On Mon, 21 Sep 1998 09:36:02 -0500, Robert Allen wrote:
>-----Original Message-----
>From: William Eastman <william.eastman@medtronic.com>
>
>
>I love arguing with this guy. . .
>
>>Now no one will risk upsetting the apple cart by introducing a
>>RWD car. For some reason the upper end of the market has been somewhat
>>immune to this.
>
>You're wrong, of course. It seems everyone that has reached their social
>station in life is drving a RWD car. They're called Sport Utes. But maybe
>they secretly lack the confidence to go all the way as they carry around
>pristine and unused FWD running gear where ever they go.
Hey, I have used my 4WD; and had to replace the front hubs because they
wore out! (Probably because the PO drove in 4WD on dry roads, but the
gear had definitely been used before I got the Explorer.) Just this month
I freaked my wife out by driving on what she contended was not a road in
the mountains. (I contended that it was probably a service road, as the
truck would fit up it.)
>
>Seriously, in the top five vehicle sales charts, trucks have taken at least
>three positions for the last decade in the U.S.A. And trucks are all RWD.
>
>I think there are a few German makes that still make RWD work acceptably. I
>find it odd that manufactures don't get a clue and reinvent the Monte
>Carlo/Chevelle, T-Bird/Fairlane, Charger/'Cuda or something. Of course, they
>can't seem to reinvent anything under $30,000 a copy anymore so it's all a
>moot point.
The Monte Carlo has been reinvented. The T-Bird model was discontinued for
a short time to give Ford a chance to figure out how to recapture the T-Bird
gone
by. (The one before that piece of junk in the '70s)
>Mercury reinvents Cougar and what a featureless, bland, and uninspiring car.
>There may be a glimmer of hope, though, as the next Mustang will have
>angular lines. Maybe the Jellybean era is closing. GM might get a clue in a
>decade.
No comment on Cougar... But I drove a '98 corvette at Stapleton Airport
(denver's
old airport) at a test drive session that GM was running. The rules were:
You can go as fast as you want as long as you don't hit the cones. If you hit a
few
cones we will talk to you about it. If you hit a lot of cones then you must go
and drive
the Mini-vans. The Corvette, even with the automatic, has got to be one of the
most
fun cars to drive. They also had a mustang and a camero to compare with; the
vette
blew the other two away. I did notice one problem with the vette. After you
finished
your run through the course it always smelled bad. A lot like burnt rubber....
:)
>--
>Bob Allen, Kansas City, '69CGT, '75TR6
>500+ LBC miles this weekend; 90% on 2 lane backroads. Life is good.
Did you go to the event in CO?
--
Andrew Lundgren
lundgren@iname.com
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