Quote:
Originally Posted by Overpar56
I still have my feeler gauges to gap the points. Lost the timing light a long time ago. LOL!
I think brands today can't rely on past reputation as they once did. Too many good, decent cars out there that take you from point A to point B. Most people that's all they care about. Look at Camry sales. BMW needs to focus more on what they used to do right and not what they think the public will tolerate with a steep price tag. I have to give credit to Mazda for keeping their driving dynamics intact as a corporate culture. They held off bringing the Mazda6 diesel to the US because the performance wasn't right for the domestic market. That shows,you there's more than bean counters still in the auto industry.
|
I was cleaning out some of my garage cabinets in preparation for moving this past weekend and found a compression gauge, remote starter button, and a dwell meter/tachometer. I think I bought those in the 1970s. I also had a timing light, but I must have given that to one of my neighbors with an older car.
Your point about the Camry is well-taken, as it exemplifies what I'm saying about car enthusiasts dying out. There are still lots of us, but not enough to keep a company the size of BMW afloat by building stripped-down performance cars. The amount of funding it takes these days to go from drawings to metal (or carbon fiber/plastic) is astronomical, and recouping that expenditure requires either a high price tag or lots and lots of sales. I remember the first Mustang, which was little more than a Ford Falcon with a sporty body - $2368, which in 1964 was at the top end of affordable. Same car today would cost more than 10 times that amount because it would have to meet Federal safety, emissions, and fuel economy standards. Mind you, that price did not include power anything and no air conditioning. A single-speaker AM radio was all you got for "infotainment". Even the seatbacks weren't adjustable.
If you remember Shakespeare from HS or College, you may also remember that famous line "host by his own petard", which translates to "falling on one's own sword". We did this to ourselves - the car companies are just trying to stay in business, and business is taking them away from low-cost "pure" performance cars.