Harry P.

Wipers and lights sure look real. So does the leak! Real...

Badge engineering worked great for the Big 3 for many years. GM made a fortune selling the same cars as Chevies, Pontiacs and Buicks. As long as the public was gullible enough to fall for that scam, badge engineering was probably the single biggest money-making angle the Big 3 ever had. Could it possibly be that today's car buyers have actually smartened up???!!! Do they finally realize that a "Mercury" is nothing more than a "Ford" with a chrome grille and a sticker price $1000 higher? If so, then the carmakers will be in a heap of trouble. Oh, wait...they already ARE in a heap of trouble...

I've re-used a few old ones from back in the SA days, but I'm afraid too many people will remember them and know the answer! It sure would make things easier on me, though...finding new images good enough to fool you guys is getting harder and harder all the time. I've already used up all of the really good ones...

I don't think it's so much that she's "over rated"...nobody is saying that she's the second coming of A.J. Foyt or anything. But she gets more attention than the other guys because she's one of the very few women who competes in a male-dominated sport. Obviously she "stands out" from the crowd and draws attention from the media and from race fans because she's different than 99% of all the other drivers. Can you imagine all the attention the first few female major-league baseball players would get? Or the first woman NASCAR driver? Being "different" than the rest of the people in your field is always going to draw attention, regardless of how good (or bad) you are at it.

A columnist in one of the papers here this morning suggestis that Danica has "anger management issues"... Well, if it had been me, and I was running in the biggest race of my year, and some rookie driver makes a boneheaded move and wrecks my car through his own negligence and/or bad driving... I guess I'd have "anger management issues" too!

I realy don't understand the theory behind "badge engineering". Why did Chrysler sell the same cars (Neon, Voyager/Caravan, Stratus/Breeze, etc.) under two names, in two separate dealerships? Why does Ford do the same thing (Taurus/Sable, Crown Vic/Grand Marquis. etc.)? Same with GM, in many cases. Did the car buying public NEED both a Plymouth Neon AND a Dodge Neon??? That's some kind of stupid marketing that I don't understand. Why not make Mercury a little different? Do a new Cougar off the Mustang platform (all the mechanicals could be shared, so not a whole lot of cost to make this happen. Add an XR-7 model to attract the under 30 crowd. Bring back the Comet nameplate, etc. Give Mercury a little personality and something unique that they can call their own. All of this could be done with very little cost to Ford. Slapping a different grill on a Ford and calling it a "Mercury" isn't fooling as many people as it used to. Why spend more for the Mercury name when you can get the same exact car at a Ford dealer for less??? Is anyone in Detroit actually THINKING??? Hello!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Geez, guys, I don't understand your posts... The stuff works great for me!

looks like you got it figured out...

Maybe if Mercury actually had a car or two that they could call their own, they could drive a little traffic into the showrooms. How cool would it be if Ford made a new "Cougar" (based on the existing Mustang platform)...

Ditto times two! That's a fantastic model in all respects. Contest winning material right there.

As you point out, most "Mercurys" are nothing more than re-badged Fords. So what's the point of selling the same cars under two different names? Chrysler used to do it too...Plymouth "Voyagers" and Dodge "Caravans" were practically identical. Both a Plymouth AND a Dodge Neon??? What's the sense in that? Too many redundant makes/models are out there already. Maybe it's time to either give Mercury some actual cars of their own, or just pull the plug...like Chrysler did to Plymouth.

There's a HUGE store right near you (it's in your house, actually!). It's the internet! The socalcarculture list posted above is all you need. As you see, anything you want/need is available right there, just a few mose clicks away. And they deliver right to your door! Happy shopping!

Doesn't care for Mopars???!!!! I think they have a cure for that these days. HEMI pills. Take two and call me in the morning!!!

oops...didn't see that post.

Anyone see Danica get bumped into the wall on pit row by the rookie driver Ryan Briscoe? Did you see her walking towards his pit area after the hit? She looked like she was ready to slug the guy! Track security guys had to stop her and take her back to her own pit. I wonder just exactly what she would have done if she actually had gotten to the guy? Can you imagine being the first Indy driver to get beaten up by a girl??? As she told the TV reporter, "It's probably best that I didn't get to him"... Great stuff! She brings a little interest and spark into what had become sort of a "same old, same old" event. Go Danica, go!

As long as you realize the fact that you'll be losing money, and that visitors will be very few and far between, go for it! It's your time and money...if a museum of your own is what floats your boat, have at it! But Pocatello, Idaho? I wonder how many people even know where Pocatello, Idaho is???

How will I spent it? Hell, I haven't even GOTTEN it yet!

How about this one...real or model? The answer: REAL!

ok, guys...either you're getting really good at this or I'm being too easy on you! It's REAL! I admit, I faked the "texture" on the pavement to try and confuse you...but not very many were confused! Next ROM coming MONDAY!

Sorry, I guess I should have been more specific. Yes, I got them at Menard's, as someone else posted. It's a local home center chain (midwest only, I think). They're probably available at most home centers...Lowes, Home Depot, Menards...whichever one is in your area.

I'd bet 99 out of 100 people would associate the "Hemi" with MOPAR, but Cal is right, they weren't the first to use that engine design. But they trademarked the name and used it extensively in their advertising, so they became linked to the hemi in the public's mind. I was curious so I did a little research. Hemispherical cylinder heads were used by Belgian car maker Pipe in 1905, the Peugeot Grand prix Car of 1912, the Alfa Romeo GP car of 1914, Daimler, Riley and Harry Miller. There were others too, so Chrysler's early Hemis of the late 50s were a little late to the party!

Whether the cams are single, dual, overhead or in the trunk is all irrelevant to whether an engine is a "Hemi". And the plug placement also has nothing to do with a "Hemi" being a hemi. A "Hemi" is a hemi because the combustion chambers are hemispherically shaped-they are "domed" on top.

Hmmm...and here I thought that allpar.com was a pretty reliable MOPAR site. Go figure...

How about building one and showing us how it would look???

NASCAR wouldn't let Chrysler get away with that! They would have eaten the competition alive. That engine never made it into production...it's just a "might have been" from the Chrysler engineers. From ALLPAR.com: "A 426 dual-overhead cam Hemi was actually produced - two of them, in fact, and both were made in 1964. The DOHC Hemis were made to counter Ford's response to the 1964 426 Hemi, the 427 SOHC, but when NASCAR ruled against Ford's engine, there was no need for the overhead-cam Hemi. Neither of the DOHC Hemis were ever placed in a car; one was destroyed, the other moved to the Kansas City area. (source: Muscle Car Review. Thanks, Stéphanie Dumas.) Recently, famed engine builder Larry Shepard told us that he has the A-925 cylinder head and other related parts, purchased from the late Dan Napp. An article by Tom Shaw in Mopar Muscle went into more detail. The DOHC Hemi was project A-925, and it would need to be much more powerful than Ford's SOHC 427, but still rugged enough for racing - and able to conform to NASCAR's rules. Two possibilities were considered, according to Shaw - one using two cams positioned between the heads, in the "valley;" four valves on each cylinder were operated by lifters, pushrods, and lifters. This expensive setup was an unused contingency plan. Nearly as ambitious was an engine with aluminum heads, dual overhead cams, and, again, four valves per cylinder, with pent-roof chambers. (Chrysler had been working with four valve per cylinder engines for a never-completed Indy run in 1963.) The dual-plane intake manifold had eight runners per side (Chrysler was into efficient and innovative intakes) and made of magnesium - but designed for a single four-barrel carburetor, as required by NASCAR. The cams were driven by a cog belt, using external cog wheels at the front of the heads. Because the cams were directly above the valves, valvetrain mass was low, so the engine could rev high - a 7,000 rpm redline was specified, high for the era. Shaw wrote that no DOHC Hemi ran under its own power; they were driven by an electric motor to check the valvegear. Research stopped in 1964 when NASCAR banned the SOHC 427 and Chrysler's own race Hemi. One DOHC Hemi still exists".