Posted on 07/27/2012 2:33:00 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
Edited on 07/27/2012 2:39:50 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
ALLEN PARK, Mich.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Want to know what’s wrong with Americans? Look at this thread!
Americans used to want to push the envelope, to be the first with new technologies and materials. But now we want to cower with WWII technology when the Space Age already seems old-fashioned.
They made certain panels such as the hood out of aluminum. Several manufacturers have done it with great success. MGA's of the early sixties used aluminum doors, hoods and trunks. Abbarth and others did it too. I think it could be a fantastic improvement. Now, if they would just do it with a nice six cylinder diesel . . . Aluminum can be anodized making for a very hard surface that resists corrosion. If anyone doesn't think aluminum to be structurally sound, they had maybe better not get on a 747. At 950,000 pounds, aluminum wings and landing gear couldn't possibly support one.
No, I am not confusing ships. Both the Graf Spee and the Bismarck were scuttled by their crews. Michael Ballard found no hull damage to the Bismarck, proving the crew’s claim that they scuttled their ship to prevent capture.
True. But even though you were able to get high enough temps to burn a hole in the top of the piston, the engine didn’t catch fire. All the 2-stroke engines I had were aluminum alloy.
Powdered aluminum, some rust, and a sparkler to light it with.
Great way to get rid of a hard drive. Or... a car.
The Kriegsmarine’s three Panzerschiffen, or pocket battleships, were the “Graf Spee”, “Deutschland””, and “Admiral Scheer”.
The “Bismarck” and her sister “Tirpitz” were two of the largest capital ships ever built, in excess of 55,000 tons.
Not to mention that God-awful movie with Kenny More and the bathtub toy boats......which makes Lütjens into a raving Nazi when he was apolitical.
No problem with anything you say. The masses need stuff.
In the long run the masses benefit from the creativity and innovation, first used in luxury products.
I was trying to suggest that the (former big) three have not led in the way they once did.
BTW the Audi Q7 will introduced an aluminum body, with weight saving of over 600 lbs. in this AWD SUV, which is also available with turbodiesel power.
A turbodiesel American full sized SUV would sell very well, but there is not one.
VW uses turbodiesels in several models, with good prices. Again, a market the (former big) three choose to forfeit.
So again, Detroit does not lead, nor do they even try to follow these days.
LLS
I think Sky was her uncle. :)
There lies the other problem the government throws in the way SAFETY. Get government out of the way and the carmakers and consumers will come up with great vehicles
May have been... that was 45 years ago!
LLS
When I went back on my second tour, 1967, the grunts rode on top. The only people who rode with their legs inside were gunners on a gun track with pots and flack jackets. Not that they helped much if you got in the way of the splash from an RPG.
Doesn’t aluminum manufacturing use much more electricity than with other materials? I wonder if anyone has modeled what the effect of the greater power load is on the grid and where the additional electricity is going to come from.
“The F-250 will continue to be made with steel.
Heavier pickups are exempt from the gas mileage rule.”
I’m not disputing you, but do you have a link to the actual rule. I’ve searched and searched, and it seems to be some closely-guarded national secret.
“The problems with those vehicles (and all applications where steel surfaces meet with aluminum surfaces) is that the materials do chemically react with one another, especially when exposed to salt and water. Defender 90s seem to have interesting rust problems where steel meets aluminum. “
If Ford treats the owners of 150s like Nissan treats Leaf owners, there will be a clause in the Warranty excluding damage from driving on salted roads.
I stopped by the local Ford dealer here and asked about the new truck. The mgr said it was likely to be a 2013 or could be a 2014. The 250 diesel will have steel body parts but is not exempt from the urea requirement for exhaust treatment. Sorry, I can’t quote the regs...
“I stopped by the local Ford dealer here and asked about the new truck. The mgr said it was likely to be a 2013 or could be a 2014. The 250 diesel will have steel body parts but is not exempt from the urea requirement for exhaust treatment. Sorry, I can’t quote the regs...”
Thanks and no prob. The 250 diesel sounds like a decent vehicle (even if it is union-made, no choice there). The urea requirement is nothing much - it’s to get the soot out. It’s a simple system and it’s on all of the rigs now.
In the SE USA where most of the new auto production is headed, it will come from TVA. There are two ways to meet new fuel regs, size reduction and weight reduction. Americans have shown they don’t want smaller vehicles, thus there will be lighter materials used in ways not done before now
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