GM Quits Europe

[MikeInNH]

@MikeInNH

stargazer72:
Funny, I cut-and-pasted that sentence. If it wasn’t said, how did I get it?

I want to apologize. I did find where I said that. It was part of my second response to CCA. My previous posts I did say MOST…But this one for some reason I didn’t say MOST. I actually think I was going to say domestic vehicles. Because until then there were no small domestic FWD domestic vehicles sold in the US. Eldorado was FWD…but I don’t consider that a small FWD.

And Volkswagon was about the only small FWD vehicle on the market in the US. They were popular in the North because of their snow driving ability. The Omni was the first small domestic fwd vehicle. And some of the engines were built by VW.

[VDCdriver]

@Docnick

The main reason for going to FWD was better space utilization. The British Mini as designed in the 50s was miniscule, yet had good interior space.

Yup!
That was the main reason for mfrs converting their small cars to FWD.
It’s all about…packaging.

[common-sense-answer]

@VDCdriver

@Docnick

The main reason for going to FWD was better space utilization. The British Mini as designed in the 50s was miniscule, yet had good interior space.

Yup!
That was the main reason for mfrs converting their small cars to FWD.
It’s all about…packaging.

That, and reducing the waste of getting the power from a small h.p. engine to the drive wheels, and then there’s the traction thing for light-weight cars, on snowy, icy, and just plain old wet roads!

I know. I owned large RWD cars, small RWD cars, Large FWD cars (think 2-door 1976 Olds Toronado), and small FWD cars, all driven year-around above the 45th parallel!
CSA

[VDCdriver]

@common_sense_answer

then there’s the traction thing for light-weight cars, on snowy, icy, and just plain old wet roads!

Yup!
As the owners of very small, lightweight RWD cars learned–to their dismay–the traction of those cars in wintery conditions was almost always…dismal.

[common-sense-answer]

@Docnick

We had a RWD 1977 Dodge Colt, a Mitsubishi model rebadged by Chrysler, and it was very cramped compared with a Ford Fiesta or similar small FWD vehicle.

Wow! You jogged my memory. A friend was getting married in Norwalk, Connecticut several decades, ago.

His brother borrowed a fairly new Colt (canary yellow)from his parents and I was his passenger all the way there. This guy (a smart guy, turned out to be a successful Veterinarian) was a hot-head, spoiled and easily irritated.

There was a record setting heat-wave in progress throughout the entire trip. With windows open, it was too hot. With windows closed and A/C blasting, it was too hot.

I could have stood the heat, but the swearing and complaining I listened to was more than I could deal with. I didn’t dare say much.

Oh, and I remember his dad raising heck with the management of the historic “Washington Slept Here” hotel as we checked-out and headed for cooler environs at a Holiday Inn with pool and Air-Conditioning!
CSA