT AND REAR (IN.) 54.5?╟÷54.5 55-54.5 56-56 57.3-58 57.3-56.5 GROUND CLEARANCE (IN.) 6 6.3 5.79 6 5.8 CURB WEIGHT.(LB.) 2,527 2,910 2,884 3,264 3,140 OUTSIDE DIMENSIONS: OVERALL LENGTH (IN.) 180 181.1 192.2 194.3 184 WIDTH (IN.) 67 70.6 73.7 74.2 71.2 HEIGHT (IN.) 51.5 55.7 ACCELERATION: 0-60 M.P.H. (SEC.) 13.1 11 9.1 8.) 8.4 40-60 (H) 7.0 6.8 5.3 4.0 5.1 50-70 (H) 8.6 8.1 6.5 4.7 5.1 TOP SPEED 113 105 115 115 132 SPEEDOMETER ERROR @,60 M.P.H. (%) MBU 111 + 2.5 4.2 3.6 + 2.8 r. \\ BPWk!L 'v mm?? mSsSmBm IP liiP J. *'. */ < V Ipfilf Z22xJ mmwM i S5S8IH HHhhM SUPER LARK LE MANS jetfire SPRINT SPYDER