I was watching the History Channel and they had a program on design failures. One of the subjects was the Ford Pinto ( :eek: ), and interestingly enough, the car was originally designed to have a liner for the fuel tank, in order to prevent the car from catching fire during an accident. It was also supposed to have airbags! Now, think about what happened when airbags were first introduced into models in the US. That’s right, they were too powerful and started killing people, so the Pinto most likely would have been a death trap either way!
The floor pan in the C5 Corvette is balsa wood!
Daytime Running Lights cut battery life and reduces gas milage by upwards of a quarter of a mile per gallon.
The Volkswagen Thing was never intended to be exported to the US. A California dealer saw them being built in one of VW’s Mexico plants and asked when he was going to get some. They were only sold here for two model years.
The AMC Gremlin, though a small vehicle, was equipped with a Chrysler A-727 Torqueflite™ automatic transmission, the same as used in the Chrysler Imperial, a vehicle close to double the size of the Gremlin.
The first version of what became known as the Beetle was developed in 1934 under the guidance of Adolf Hitler, who wanted to build a “people’s car”, which in German, translates to Volkswagen.
Hey, Shirley, didja look at my sig line? Click on the link? You should try it some time.
Oh, and Necromancer, you’re slightly wrong (though still technically correct) about the Volkswagon. Porsche (thanks to Hitler) stole the plans from Tatra
Here’s some other usless information:
Before he got into the automobile industry, Scottish born David Buick was in the plumming business. He apparently died poverty-stricken.
Dodge and Plymouth 170 and 225 CID slant six engines were very service friendly. If you were over 5’6", you could pull the starter without going underneath.
Lambhorgini was originally a successful tractor manufacturer in Italy.He once purchased a Ferrari and was not particuarly pleased with it and had some suggestions for improvement.So he went to Enzo Ferrari with those and was promptly admonished.Thus Lambhorgini supercars was born to avenge the humiliation.
All Datsun/Nissan Z’s and ZX’s, from the original 69 240 to the last 300ZX Twin Turbo (I can’t speak for the new 350Z with any certainty, unfortunately) have a small, old style “Z” emblem design pressed into the front crossmember, under the engine. A place you would never see it, unless you pull the engine.
The Bricklin of the mid 70s didn’t have a cigarette lighter. Not even as an option.
The passenger’s side door was intentionally designed 4 inches longer than the driver’s side door, to encourage backseat riders to enter the vehicle on the curb side.
Additionally, the Pacer was designed on the back of an air sickness bag by Dick Teague while on a plane trip (notice the headlights look like the windows of a jet liner) and it was supposed to have a wankel rotory engine in it and be front wheel drive, but when AMC’s supplier (GM) cancelled the project, they had to quickly redesign the car, making it a rear wheel drive car with a 360 under the hood. And I want one! (My brother had one when I was a kid.)
During the mid-80s, the popularity of the Volkswagen GTI prompted Chrysler to design a sporty version of the Dodge Omni hatchback. Automotive folk hero Carroll Shelby oversaw the project and dubbed the new car the Dodge Omni GLH, for “goes like hell”.
Porsche was also involved in the design of Nazi “super-heavy” tanks. One design had meter wide tracks and weighed in at 188 tons. An American Sherman tank weighed all of 40 tons. Ironically, the Porsche design, complete with something on the order of one foot thick forward armor plate, was named:
The Citroën 2CV, the French answer to the VW Beetle, stunned journalists at the 1948 Paris motor show with its ugliness. Yet the car proved to versatile, that it was built throughout the mid nineties, still sporting a mere 600 CC’s worth of boxer engine. Unlike a Ferrari boxer engine, the 2CV merely had 2 cylinders.
It’s still a cult classic here in Europe. They are very resilient cars, if you manage to keep it rust-free…
Sticking with Citroën (I have a soft spot for French cars, what can I say), they also introduced the revolutionary DS. The name is pronounces Dé-esse in French, and means Goddess.
The DS had front wheel drive, secondary headlights that turned inward the corner you were steering towards, brake discs at the front, power brakes, hydro-pneumatic and fully independant suspension… the list goes on.
All these features would be impressive in a new car, even today. But the DS was introduced in… 1955. It remained in production for almost 20 years, when it was replaced by the equally remarkable CX.
I think it’s fair to say that in the history of the car, the Citroën DS has been one of the biggest automotive leaps forward. A fenomenal car, which can be driven with ease, even in hectic 21st century traffic. Not only does is have enough grunt to pull it off, it also has more comfort than most modern cars.
Coldy, the original 2CV started with a pull rope like a lawnmower, yes? Didja know that the prototype of the car was built before the war? And that it was hidden in the sewers of Paris as the Nazi’s rolled into France and that it wasn’t found until 1976? (It started on the first try, BTW.)
