Being blessed/cursed with a curious mind, I always wonder why, what if and how come.
Companies like Chrysler always seemed to swing between being flush with cash to then being borderline bankrupt. You'd think that they would have had better control of themselves and controlled costs better by finding ways to reduce costs.
Few people liked the 1972 and later side marker lenses but they used those for MANY years. Outer door handles were also used across many models. They used various bits of hardware for many years, the 318 and 360 were updated to the 5.2 and 5.9 to meet contemporary standards and did quite well.
What confused me was why automakers made post sedans and hardtops. Why two different designs? You then have to have different glass, door frames, weatherstrips, the post models sometimes had taller windshields meaning different A pillar covers inside, different wiper arms and other parts. Why? All these different parts cost money to make.
How about K members? Why use a different K member for slant six, regular V8 and then Hemi engines? They all had different motor mounts anyway, why have a different K member? That made no sense at all. GM didn't do this stuff. Late 60s B bodies could have come with four different axles....The 7 1/4", the 8 1/4", the 8 3/4" and the Dana 60.
Ford was stupid in many ways. 4 lug hubs for 6 cylinder, 5 lugs for V8s? That was dumb as ****. What did they really save by doing that?
Companies like Chrysler always seemed to swing between being flush with cash to then being borderline bankrupt. You'd think that they would have had better control of themselves and controlled costs better by finding ways to reduce costs.
Few people liked the 1972 and later side marker lenses but they used those for MANY years. Outer door handles were also used across many models. They used various bits of hardware for many years, the 318 and 360 were updated to the 5.2 and 5.9 to meet contemporary standards and did quite well.
What confused me was why automakers made post sedans and hardtops. Why two different designs? You then have to have different glass, door frames, weatherstrips, the post models sometimes had taller windshields meaning different A pillar covers inside, different wiper arms and other parts. Why? All these different parts cost money to make.
How about K members? Why use a different K member for slant six, regular V8 and then Hemi engines? They all had different motor mounts anyway, why have a different K member? That made no sense at all. GM didn't do this stuff. Late 60s B bodies could have come with four different axles....The 7 1/4", the 8 1/4", the 8 3/4" and the Dana 60.
Ford was stupid in many ways. 4 lug hubs for 6 cylinder, 5 lugs for V8s? That was dumb as ****. What did they really save by doing that?
