Just spotted this picture from the Detroit motor show on a news article regarding the loss of Ford jobs.
news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/newsid_1754000/...m
Is that a beautiful car or what? I wonder if Ford will actually make it.
Dan
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17,000 Ford jobs to go, according to BBC World TV.
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I thought the new GT40 looked tasty but that just looks like anyother US luxobarge - actually like a Caddy Sedan DeVille.
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When I saw the heading I was reminded of the first car our family owned, a 1949 E93A Ford Anglia.
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it, they've taken the picture off!
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You need to understand show cars.
These are vehicles that nearly always look better than anything the manufacturer has ever made.
They are usually well within the state of the art and contain little that could not have been put into production 3 years ago.
They frequently embody very good ideas long overdue for adoption.
Many are clearly capable of production and sale at feasible cost/price ratios.
They are nearly never actually put into production because they would be so popular that the manufacturer would be unable to keep up with demand and thus be forced into the embarassment of either raising their prices or coping with the administrative hassle of long waiting lists.
Naturally,no volume manufacturer could entertain such nonsense.
British Leyland were the past masters of producing wonderful concepts you couldnt buy and appalling dogs that you could.But the Italians must not go without a mention.
I dont want to say this really,because the lads with the armbands may,in the new united europe which,for reasons that elude me,we dont control,come and get me,but............
Even The Fatherland (that OK,meinherr?) has produced the odd little raver,and I refer not to the lovely Gretchen who I met in Majorca in 1971(Hi Gretchen,boyfriend still a bore....?)
Where was I?
Ah yes,Tucker.
Tucker was beaten not by his entirely feasible and technically conservative ideas,but by engineers who couldnt think beyond motor manufacturing norms and ,of course,gross commercial larceny from the whole of Detroit.
I always wonder what would happen if you got together a team of engineers used to very fast lead times and very lightweight construction and asked them to design you a motor car......
What I think would happen is that in 6 months you would have a world beating mondeo sized vehicle weighing 900kgs,capable of 50mpg on petrol,with the agility of a cat and very,very low maintenace costs.
For certain sure the fleet managers would take one look at the contract prices and user chooser would be a concept but not a reality.
My very good chum doctor x,who is a prominant marketing man in the oil industry,in spite of Kevlar y-fronts,has for 20 years accused the motor industry of cynical marketing,and I guess he'd know.
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