1967 models look up to date in "The Invaders"

The matchless quality sci-fi tv series, The Invaders" Seasons One and Two is now available in its entirety on DVD. These pictures were produced c.1967/68. My family thoroughly enjoys watching these exciting episodes.

While most of the cars and to a lesser extent, the trucks, appear very much out of date, being models 40 years or more, even my young son commented that airport scenes looked like they could have been filmed in 2009! Yes,

1967 airplanes amazingly look up to date.

Case proved: it has been incredibly wasteful of auto companies' resources to keep reinventing the wheel through continuing model changes over the years. Incremental improvements in fuel efficiency, emmisions and safety features may have been necessary due to governmental regulations and public pressure, but the persistant fetish of styling revisions for styling's sake no doubt has contibuted to the sorry state of affairs we see today.

If Piper and Cessna had their products efficiently designed and finalized ("styled") by 1967, then why didn't GM accomplish the same for their products? Even a layman can recognize the inefficiencies of those '67 car models, most of which persist to this day. From day one aircraft design proceeded at the speed of light, yet car design was more of a snail's pace, with periods of retrograde thrown into the mix.

Remember the 5mph bumpers? Today's cars appear not to have real bumpers at all. We had some 4 passenger models weighing in at 1800 lbs (VW Rabbit) yet today nothing under 3000 lbs is the rule. Yesteryear's sedans had roughly

6.5 inches road clearance; some of today's ground scrapers have as little as 4 inches (unladen to boot). I believe a rigorous analysis would reveal a two-to-one ratio of backstepping vs genuine improvements in automotives, as compared to non-stop advancement in aviation.

My last-ditch suggestion is for the car makers to lay off 80% of their engineering staff and subcontract a new series of proper cars to Cessna and Tupolev for design to aircraft philosophy, but value engineered to the auto industry. The result would be a series of reasonably priced cars: durable, safe, mechanically reliable, streamlined, lightweight, economic, service friendly and timeless. These cars would sell, hold their value and bring back to life our car industry.

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Reply to
George Orwell
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All I can say is THANK HEAVEN you don't work for any of the car companies.

Tupelov builds RADIAL ENGINE FRIGGIN PROP PLANES. Probably all the !@#$%^ Russians can do to get two or three of them to fly each year.

And if you want a friggin VW rabbit, go for it.

All the US auto industry needs to do is unburden itself of the UAW and model new plants after successful Japanese manufacturers.

Reply to
Scott

One of the best cars I've ever owned.

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

On Tue, 17 Feb 2009 18:07:18 -0500, Nate Nagel wrote Re Re: 1967 models look up to date in "The Invaders":

One of the worst cars I've ever owned.

Reply to
Caesar Romano

A little simplistic George - but a nice idea.

Reply to
RustY ©

Or you could just buy a Saab. :-)

Reply to
dsi1

I was thinking Volkswagen... (although neither new Saabs nor VWs really resemble the cars that made them famous. I'd say that VW came back big with the Rabbit but the newer A-chassis cars are way bloated in comparison to the '70s and 80s cars.)

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

I think dsil was referring to the Saab fighter aircraft. Regards JR

Reply to
JR

Nah, Saab just went chapter 11...

Reply to
IYM

I bought a VW Rabbit when my Alfa Romeo Alfetta suffered one of it's numerous breakdowns. Previously, I had a big dislike for FWD but I needed a car fast. All I had to do to love that car was to just drive one. It was a chrome yellow first gen car and I sure dug it. Later on, I got a Scirocco and it served me well for years. My favorite cars. I haven't tried any of those big heavy later models though.

Reply to
dsi1

I guess that would be the little bitty flaw in Mr. Orwell's scenario. :-)

Reply to
dsi1

Add BMW and Mitsubishi and Ford to that list.

Reply to
dsi1

I've had most of them... I think my favorite was the '84 Scirocco. The torque of my '02 GTI 1.8T was great but it felt big and heavy, more like a fast GT than an actual sporty car. Never had a pre-82 Scirocco though, I might like those better.

nate

Reply to
N8N

"Sporty car" would be a good description of the Scirocco. I've never had a car in which the gear ratios so perfectly matched my driving. This was a 4-speed. I would recline the seat back and feel like I was flying. :-)

The Scirocco and the Rabbit did have a common problem with corrosion in the fuse box but the boxes were easily changed out. My guess is that I'll never have another light-weight car like those again.

Reply to
dsi1

There's always Lotus... or the used car lot :(

They did eventually switch to blade type fuses, and if you address any windshield leaks as soon as they start that goes a long way toward keeping the electrics happy.

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

I'd be too scared to ever own a Lotus. I did have 3 Fiats and a couple of rotary Mazdas, and even a dodge Colt. These were light-weight fun cars built at a time when it was OK for cars to weigh-in at 2200lbs or less.

The Rabbit probably leaked at the antenna base and the water went down the antenna lead and dripped onto the box as the lead's lowest point was over the fuses. It was VWs system for keeping those fuses nice n' wet. A very efficient system. :-)

Reply to
dsi1

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