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Posted by editor Mon Feb 5, 2007 09:53:10 PST
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0 responses 0 comments Dear Q & A: I’ve been hearing rumors about a “World Engine” that’s supposed to be some kind of super engine for cars of the future. What is it, a hybrid that doesn’t use gasoline or what? And who is going to make it?
— Eric A.
Dear Eric: The so-called World Engine is a hybrid, all right, but only in the sense that it’s a joint venture by Mitsubishi, Hyundai, and Daimler-Chrysler to combine their engineering expertise to manufacture an engine designed for use in vehicles made by all these companies. International cooperation in manufacturing isn’t rare in today’s global economy, but this is unusual for both its breadth and its advance PR. It’s not an engine but a family of advanced four-cylinder engines to be produced in Dundee, Michigan, by a conglomerate called Global Engine Manufacturing Alliance (GEMA). With such heavyweight backing, it’ll be a surprise if its products don’t set new industry quality and economy standards.

Dear Q & A: When were the first, the absolute first, Volkswagens made? Was it 1946, just after the War?             
— Jay
Dear Jay: Dr. Ferdinand Porsche oversaw production of three prototype models of the Klein-auto (little car) for Zü ndapp, a motorcycle maker, in 1932. An improved version of what Hitler envisioned as the Volks-Wagen (people’s car) followed in 1934. The corporate entity “VW” poured concrete for its proposed plant in 1938, but made vehicles for military use. Thus it’s hard to identify any “absolute first” Beetle. Civilian mass production began post-war, and by February 17, 1972, 15,007,034 VWs had been produced. By the way, the Bug’s design--shape, engine, and more--was “borrowed” from the 1930s Czech Tatra car, and in 1961 VW had to pay Tatra a court-ordered 3 million DM for the theft.

Dear Q & A: On a night trip to Lancaster this week, using the back way (90th Street), I was newly amazed at how car and truck headlights seem to have no standards at all. Some are high, some are low, some far apart, some close together, some two, some four, and worst of all are those super bright bluish ones that can blind you from a mile away. Aren’t there any laws controlling headlights? And if not, should there be, in your opinion? 
— Jackie
Dear Jackie: The hallowed American tradition of “let me do what I please,” extending to the kind of headlights we want to inflict on oncoming traffic, has probably inhibited Congress from legislating national headlight standards. A case can be made for doing just that, on safety grounds, not just esthetics. And safety laws do get passed, as in seatbelt laws and auto glass standards, now in force universally across the land. If headlights were required to be a fixed distance apart and at a certain height above the pavement, it would be much easier to gauge the distance from an oncoming vehicle at night for passing purposes. This alone could save lives. To say nothing about jacked four-by-fours with headlights five feet high, whose low beam is higher than the high beams of most cars. On the problem of these million-candlepower new blues, the “HID” (high-intensity-discharge) bulbs, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has begun an investigation into their future. They’re currently legal, but there’s been a torrent of hostile complaints about them and some sketchy accident records already. One driver, who may typify the small “screw you” segment of the driving public, says he likes them and “it makes no difference to me” that others are bothered. We may soon see whose side NHTSA is on.

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