After all the comments on the value or potential excess of engineering, I'll
send out some comments similar to the ones I sent to Kirk after his first
posting on the subject. First, let's remember that this was prompted by a
column in 1970 (if I remember right) by Ken Purdy. Question: Did K.P. have
some tendency to national bias? Did he have a particular philosophical bent?
I don't know his stuff well enough now to answer that, but maybe someone with
an older C&D (Sports Cars Illustrated?) subcription than mine can look up a
few of his columns. (Mine goes back only about 19 years.) My recollection
though is that he was known as being rather opinionated. Question: What
factories in the U.K., Germany, and Italy was K.P. talking about? Which did
his tours cover? In Germany, it was most likely Porsche and Mercedes Benz, but
possibly VW and a few others. This was probably near VW's height of success,
they very much infused with a wonderful small-guy-can-do-big-things attitude.
The other two (and also the possible BMW and Opel) were aiming at, and hitting,
a much higher-priced market segment than what he *likely* visited in the U.K or
Italy, i.e. Standard-Triumph, BMC (by then both part of B-L), and Fiat, with a
possible excursion to Alfa-Romeo. A-R has always been a smaller-volume builder
with a touch of personal whimsy, and the other three concerns are the basic
Ford/GM/Chrysler type of company. B-L in particular were not exactly a model
of corporate management or labor relations skill at that time, nor in very
good financial condition. So we should take both K.P.'s potential bias and
the smaple of his visits into account.
Now, it is certainly possible for some national "technique" or philosophy to
have been at work, possibly the result of recent (at that time) history. The
British industry did evolve in an attitude of experimentation and simplistic
yet effective solutions. The German industry was bootstrapping itself from
WWII, and probably had/has a natural tendency to more organization that lends
itself to an engineering approach. Italy has produced its share of art over
the centuries, and Italian industry can be expected to be inspiration-driven
sometimes. As someone whose familial roots go back in a few generations to
Italy and Germany (but decidedly not Britain), I spent a great deal of time
pondering these things when I was younger. Just how much these stereotypes of
style really affect the cars, I won't bet money on either yea or nay. But it
does seem as if K.P.'s personal views and his sample may have affected his
conclusions. And as Wayne and Dale pointed out, engineering style is very
different from the actual points of tradeoff a manufacturer chooses. Results
may be good or bad, even for an over-produced product. But I don't think that
was what K.P.'s article, or Kirk's original post, was about. Me? I just like
to drive my Spitfire. I don't want a pickle.
Jim Muller
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