Ingvar Kamprad has by many been ranked as one of the top 3 richest people on Earth. The founder of IKEA has not lost much during this last economic down turn. Together with a few other heavy hitters, he has raised enough to bail out GM world-wide. Just amazing... He intends to continue to produce cars, knowing what he knows about economy of scale, and mass production, and of course outsourcing.
Only one model will be added to the line of GM cars.
Dave in Houston
But it runs on sawdust.
Back in the day, either the Model A or the Model T was sold in a kit form. You had to take the crate apart carefully. Because it became the floorboards. So it has been done. Although the cars were much simpler then.
Henry Ford required the providers of hardware (nuts, bolts) to ship the items in wooden cases of very specific dimensions - the wooden case pieces became the floorboards of the cars. (Somewhere I have my grandfather's copy of the book "Ford at Fifty" which has bits of trivia mixed in with the drier historical data.)
One Ford VP gave his just-got-my-license son a Mustang in the 60's - as a garage full of parts and a mechanic to help him assemble it. Wonder if the kid was more careful with the car because of the hours he put into it?
John
A friend of mine bought a '66 Mustang as a first car for his 16 year old kid, and they spent endless hours together restoring it (I think the kid was more or less "forced" to participate). And you guessed it; within a few months of getting his license and taking delivery of the car his kid had totaled the damn thing...
I was/am hoping you are serious.
Vega Wagons had 2 doors, actually I think all 4 body styles had 2 doors.
One of the ideas floated around by the alternative energy folks is the "kit car" concept. This is usually associated with fuel cells. Can you imagine the reaction of Detroit and the UAW over a legitimate kit car?
As for hoping that Robatoy is serious.... I wouldn't bet any money on that one.
Can I get that with the Cosworth four-banger?
Dave in Houston
Ingvar was a close friend and business partner with one of my Swedish cousins. My cousin declined to become a partner in IKEA as CFO when IKEA was started. OH well, I really don't care for most of their designs anyway.
I love IKEA. They sell really neat modular kitchens and for a decent price. That leaves the home-owner with some money to buy a Staron solid surface countertop, which IKEA also sells and shows...and *I* fabricate and install...."TaDaaa!!!" Profit! Add to that, that IKEA only shows a limited amount of colours and that makes it easy for me to stock 8 sheets at the time and saving huge on shipping and quantity discount. IKEA's on-line cabinet lay-out/ordering program (which looks a lot like SU, g.d & r) makes it really easy. . . and here Lee thought I was never serious.
Kid's name didn't happen to be Russell, did it?
lol
"Robatoy" wrote
Oh we know that you can be serious, when it comes to those fake countertops. :-)
And as long as my clients don't write me fake cheques, I'll be a happy camper.
Incidentally, this 'recession' has people shifting from solid surface to quartz. My quartz business is up 30- 40 % over Jan/Feb last year while solid surface is down about 20%. A change I can believe in. :-^
Now you're talkin. I wonder if those engines held up any better. IIRC they essentially used the same Vega engine block but had a shorter stroke. And then there was the Cosworth head.
No, I believe that is a VW Rabbit/Golf, probably a Mark 3. I remember that ad campaign.
No.
I didn't say that I didn't like the IKEA product line, just that I didn't care for it. I'd feel the same if my cousin had become the CFO.
Aluminum head? Warping problems? Maybe some other motor. Too much information over the past 35 or 40 years.
But, tell me this if you can, Leon: If NASCAR is still running pushrod engines then how is Toyota complying with the regs? Isn't their 5.7 truck motor overhead cam(s)? Of course, I am assuming that motor/block is the basis for their racing engines. I suppose the rules must allow them to fabricate pushrod heads. But then, where does the cam (do the cams) go?
Dave in Houston
In so much that nearly every Vega blew it's head gasket with the aluminum block/iron head configuration, I am not so sure that the addition of the Cosworth aluminum head would have add any less reliability from that stand point. LOL The standard engine wa s rough running SOG. I suspect that that contributed to its many problems.
When I was a kid I had a new Vega and was skeptical of any aluminum block/head combination coming out of Detroit because of the problem I had with the engine. It's not like I neglected the engine, I replaced the short block in my parents garage when I was 19. I knew what you needed to do to maintain a car. :~) A piston skirt broke on mine and that in turn punched a hole in the aluminum cylinder. The engine locked up pretty quick, having sucked coolant into the cylinder. I'm glad I was not on the freeway then it happened.
You are asking the wrong person. I made my living in the automotive business for many years but that was work. LOL. Does NASCAR require push rod engines or factory configured engines? Can they use any factory engine that they want? Yeah, the 5.7L engine is a DOHC design so there are 4 cam shafts, driven by a chains vs. belt/belts, thank goodness. Compared to most Japanese engines this one does not have any required scheduled parts replacement preventative naintainence. Yeah it can still have a timing chain go bad but I have to hope that the engine is a non-interference design. I can not easily see how that block could be configured to run with push rod heads, like you said, where would you put the cam.
Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.
Ask the community — no account required