Automotive Dialectic

Automotive Dialectic

Not dielectric like the insulation film between the foils of a capacitor.
I mean the dialectic of the orthodox practioner of the same, Karl Marx. He
believed that political progress of his persuasion advances by two steps
forward, then one step back.

I believe that is what we are seeing with the auto industry. I term it the
automotive dialectic.

The last two steps forward in the auto industry transpired in the period
following WW II to about 1960. Since then, we have taken one step back.

Just look at any system. Brakes for example. GM advanced brakes by an
order of magnitude when they made optional overdesigned disc brakes in the
'60s. Large diameter, twin discs, with centrifugal ventilation cooling.
Big, dual piston calipers. Those brakes did not fade and the discs did not
warp. As pointed out by one of my loyal fans, there are lots of no-good
reasons why the brakes were derated to the point now where disc brakes on
cars are no better than the old drum brakes of the '30s. That is the
automotive dialectic in action.

Now consider tires. Tires were perfected by 1978 with the -80 radials. It
was possible to align wheels precisely because the tires had the optimum
cross section which defined the points of contact with the road for exact
setting of caster, camber and toe. One could expect a well aligned car to
go straight down the road for half a mile, hands off. Try that today with
-35 radials. Its impossible to align these tires and that's why your car
pulls. Thank B.F. Good'n'rich Tire Company for these new tires that have us
riding on the rims. Another dialectic.

What about fuel injection? Well, what about it? Check out the Rochester
Fuel Injection of the '57 Corvette. A masterpiece of engineering and it had
no wires going to and fro. You worked on this gem with a drill motor!!
With the drill motor you could activate the system and check the spray
patterns. That and a short length of rubber tubing that you blew with your
mouth were the only "special tools" you needed! Now try to tackle your EFI
with a drill motor when it goes kaflooey. LOL. The dialectic explains it.

Even the lowly windshield succumbed to the dialectic. A '51 Ford had a
windshield just like a Boeing 737. About the same size, rake, and FLAT
GLASS. Todays dialectic windshields cost about 100 times as much as that
'51 Ford's. Who needs curved glass? Only if you want distortion, extra
weight, and 10 x the price. You do not need it for "streamling" because if
a 737 can go 550 mph with flat glass, your Chrysler Roadburner can too.
More dialectic at work.

All the advances are to the credit of the auto companies because everything
they do they do with our best interest in mind. But, who's in charge of
the back steps; that is, the dialectic? Is it evil ones in top management?
Government with its over-regulations? Just think what we would be driving
if it weren't for the dialectic.

One very effective solution would involve some assertiveness on the part of
the car industry. They could simply announce that they will unite in a
consortium whereby all decision making would rest within the industry and
not shared by goverment regulatory agencies. Taking government out of the
equation would allow the free thinking necessary for the foward steps
without the Karl Marx dogma of government forcing us to take back steps.
This gets rid of the dialectic and we more forward, never backward. Do you
see the wires in the EFI going away overnight? I do. Since the government
does not make cars and cannot make cars, the consortium has all the say so,
not the government, which has no say-so. To flex some muscle, the car
companies should declare a holiday of one year. No production of new cars
for one year. It is perfectly within the right of any company to close its
doors because this is a free country and there is no forced labor like in
that great big Asian country where we buy all our stuff at Wal-Mart. This
car making holiday I propose will dry up the new car market and make it
ripe for the re-introduction of new non-dialectic models. Isn't that what
we all crave for?

If you like this post, let me know so I can write Dialectic Part II.

 

I think we should go back to crossply tyres.

Fairly narrow profile for reduced slipping and sliding, and inexpensive.

DAS

 

What a cheap performance bolt on goodie!!!!!!!!.. flat windshield + Jeep GC
= 550mph.. a question tho.. how does one see a stop light at 30,000 feet?..

 

We sorta like your drift...you mean, like, a '55 , low compression,
Volkswagon did less Environmental Damage than 2004 BMW suv? And who wudda
thought they'd invent computerized brakes that will give you No Brakes when
the goin' gets slippery? ( That's as creative as their explaination of said
brakes mortalities figures.)

Yes, please continue...

Much later, touch on "family planning" vs. "locomotion"...

ls

 

FACT: Well designed drum brakes perform about as well as well
designed disk brakes, always have and always will. Poorly designed disk and
drum brakes escape into the wild all the time because current performance
regulations permit the same.

FACT: Michelin perfected the tire in 1948 when it introduced the
Michelin X, triple steel belted radal tire. It lasted almost 85,000 miles
and did not get many flats. (OK it did not have the ultimate handling
characteristis). Tires at that time lasted about 10,000 miles and got a flat
several times a year if not more frequently. Most vehicles have no problem
getting the wheels properly aligned today.

FACT: Try the 300SLR if you want to see superb engineering. How
about direct intake mechanical fuel injection without any intake valves.
(Problem, only two guys in Germany knew how to set this up). This
(electronic direct injection), is now being introduced in vehicles and it
provides improved fuel milage and power. Life is good.

FACT: Full coverage glass insurance is cheap. Curved glass is cool
if it is not optically distorted.

Richard.

 

Hilarious. Please post more. But is an automotive group appropriate for
such humor?

 

I drive a '70 Sport Fury. A nice car: brakes well, decemt gas mileage, easy
to repair, etc. If I tried to put my family in a new car the tires would be
flat and the body pan would be on the pavement.

 

Hey, lets go back to the horse and buggy. That would settle
everything. Then Nomen Nescio would complain about stepping in horse
poopie all the time and that they ought to put diapers on the horses.
Put a bigger feed bag on the nag so we get better fuel mileage and
keep an extra standby bag of feed so incase the first one gets a hole
in it and we break down on the road because of a bad 'fuel bag'. You
know it happens all the time. We then need a flat screen in front of
the buggy so we don't get hit by bugs. We need a carbon fiber brake
stick to stand up better against the wheel when stopping. We need
better screws in the metal rims of the wheels so that they stay
straight on the wheel.

Just a thought.

 

Continuing this thought, I felt it worth mentioning that about 100 years ago
the big fear of many London residents and traffic planners was not the
traffic jams (about the same as today) but the rising tide of horse manure.
Where to put it all... (I kid you not!)

Thankfully ol' Harry Ford et came along in the nick of time with their mass
horse-replacement scheme...

DAS
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