Re: Car of the Century

[jack@robotic-midwives.com (Jack Hagerty)]

From: John Katos <JJK1204@aol.com>

>Scott,
>You are unforntunately incorrect on point #1 about Honda being the first to go
>with a transverse FWD layout other than BL. In 68 Simca, then owned by
>Chrysler, introduced the 1100 in Europe and in 69 in the U.S. 

Both of you, back to your automotive history books! The 1949 Saab 92 had
a transverse engine with an in-line transaxle, just like the Civic and
all of the legions of cars that Scott mentioned today. They made something
like 40,000 of them over four years which is enough, I would think, to
establish it as a "production" run.

Of course, it was only two cylinders and a two stroke, but it had some
interesting features like the starter motor and generator combined as a 
unit and the radiator built into the firewall. This latter is to combat 
those really cold Swedish winters where the entire heat output (admittedly 
meager) of this tiny powerplant could be diverted into the cabin.

...and...

From: "Paul Irvine" <pi@crl.com>

>If you look at the chart in the back of any "Road & Track" you'll see that
>the Toyota Corolla has two noteworthy specifications that are highlighted.

>It has the least horsepower and the longest stopping distance from 60 mph of
>any of the cars listed.

It also has an incredible hyping machine back in Japan. Earlier this year
they tried to lay claim to the title of "the most produced car in history"
when production passed 24 million (eclipsing the VW Beetle). They date it 
from the mid '60s when the nameplate went into production, but it's a total
crock. You can place an original 1937 Beetle prototype next to any production
model from its 55 (?) year run and see that it's substantially the same car
with only evolutionary changes. About the only commonality between the '68
Corolla and the '98 version is that that they both have four wheels. How many
times has the platform changed? How many different model variants are there?

- Jack

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| Jack Hagerty                |                                             | 
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