on Speed right now, a BMW spokesman talking about the Z4's engine block... "BMW is the first in the automotive industry to use magnesium for a crankcase." Ummmm... really? Maybe he meant the first to use magnesium for a ONE PIECE (integral cylinders) crankcase... that I might buy, I dunno.
nate
I wince at the gaffs all the time from the badHistory channel. It is worse with aviation history than with auto history, but the later is still pretty bad.
I actually find the History channel has more of those gaffs than speed or other channels, but that may well be because the History channel tries to convey more history.
Even among gearheads and automotive historians I hear frquently arguments about who had the first this or that.
One of the factors is definition. Do you really mean first, or "first successful." Usually it is the guy that makes it work that gets the credit, rather than the first guy to try it.
The BMW press release qualifies the use as "the first use in a production vehicle." Lots of manufacturers have looked at using magnesium for engine blocks (Ford and Audi for instance), but other than BMW, I can't find any other claims of it being used for a production vehicle engine block.
Ed
Um... VW Beetle?
nate
Ed White wrote:
Gee, The VW Beetle, The 2.4l Porsche are two that I know of for cars. And those were in the 70's
I thought the VW used aluminum.
Try welding on one and you will discover REAL quick that it's magnesium... More than one person has found that out the hard way.
The reason that vw mag cases are so rare is because they make stunning campfires!
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