johnbuzzed

To the essence of the thread- whatever YOU like- whatever anyone of us likes- is cool. Beauty is all in the eye of the beholder. BUT- Rat rod, yeah; ragged, yeah; put together with whatever might be handy and convenient, yeah; but there is something to say about common sense and safety... The plug wires, fuel lines and linkage creep me out. Come on- this is the stuff that makes the motor run. It wouldn't cost too much nor take too much time to put a little more thought and effort to get that rat's nest to the point where there probably wouldn't be a gas fire, a miss due to a burnt plug wire or a stuck accelerator situation. Those types of incidents can ruin a pleasure cruise in an instant. It's worse when it's compounded by negligence on the part of the builder being the cause of the situation. I have been there. It sux.

Art's right. I saw similar problems at a previous job; the engineers advised better parts and designs to be used in/on the equipment, but the cost to incorporate them into production would be higher; ergo, they were not used- the bean counters won. The products went out to customers with the lesser quality design and parts, problems arose; warranty repairs and exchanges were made, and engineering upgrades/revisions for the redesign with the better parts were put in place for all future production- all that ado cost a lot more than the additional $100 or so per unit had the engineers advice been heeded initially. One must not forget the reputation of the company. Bad words get around much faster than praise, and that can mean loss of revenue, too. At least, that company did learn from their mistakes, albeit slowly. Seems like some never do. Too many bean counters have too much control without practical experience. But in today's world, the bottom line on the $pread$heet is all that matter$.

And there's a flag on the play! Un-necessary roughness!!!

Very nice, clean build. I would be happy to have that on my shelf.

Yeah, I could spend a couple of gazillion dollars (well, enough to buy) on all those kits, but there's the old "When the $%&& am I gonna get to build them?" gremlin on my shoulder... But I do think a "fully operating", 1/32 scale howitzer has it's merits. I wonder what the range is?

Along with Aurora, Renwal and IMC, too

I realize the differences. In football, one makes every effort to physically contact the opponent. Quite the opposite for motorsports, except for demo derbies. However, I was trying to compare apples v. oranges (which is realistic and practical), and looking for opinions. Seriously- would the given, hypothetical NFL situation be as closely scrutinized?

You're a good person for trying. Too many wouldn't bother.

What would happen if, during a NFL game, a player with a known "temper" tackled a rival player and caused that person's death? Would it be "just football", or would there be a criminal investigation because of previously heard trash talk?

A '71 Road Runner kit would be on my "gotta get"" list.

Apparently, not for some.

An immature, irresponsible kid walked onto a race track while the cars were still moving on the track... And this is Tony Stewart's fault how?

No can do- waiting for my BP Rx to arrive via mail...

Allow me to reiterate... My childhood home was on a very busy intersection. There were traffic control devices all over and the speed limit was maybe 40MPH. I was allowed to cross the streets only after my parents knew that I would do so when it was safe- i.e., no oncoming traffic. I learned to do so by crossing with them and paying attention. It worked for me and so many of my young friends. Perhaps, this young man's parents should have instilled such cautionary advice into him, especially when they realized that he wanted to drive fast cars on a track with a lot of other people who were also driving fast cars. His irresponsible behavior got himself killed; it's possible that it might have cost more lives if the situation was even slightly different.

One set will be used on my '34 Ford Altered pickup, the other on an old Revell '55 Chevy gasser.

The kid got out of his car and walked into oncoming traffic, into the path of a car being driven at speed. Duh. Didn't his parents teach him to not do that?

I was gonna rant, but, nah. GM made it's bed, now, the execs and shareholders can sleep in it.

"Dangerous"? Define the term. Cars were no more dangerous then than they are now. Today's cars might be safer due to the increased safety equipment, they might be cleaner running due to better engine management, they probably do handle better- but no less "dangerous" than cars of the '50's and '60's. I'm not saying that there were no recalls nor problems with them. Sure, we all know that they tended to rust due to lack of rustproofing. And, yes, our current government has more strict regulations for manufacturers. They don't seem to work when the bottom line on the spread sheet and shareholder revenue is what counts. With all of the regulations, quality philosophies, manufacturing techniques, etc, available to today's automakers,THERE SHOULD BE NO PROBLEMS WITH IGNITION SWITCHES OR AIRBAGS. But, there are. Unfortunately, money talks and politicians, government officials and corporate executives love money, no matter the source. By the way- my family was involved in a three-car collision in a '56 Buick. We were in the middle car. I was about 4 years old. I saw pictures of that car and appreciate the heavy gauge sheet metal that was used in it's construction. If the same thing occured with our 2008 Sonata, things would have been... very ugly, to say the least .

Tom, you may be right, but today's world is totally different than the '50's and '60's. I think the government of that era, had the same requirements been in effect, would have been a lot more severe when dealing with the offending corporations. Since then, our government has become comparatively toothless and our society has become a litigious one- anybody can and sue anybody else for the least offense, as long as an attorney will handle the case. The corporations aren't afraid of the government- they're afraid of being sued and the negative publicity that would ensue.

And yet we still have people who think that brand loyalty comes into play here. I don't see why. If it were Chrysler, I would be writing the same post and I like my Mopars. NOBODY SAYS THAT IT'S ONLY GM. Unfortunately for GM, that corporation has had a helluva lotta recalls lately, after having been bailed out by the federal government- meaning, us, the US taxpayers. That just plain looks bad... it seems that we, the people, didn't get our money's worth. Well, maybe the shareholders did... I'll bet there are a lot of execs at the other companies scrambling to cover up a lot of idiotic penny-pinching right now.

Do you really believe that? What's the cause for their other recalls along the way ? That's typical of corporate thinking in today's world- pass the blame to someone else. The customer, of all people. I wonder what was the difference in cost to GM.

Amen.

It has nothing to do with brand or brand loyalty. This is not a car-guy thing. I would hate to see the same headlines about Chrysler, but if they had problems on this scale, that's the breaks. Same with Ford, Hyundai, Toyota, Nissan, BMW, Audi, et al. It has everything to do with greed- THE BOTTOM LINE. That's the problem with the corporate world today. Why do you think a certain, large retaller sells dog food that's not even fit for consumption by dogs?

67,000,000 vehicles. I wish I had a buck for each one, and that's what GM tried to do- save a few $$$ on those cars by going for the lesser cost parts. Those recalls have nothing to do with quality. It's all about the bottom line $$$ on the spread sheet, the shareholders profits and how much the execs will make. I have nothing against making as much money as you can, but safety and common sense should not be brushed aside for that purpose. It happens all too often in our world, in large, multinational corporations and small, family-owned companies. Some of those responsible learn from the experience and apply that knowledge to future products, while others just don't give a ratza$$.

Chrysler was not associated with the Navy's F6F Hellcat. That aircraft was built exclusively by Grumman Aircraft and it was powered by a Pratt and Whitney radial engine. However, I think Chrysler supplied an engine, possibly a Hemi of sorts, for use in an experimental version of the Republic Aviation P-47 Thunderbolt. Both aircraft were conceived and built on Long Island. One can play that "6 Degrees of..." game with Chrysler, the US Navy, NASA and Star Trek. The Prowler, Hellcat and Avenger are naval aircraft, all built by Grumman, the latter two of WWII vintage, the former might still be in service. The Intrepid is a WWII vintage carrier, now a museum in NYC (highly recommended). The late Challenger was a space shuttle. The Reliant was a starship in ST:TWOK. The Apache is a contemporary US Army helicopter built by Boeing, et al., and the Hurricane was a WWII RAF fighter built by Hawker. Just some (interesting?) trivia for your Friday.