Change...

[Eric Storhok <alfa@domain.elided>]

Its not only about change, or responsibility, but responsible 
change.  Change for the sake of change is not good- it has to make sense 
for your company and your customers.  For a person who does not care what 
is under the hood, why should a company spend the money on an OHC design if 
they can get equal normal driveability, equal fuel economy, and at a lower 
cost?  Quite a few changes now are driven by emissions, which is one big 
reason the twin cam Alfa engine went away in the mid-90's.

Mind you, one can make a great argument that the Alfa twin cam was not even 
state of the art in the 60's- how many race cars are powered by an Alfa 
motor vs a Lotus motor, yet they are almost identical- except for the major 
detail that the Lotus engine has a much more compact combustion 
chamber.  It took Alfa another 20 years before this change made it into 
mainstream production with the 75 TS.

Car companies make cars that people buy.  Since they wanted power steering, 
brakes, windows, automatic transmissions, and climate controls- that drives 
us from the horseless carriage days to where we are today.  It also turns 
out that people actually like EFI- especially since they don't notice it...

How many here think direct injection is really high tech?  Besides the fact 
that it originally was in the 300SL in the 50's, its not all that it is 
cracked up to be (its very dirty).  Here is a good instance of "tech" that 
is not all that great.

Eric Storhok
Ann Arbor, MI


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