At 05:01 PM 11/20/97 +0000, you wrote:
>> Another cool car made here in America is the Panoz AIV Roadster.
>2 seat roadster - they use aluminum for their frame!>
>They're the only ones in the world doing it, and it's amazing!
>
>Apart from Lotus with the Elise and Renault with the spider!!
>
Man, I'm going to pay for that remark for the rest of my life!
I'm beginning to wonder, now - do the Elise and Renault (model-?) use
aluminum for the structural portions of the frame, or in supporting areas
for weight saving? The panoz uses it for weight saving, but also because
the production methods actually make it stiffer (their speak - not mine).
I also saw a car that was hit on the left front side at 45 mph - the
aluminum body skin came back and actually bent itself around the aluminum
frame. The frame didn't move and wasn't damaged structurally, so all
they'll need to do is put on a new skin, new suspension pieces (external
suspension), new wheel/tire, and they're ready to go. The engine was not
touched (nothing came in on it - stopped at the frame) and still ran.
Nothing compared to my spitfire, though (oblig. LBC content). Although, if
I don't break down and buy the flare nut wrench and fix the gas leak out of
the fuel pump, it might really SPIT some FIRE... :)
Chip
(tortured by living 10 miles from the Panoz plant)
p.s. - have you all seen the Esperante?? Nice.
----------
Chip Mautz
Greenbrier & Russel
Atlanta, Ga
"Life is too short to drive boring cars"
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