balthazar

How do you think the Japanese built better products?- GM forced them to. '70s Japanese cars were horrendous. And what about the General Motors & the Japanese effect on Germans products?

In model year 1980, U.S. manufacturers sold 7,601,819 units. Of that General Motors sold 5,053,190, or 66% of domestic production. Fold the 2.37M imports in and the number is 51%. I hope GM 'looked at itself' WRT 'building better products' to address the 'awful 1970s car they made' after seeing those numbers. But ever-increasing inroads by foreign manufacturers will only lower those numbers by sheer math. Would I care to see GM at 51% again? Not really... tho I would LOVE to see domestic manufacturers back at 75-80% of the market.

Apparently GM "built a better product", eh?

Last time I was in a Passat (which was over 10 yrs ago at this point), the thing that struck me was the seatback adjustment. It was a huge plastic manual dial located at the joint of the seat bottom & seat back, but it was located inboard rather than near the door. Not only was it not intuitive, it was awkward to operate in general and especially once the typical useage flotsum fell into the mechanism. One of those features that sticks with you as The Wrong Way To Go About It.

In looking into this, Chilton's 1975-1984 repair manual does not list a 400 in their Olds 88/ 98/ Cutlass/ Starfire/ etc chapter for any of those years inclusive, either in the engine ID or general engine specs tables. In '75, Olds offered the 231 Buick V6, the 250 Chevy I6, 260 Olds, 350 Buick, 350 Olds & 455 Olds V8s. Olds 403 first shows up for '77. The '75 Olds brochure page here does show a "400" listed in the text; http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/static/NA/Oldsmobile/1975 Oldsmobile/1975 Oldsmobile Full Line Brochure/75 Oldsmobile Pg 21.html but consider the possibility that this may have been an early plan that was changed, or even a typo. Sources like Chilton's, printed well after the fact, should be more verified than an early brochure printing. I tend to believe either of these was closer to the truth than a 400CI '75 Olds 98. GM was playing a lot of 'engine roulette' in the '70s. It was a tumultuous time for the industry and plans changed with great rapidity & frequency. Dodge advertised a '71 Challenger T/A model in print ads... tho that model was never actually built; it was a '70-only package. Also- Pontiac printed/ advertised that the SD455 was going to be available in the '73 Grand Am, but it never was.

Some of these 'moves' did occur earlier than circa '73. @ Pontiac, for instance, the Catalina got a 350 as standard equipment for 1970, and the ultra highway gear 2.41 rear axle showed up for 1965 (in '64 the highest ratio was 2.67). Tho gas prices were stable & were in the 35 cent/gal area on average, I believe the popularity of some of the imports, namely the Beetle, and their own market success with the A-Bodies, may have opened the General's eyes earlier than they're commonly given credit for. Not that someone concerned with economy would cross-shop a Beetle and a 17-foot 2bbl Catalina... For context, I drove a '64 Catalina 389 low compression 2bbl with a 2.67 rear. I logged every tank over 25K miles and it averaged 14 MPG, tho to be candid I drove that car like the name of Meatloaf's best selling album.

My mistake- thought I had read "Model 3". Even as I typed it, I was thinking 'there's NO WAY to bring this to market like this in that price range'. Agreed- the Model S needs a 2nd generation like right now. I know it's sales are steady, but you can't sit still. If the eMotion comes out as is, the S is going to be way behind. Frankly, I think everything else in this price tier will be also- today, those specs have the capability to rule the lux sedan segment.

Oh Horsey- what a stunning P-64 Safari!! I do like some super car genre stuff- that Renault concept I posted in 'Random' is fairly awesome, kills any ferrari dead.

F430, as pictured above, is just too stylistically tame AND jumbled. It lacks flow and IMHO, it lack presence. And the wheels too frequently look 'out of center' to the fender openings. Lambo looks both cohesive and about 15 years newer than the ferrari. In that these cars primary sit parked nearly as much as my 1940 Ford, I'd rather look at the Lambo than the F430.

With all the attention on the upcoming Tesla Model 3, most eyes have missed the upstart quietly pumping iron over in a shadowy corner; the Fiskar eMotion. Claimed to be a number of things, such as : • On schedule for production for 2018 • 400 mile range with a 9-min full recharge due to a proprietary "new advanced graphene supercapacitor instead of a traditional lithium-ion battery pack." • 161 MPH top speed • FOUR butterfly doors Remains to be seen in what configuration it gets here in, but Henrik Fiskar is claiming a price point comparable with the Model 3. Should be interesting... KBB article : https://www.kbb.com/car-news/all-the-latest/2018-fisker-emotion-ev-update/2100004149/ The competition:

I'm sure it's tough to let them go, but you're putting yourself first, which is the only choice here. Wish U well!

Damned decent of ChryCo to engineer it so removing the bumper didn't involve holes or bodywork to patch. Looks 10,000 times better without 'em.

The 6-series proved an 8-series won't make a dent and won't make the grade as worthy of production. Can't just change the number on the same formula and expect success. Should have addressed the 6-series- now there's a numeric hole in the lineup and "consumers are going to be confused". For that matter, when are they going to address the market performance of the 7-series?? BMW overall sales dropped 32K last year, but more telling; their cars dropped 48K in the last 2. I can understand why they're splitting their own buyer pool at the bottom end, but the vehicles the brand is known for --the so-called 'ultimate driver car'-- is quickly going out the window for 'me too' CUVs. Once the brand perception erodes, what makes anyone 'need' to buy a BMW?

That's a no-brainer- the 7-series is in a hard tailspin; 524 units moved last month. But the brand overall is in a long slow decline- down 11% last month, I don;t have much faith they can turn things around. The brand is tired.

Are there any specific costs out there on battery replacement? Model S?

Just found out my wife's employer offers her $4K on top of the $7500 the Gov't give you for an EV purchase. $11,500 off sticker- not to shabby.

Was wandering a Ford dealer's lot with my son. Looked over a row of '17 F-150s and all I can say is wow. OEMs have really made the ol pick up a thing of lust. Crew cab F-150 King Ranch 4x4, fully loaded, just a beautiful machine. $68K on the sticker tho...

1970 F-100, yellow n' white, 4x4, real clean driver. 1948-50 Ford F-1, silver, shop truck, restored.

Perhaps a focused look : @ BMW- the X4 and X6 do NOT sell- "no one buys them". The X1 isn't setting the sales chart on fire either @ 2400/mnth... so not seeing where an X2 is going to do much more than split off from the 2 CUVs on either side. An X7 sales would be absolutely in the toilet- just like the 8-series coupe will be. BMW needs to clean out its catalog and revamp Mini or shutter it.

In April of this year, Teslanomics reported, based on 811 reservation holders who gave budgets, that the ATP would be between $45-55K "after upgrades". Musk stated last year that the average transaction price would be $42K. Most people have been theorizing the higher pricing would be necessary to come close to breaking even on the Model 3. Now they all roll out the door at base price with no optional upgrades. Not only will this be a downer for those hoping for a nicer car, it must absolutely kill the bottom line for the Model 3. This is the vehicle that will make or break Tesla.

Bah : wired the trumpet horn 3 different ways but not working. It would fire directly off (2) 6-V lantern batteries, but any other way while wired into the system and either only the original horn worked, or neither. Going to leave it mounted in place and take another whack at it down the line. EDIT : My buddy doesn't like unresolved issues. He gave the trumpet another look today, tested it systematically WRT grounds, re-adjusted the internals and now it works the way it was initially wired; via the horn button. Has an interesting half-second delay before the trumpet kicks in, then the volume doubles. Sounds better now; not what one would call a 'big truck' sound, moreso a 'big old vehicle' sound. I'll take it. - - - - - Meanwhile out back- I had 2 of the 4 tires with God knows how old tubes in them, unable to air up due to bad valves... but 1 on each rear side was holding fine. Until last week when one of those 2 is now flat. If it doesnt pump up/hold, the truck is down until 4 new backordered tubes ship on July 14... then I have to drive them 45 mins one way to a truck tire center to get swapped out.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/06/06/technology/business/tesla-model-3-backlog/index.html Musk stated today Model 3 delivery isn't to be expected before "the end of 2018". There goes the production schedules and annual goals stated up until now. Not at all a shock if one has been paying attention to this company's history. What remains to be seen is the degree of people who decide 'enough is enough' and pull their deposits- THREE YEARS is a long damn time to wait for a car to be built.

Well, there actually were numerous electric car attempts in the '70s, GM had a program in the late '60s (along with a hard look at steam). The smart guys couldn't seem to make it work is one factor, but the Final Factor is always the consumer. But to your response... are you saying that if OEMs had started seriously working on EVs in the 1970s, that we'd actually be BEHIND where we are today (5% vs. 6%)??