<VV> GM - no specific Vair

[Joseph Fannin]

On Tue, Jan 06, 2009 at 02:14:23PM -0600, J R Read_HML wrote:
> I like the way this guy thinks..  even if he's not old enough to have bought
> a vair when they were new.

Well, neither am I.  :-P

> http://blogs.wsj.com/management/2009/01/06/auto-makers-must-rekindle-passion/?mod=yahoo_hs
>

While I more than agree with the sentiment, I think the necessary
turnaround at GM is already underway, at least mechanically
... getting the word out will be harder; the sort of people the author
of this article is talking about often won't even stop at a GM
dealership when looking at new cars.

The bit about 16-valve engines kind of stuck in my teeth though:

   "It’s not that we don’t know how to make a 16-valve engine,” replied a
   senior program manager, “but it would add $62 to the cost and most of
   our buyers wouldn’t notice the difference."

...which the author takes and runs with.  It sounds a bit to me like
Jeremy Clarkson lambasting the Corvette for using leaf springs in the
suspension.  Do you *need* 4-valves-per to make a powerful, peppy
engine?  Consider the the LS6 V8 , which puts out more power than the
LT5 did with the same displacement, 16 fewer valves, and pushrods.

Perhaps the buyers, erm, "wouldn’t notice the difference."  So why
spend the $62 -- just so you can put "16-valve" on the valve cover?

Oblig content:  I suppose I became interested in Corvairs because I
agree with the blogger -- the Corvair isn't just unusual, it's doubly
unusual for coming from GM, which hasn't seemed capable of doing
something so different for as long as I can remember.

--
Joseph Fannin
jfannin at gmail.com