Comments on: Don’t blame the (1970s) engineers http://www.allpar.com/weblogs/2008/07/16/dont-blame-the-1970s-engineers/ Chrysler, car, and other discussions by Allpar contributors Thu, 08 Jan 2009 02:12:03 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: Dave http://www.allpar.com/weblogs/2008/07/16/dont-blame-the-1970s-engineers/comment-page-1/#comment-76387 Dave Mon, 21 Jul 2008 17:37:21 +0000 http://www.allpar.com/weblogs/?p=308#comment-76387 That article makes an excellent point. That said, I'm not sure that the E-bodies were the solution - they could have had similar-looking bodies on top of a moderately modified A-body chassis for much lower production costs and greater flexibility. The article also points out that Chrysler's willingness to be led by GM and Ford - just as they were very recently willing to be led by whatever spurious market research came up - led them to lurch from bad decision to bad decision. This also explains the recent drop (by Daimler) of smaller, more fuel-economical cars ... including the most recent, not building the Rebel (Caliber sedan). That article makes an excellent point. That said, I’m not sure that the E-bodies were the solution - they could have had similar-looking bodies on top of a moderately modified A-body chassis for much lower production costs and greater flexibility.

The article also points out that Chrysler’s willingness to be led by GM and Ford - just as they were very recently willing to be led by whatever spurious market research came up - led them to lurch from bad decision to bad decision. This also explains the recent drop (by Daimler) of smaller, more fuel-economical cars … including the most recent, not building the Rebel (Caliber sedan).

]]> By: Stéphane Dumas http://www.allpar.com/weblogs/2008/07/16/dont-blame-the-1970s-engineers/comment-page-1/#comment-76374 Stéphane Dumas Sun, 20 Jul 2008 00:00:46 +0000 http://www.allpar.com/weblogs/?p=308#comment-76374 For the E-body, there is a good article about "The fish that good away: the 1975 Barracuda" http://www.popularhotrodding.com/features/0709phr_1975_barracuda/index.html about if they hadn't dropped the E-body. Then having the UK-Hillman Avenger/Plymouth Cricket built in a US plant instead of a British plant, I wonder if history could had been different? For the E-body, there is a good article about “The fish that good away: the 1975 Barracuda”
http://www.popularhotrodding.com/features/0709phr_1975_barracuda/index.html about if they hadn’t dropped the E-body.
Then having the UK-Hillman Avenger/Plymouth Cricket built in a US plant instead of a British plant, I wonder if history could had been different?

]]>