I missed the Staff meeting, but the Memos showed that Larry Jaques
wrote on Thu, 23 Oct 2008 18:15:48
-0700 in rec.crafts.metalworking :
There's plenty of blame to go around. The car industry and the oil industry
made that bed, but not without the agreement of consumers. And Congress is
doing what we demand. Someone said here the other day that Congress is
supposed to respond to the demands of the voters. Well, the voters want big
cars, superhighways, and cheap gas. We got what we demanded. Now we're all
paying for it.

That's what Detroit said. It's not, by a long shot, the whole reality.

Detroit didn't change along with our eco-awareness when the first fuel
crisis hit 30+ years ago. Datsun and Toyota did

Datsun and Toyota (and Volkswagen and SAAB) were already building
cars with gas mileage based on the fact that gas cost the equivalent
of ten dollars a gallon (what ever the equivalent would have been in
1972). It wasn't "Eco_awareness" as "Pocket book awareness." The
sudden drive for more fuel efficiency had more to do with OPEC
deciding to raise the price of crude oil, and gas skyrocketed to 45
cents a gallon.


and they're in good
shape here. Yeah, there are still plenty of big-car drivers around,
and they're really nice for cross-country trips like I did to New
Mexico 7 years ago. But the little Hyundai Elantra I rented 2 years
ago was nearly as comfy as the Merc Marquis on the freeway, and it got
me 30mpg at 75-95mph on the Bay Area trip. Big cars are obsolete for
most of the old reasons.

The land yachts of yore are, with their "floating" road responses
and the like. As Mercedes and others have consistently demonstrated,
it is possible to build a Large Car, which is comfortable to ride in
and a pleasure to drive, and still get good gas mileage.
--
pyotr filipivich
"I had just been through hell and must have looked like death warmed
over walking into the saloon, because when I asked the bartender
whether they served zombies he said, ‘Sure, what'll you have?'"
from I Hear America Swinging by Peter DeVries