look at it this way :)

[Pottree@domain.elided]

In a message dated 02/19/2002 11:56:42 AM Pacific Standard Time, 
owner-alfa-digest@domain.elided writes:


> Likewise, it's not even possible to use the old techniques on some of the
> new car components. The new "high strength steel" body panels can't be
> worked in the traditional way. Once they get crumpled, you unbolt the old
> panels and throw them away. Likewise, from what I gather, leaking plastic
> radiators are typically considered non-repairable. 

Anyone here recall what you had to do to change the clutch on an MGB?  You 
had to take out the engine.  This may be a fairly straightforward way to go 
about things, but it shows that the designers approached the situation with 
the idea that the car's owner had a fairly limitless amount of money and/or 
the people working on the car worked for peanuts -- IOW, the ancient paradigm 
was based on the idea of cheap labor supporting an elite crust, the latter 
being the ones the cars were intended for.  Ergo, a highly labor-intensive 
job like removing the whole engine just to get at something else wasn't a 
problem.  The labor was cheap and the parts were expensive and if the car was 
unavailable for a while, take the Rolls.

Now of course, it is labor that is expensive, the car is depended on to be 
available, and the parts (relatively) are cheap.  And, big business (such as 
the auto business) has been learning that the most flexible place to squeeze 
the system is the labor.  The last thing on the list of desirables is labor 
skill because that makes squeezing or replacing all the harder.  Enter 
robotics and unrepairable parts, stage right.

A panel that can't be straightened or a part that can't be fixed makes sense 
if you consider that the current objectives include the notion of keeping 
labor to a minimum, along with needed skills (which would in turn help keep 
the value of the labor down).  Most modern cars are not intended for the 
weekend amusements of Lord Higglybottom who may use it to meander out to a 
weekend houseparty at Manderly, no matter how charming we may now find these 
artifacts to be.  

Today's deal is to knock it out as fast and cheap as possible, make it so 
bulletproof (partly via electronics) it is unlikely to need much in the way 
of maintenance or repair in its useful life (short and brutal though it may 
be), and if it is crunched, it should be as easy and fast as possible to 
remove the broken bits and screw on new ones, no fixing needed.  Why, the 
Smart lets you change body and interior panels at home with a screwdriver 
just for a lark!

Charlie
LA, CA, USA

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