The first mass-produced American car to include a rear-mounted air-cooled engine, the Monza didn't deserve to be so vilified over the years.

If there was ever a golden age for cars, it was the 1960s. From the creation of muscle vehicles to the explosion of sports cars, this decade was a watershed moment in automotive history. In 1960, Chevrolet modified a Corvair coupe for an auto show by adding bucket seats and a more luxurious interior. Ed Cole, the Corvair's father, saw the finished product and decided to put it into production right away. As a result, the Corvair Monza was born.

The Chevrolet Corvair was a compact car manufactured by General Motors' Chevrolet subsidiary from 1960 and 1969. Dubbed the "poor man's Porsche" by some, the Corvair was exceedingly uncommon for a domestic car. It was the first mass-produced American car to include a rear-mounted air-cooled engine, shattering Detroit's conventional car mold. To end with a little trivia, the Corvair moniker is a mix of Corvette and Belair! Let's take a look back at the Chevrolet Corvair Monza's history and uncover some facts we've forgotten.

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The Corvair stood out from the competition's new subcompact options for 1960, including the Ford Falcon and Chrysler's Valiant sub-brand. It was a comfortable purchase due to its open, airy cabin, frontal trunk, and fold-down rear seat. It was also ahead of its time, with excellent handling for the period, exceptional fuel economy of 20-25 MPG, and an industry-first air-cooled flat-six engine. However, buyer response was not as planned, with Americans preferring the more traditional, somewhat less expensive Falcon over the radical Chevy. Even in the midst of Chevy's panic, the Corvair wasn't a complete flop. It earned Motor Trend's 1960 Car of the Year award, and by February 1960, Chevrolet had introduced the Monza, the model that would bring the Corvair back to life.

A fact too frequently overlooked is that the Corvair made history in April 1962, when it became the world's first gasoline-powered, turbocharged production car, narrowly defeating Oldsmobile's turbocharged F-85 Jetfire. Even though it would be another decade before Porsche introduced a model with a turbocharged air-cooled flat-six engine positioned in the back, Chevrolet already had one in 1962. While it cost only $300 ($2,800 after inflation), it generated 150 hp and 210 lb-ft of torque—an astounding figure for such a small engine. With its low center of gravity, excellent traction, and plenty of power, the turbocharged Corvair was gaining a reputation as a low-cost performance car.

The 1960-1964 Chevrolet Corvair Monza is widely credited with sparking the American sporty car boom. Many would argue that it began well before the Monza was even a twinkle in Chevrolet's eye, with early Corvettes, Thunderbirds, and Studebaker Hawks receiving the honor.

While this is a legitimate argument, these were quite expensive automobiles, and the modern understanding of a "sporty car" is one that is more accessible. However, whether as a pioneer of the concept or a follower, it can be correctly stated that the Monza salvaged the Corvair—and incidentally introduced the marketing gimmick of fitting vinyl bucket seats and a floor-mounted shifter into a compact and calling it a sports car.

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Former Ford CEO Lee Iacocca revealed in his 1984 memoir, "Iacocca: An Autobiography", that the 1964 Mustang's basic concept was inspired by a competitor's vehicle: the Chevrolet Corvair. Ford launched the Mustang in April 1964, a sporty compact based on the Falcon that openly imitated the Corvair Monza's sporty pretensions and mile-long options list. It priced approximately the same as the Chevy, had a V8, and would sell over a million cars in two years. The Corvair's sales plummeted, forcing General Motors to rush to get their own Mustang, the Chevrolet Camaro, into production. The Corvair was quietly phased out of production in 1969.

The Monza was appreciated among American car buyers. The sporty image was a boon to sales, which peaked at 337,371 units in 1961 and remained strong until 1965. The second-generation Corvair, which made its debut in 1965, was lauded by none other than David E. Davis Jr., the American automotive journalist known as a contributing writer, editor and publisher at Car and Driver magazine.

In the fall of 1965, The Nation magazine published "The Corvair Story", which served as the introduction to Harvard-educated attorney Ralph Nader's scathing examination of the American automobile industry, "Unsafe at Any Speed". The chapter is titled "The Sporty Corvair - The Single-Car Accident" and is based on an interview with George Caramagna, a Chevrolet engineer who warned of the perils of removing the anti-roll bar in a Corvair in 1959. According to a 1972 safety commission assessment done by Texas A&M University, the 1960-1963 Corvair had no greater potential for loss of control in extreme scenarios than its comparable competitors.

Related: Here's Why Only True Enthusiasts Like The Chevy Corvair Monza

Larry Shinoda and Tony Lapine created the Corvair Monza GT, drawing inspiration from Bertone's Testudo. The Monza GT's rear-engine had to be moved due to its 16-inch shorter wheelbase than a conventional Corvair. As a result, the 145 cubic-inch horizontally-opposed six-cylinder engine was rotated 180 degrees from its usual production-Corvair configuration, resulting in a mid-engine car. The Monza GT Concept's aerodynamic shape, inspired the 1965 Mako Shark III Concept—a precursor of the 1968 C3 Corvette. Many of the car's features were also utilized in Pontiac's Banshee prototypes.

A 1963 Chevrolet Corvair Monza is one of the vehicles featured in Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez's 2005 neo-noir crime anthology film "Sin City". Portrayed by Mickey Rourke, Marv used this car to threaten a guy into providing information.

The Chevrolet Corvair, so vilified throughout the years, deserved a better fate than it received. Corvairs are agile, lively, stylish, and exciting cars. Despite the Corvair's unusual mechanicals and shady reputation, a well-organized club and parts network now allows practically any enthusiast to possess one of these rewarding vehicles in a practical and cost-effective manner.

As a content writer, she has addressed a variety of topics, from cars, environmental contamination, personal injury, health & nutrition, and techy stuff. Despite specializing in computer science in college, she found a way to make her lifelong passion for cars pay for itself. She is now a proud member of the international publication Hotcars' staff. Her favorite moments in the real world are those she spends with her family in the great outdoors.