packardbob

I think the deciding factor of which cars are the worst for dating all depends on what you are planning on doing with your date. If you're going four wheeling, the GM is probably not the best, if you're going to dinner, there are better choices to pick your date up in, but if you're going out to do donuts in the parking lot or make out all night, well, the GM is a good choice. RWD, V8 power, lots of leg room, and if you're parked I can't imagine getting caught since the likelihood of a cop that would approach a parked GM with steamed up windows is quite rare, since, well, it's popular belief that only old people own them, I will leave it to you to put two and two together.

I do agree Ford should separate themselves from GM and Chrysler, I do believe that 7Mary3 is correct as well though. It would be a huge slap in the face for Ford if they tout the fact that they currently don't need money, all just to separate themselves from GM and Chrysler, only to need it this time next year because GM and Chrysler crapped out. Ford should be more vocal about why they were in Washington, to support GM and Chrysler as Fords success is somewhat tied to theirs. I have seen statements similar to this on Fords Media website, but not much in the national news.

In all honesty I don't know in great detail how Chapter 11 works and I'm not going to pretend like I do, but I just don't understand why CH11 for GM would absolutely mean CH11 for Ford. I don't understand why Ford will have problems getting parts from part suppliers that also supply parts to GM and Chrysler. If GM files for Chapter 11 to restructure, will they all of a sudden quit building cars? The same goes for the parts suppliers themselves. If they run out of money, can't they file for Chapter 11 as well? And if so, does this mean they will not build parts while they restructure? To put it another way, if GM files for bankruptcy and quits building cars, then there is a vacuum for the suppliers to fill. But how can GM file for CH11 and return to profitability without building cars? Cars that use parts. Parts that parts suppliers build. And likewise with the parts suppliers, how can they return from CH11 restructuring without building parts to sell? Parts that Ford would like to buy. The area where I see Ford at a disadvantage is in the cost of labor. Since GM would get to renegotiate its labor contracts under CH11, they could be poised to start a pricing war and artificially tilt the market in their favor. But, would people buy GM products from a bankrupt company even at a reduced price? I wouldn't. The only GM I would own would be an Oldsmobile, GM should have dumped Buick and Pontiac and sunk the money into Olds. Turn the core GM into Chevy Olds Cadillac like Ford Mercury Lincoln. As for Chrysler Corp. I sincerely believe they are toast. I'm not a fan of Chrysler at all, so I don't really care. GM and Ford are guilty of making some crappy cars, Chrysler is guilty of making all crappy cars. Just my opinion, but I believe it to be true.

In retrospect some of the things that screwed these projects up was just plain stupidity. Take the Olds diesel, pretty much a completely different engine than the gas Olds 350, but it retained the head bolt pattern that the gas Olds 350, 307 and 403 shared, bad idea. How could the same pattern, using the same number of head bolts be used for something that has 22:1 compression ratio when it was designed for low compression smog engines? Just plain stupid. My grandfather had one of these 350's in an 83 Delta 88, nice car and it got about 32-38mpg on the highway but it was gutless as a turd and spent most of the time at the dealership until he put aftermarket head bolts and main bearing bolts in place of the factory spec. bolts. The V-8-6-4 is interesting as well, Ford tried to do something to change the way emissions was met too. Ford fitted 100 LTD Crown Vics with Pro Co engines with direct injection in 1980? 81? and it worked, but the cost was way to high when a catalytic converter could reduce the cost per car by over $1000 vs DI.

Thats kind of odd, the old police units around here are retired at 150k and usually get sold off to the city for City Department managers who run them till the wheels fall off them, or are bought at auction and reused as taxi cabs.

Who picked up RR's slack in Merlin production in the UK? Ford of Britain. Ford implemented the assembly line technique whereas Rolls Royce always put them together and finished them by hand up to this point. In the US, Packard was licensed to build the engine but managed to actually improve it beyond RRs design and the P-51s with the Packard built RR Merlin's were deemed the "Cadillacs of the Sky." Sometimes irony is not so sweet.

Crap, I had to go find the article as I read it about two months ago, and I'm glad I did. The 4.6L was a three valve per cylinder, I assumed four. The engine made 445 hp with stock 6 psi boost. The article explains that with just a minor adjustment in boost beyond stock, it could "achieve north of 500 hp." And if an estimate of hp is not good enough for you, Foose also sells a 4.6L with a Vortech blower on it making 462 hp. SO even without four valves per cylinder the 4.6L can make over 100 hp per liter. I was wondering about perhaps twin turbos in place of the supercharger, like the 425 hp Duratec 3.0L used in the Noble M400. Just a thought.

Could we be talking about the modular 4.6L and the 4R75W? The V8s and the four speeds that see 400,000+ miles on them in large fleets? The same engines that are nearly ran out of oil because of lazy cops (no offense to cops that check their oil before they go on patrol) and stupid fleet managers and still are able to run? (seen this happen more than once) The same engines that Ford and Roush were able to pull 435hp out of? (Mustang Monthly) Maybe it would be a good deal FOR Honda to put such long lasting engines in their cars for a change. Then, as far as quality goes, maybe Honda could quit hanging on Toyotas coat tails for awhile and be able to surpass them. Im not an anti Honda guy, I have an 82 Silverwing that I love, and I really do hate Toyota, but nobody messes with my beloved 4.6L and gets away with it.

I used to care about what CR published and in fact I used to put a quite a bit of stock in their "research." In compiling statistics a few of the major factors of accuracy is the sample size (the larger the sample size the more accurate the data should be) and the demographics of the sample. There are more factors involved in compiling statistics, but these are what killed CR for me. I learned that their sample size is their subscribers. Now, Im not sure if this ruins their data, but there are better ways of collecting data than just using their subscribers. Take some TGR studies for example, they use actual data from dealerships to compile the number of warranty claims for each brand of car. Maybe it's just me, but TGR seems a bit more accurate than CR subscribers.

Crown Vic sales were up 2% from last year for the month of September. Word is getting out that the Chargers are typical Chrysler JUNK.

I am to the point where I don't even worry about it anymore, Ford has been to the brink and back before. Look at the transition time between the Model T and the Model A. It was a terrible time for Ford. Ford completely quit making cars in the US for about a year to retool to make the Model A. If the model A would have been a flop, Ford would have gone out of business in 1928 and we wouldn't even be discussing Ford Motor Company. Another is the story of the 49 Ford. Ford was in serious trouble then as well. Henry II stepped up to the plate and knocked the ball out of the park with the 49 Ford and saved the company from ruin. Granted, there are more players in the game now, but Fords past has proved that when things are getting rough, Ford gets tough. They would develop newer looking and better cars that would not only be as good as the competitions, but better, and that is exactly what they are doing right now. Most of Fords product line is being either redesigned or heavily refreshed withing the next couple of years. Being number 1 in front of GM and Chrysler IS a big achievement. If Chrysler goes out of business, there will be an opening in market share that Ford can take if they would play their cards right. If Chrysler gets swallowed up by GM there will be people that will desert the brand because of who they would now be associated with, same situation if Chrysler were bought out by a foreign company. Ford could easily market itself to those deserters and swallow up some market share that way. The economic mess wasn't caused solely by people buying foreign cars, but I will testify that it did not help and may have been like pouring salt on an open wound. I found that anywhere from 80%-93% of the money spent on an import goes back to the country where that manufacturer is based. This of course depends on currency exchange, (a reason why Japan might have been suppressing the value of the Yen), where it was made, and where the part supplier was. Sending over $20B a year to Japan can't be good for our economy now can it? Buy American, the job you save might just be your own.

Good for Ford, bringing a new diesel to the market and selling them can't be any more difficult than selling a truck with a Power Stroke, especially after the 6.0 disaster. As for the exhaust exiting out the top, I am wondering what that will do to the flow and exchange of heat as a large source of heat will be in a different place and air flow through the engine compartment usually carries the heat from the radiator and exhaust manifold down and out. Perhaps this is what the bigger radiator is for? I don't know, I don't design cars, just curious. Buy American, the job you save might be your own.