Re: of windows, tinting and climates

[Matthew Killick <m.killick@domain.elided>]

>>  LA has a Mediterranean climate of cool wet winters and hot dry summers.  By
>>  extraordinary coincidence, the Mediterranean region was where Italy
>>  (including Turin) was located last time I looked at an atlas.
>  

>Well Mat, check your geography a little closer.  Rome is at about the same 
>latitude as New York City and Milan and Turin are alot farther north, prob. 
>like Maine and parts of Canada.  I lived in So. Italy for 2 years where there 
>truly is a "Mediterranean" climate.  Milan is within an hour's drive of the 
>Italian "Alps" and into Austria and Switzerland.

>Jerry in Houston

Well, I checked it again, and Italy is still in the Mediterranean region.
The climate data for the Po Valley and the piedmont shows marked
seasonality for precipitation, with maxima and minima in the winter and
summer respectively.  LA is at the hot/dry end of the Mediterranean climate
range, and northern Italy at the cool/wet end.

Continental east coasts are not comparable because the ocean circulation
patterns dictate a different range and distribution climate types.

Regardless, my response was to Charlie's comment: "Recently I visited
Italdesign in Torino where the GTV-6 was designed.  It's 
no wonder, experiencing their weather (downpours) that Georgetto didn't 
consider the greenhouse effect when creating a design with all that beautiful 
glass!  Nor that the folks in Arese, minutes from the Alps, considered a 
silly device like an air conditioner a throwaway afterthought of no 
consequence to serious drivers."

My point is that it gets *hot* in Italy in the summer.  If the air
conditioning of these cars is marginal (my 116 Giulietta had crap
ventilation and adequate aircon), I seriously doubt that it is because the
Torinese or Milanese are unfamiliar with foul summer weather.  I'd suggest
it is more likely that aircon was treated as a low priority issue at the
design stage.  Certainly, until recently, it has been a rare option on cars
in the European markets which have always been the most important for Alfa
Romeo.

Here are a couple of questions to ponder for the weekend.  Consider that
Alfa Romeo introduced two new and entirely different platforms (ahem)
almost simultaneously (AlfaSud and Alfetta).  
	1	How many engineers did Alfa Romeo have to work on the design 		and
development of the entire cars?
	2	How many engineers do Ford or GM have working on heating/
		ventilation/aircon systems?

Cheers
Mat
1969 Giulia 1750 TI: no aircon and miserable to drive in our foul
Mediterranean summers when it gets up to 47C (117F).

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