That’s always the fun part of these conspiracies. It isn’t like automobiles have EVER been made only in the U.S., by the Big 3 (which used to be 4, and before that 5, 6 and a few more.) So this must have been a truly vast conspiracy, to involve different manufacturers around the world like Fiat, Renault, Volkswagen, Saab, Rover, Toyota, Hyundai, and of course, those Indian and Chinese knock off manufacturers who don’t pay much attention to the concept of intellectual property.
Maybe they’re thinking of the Trabant. Apparently getting rid of the bodies for those was a major problem. Not only did the engineer disappear, so did the company and the government, and all the cars were banned. 
This would make for a great episode of Mad Men:
D. Draper, Man In Black: Progress; what is it? Is it going forward? Where does that take us? Bigger tail fins, faster rockets, cigarettes that smoke themselves? Does it give us a feeling of comforting warmth? Does it tell us, ‘You are okay’? No. Progress is the sharp stab of a knife in the stomach. It’s your daughter announcing that she’s pregnant out of wedlock. It’s your wife, telling you that she no longer loves you. Progress is the void of the unknown, the edge of the cliff. At the gates of progress, a sign reads “Here be dragons.” We don’t need your progress, Mijin. What we need is assurance; assurance that it is okay to have a small penis, it’s fine to have a wife that cheats on you with some cheap political hack, that your shitty little office with the mousy secretary is all you truly deserve. So take your ‘penile enhancement’ and tuck it away with all of the other shameful secrets in your attic, and come back when you have something worthwhile to offer.
Peggy, get me a drink!
Stranger
Really? I’d have thought that women’s groups would have stepped in and threatened someone with such a pill. Women don’t like to feel like they’re being torn asunder, contrary to idiot men’s penis-obsessed daydreams.
Somewhere in Orwell’s writings there is a similar story about the everlasting phonograph needle “but big business bought it up and suppressed it”. Now we’ve got that everlasting phonograph needle …
Boy have I opened a can of worms…
Clearly the guy in the fedora was very wise.
I don’t know who the guy in the fedora is… but I know that from experience, the vast majority of women prefer an average sized penis to an overly large one. It’s mainly guys who “appreciate” large dicks. They mean sore jaws, sore crotches, awkward positions, and unsatisfactory sex (inability to “go all the way in” etc) for most women. I don’t know why men seem to crave having a huge cock so badly, considering most women don’t want anything to do with a huge cock.
Well, first of all, I must take a bow for one of the most non sequitur hijacks the dope has ever seen. 
I’m waving at you, OP…can you still see me?
<hijack>
Anyway, I’m skeptical that it’s quite as simple as all that. At least these objections come to mind:
- Whenever they do any kind of poll on women’s preferences, it always ends up with higher end of average length and above average girth. So I doubt all women find large girth uncomfortable.
- As we all know “it’s what you do with it that counts”. Just because a guy’s bigger doesn’t mean he’s gonna plough you…
- What is sexy, and what is good for sex, aren’t quite the same thing. Plenty of women like guys heavy enough to rule out lots of positions.
Yeah, that’s one lazy-ass conspiracy theory. No 50 mpg, no crash survival, no change the oil once a year?
I had an engineering professor explain that it was all about trade-offs. It’s possible to design a car to get 50 - 70 mpg (the metric that everyone was interested in at the time) and last for 500,000 miles. But it wouldn’t go faster than 40 mile per hour and would cost $350,000. There would be no market, so no one would ever pay anyone to start the design.
Now that tickles me. Especially now that so few people use phonographs. Were they ever expensive?
In a similar vein, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. wrote the poem “The Deacon’s Masterpiece or The Wonderful One-Hoss Shay”. It was designed and built so that no piece could be the first to wear out.
There, I merged the two thoughts in this thread. Carry on!
You just haven’t had mine yet.
What?! She started it!
Except for the majority of guys that were over 6 inches in length [I grew to maturity in the 70s when sex and drugs were fun and safe … and recreational use of both abounded] tended to basically have the opinion that size was all that mattered, and went on like a battering ram. It was the normal sized guys that got creative and were fun in bed. And the one guy with the micropenis was quite excellent in bed.
sampling of 43 guys, bell curve starting at 2 inches, ending at just a hair over 9 inches, average being between 6 and 7 inches. There was one exception to the size battering ram - I am quite thankful to whomever taught him foreplay and how to screw properly.
You would think so, but the fight really is taking longer than we thought.
A couple of years ago I had a customer that claimed to have an EE degree who was designing an circuit for his car to break down water into H[sub]2[/sub] and O[sub]2[/sub] using electrical power from the alternator which would dramatically increase his gas mileage.
I pointed out that not only were the laws of thermodynamics a good idea, they were the law and not subject to repeal anytime soon.
He maintained that he wasn’t violating the law because the alternator was putting out it’s full rated output all the time.
I told him:
A) If the alternator did this battery life would be measured in hours not years
B) I taught this stuff for years and I wrote/ edited the instruction book used by my company to teach it
C) An alternator is a demand system it only puts out the amperage needed
D) He really should not say such bullshit out loud because if the institution that gave him his EE heard him say such nonsense they would revoke his degree.
I offered to prove to him he was wrong but he left muttering that I was an idiot.
Funny when I saw his car a couple of years later his magic circuitboard was not installed.
Gee I wonder why?
Unfortunately hucksters are shilling turn-key systems to separate fools from their money.
“Young lady, in this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics!”
Phew thats a relief !
Er I mean, that is I’ve got a problem then.
Honestly !
Why am I getting dragged into this?
Would everyone kindly take their penis-based postings to some other thread in IMHO and let this thread be about automobile engineering? Thank you.
Disclaimer: I do not speak for the Straight Dope Message Board; I only speak for the Straight Dope.
Related Straight Dope column: Can you really get better gas mileage using your car’s engine [alternator] to make Brown’s Gas?
An Engineering degree cannot be revoked unless you can prove fraud or academic misconduct during the obtaining of it. Now a PE license could be revoked, but typically for proof of illegal or unethical behavior, or failure in engineering design which could impact public safety or legal issues. I’ve never heard of a person losing their PE over a perpetual motion fraud, but it could have happened.
Please could you show your workings on this?
I know that but it was my my of pointing and laughing at an EE who obviously no no clue as to how a very simple electrical circuit works.