Posted on 06/27/2005 8:37:42 PM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
They still had a worm gear type power steering through 02?? GM is definitely superior to Ford because my 88 Cutlass Supreme Classic (underpowered 3.8) had rack and pinion steering as an option while my 83 Rocket Car (Cutlass w/ 455) had worm gear steering box.
BTW, are your Vics P71s? If so are you wanting to sell your 97?
What, is IM/240 coming there?
"Privately obtained Drivers Ed certification (and insurance) is the law in the State of Washington."
Never traveled much in that state myself. How is the driving up there with these required cert`s?
"The driving qualification tests for most of Western Europe are significantly more difficult that is required for U.S. drivers."
Europeans take driving much more seriously than we in the US. And yes, tougher standards definitely help keep people who have no business driving off the roads. I wish the US would adopt a more in depth certification process to obtain a drivers license, or renew a license. But each state can decide what is required, so there is no uniformity in the process.
The renewal process in my state is a joke. I renewed my license just months ago and didn`t have to take an eye test, written test, or any test at all. I just answered a few simple questions ( address current, do I wear contacts, organ donor , registered to vote , yadda yadda ,etc..) then I just stood in front of a camera and smiled. Bingo ! My renewed license was handed right to me. I could have been legally blind and renewed my license. Total joke.....
"'esp when those semi's tend to cut in front of people trying to pass other semi's...and I won't even mention semi's trying to pass on a hill...:)"
Hey, shifting those things can be a pain you know. But if you are on your toes, you can forsee them doing it and make sure you squirt on by or just let them on over with a quick light flash. Usually they take recognition of your courtesy and will let you by a little sooner after they have passed. But some drivers are just plain jerks and would soon run you in a ditch then have to make an extra couple of shifts. The ones that do that in flatlands deserve a smack in the head.
I just got back from New Jersey ( to St . Louis ) and averaged 70-75 MPH the whole way ( except for obvious contruction and traffic tie ups ) , and I can honestly say I could count the numbers of cars/trucks that past me on two hands, maybe even one hand ( its not like I keep an accurate count), and this was in about 13 hours of driving time. Down south , around parts of Texas and Oklahoma there will be a little more people passing , but not that many more. At least I never noticed it being any different when I am down that way.
I also do alot of driving at night, I prefer it. Less traffic overall and less headaches with semi truck traffic. That could explain why I don`t get passed as much.
Same as most places.....everybody else's driving but mine sucks ;'}
Just drove from Dallas to Indianapolis and back. If you didn't do 85 on I-44 in Oklahoma you were not keeping up with the flow of traffic.
bttt
My '97 Crown Vic has a 4.6L OHC V8. How many GM cars have OHC V8s available, and for how long? GM's been using that pushrod 3.8 V6 since when, 1962? ;O)
BTW, are your Vics P71s? If so are you wanting to sell your 97?
My '97 is a P74 (LX) with the "performance and handling package": dual exhaust, sway bars, 16" alloys, shorter rear-end, etc.
The only OHC V8 commercially marketed was the Lotus built LT5 5.7 (349 ci not 350) V8, built exclusively for the Corvette ZR-1. I was referring to superiority in handling department. Not meaning to paint with such a wide brush. The basic design of the 3.8 (based on the 215 ci Buick V8) yes has been in use since 62, but they haven't let grass grow up around it. Each redesign or revision has shown substantial improvement, and the current series II 3800 V6 is almost an entirely different engine from the original 231 ci V6 odd-fire motor that Buick initially sold to Rover. About the only directly interchangable thing is the cylinder heads, and even they have improved greatly. However as for improvements to the pushrod V8, remember GM has done a lot of radical changes to it too. Coil on plug ignition, sequential electronic fuel injection. If I'm not mistaken as recently as 01 FoMoCo still was using two coil packs, one for each bank of cylinders. Not a bad type of ignition system, just not as advanced as one coil per plug.
As for superiority in suspension systems, remember even the current generation Crown Victoria still uses the watts link rear suspension that they used on the late 60s LTDs...
Does this mean that Texas will drop the warrant it has on me for an umpaid ticket for driving 80 mph on a deserted expressway?
The most interesting thing is how the insurance company databases show one set of facts. The PR department then twists those facts and massages them to what they think is politically correct. Seat belts are politically correct.
A government funded group put out a press release copied almost verbatim, including the headng, by the AP and printed near verbatim by the 3 papers I checked.
"Seat Belts save 10,000 lives per year" was the headline. The article then went through a long discussion of how fatalities had consistently declined 200 per year for the past 10 years. The article had separate paragraphs detailing how ABS brakes and highway design and DUI enforcement, etc had contributed to the decline in fatalities. It then had a final paragraph that praised seat belts. At no time did the press release try to reconcile its 10,000 per year to the 200 per year, let alone to seatbelts.
In milking databases, it is possible to determine the tickets, crashes, and fatalities by DUI law, and the strictness of the enforcement and obedience to that law by state and local jurisdiction. Statistics clearly indicate that strict enforcement of DUI laws saves lives. Using that same methodology on seatbelts shows that seat belts have no impact on saving lives. Furthermore, it can be argued from the statistics that seatbelts create a climate in which the driver is less attentive to his driving and thinks less that it is his personal responsibility to avoid accidents and more the responsibility of the seat belt, the car manufacturer, the government, everybody else, to protect him.
I might also add that in good economic times people can afford to buy new tires, wipers, etc and keep their car in good repair. In bad economic times, the working poor that need to drive to work push their luck with procrastinating on those repairs that they cannot afford. That impacts fuel economy also as the best way to save gasoline is to have cars properly tuned more frequently.
Well, at least you lived to talk about it.....and, in the meantime, I assume you got where you wanted to go.
One can only hope.
Yeah, we need more homeboys and Mexicans driving 100 on the Interstats. :-)
It will also speed up the development of more efficient engines, brakes, and tires. it "improves the breed."
Well I believe in Michigan the average speed is like 85 or something.... Maybe they should raise it to 90... But then if you've ever seen a Michigan pothole or any of our roads you won't want to drive that fast....
Remember folks they take the median speed and decrease it by 15% and that sets the speed.
Seriously, 80 mph is very reasonable. It is not mandatory.
It just means those who are not going 79.999999999 keep left.
Speeding citations are about REVENUE not justice.
This also frees police to deal with real crimes and criminals. (ie tracking those missing sex predators)
Medals or the stockade for the women who drive minivans with their knees while their head is turned completely around yelling at their kids who are playing leapfrog between the bench seats.
Bonus points for holding a cell phone to one ear.
Feel good movie of the summer!!!
I have a little trouble believing the part about the trucker who stopped voluntarily though.......:)
80MPH tends to be self-enforcing. ;-(
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