What do you think the major "goofs" and "goodies" are for the various auto
companies world-wide.  I'll start things off with a few entries.

46 responses total.

Cadillac's 4-6-8 engine (was supposed to run on 4,6, or 8 cylinders, depending
upon the power needed.

Oops, I screwed up the initial entry:  That should have been titled "Goof"

Goody:  Chrysler's introduction of the mini-van.

Goof: The Edsel (soitinley!)

Goof:  The invention of the automobile and our increasing dependancy on it.

Goof:  The massive popularity of gas-sucking Sport Utility Vehicles... what
do you suppose the OPEC folks are thinking right now?

Goody:  Automatic Overdrive transmissions introduced by ? ? ? 

Goof: The protruding beak nose on 1970-71 T-Bird, 1992-95 Buick Skylark, and
possibly other models.

Goodie:  The Nissan "NAPS-Z" engine, a straight 4 cylinder with high
compression and *two* spark plugs per cylinder - pretty efficient, never fails
to start quickly in even the coldest weather (my experience with a 10 year
old model).

   goody: any in-line engine (the amc 258 straight-six being a personal
favorite).

   goof: unibodies. 

   re #6: i think the massive popularity of those big vehicles has to do with
the fact that most of them are *not* unibodies, and therefore are less likely
to be totaled (or allow their passengers to be totaled) in an accident.

Goodie:  elimination of leaded fuel and the resultant gain in the environment
(even though it is tough on valves).

Goodie:  The increased effectiveness and reliability of emission control
devices used in automobiles in the last 15 or so years.
 
Badie:  Road salt.
 
Goodie: SUV's that like to tip over on their side due to their mass, high
CG and their haven't got a clue drivers.  (BTW, having had unibody cars for
the last 20 years, I prefer unibodies, accidents included.)

   well, everyone has their preferences. having driven around 500,000 miles
in everything from a geo spectrum to a peterbilt, i'd much rather have
something with a frame in it than folded sheet metal.

(Biggest cars I've driven were '70s era Buick Electra 225 and Olds Tornado.
Either of those or a Spectrum, against a Peterbuilt would be sPLat!)
 
Goodie: Radial tires.  Last longer, better mileage and safer.

Goodie: Regenerative braking.  Reuse some of the enery usually given off
        as heat while stopping.

   goof: computerized engines. they're getting so complicated that dealerships
can't even fix 'em right.

Goof & Goody (depending on your point of view):

1963 Split Window Corvette Sting Ray

Goof - because of the extraordinarily large blind spot

Goody - because of the collectors' value of the 1963 split window models.

Goof!! Them gas guzzling boats of the early '70s
Goody!! Early '80s styles
Goody!! The old reliable high performance V-8
Real goofup!!! Geo Metro, Yugo, and just about every single shit shaker
compact car around. Even my Buick Riv can splat one of them little cars like
a foot on a cockroach. Safety is a BIG issue for me.

and by the way. emission controls are a real goody for the earth (although
a bit frustrating)
another goody is a well maintained, well built, and quick car (in any year,
shape and creed)

Goof - Ford Festiva (which looks more like a Little Tikes "Cozy Coupe" than
a real car).

Forgive me, Rob Henderson, for knocking your basic means of transportation.

   goof: gm's cessation of production of full-size, rwd passenger cars.

Full-size = "boat" right?  So is it a goof or not?

   personally, i think it's a goof. by discontinuing production of full-size
rwd passenger cars, gm has handed ford a fleet car monopoly. then again, i'm
a cabdriver and i vastly prefer chevy caprices over ford crown victorias. i'll
stop before i go off on another of my anti-crown-vic rants, though. ;)

Re #22 What about the Mercury Grand Marquis?  I know that Yellow Cab has at
least two in its fleet (including Patrick Quinn's 1992 model, #66).

  I prefer the 1985 Chevrolet Impala/Caprice as the best taxi car built. The
new Caprices are too wide for my tastes. I cannot comment on the Crown Vics.

   the mercury grand marquis is a ford product. the two which are yellow cabs
are independently owned, not fleet cabs.

   and i agree, omni...those old boxy caprices are among the best cars ever
built, period. while the new, whale-shaped caprices are nowhere near as
maneuverable as their predecessors, i still like them better than crown vics.
my main objections to crown vics are that the center of gravity is too high
and the body is too light for the torque produced by the engine, making them
(in my opinion) more unstable than i really like and far too likely to spin
out under adverse road conditions.

   I think if GM had any sense, they would start producing those old boxy
caprices just for fleet/taxi/police use. Remember Checker? Like the VW bug
the design never changed, but that was another car that was a solid taxi, and
it could take a lot of abuse. I love driving Checkers.

Omni, I do remember the Checker cab, which was last produced in 1982-83 or
thereabouts.  There was also a Checker station wagon and a Checker Aerobus
(stretched out station wagon).

BTW, another popular model for taxicabs was the Postwar DeSoto, which was
featured in almost every movie of the time that had the locale of a major U.S.
city in the late 1940's.

  DeSoto? Ugh. My grandfather, who oversaw production at Lynch Rd even hated
DeSotos. But the Checker was the only car specifically designed as a taxicab.

  A good indicator of what's new in the taxi biz is to look at the streets
of NYC. If it can survive those drivers....

  I remember a test that Yellow Cab once participated in. Chrysler loaned 2
Dodge 600's. Nice, but they didn't make it as cabs.

  If I was to buy a new car for the taxi biz, it would probably be a Dodge
Caravan, Mercury Villager, or an old Impala. ;)

Caravans, to reduce the hood length, tucked the engine under the dash:
Not as easy to work on any more.  Ford / Mercury, are rust buckets but
then cabs get a lot of miles on them and you'll wear out the engines
(In all of them) before thee body starts to rust through.
 
Perhaps and older model Caravan with a diesel?

  I'd like to have it powered by Fuel Cells. I saw a story on ABC News, and
it excited me about the future..

Fuel cells have been around since the 50's.  The buses you saw were only
about $1,000,000 each.

   re #29: you'd be surprised. yellow tends to keep cabs until they have
around 400,000 miles on them. in the old #27 (a boxy caprice), i could look
down and see road whizzing past under my feet.

   i keep hearing rumors that yellow is going to experiment with
propane-powered cabs, but i have yet to see any appear in the lot.

With apologies to Eric Clapton:

You don't lie.
You don't lie.
You don't lie.
PROPANE!

 Then there is the time I went into a large puddle in Maple Village at 30 mph,
and damn near drowned myself. (I was off duty and on the way home when I did
this). When I stopped and looked under the floormat on the passenger side,
there was a good 4 inch hole. (this was #69, an old old Pontiac LeMans).

  Hey I was stupid back then. I wouldn't be caught doing that sort of thing
nowadays. ;)

r.e. #32  400K miles?  Wow!  Well, you'd be very lucky to get more than
150K miles out of the original V6 they were stuffing into Caravans not
too long ago.  They *LOVE* to warp their heads and drink their radiator
fluid.  Aerostars, in the great Ford tradition, rust out too fast.  Rust
will start in the rocker panels on those.
 
A sheet of aluminum and a gallon of roofing tar will do wonders for holes
in the floor.  I've done that more than once!

Rubber bands and bailing wire...

  That's average for Yellow Cab. Generally if it starts, and the meter works,
that's good enough. I just think that some of the drivers could be a little
gentler on the equipment. (not you, void)

Re #35:  Aluminum in your car floor (or elsewhere) will drive the rust to 
a much higher rate due to galvanic action.

True, however the roofing tar does a good job of keeping the moisture away
if applied properly.  I guess you could also use a cut-up coffee can, etc.
(Perhaps that's why the fire wall in my spirit rusted out around the aluminum
master clutch cylinder after 13 years?)

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss