I always found it ironic that Nader wound off killing off the best-handling
car made in the US at the time-- the late-model Corvair. And the early
Corvair had its handling faults, but it was clearly documented that the main
problem the car had came from ignorant mechanics rotating the tires and not
adjusting the tire pressures, which were very different front and rear. I
owned a rear-engined Fiat 850, and I could see noticeable handling
degradation when the tires were just a half-pound off. I shudder to think
how it would have handled with the pressure off five or six pounds!
Back in the Sixties, I remember reading a quote from the new CEO of BSA (a
Lord something-or-other) to the effect that he didn't care if they ever sold
another motorcycle, but they =were= going to do things =his= way. And they
did. . .
Tom Zuchowski
'61 Bugeye
Clemmons, NC
-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff Boatright <jboatri@emory.edu>
To: toyman@htcomp.net <toyman@htcomp.net>; spridgets@autox.team.net
<spridgets@autox.team.net>
Date: Saturday, May 29, 1999 9:19 AM
Subject: Nader, was: Side Marker Reflectors
>Toyman,
>
>Gotta disagree here. No doubt Nader had influence, but that's not what
>killed the Brit car industry. Poor management killed the British car
>industry. There were several articles in British Car Magazine, written by
>those who lived through it, detailing this. There are also entire books
>written on this. Management was unable to read the market(s), had little
>interest in making a better product, aided in creating poor labor relations
>(though the gov't had a lot to do with this), could not cope with gov't
>regulations (theirs and ours), and finally, had gone too far down the tubes
>by the time the pseudo oil crisis hit. Conversely, the Japanese car
>industry coped with all these problems and changes and thrived.
>
>Nader was one part of the equation. Given the direction some European car
>manufacturers were heading (MB and Volvo) with safety options pre-Nader,
>the industry may have eventually made safer cars. I don't see that Nader
>directly did much good, but as a center of controversy, he got safety
>issues on the table.
>
>Jeff
>"Light fuse and get away!"
>---
>On 5/29/99, toyman@htcomp.net wrote:
>> One of my 69 Midgets has two wipers, no side reflectors, and no
headrests.
>>
>...
>>the Spridget
>>went to the three wiper system in the mid-68 production year at the urging
of
>>'ugh' Ralph Nader aka the man that killed the british sports car,he placed
>>so many saftey requirements on the manufacturing of these cars that
England
>>couldn't keep up,since the U.S.imported the majority of the cars,England
>>finally gave up trying to please this pain in the ass advocate of saftey
who
>>had way to much influence,and stopped making the LBC,s(the ralfph nader
info
>>was read in a different source of info and will not be found in the book I
>>previously mentioned"DISCLAIMER")
>>
>
>Jeff Boatright __o_\__ '65 Austin-Healey Sprite
>http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~jboatri/sprite/sprite.html
>
>
>
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