MotorTrend November 1984

The outraged howl of a birdcage Maserati at full throttle; the holy shriek of massed V-12s; the Richter-scale rush of an Allard-Caddy; the fragile grace of a Type 35 Bugatti. There’s no question that historic car racing provides an experience you simply can’t get anywhere else. You can’t dredge it up intact from your memory, you can’t bring it back to life by watching films, and you certainly can’t get it by standing around in a museum somewhere. Nossir. If you like your sports car lore in living, breathing, snarling color, you better get yourself out to one of these events. Which is precisely what a steadily growing number of sports and race car lovers have been doing at historic meets that seem to be popping up all over the…

Reader Royalty I have been reading your excellent magazine Motor Trend for a very long time now. I very much enjoy the witty comments of the editor to some of the letters and feel you have always been doing a great job in reporting about the latest developments in the American and international automobile industry as well as on the automobile more as a means of recreation rather than just a means of transport. I would also like to add I especially enjoy the Retrospect articles. May I wish you and all the people who help in contributing in the making of such a fine magazine an everlasting future! Divyaraj SinghPrince of Barwani India Experts for Hire Tony Swan is justifiably upset with the jury verdicts in the Donohue and…

It was Laurence H. Pomeroy, designer of Vauxhalls and one of the more intellectual of the many brilliant engineers in the motor industry at the beginning of the century, who dismissed the Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost as representing “the triumph of development over design.” Even today, I doubt if Rolls-Royce could decently object; they have almost always been strong on development, sometimes (as in the epic story of the Merlin aero-engine) spending years in eliminating serious flaws from a generally promising design. It is a praiseworthy thing to do, but it should not be allowed to dominate the equations of creation: development is not a good substitute for design. One of today’s designer’s and one for whom I have tremendous respect—Denis W. Sevier, chief engineer of Bristol Cars—had a few words…

At Large Great White Market A story in USA Today exposed a technique some American consumers are using to save substantially on new-car purchases: buying their cars north of the border in Canada. Between the devalued Canadian dollar (about $0.77 U.S.) and tax rebates (the 9% federal excise tax and Ontario’s 7% sales tax are refunded to foreigners), American buyers have trimmed some 10% off the price they pay for a new car. The catch? Many Canadian-market cars do not meet U.S. emissions regulations. GM, King of Exports General Motors had the strongest foreign sales of any American company last year, according to Fortune magazine. Despite the strong dollar, which keeps prices of American goods high on foreign markets, GM sold a whopping $6.49 billion overseas in 1983, up 39%…

In the first 35-mph crash test by NHTSA of a production-available air bag-equipped 1984 model car, a Mercedes-Benz 300SD failed to protect the driver-side dummy from serious or fatal chest injuries. Maybe. The existing “acceptable limit” for chest deceleration is 60 g. Mercedes’ optional ($880) driver-side air bag, in combination with the 3-point belt, scored 63 g. The passenger dummy, restrained by seatbelt alone, showed a very acceptable 44 g. A lot of air-bag opponents are crying “I told you so,” but there is of course more to the matter. A Mercedes spokesman questioned the validity and interpretation of NHTSA’s numbers, pointing out the existing tests and standards evolved in a seatbelt-only environment. The tighter restraining of a be t/bag combination stops the dummy quicker, he said, producing the higher…

High-Tech, Ha! Here’s Ultra-Tech What has a 0.24 drag coefficient, independent rear suspension, seats four adults, and is powered by a 200-plus-hp supercharged V-6? If you said the ’88 Ford Thunderbird, you’d be right. FoMoCo has decided to pull all the stops for the next-generation T-Bird, with hyper style and performance the main objectives. When it hits the dealers’ showrooms in a little over three years, the next ‘Bird will be propelled by an optional 220-hp 3.8-liter port-injected V-6 with a positive displacement blower neatly tucked away between the cylinder banks. The front-mounted powerplant will drive the rear wheels through an ultra-beefy 5-speed manual gearbox with electronic overdrive in 3rd, 4th, and 5th or an optional variable stator pitch automatic 6-speed trans with full electronic shift control. The ’88 T-Bird…