Can you think of anything that manufacturers could have done earlier ( a decade or two for example) in car development?
I`m thinking of relatively simple systems that did not depend on development and use elsewhere first, such as modern electronics.
Discounting that then (and for example) why did not the great engineers of the day not realise closed box sections would rust, or for that matter not ask for galvanised steel?
How about plastic bumpers? I had a toy boat in 1958 made of allegedly better plastic than the Maestros bumpers thirty years later.
How about simple electric power steering?
Other examples ? and why not deployed earlier? a lack of `lateral thinking or just heads in the sand?
Regards
Edited by oilrag on 04/04/2008 at 22:02
|
With fuel prices rising daily, and increases in road tax, my choices would be:-
1) Diesel hybrid suitable for a small / medium sized car.
2) Rechargeable electric car with a decent range (at least 100 miles), able to cruise at motorway speed, and rechargeable overnight from domestic electricity supply. Plus same crash protection as a standard car.
|
|
Arust free composite body. Oh, silly me, E. Germany were producing the Trabant years ago!
|
|
|
Regrettably, Astrabob, I think your choice 2 might be a tad tricky. According to Citroen's website, they offer the Berlingo in plug-in electric form chargeable in 9 hours from a domestic power socket. Range 45 to 70 miles depending, of course, on load and driving conditions. Max load half-ton. More range means bigger battery capacity, [ and therefore less payload ] which means either longer charging time or more powerful "domestic" supply. Citroen allege that their main custom for electric Berlingos are town councils who use them as local runabouts.
|
|
|
|
The thing that's bugged me since I was a kid is why mainstream manufacturers ignored forced induction for so long.
Kevin...
|
|
i think alot of things around today have been in the pipeline for a long time at least in the concept stage (anyone remember 'tommorrows world' ) i just think that until things like plastics and micro electronics became a reality these things have just been sat on a shelf waiting for breakthoughs. back in the 60's and 70's you would have ended up with a 3 tonne 16 ft long car just to fit these things in
Edited by welshlad on 04/04/2008 at 22:54
|
back in the 60's and 70's you would have ended up with a 3 tonne 16 ft long car just to fit these things in
That would explain the leviathans the US car industry has churned out for so long!
That and drive thrus.
|
I once owned an early Land Rover 90 with a petrol engine. It always struck me that there was nothing about the coil-sprung wide-track Land Rovers that couldn't have been introduced 10 - 12 years earlier in 1971, when LR actually introduced the antiquated leaf-sprung Series lll which was really just an update of the 1958 Series ll.
After all, the 90 and 110's coil-sprung suspension system was basically the same as that on the Range Rover, introduced in 1970, even if the actual components differed slightly.
Edited by Sofa Spud on 05/04/2008 at 14:57
|
|
Sofa Spud, you are right! But what was the reason? And do you think it is a coincidence that almost nothing changed on the Range Rover for 15 years (1970 - 1985)? The company was so cash poor that the 4-door version was first introduced by a Swiss coachbuilder. Where were all the profits going? I think we all know...
Edited by Billy Whizz on 05/04/2008 at 16:44
|
>>>>Sofa Spud, you are right! But what was the reason? And do you think it is a coincidence that almost nothing changed on the Range Rover for 15 years (1970 - 1985)? The company was so cash poor that the 4-door version was first introduced by a Swiss coachbuilder. Where were all the profits going? I think we all know...
I know, I know - where did the profits go? Into the Austin Allegro, Triumph TR7.........??
|
|
It was only in c. 1987 when LR divorced and became LR Ltd. that development really took off. Discovery 1989 with Tdi. LR increased the list price/ profit margin of the RR and sold more!
Edited by Billy Whizz on 05/04/2008 at 22:49
|
|
|
|
Adjustable lumbar support. My understanding is that this was invented in connection with jet fighters and was patented. Only when the patents expired and became 'free' was it introduced into cars - not that paying a license fee would have been too expensive.
BIG
|
All round disk brakes
Crumple zones
abs on all models
laminated glass
heated front windscreen
|
|
when Edison added the second filament to his new light bulb ( to attract carbon away from the glass bulb) he inadvertantly invented the thermionic valve without knowing it , it wasnt till about 40 years later that some boffin cottoned on to its potential and then much later along came the solid semi-conductors and diodes (rectifiers) used in car electronics today... i wonder where we would be today if Edison realised what he'd done when he did it at the time !!
|
>>>> i wonder where we would be today if Edison realised what he'd done when he did it at the time !!
Dead probably.
The invention would have probably led to the advancement of science, generally and from that the discovery and manipulation of radioactive materials, such as Uranium and Plutonium may have been advanced.
It is reconned that if radioactivity was discovered about a decade earlier, it would have enabled the bad guys in the second world war (who were more advanced at the start) to have the atom bomb first.
Thank goodness some things don't always advance that quickly!
|
|
|
|
