Simple fix for a severe and self perpetuating catastrophic chain reaction in 67-69 Camaros with V-8 engines

When the driver side mount broke, engine torque made the block lift up, and pull open the accelerator linkage.
This caused an increase in pull on the throttle to the carb, causing increased revs and more torque twist to the engine, and with more upward movement causing more runaway acceleration in a vicious circle.

This runaway sequence would only stop when the engine hit the underside of the hood.

But that wasn't all, the twisting upward engine pulled the power brake booster vacuum hose loose, making it harder to stop the car, and if that wasn't bad enough... the twist also caused a problem with the automatic transmission, which would shift to the right, with a result of the car no longer having a park position and being able to start in reverse.

New motor mounts cost $50 a unit, and so GM fixed the issue with a $1.00 bracket and cable to hold the engine down if/when the motor mount broke.

Consider that the problem caused a 6.68 million car recall, then multiply the number of cars by the cost of the repair part, and you can see why Gm went for the cheap simple fix.

I learned all this from the May 2012 issue of MuscleCar Review, page 24

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A video from GM in 1956 enticing viewers to come and see the Motorama traveling show of the Harvey Earl prototypes

Found on http://karamelocycles.blogspot.com

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You don't know the new Camaro, it's not American.. here are 3 things you've probably never heard before

It's Canadian built,
designed by a South Korean,
and developed in Australia. 

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the Seattlite, and other cool stuff from Karamelocycles.blogspot.com

the above is a cool shot if the interior of the Alexander Brothers "Deora" custom dodge van

the above is the prototype Mustang if I remember correctly

 Above is a copy of the Davis car brochure

tow a motorcycle with a Fiat... cool!

 these shots are from the 1951 Buick LeSabre prototype that was in the GM styling cross country tours and car shows of the Futureliner and Autoramas. Above is a very cool design around the steering wheel, below are real cool looking gauges

all from http://karamelocycles.blogspot.com/

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Chevy info / trivia / interesting stuff found in Automobile Magazines 100 years of Chevrolet

Founded by Billy Durant, it was one of three car companies he founded that year (he had founded GM years before, but got fired) He founded 2 more companies the next year

Durant did so well with Chevy, that by 1915, he took over control of GM... yeah, Chevy bought out GM.

The depression in 1920 jsut decimated his businesses., and he left in Dec, 1920

When Chevrolet started in business, there were 270 car companies in America

How American is Chevrolet? Well, Louis Chevrolet was Swiss, Zora Arkus Duntov was Belgian... you get the point right? Immigrants are Americas greatest asset, and they made Chevy and GM one of the few comapnies to survive 100 years, and one of only a handful of car manufacturers to stay in the car making business for 100 years or more.

Durant wanted to capitalize on Louis Chevrolet's racing notoriety, and had Lou design a car. It was completed in 1912. Lou quit because Durant nagged about his smoking, and went on to design Indy winning race cars, and found the Frontenac car company

1915 was the year Chevy tried to compete with the less expensive Ford, and made the 490 which was the same price as the Ford (Fiat 500 was the cost in thousands of Lira for a cinquecento) Ford retaliated by dropping his price by 50 bucks. Lots of money in 1915

1923 Chevy had 500 copper air fin equipped cars available, as this early in the car making development process, getting water cooling to work wasn't perfected for another 30 years, and the Franklin was successful as an aircooled engine... they work fine in hot climates, like the American mid and southwest.
The Copper Cooled Chevys were a flop, they detonated terrribly, and of the 100 bought by customers, all but 2 were reaquired by Chevy, AND DUMPED THEM IN LAKE EIRE!

Fangio's first big victory was in a Chevy Master 85. It was an endurance race round trip Buenos Aires to Lima and back

The longest running nameplate in auto history is the Chevy Suburban, launched in 1935

The 55 Chevy Bel Air grill design was ripped off from Ferrari. It only was used in 55.

Chevy's first international competition win was a 1953 210 sedan in the La Carrera Panamericana

1960 Daytona 500, the Junior Johnson Chevy was 20 mph slower than the leading Pontiacs,... and Junior discovered drafting, and won the race. He'd been in prison for running moonshine in 57 and couldn't race in first NASCAR Grand National Championship

Jim Halls Chaparral 2J "sucker car" used a 2 stroke snowmobile engine to produce suction in the ground effects race car to capitalize on the design

The Nassau Speed Week of Dec 1963 proved that the Corvette Grand Sport could beat the Shelby Cobras and Ferrari 250 GTOs ... but that was the last call for Chevy in racing before the AMA ban. Zora was about to take them to Sebring and LeMans

The Chevy LUV (light utility vehicle) was the first Chevy sold in the US built by a foreign manufacturer. Isuzu

The Vega had 2 notorious recalls, the rear tires falling off, and the carb filling with gas til it spilled out onto the engine onto overheating aluminum engines

GM went into partnership with Toyota to get better manufacturing processes and production systems, and reopened a GM facility in Fremont Ca, and Toyota would gain experience in building cars in the US. UAW workers were flown to Japan, learned the Toyota way, production began in 1984, was an immediate success, and they built 8 million cars before shutting down in 2009. The things learned from Toyota were implemented in GM in 1992

Dick Guldstrand was commisioned to make a high speed Corvette to test Bridgestones, he hit 176 at Talledega . It's in the auction cycle right now, and it didn't sell at 40 thou.

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GM Aerotrain

above ad found on http://goawaygarage.blogspot.com/


one has been preserved and is at the at the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri, and Car Nut commented to say that one is rusting away at the National Railway Museum in Greenbay Wisconsin
These photos are from http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=428585&page=477

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the two looks of the Futurliner bus from the GM Parade of Progress concept car tours

photos from Caradisiac http://www.forum-auto.com/automobiles-mythiques-exception/section5/sujet225087-3780.htm

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Cool new website to recommend, best written one I've come across in a long time, broad and well chosen cars of topic, humor in analysis of car design

From Yugo to Maybach, Greek auto manufacturers to Citreon, with a funny take on design and good use of photos to illustrate the posts

Referrring to Mercury:

They are memorable for just a small handful of cars, including the Mercury Monterey, Park Lane, and Turnpike Cruiser, the 1960’s Cougar, and the one time sale of the great de Thomaso Pantera. Everything else they did was offensive, like the Mercury Topaz, Sable, and every other version of the Cougar. Oh yeah, lets not forget that whole sitcom period, where they had the gay cousin (Merkur) come join the family. Mercury was Terri Schiavo, and it took too long to pull the plug.

On Yugo:
What is the difference between a Yugo and a golf ball? You can drive a golf ball 200 yards. (Thank you, I’ll be here all week)

As with most things, a combination of issues killed the Yugo, including the fall of communism, a terrible EFI replacement due to cost cutting that almost ended with a recall, a United Nations embargo of Yugoslavia, the mercy bombing of its factory, an issue with the timing belt, the fact that people considered the car disposable and neglected to do basic maintenance, and finally the unfortunate death of a person who’s Yugo was blown off a bridge during a 50mph wind.

On people driving hybrid cars:
They know about the engine because of an equally huge V12 badge on the back of my car. As they are driving up beside me, that badge is like a billboard for seal harvesting.

It’s not like my car runs on sliced polar bear, it just drinks a little heavier at the bar, like Mel Gibson. What’s funny is that I am probably doing as much to help the environment as they are, at least for the next 10 years. That little Honda or Prius has to be created from nothing, and in order to do so it will need steel (strip mining and CO2 emissions) and plastic (drilling and petroleum product manufacturing) using energy (coal) to put it all together. My energy was used ages ago during the renaissance by English people who burned peat, so something called my “lifecycle CO2 emission” is low.

On Aston Martin's new micro car:
Let’s get this done as quickly as possible to avoid the nausea.
Aston Martin is a venerable British marque known equally for its great cars and its greatest enthusiast, James Bond. With icons like the DB3, DB5, Vantage and Vanquish, the company lives up to its slogan, “Power Beauty, Soul.” Not wanting to rest on its laurels, however, Aston Martin is making some changes:
First, they’ll start making teeny tiny little microcars with engines from a blender. Yes, a blender. These cars will be based on the Toyota IQ, an adorable little lunch box better suited for storing sandwiches than cruising the countryside.

For an indepth uncovering of GM's false advertising about paying off their government loan: http://chrisoncars.com/?p=825 I was amazed, and if it's the only thing you read to get informed about today, I think you'll enjoy the info Chris dug up

Check out all the cool posts at http://chrisoncars.com/

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GM in San Paulo, early 1920's perhaps

http://carrosantigos.wordpress.com/2010/03/20/feliz-aniversario-chico/ gotta love Nik, he finds the coolest stuff!

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Inventing planned obsolescence, that didn't turn out so well for GM.

It is with sad irony that the company which invented "planned obsolescence"—the decision to build cars that would fall apart after a few years so that the customer would then have to buy a new one—has now made itself obsolete.
It refused to build automobiles that the public wanted, cars that got great gas mileage, were as safe as they could be, and were exceedingly comfortable to drive. Oh—and that wouldn't start falling apart after two years.
GM stubbornly fought environmental and safety regulations. Its executives arrogantly ignored the "inferior" Japanese and German cars, cars which would become the gold standard for automobile buyers.
Beginning in the 1980s, when GM was posting record profits, it moved countless jobs to Mexico and elsewhere, thus destroying the lives of tens of thousands of hard-working Americans. The glaring stupidity of this policy was that, when they eliminated the income of so many middle-class families, who did they think was going to be able to afford to buy their cars? ... Micheal Moore http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-06-01/goodbye-gm/

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Stupid decals, hard to believe the first set was factory

Above: 1972

Below: 1977

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