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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!ihnp4!crsp!pesnta!hplabs!oblio!jeff
From: jeff@oblio.UUCP (Jeff Buchanan)
Newsgroups: net.auto
Subject: Re: "hot" new car from Ford:Europe
Message-ID: <237@oblio.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 28-Jan-85 15:23:21 EST
Article-I.D.: oblio.237
Posted: Mon Jan 28 15:23:21 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 30-Jan-85 04:44:46 EST
Organization: Counterpoint Computers
Lines: 44


>Wow!!  A 156 CID six banger!  245 HP!  Oh my God, I can't conceive of
>such horsepower!!  I sure hope I don't get challenged to a race
>when I'm cruising around in my '66 Corvette with open chambered 427 L-88
>engine.  I tremble at the very thought!

Yeah, I'd hope so, too.  Do you have a firm suspension and chassis?
Nah, a solid rear axle is an old muscle car favourite --- not exactly
super handling.  And sticky tires?  Oh, old yankee-style L50-15 bias
plys or something of the sort with cat-size white lettering.  Your
'vette also likely gets about two miles to the gallon, instead of the
respectable fuel economy of the Merkur (which is *not* available with
the six).  Oh, I'm sure you could blow a Merkur off at a stoplight,
but how about around Sears Point?  I'd be certainly interested (could
you do a full lap without refueling?  :-) ).  Move over, grandpa ---
the times have changed!  There's more to life than the quartermile...

			\tom haapanen
			watmath!watdcsu!haapanen

Dear Tom,

What planet are you from?  You think a '66 rat-motored Corvette with
F-41 suspension ISN'T firm?!  Solid rear axel? 
On a '66 Corvette?!  Are you for real?!!
L50-15 tires?  How about T/A radials and Goodyear NCT's.  Sears Point?
The distance I'd put on the Merkur in the straights would be small
compared to the hugh gap I'd open up in the corners as the Merkur
LEANS around the corners and my F-41 suspension keeps the tires
on the ground (as I lap the Porsches which have in turn lapped the
"hot" new car from Ford:Europe).  Gas mileage?  Are we talking
performance or economy here?  Since they are directly opposed
to each other, we can't have both.  If I wanted to win the Mobil
Ecomomy run, I would have bought the slowest Honda I could find.
       You are right, there is more to life than the 1/4 mile.
That's why I have a '66 Corvette.  The thing you lose sight of is that
acceleration performance can be used on the street.  To use cornering
performance, you would have to simulate a street race Sears Point
style.  Clearly this is impossible on the street.
       Maybe someday you'll get a test drive in a car like a big-block
Corvette.  Then again, probably the feel of horsepower would be so
foreign to you you wouldn't like it.  I'm sure the Honda would
be more your style.
				  Jeff Buchanan