Hi Listers, just could not resist sharing this with you. I have been
re-reading some very old Heinlen SciFi...circa 1955...here is what
he thinks of our Beloved LBCs (or any auto)...<G>
Quote from Heinlen's "The Rolling Stones"
"Inside their skins was assembled a preposterous collection of
mechanical buffoonery. The prime mover for such a juggernaut might
have rested in ones lap; the rest of the mad assembly consisted of
afterthoughts intended to correct the uncorrectable, to repair the
original basic mistake in design for automobiles were "powered" (if
one can call it that) by "reciprocating engines"
A reciprocating engine was a collection of miniature heat engines
using (in a basically inefficient cycle) a small percentage of an
exothermic chemical reaction, a reaction which was started and
stopped every split second. Much of the heat was intentionally
thrown away into a "water jacket" or "cooling system", then wasted
into the atmosphere through a heat exchanger.
What little was left caused blocks of metal to thump foolishly
back-and-forth (hence the name reciprocating) and thence through a
linkage to cause a shaft and flywheel to spin around. The flywheel
(believe it if you can) had no gyroscopic function; it was used to
store kinetic energy in a futile attempt to cover up the sins of
reciprocation. The shaft at long last caused the wheels to turn and
thereby propelled this pile of junk over the countryside...
.
.
None of the ever worked right; by their nature the could not work
right; and the were constantly getting out of order. Their operators
were usually mightily pleased when they worked at all. When they
did not, which was every few hundred miles ( hundred, not hundred
thousand), they hired a member of a social class of arcane
specialists to make inadequate and always expensive repairs.
Despite their shortcomings, these "automobiles" were the most
characteristic form of wealth and the most cherished possessions of
their time. Three whole generations were slaves to them."
Probably just the way our great-great-grandchildren will describe
us and our slavery to our beloved LBCs...<G>
--
Bill Pugh
1957 TR3
aka
Casper
Wallace, CA
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