This provides a nice retrospective of their incredible 45 years on the air, and there is a very nice tribute to the late Pat Goss:
On a related topic, one of their other recent episodes had a segment on the history of the Jeep, and they stated–incorrectly–that the Jeep “was developed by Willys”.
As most of the older forum members are probably aware, the original Jeep was developed by the struggling American Bantam company, but because American Bantam didn’t have sufficient production capacity, manufacturing was done by both Willys and Ford. Undoubtedly, there were some design revisions, after American Bantam’s original prototypes, but the bottom line is that Motorweek was incorrect when they stated that the original Jeep design was a Willys project.
But, Motorweek is a good show overall, despite that historical gaffe.
The iconic Jeeps slotted grill was developed by Ford. Bantam did not have a stamping press big enough to make the single piece grill.. But Ford did and reduced the cost of the grill panel for all Jeeps produced for WW2.
Willys supplied the Go-Devil engine and made modifications that reduced the weight and lowered the height.
Yes, if the original Austin-designed engine had been used, the Jeep would have a whole lot less power output. Among the weight-reduction methods that were used was a simple revision in the way that the vehicle was painted. Other steps were even more important, but just revising the painting process saved a few pounds.
That segment, and many many more, also falsely credit Chrysler with inventing the Mini-Van. Have these folks never heard of the VW Bus? Turn the Way Back Machine to 1950…
That is true, but before Chrysler began with their minivans, Lee Iacocca had proposed the same idea to Ford, and they rejected it. After Iacocca moved to Chrysler, he brought the concept of the minivan with him, and the rest is history.
Interesting, I never knew that about the Ford history.
1950: VW
1960(-ish): Corvair Greenbrier
1980s: Chrysler
All three based on earlier passenger vehicle designs to some extent.
Thanks,
-Phil
That is true, but before Chrysler began with their minivans, Lee Iacocca had proposed the same idea to Ford, and they rejected it. After Iacocca moved to Chrysler, he brought the concept of the minivan with him, and the rest is history.
400,000+ Caravan/voyagers sold in 88 alone. VW Sold 139,000 Vanagons in the us total from 1980-1991. The Vanagon Westphalia is still desired by fans and weekend campers but was a niche model compared to the Chryslet offering.
Family friend tripped and rolled the family Westphalia vanagon on a mountain road ending up a few hundred feet below. Both teens crawled out and hiked to a phone, more shaken up than hurt. His dad only cared that the boys were OK. They bought a new ford minivan as a replacement.
They gave favorable reviews to the 88 Grand Voyagerl.4,000lb tow rating with the optional t o w package including a trans cooler. Magazine tests suggested 3,000lbs was more realistic our 88 Grand Voyager Se so equipped towed about 2,000lb with ease. The Volvo 144 we towed with previously struggled on the same ramp that the Grand Voyager climbed with ease. Ended up keeping it around for 22yrs. Special ordered with most options for about $1,000 off of msrp at a dealer with a 5day supply https://youtu.be/KySRTJsZe8I?si=f7p8I41OI4Fgs0wV
The main issue I saw with the Caravans was with the engine mounts, the front lower one would break easily and allow too much angles on the axles and in turn would kill the cv axles, once Chrysler added the 4th (rear) engine mount, the axles lived a long and happy life… Also saw quite a few transfer gear nuts come loose and eat a hole in the rear cover (side pan) of the transaxle, if caught in time, an easy fix, if not, you lost all gears… Our 99 G/Caravan was a work horse and did us right, never left us stranded…
I saw the episode on Sunday. I didn’t know John Davis use to have hair.
They’ve made a few mistakes over the years. The one thing I don’t like about the show recently is it seems almost every week they are either showcasing a Hyundai or Kia. Far more then any other manufacturer.
Yes, he did, but one thing hasn’t changed.
Why does he always seem to be shouting, instead of just speaking into the microphone? I do like him and his show, but I wish that he would stop shouting.
A 1972 government investigation concluded that the handling and stability of the 1960-1963 Corvair were comparable to other contemporary vehicles, finding no abnormal potential for loss of control or rollover. You can search that answer like I did or hit the link below
Well, the frequency of rollovers suggests that many drivers did exceed the performance envelope especially of the first-gen Corvairs. Could it have been as much how they drove as it was the rear-end suspension limitations?
At least the way I would drive a Corvair in reasonable condition, be it a 1962 or the updated 1965 onward, I probably would never come close to testing the safe limits of its handling envelope.
I’d be too busy in the right hand lane, enjoying the sofa-like bucket seats they put in GM 2-doors back then, cruising along to whatever music I could feed through the bluetooth to FM transmitter to the radio.
GM, VW, Porsche, and Mercedes essentially just copied the swing-arm IRS design that Hans Ledwinka invented for Tatra, in 1923.
When Ferdinand Porsche applied Ledwinka’s design to Auto Union’s V16 rear engine race cars of the 1930s, the extreme oversteer tendency (resulting from the incredible rear-biased weight distribution and the swing axles) proved to be deadly for a lot of Auto Union’s race drivers. So, Auto Union decided to hire motorcycle racers who had never driven race cars, so that they could learn the unorthodox handling characteristics of those cars from their training drives. Later, Ferdinand adapted a DeDion IRS design to ameliorate some of the extreme oversteer characteristics.
When the Nazis occupied Czechoslovakia, a lot of N a z i officers appropriated Tatra sedans for their personal use, and the unorthodox handling of those cars resulted in the deaths of a lot of those officers. That resulted in an order from higher-ups, prohibiting N a z i officers from driving, or riding in Tatras.
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