Joseph Fortino wrote:
>>>
>>> How can you really rag on the Model T?

Yea, that was really hard to believe. I guess he has the same opinion of
the Wright Bros plane <shrug>

>>> Plus I really really liked mu
>>> Chevette - not coll but that car ran forever.
>>>

Chevette! Mine is still running at 190K miles. Bought it new in 84 for
$4700. Still gets over 40mpg on the highway, and is stuck on 33mpg
around town. Seems it is the car I can depend on whenever I need to go
and get parts for my van, and the other vehicles in the family. Not
pretty, but how much money it saved me over the years, is uncountable :-)

Most of the crappy cars in the late 70's and early 80's are the result
of apathy by the car companies, of course, but its rather important to
remember that the morons in Congress were caught up in the energy crisis
of the day, so without a whole lot of understanding of the industry,
they came up with some really stupid standards of mileage and safety
that the General Motors types of the day, were woefully unprepared to
deal with.

It has to fall on the manufacturers, but as with so many other things
that the feds stuck their nose into, they really messed it up even
worse. I recall a few mid 70's machines with smog pumps, ridiculous
emissions controls, low grade gas and just no guts at all, that I swear,
were probably dirtier than the late 60's beasts I would street race with.

Basically, what saved all our collective bacon, is the catalytic
converter. Without it, I cannot imagine how bad our air would be. Since
its inception, the decrease in smog in the denser cities has been very
dramatic. Kudos to whomever invented it, and helped to almost perfect
it. About every three years I replace the one on my chevette, and the
emissions drop to nearly zero all the way around. Tremendous invention.