There is an intact model corvega on Tenpenny's desk in Tenpenny Tower. Could someone confirm this and if so should it be noted in the article? Bbcode 23:41, 16 February 2009 (UTC)
Indeed there is, rather to my surprise. Somebody's already commented in the intervening six months, but here's a GECK image for the sake of completeness... --Vometia 20:59, September 27, 2009 (UTC)
Are all the cars Corvegas?[]
Are you sure all the cars are meant to be Corvegas? Not only do they look different from those in the original games (fair enough) it's entirely possible that other manufacturers made nuclear cars.
Nuclear powered cars and FO3's explosions[]
I'm no scientist, but my understanding is that if fusion goes wrong, it doesn't explode like fission.
I conclude that the Corvega (and the Vertibird) are powered by some kind of fission reactor (which would make sense) to directly generate electricity, while the Highwayman accepted removable fusion batteries (I can't explain why these would wear out) or, to be flexible, energy cells) to charge its own internal battery or perhaps just ran off whatever was plugged in until it was spent.
Why not have more than one method, in the same way as we're now looking at hybrid, hydrogen and plug-in cars coming to market.
"I'm no scientist, but my understanding is that if fusion goes wrong, it doesn't explode like fission."
Where there's a will, there's a way! :D One could concoct a plausible explanation, though, such as a fusion power system needing a fission starter, a bit like H-bombs do. Only a bit less enthusiastic, of course, otherwise it'd wake the neighbours.
The name "Corvega" also reminds me somewhat of Cortina, though it's almost certainly not inspired by the latter. The Cortina Mk 1 is styled in a not dissimilar manner, though that's probably due to no more than its vintage. --Vometia 20:35, September 27, 2009 (UTC)
No, fusion nor fission power plants do not explode under any circumstances. Tagaziel(call!) 21:37, September 27, 2009 (UTC)
Chernobyl did... okay, it was technically a steam explosion from a uniquely bad design, but if atomic power was as ubiquitous as portrayed in the 1950s/Fallout style, bad designs would be as commonplace there as they are in any other field of technology. For a genuine nuclear explosion it may need some real creativity to come up with a suitably flawed design, but I'm sure someone would manage. Kind of the Corvega equivalent of the Ford Edsel, I guess (was it the Edsel with the dodgy fuel tank? I forget now.) --Vometia 22:10, September 27, 2009 (UTC)
Christ, the US government would not approve anything with a bad design that's dealing with nuclear power. A nuclear power plant cannot explode like a nuclear bomb because it doesn't work like one. Any claim that it can or concocting elaborate explanations is idiocy of the finest sort. Tagaziel(call!) 08:05, September 28, 2009 (UTC)
Calm down, it's a game. I think it's interesting to conjecture reasons for why the explosions that occur in game might happen, if you don't, then... don't. --Vometia 09:58, September 28, 2009 (UTC)
As a physicist, I can say now that there is no way the nuclear material in the Corvegas could cause a nuclear explosion. In fact, even if you did have enough material for a nuclear blast under the hood, shooting it would still do nothing - nuclear explosions are INCREDIBLY difficult to trigger. You could unload a machinegun into a minuteman's warhead or light it on fire and it would do nothing (well, except get dented and scorched) - nukes need large amounts of perfectly symmetrical high explosive or very carefully shaped bullet-target pairs (which are accelerated by more explosives) to work, and it's the "precision" half of the process which is so difficult to pull off. The blasts in the game are just there 'cause big explosions are hella awesome. :D
If you REALLY wanted a sciency reason, you could argue that working fluids in the car might be unstable, or have decomposed to something unstable over the decades, and sudden shocks risk blowing that up and coincidentally spraying the nearby area with nuclear crud, dirty bomb style. 90.211.111.120 19:29, February 25, 2010 (UTC)
One more thing, nuclear power (such as Chernobyl or whatever) wouldn't work in something as small as a car, so it'd need some different power source. Also, people seem to forget is that the oil-replacement technology is pretty new, so it's not surprising that there are several competing, different technologies out there.
West coast= modular power, accepting readily available power sources. Also, this could be a jerry-rigged power source. Highwayman
East coast= more solid-state power sources. Kahlzun 11:28, April 4, 2010 (UTC)
This is a useless argument, since we all know powering a car with a small nuclear reactor would be impossible, and it's also just a car in a videogame. Also, the Ford with the "faulty" fuel tank was the Pinto, not the Edsel. People didn't like the Edsel because it was ugly and the transmission was terrible.
Fallout 3 "mini cars"[]
By any chance has anyone noticed some cars in Fallout 3 only have room for one passenger? What in the heck are those? My guess is they are the equivalent of eco friendly cars.
I just call 'em triwheels. Not much use out in the Mojave, but quite useful in the densely urbanized eastern seaboard. --Kris 23:14, November 1, 2010 (UTC)
In concept art of Fallout 3 the vehicle is called a "Flea" a three wheeler design. Also there is a Street cleaner, not technically a car.
Top right corner the "Flea", botom right corner is the street sweeper, next to it to the left is the unnamed two door thats not a corvega
Where is that from? It's certainly not official from what I can see. NittyTok. 04:37, May 16, 2011 (UTC)
The car? It's a world model. Tagaziel(call!) 07:30, May 16, 2011 (UTC)
Is the User-created car fanfic? Trolly Polly Olly 07:04, June 15, 2011 (UTC)
Sedan & Coupe[]
The terms "coupe" and "sedan" are common descriptors for two- and four-door cars in American English. Additionally, spelling out numbers instead of using numerals is the preferred method of expressing quantities less than ten in scholarly and professional writing.
I made those changes to make the article cleaner, easier to read, and to add a more scholarly tone. I don't want to keep doing back-and-forth edit fighting, so I'm explaining why I did what I did before I change it back.
Edit: The terms may not have been directly mentioned in the game, but their use was commonplace before the Fallout timeline diverged from ours, so I feel justified in using them. This may not jive with standard procedure and, if so, I apologize.
Hey no problem my friend ;). Well in fact in Fallout Wiki, we tend to stay very neutral to names from the real world (such as weapons, for example). Too many people want to break the rules and want to implement based = real name, not especially for vehicles, but especially for weapons.
In addition, these cars are unnamed, and so the name given to them right now demonstrates that characterization, unlike from my opinion coupe and sedan, which is not always distinctive at first. Itachou[~talk~] 21:38, June 21, 2011 (UTC)
It can be clearly seen that there is a . before the "5 sec"
Changes to the Original Corvega's entry[]
I took the liberty of changing the original Corvega from a "3-door hatchback" to a "2-door sports coupe" considering that it has a visible trunk and not a rear hatch. I also changed "800 horsepower electric engine" to "800 horsepower engine" since nowhere in the original ad copy is it related that this model is powered by an electric motor(motor being the proper term as an "electric engine" does not exist, and would also negate the claims of a "fully analog system")
Using the Corvega nuclear engine as a weapon[]
XBOX - 360. Armed with fat man and nuke stand alongside a unexploded car. Save. Remove any body armour.Fire the nuke at the ground against the Corvega blowing yourself and the car to pieces.This will then return you to your save. Still equipped with the Fat man and by crouching, you can push the car where you will. If there are a number of other cars in the area you will be able to push them all into a pile and then hold a grand opening fire work display for death claws, raiders, BOS, white rad scorps or whoever else you can attract to your pile of death.There is no limit on how far you can push your extra large NUKE.Just a bit of offside fun...--1000HrsFallout3 (talk) 18:16, August 3, 2012 (UTC)
--92.15.1.188 05:58, August 10, 2012 (UTC)
0-60 times.[]
The article currently states the 0.5 second 0-60 mph time is unrealistic because would put the body under 21 gees of force. Obviously, the original Corvega commercial was intended to be humorous and not over-analyzed. However, I don't think it's unrealistic to say a car *can* do 21 gees while being safety-limited to 3 or 4 gees, or that a person would die under 21 gees for a single half-second period. Also is the mathematical problem with the statement: you only need an average of about 5.47 gees to do 0-60 in 0.5 seconds. V(t) = A*t+Vo, so V(0.5s) = 5.47g*0.5s+0mph = 175 ft/s^2*0.5s = 120 mph/s*0.5s = 60 mph. Totally survivable, and top fuel guys and gals do it faster all the time.
I think a more unrealistic issue is that 800 horsepower could never push a realistic car that fast.
First, I did an Excel spreadsheet integration using 0.1 mph increments from 0.1 mph to 1 mph, then 0.5 mph increments from 1 mph to 60 mph. If we assume the transmission is capable of precisely the right gear ratio to keep the engine at 800 hp, exactly zero drivetrain losses (so 800 hp is measured at the pavement), and enough traction to keep the tires from slipping, the car (plus driver, luggage, etc.) would need to weigh around 1860 lbs to pull a 0.5 second 0-60 mph time with 800 hp. A 3000-4000 lb car (much more realistic for the types of cars we're comparing it to) would be 0.81-1.09 seconds 0-60. (Of note, we can artificially limit the car to 10 gees and still pull close to the same times -- 0.50s at 1680 lbs, 0.84s at 3000, 1.10s at 4000 lbs.)
Using the 0-60 Calculator, the car would need to weigh under 462 lbs (without the driver). At a more realistic 3000-4000 lbs it would require 5194-6926 hp. (800 hp at 3000-4000 lbs would do a 2.036-2.526 second 0-60.) This assumes dual-clutch with all-wheel drive, which is not very likely given the "no electronics" and 50's mentality, but they would likely have better tires and transmission technology, so I compared it to our best stuff for a more realistic comparison.
Of course, that calculator isn't meant for such extreme acceleration, but we can use a Top Fuel Dragster as a good sanity check. The Dragster is 2300 lbs with 7500-8000 hp and does a 0.2s 0-60. The 0-60 calculator predicts a 0.3 time which isn't completely accurate, but is pretty close given it was designed for street cars. Similarly, the KillaCycle is 619 lbs with 350 hp and does a 0.97s 0-60, while the calculator predicts 1.2 seconds.
Obviously, drag race technology utilizes engine power much more efficiently for low-end acceleration than a typical street car. If we presume technology in the alternate future gets even better, it might make sense to say a 3000-4000 lb car with 800 hp could do 0-60 in 1 to 1.5 seconds.
It is always possible to have a sub-1800 lb car (the S1 Lotus Elise can weigh under 1600 lbs) that could do 0-60 in 0.5 seconds with 800 hp. But 1950s iconic American cars weren't known for their light weight (the 1953 Corvette was over 2800 lbs, and the 1959 Corvette was almost 3000 lbs, although the 1960 Corvair was just under 2500 lbs and the 1970 Vega was around 2200 lbs), and all the stuff in-game seems to be made of heavy steel construction similar to the real cars of the era.
I'd say it's more realistic to assume a 2500-3000 lb car with 1500-1800 hp at the pavement. Limited to 6 gees, that's around 0.5 seconds 0-60. If we assume alternate future technology gets drivetrain losses down to 5% (currently they're 15-40% depending on setup for typical cars), we can divide by 0.95 to get something like 1600-1900 hp at the engine for a realistic half-second 0-60. A lighter vehicle, like the Vega the Corvega likely got its name from, could get by with a bit less power. 162.252.201.32 11:50, July 1, 2015 (UTC)
Highwayman?[]
Is it possible the 4 door is a highwayman rather than a corvega? The wrecked highwayman location in New Vegas would support this.
What about the pickup trucks and bubble cars found scattered around in Fallout 4? Are those also Corvegas?
I think that the Fallout 3 Corvega in the infobox should be replaced with an image of a fallout 4 Corvega Atomic V8
Old Picture[]
I think the picture of a fallout 3 corvega in the infobox should be replaced with a picture of a Fallout 4 Corvega Atomic V8 --Austin J.Moulton (talk) 19:08, August 3, 2016 (UTC)
Tagaziel (call!) 21:37, September 27, 2009 (UTC)
23:14, November 1, 2010 (UTC)
