Event Recap - Mobil 1 Seat Swap at Watkins Glen

In spite of a weather forecast of sunny and 70 degrees, Watkins Glen International was cold and rainy on Tuesday morning when a surprisingly large number of fans began turning up at the track for the Mobil 1 sponsored "Seat Swap" event. Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton and Nascar driver Tony Stewart were set to trade cars for a few laps around the historic circuit in New York. The Glen made a name for itself by hosting the United States Grand Prix (among other international racing events) for roughly two decades. In more recent years, Nascar has utilized the track for one of a couple road courses run throughout the season. Tony Stewart, therefore, is no stranger to Watkins Glen in a Nascar, though it's been nearly 30 years since a modern Formula 1 machine has raced around the circuit.

The relatively quiet atmosphere was awakened as Hamilton's McLaren MP4-23 (2008) was fired up in a tent across from the grandstands on the front straight. Perhaps it's the newer, smaller 2.4 L engines, or the fact that the Glen is fairly open in terms of surrounding structures, but I couldn't help but think that the McLaren didn't seem nearly as loud as the old V10 F1 cars I recall from Indianapolis in 2000 and 2001. After a few minutes of warm-up revs, the McLaren was switched off, and there was more waiting. This would be the case throughout most of the day. The F1 was turned on, revved, and switched off several times before it was finally wheeled out to the track along with Stewart's Chevrolet Impala Nascar.
In the mean time, F1 driver David Coulthard was keeping busy by taking VIPs around the wet track in a Corvette. Since Nascars don't race in wet conditions and Stewart himself is not experienced in the rain, let alone in a Formula 1 car, there was a bit of worry that the event may be called off. Interestingly, the Nascar was fitted with rain tires, a windshield wiper, and even a defogger. After a few hours the rain let up, and the two cars were finally rolled out to the start/finish line.

The scene of watching the respective team members prepare their cars was rather telling of just how different the machines are. The Nascar was simply pushed out on its own wheels whereas the F1 car was wheeled out on a dolly with tire warmers kept on until the very last moment. Most of the activity seemed to me centered around preparing the McLaren - the Nascar waiting patiently. It was like imagining a country boy going out on a date with a European super model.

The two drivers eventually got into their own cars and went around for a parade lap. Stewart came in to the pits while Hamilton went stayed on track for a few warm-up laps. The sound of the car could be heard the entire time as it went around the 3.4 mile circuit. Hamilton had never been to Watkins Glen before but seemed to have no trouble at all. Seeing the F1 car at Watkins Glen just seemed to fit. I'm certain that many of the people there were thinking that it's a shame the series no longer races at the rightful home of Grand Prix racing in the United States.
Stewart went out in his car, but was notably conservative. The track was still quite damp, however, and it has to be one of the only times a Nascar has been driven at speed in such conditions. Stewart came back in and it was Hamilton's turn in the Impala. The track had started to dry significantly at this point, but Lewis seemed all the more fearless with the car - even sliding it sideways before coming back to the front straight on his final lap and doing an incredible series of doughnuts in front of pit lane.
Hamilton remarked at how well planted the Nascar seemed and how much he enjoyed the Watkins Glen circuit. (Maybe Bernie Ecclestone heard him?)

Stewart got into the McLaren and after a stall, was out on track. He seemed very timid with the car the first time around, though one can't blame him. The next couple times around, he seemed to gain a lot of confidence. The only noticeable difference in driving styles from this observer's point of view, being the much more relaxed downshifts going into the 90' after the front straight.

In the end, and to be perfectly honest, Hamilton was the faster of the two in both machines. That being said, Stewart couldn't be blamed.
The event could have been more spectator friendly and a little better organized, but hopefully the several thousand people who showed up on a weekday in terrible weather will get the point across that we want to see Formula 1 cars in the US - and at The Glen.

Also available on our partner site Racing Redux

Developing the death-proof car.

As a result of rising death rates in auto crashes, the U.S. Department of Transportation launched the Experimental Safety Vehicle program in 1970. The program was intended as a way for various automakers to learn more about both passive and active safety in cars and apply that knowledge to production cars in the next ten or so years.

It consisted of building prototypes that met certain requirements: they had to keep passengers alive in a 50mph crash into a solid barrier, withstand side impacts at 30mph, protect the car’s occupants in a 75mph rear end collision, and survive two complete rollovers at 60-70mph.

Some of the guidelines revolved around handling so manufacturers couldn’t simply turn an economy sedan into an armored tank that destroyed everything in its way. The prototypes had to stop from 60mph within 155 feet on a dry road, accelerate from 30 to 70mph in less than 12 seconds with a 60% load and make an abrupt 180 degree turn at 70mph without rolling over.

The test cars were organized by weight classes: 1500 pounds, 2000 pounds, 2500 pounds and 4000 pounds. Part of the guidelines was, of course, that the cars actually respect the weight limit in each class, something most of the participating manufacturers had a hard time doing given the extra equipment they bolted on to each car.

These prototypes were remarkable in both the effort and resources put forth to develop and build them but also in the far-fetched ideas that some manufacturers came up with in order to supposedly make a car safer. Popular Mechanics hit the nail on the head when in June of 1972 they observed that “the world may never want to place an ESV in production, but we sure want the answers the cars can give us.”

We picked a few ESV prototypes to take a look at but it’s far from an exhaustive list. Looking at all of them would take ages; lots of manufacturers took part in the program including Opel, Renault, GM and Nissan.

American Machine & Foundry AMF 2

AMF has manufactured a vast variety of products: bicycles, tennis rackets, golf clubs, snowmobiles and even Harley Davidson motorcycles, just to name a few. Conspicuously absent from that list are cars, but they gave the ESV program a shot anyways. Their prototype was part of the 4000 pound category but weighed a whopping 5,791 pounds. It had a steel body with aluminum bumpers that had a thirty inch (!) travel. Rear visibility was assured by a submarine-like periscope, visible on the roof.

Like many other ESV prototypes it had airbags to protect the occupants and AMF took it further by adding automatic fire extinguishers. It is remembered as one of the best ESVs built by an American company.

Fiat ESV 1500

Fiat’s ESV for the 1500 pound category was one of the three the company built in the early 1970s. The other two were in the 2000 pound and 2500 pound category, respectively.

To develop the 1500 pound ESV Fiat used crash test data from the 500. The prototype uses a 500 running gear with a slightly bigger engine to counter the added weight, though the use of 126 parts is noticeable as well. This one met most DOT requirements for its weight class including fire protection, safe driving in foggy weather and pedestrian safety. The requirement it didn’t meet was the weight – it weighed a little over 1700 pounds in a weight class limited to 1500 pounds.

Ford ESV

Unlike a lot of other ESVs Ford’s prototype was based entirely on an existing production car, the LTD. Compared to the car found on dealer lots, the LTD ESV had a longer hood and a shorter trunk. Like the AMF above it was part of the 4000 pound category and also like the AMF, it weighed considerably more: the Ford tipped the scales at almost 5,300 pounds.

Compared to a stock LTD the brakes and suspension were modified to comply with the DOT’s handling requirements, including the addition of an ABS system that acted only on two wheels. The bumpers were hydraulically retractable to withstand a 10mph crash.

Both Ford and GM charged the government $1 for the development of their ESVs.

Honda ESV

Honda’s ESV was not an ESV in the true sense of the term. Instead they tried to build a mass-produced car to ESV standards, the same path that Ford followed. Ford did much better than Honda but they were starting with a bigger and heavier car; Honda was starting with a Civic. Honda strengthened the Civic’s body all around, including the door pillars to increase protection in a rollover. The engine was the same 55hp unit found in the production car.

Because of miscellaneous setbacks revolving around the Civic’s tiny size, the prototype took a year longer to complete than the other ESVs.

Mercedes-Benz ESF 22

Mercedes was very active in the ESV program: the ESF 22 was their third prototype after the ESF 5 in September of 1971 and the ESF 13 in 1972. First two prototypes were based on a w114 250 sedan but the ESF 22 was based on the w116 450 SE.

The ESF 22 used ABS brakes all around and experimented with airbags. Although the ESF 22’s long hood kept occupants alive even in the event of a 40mph crash against a solid structure, Mercedes’ prototypes did not comply with all of the DOT-mandated requirements in the program. Mercedes built a fourth and final one, the ESF 24, and called it quits.

MG SSV 1

This was another small car entry. MG started with a B GT body and added equipment such as a heads up display for the speedometer, airbags, big rubber bumpers and a self leveling suspension that would be later outlawed by DOT.

MG drunk driver-proofed the car by having a little colorful sequence show up on a screen when the key was inserted. Before the car would start, the driver would have to reproduce the sequence. The driver had three tries; if by the third the correct sequence had not been entered, the car would be impossible to start for an hour. The idea was that if someone was drunk enough, they wouldn’t be able to reproduce the sequence in the right order.

One of the few features from the SSV 1 to make it on a production MG are the huge rubber bumpers, though certain MG owners have reported seeing a sequence of flashing lights on the dash followed by their car not starting.

Toyota ESV

Toyota took a smaller approach to the ESV prototype: they developed a 2500 pound two-seater coupe. It was powered by a 1700cc mated to an automatic transmission, seen as safer than a manual transmission since it was run by a computer and not a human.

The prototype was packed full of electronics, including a system that adjusted the brightness of the headlight based on the car’s speed. The car also had radars to scope out the road ahead for obstacles. If one was found too close and the radar judged that a collision was unavoidable, it would send a signal to deploy the “gasbags”. The car also used what Toyota called failure warning board, a sort of on-board computer that monitored brake fluid level, engine oil level, etc.

Volkswagen ESVW-I

Staying true to Volkswagen tradition, their ESV had a 1700cc rear-mounted air-cooled engine. It developed 100 hp and was fully compliant with U.S. emissions.

Interestingly enough Volkswagen opted not to use airbags. Instead, they had seatbelts that automatically restrained passengers in the event of a crash thanks to gas-fired pistons. The car was equipped with what Volkswagen called a “silent co-pilot” system that calculated how much crosswind was hitting the car and from what side and electronically compensated the steering for it.

On the outside the bumpers didn’t stick out near as much as other prototypes and period Volkswagen literature bragged that their ESV had a “nearly normal” appearance, as opposed to other cars in the program.

Volkswagen built a second ESV in 1974, the ESVW – II, based on a first generation Golf/Rabbit. They exited the program soon after because they realized that the safety features would be too costly to implement in a production car.

Volvo VESC

Volvo has always been a leader in auto safety so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that they started developing the VESC in 1969, a full year before the DOT started the ESV program. With that said it was not developed with any of the program guidelines in mind but excelled anyways. It weighed a few pounds shy of 3,200 pounds.

The bumper had a seven inch travel distance to absorb shock and the engine was designed to get pushed under the floor in the event of a front collision, something Mercedes introduced on their W168 A-Class in 1997. To effectively stop the car ABS was fitted on all four wheels. On the inside, occupants were protected by both front and rear airbags.

Some "American" cars.

Many so-called "American" cars have been made over the years that just weren't American at all. Most have been re-badged offerings from Toyota, Mitsubishi, Daewoo, Kia, or Hyundai. Rarer though, are the ones that source their heritage to Europe. So, let's have a look at a couple of these European-American automobiles (in no particular order):

Hudson / Nash Metropolitan (1953-1961)

aka
Austin Metropolitan

Nash-Kelvinator saw the American desire for smaller cars -particularly marketable towards women - beginning to make an appearance. With the introduction of the VW Beetle to the US market, they didn't want the Yankees to be left out. They embarked on a plan for a small and inexpensive personal car. Nash decided that building such a vehicle from scratch wasn't going to be cost effective and eventually teamed up with Austin-BMC of England to do the work. The car would be manufactured there using a variety of Austin bits, including the B-series 1.2 and later 1.5 liter engines. Several exterior variations occured through the years, though essentially they maintained the "Nash" family look. Though produced in the UK, less than 2,000 of the nearly 10,000 Metropolitans were sold there, and only the earlier models carried an "Austin" badge. Though sales were not bad, Nash ended production of the car due to internal competition from the AMC Rambler, which was significantly larger and not much more expensive than it's diminutive English cousin.

Plymouth Cricket (1971-1973)

aka
Hillman Avenger

Back in the days when Chrysler was actually buying-out companies rather than trying to stay alive, they acquired the Rootes Group of England. During that time, the Hillman Avenger saloon and estate was developed and sold under a variety of names throughout the world. Notably, even as a Volkswagen 1500 in Argentina.
The English market looked upon the Avenger favorably and so, in 1971 it found its way to American shores badged as the Plymouth Cricket. Conveniently, being of Anglican decent, it used SAE fasteners and the 'Coke bottle' styling fit with the rest of the Plymouth range. Unfortunately, it was also rather unreliable, underpowered  (70 hp from the 1.5L engine) for American tastes, and had a tendency to rust rather badly. By 1973 Chrysler gave up on the Cricket and the final model year was simply to dump the remaining stock.

Dodge Omni / Plymouth Horizon (1978 - 1990)

aka
Chrysler Sunbeam / Simca Horizon / Talbot Horizon

Known internally as the "C2", the Simca division of Chrysler Europe somewhat unwittingly produced a true "World-Car". The 1977 launch of the Chrysler Sunbeam and Simca / Talbot Horizon from Chrysler Europe came at a time when the American counterpart was facing real trouble as a result of the fuel crisis. The decision was made to bring the new design Stateside. The US cars were in fact American built, but little about this car was American at all. The European versions utilized Simca sourced drive-trains, whereas in North America, a Volkswagen manual transmission and 1.7 liter engine was used initially though they sported a Chrysler-designed head (complete with traditional Mopar valve clatter). The VW engine was used until 1983 and was then replaced with a 1.6 liter Peugeot/Simca unit. Eventually the "L-body" American versions would see a variety of engines including a two turbocharged units from Chrysler itself - some Shelby versions even! The American cars also utilized different suspensions - A pity considering Europe got a Lotus-tuned version of the Talbot. Chrysler Europe was sold to Peugeot for $1.00 in 1978 amidst horrible monetary hemorrhaging - the same year the car began to roll off US production lines.  The Franco-American hatchback met its demise in 1990, four years after the PSA group allowed the sun to set on the Horizon overseas.

Pontiac LeMans (1987-1993)

aka
Opel Kadett E / Daewoo LeMans / Vauxhall Astra MkII

Opel Kadetts have been a major seller throughout Europe for decades as an affordable economy car. Beginning with the "D" variant, the Kadett became front-wheel-drive. The "E" variant continued using the "T-Platform" of the "D" but with updated aerodynamic fast-back styling. At best, this, the last of the Kadett evolution, was "crappy". Nevertheless, GM never lost an opportunity to make an easy buck and the rights were sold to Daewoo of South Korea. At the same time the decision was made to have Daewoo produce the Kadett for the North American market under the rather presumptuous "LeMans" badge. A sedan was also made with a 2.0 engine and a wheezing 96 hp. The end result was perhaps one of the General's worst offerings to date. The horrid build quality killed the car even in it's "home" Korean and German markets and it provided a less than stellar book-end to the Pontiac LeMans series of performance cars.

Cadillac Catera (1997-2001)

aka
Opel Omega B

The "Caddy that zigs" was more like the "Caddy that gags". Intending to appeal to a more youthful market with the Cadillac brand, the Catera promised performance and handling like that of a European sport-sedan. Well, they were almost there when they chose the Opel Omega sedan as the basis. Though "sporty" is up for considerable debate. The car was rather 'lame' in terms of excitement and just down-right bad in terms of quality. Numerous issues plagued the German built Cadillac from unacceptable tire wear due to suspension settings to complete failures of its L81 V6 (a unit which would plague numerous GM-built Saab models as well). Not to mention the fact that the car's "styling" was more like a gaudy patterned polo shirt than the cheap suits of other Cadillacs from the era. In 2001, poor sales led to the Catera's death and it was the final guise of the Omega B to be offered after European sales ended in 1999.

We could of course go on to discuss more; the most recent Pontiac GTO, the Saturn Aura and Astra, and even the latest Chevrolet Malibu. But then really, havn't we all heard enough about GM lately? It of course will also be interesting to see what Fiats make it here in the coming years via Chrysler's lineup. Ford is of course absent here, as they have long had a significant European presence. While occasionally some make it here, I think it's safe to say the Focus, Cortina, old Xr4ti's, and so-on need not be grouped with the above examples.

Designing for South Bend in Stuttgart

We didn't get any correct guesses for this mystery car, though our Facebook readers were close with American brands...

Even in the early 1950s, the writing was starting to appear on the wall; “compact” cars were going to be the next big thing in the auto industry. Certainly the Europeans had a good handle on this, but as we know, Detroit is often a little slow on the uptake. GM, Ford, and Chrysler had yet to downsize their monstrous cars. American Motors was beginning to make smaller cars and Studebaker (still independent at this time) took notice.
Ferry Porsche came to the United States in 1951 for the first time since WWII. Evidently Porsche’s designs for the Germans impressed some of the opposition as Ferry was contacted by the US for a military project. While in New York, he met with his importer Max Hoffman. Porsche expressed interest in more consulting work stateside and Hoffman knew just the right person to contact.
Richard Hutchinson, head of Studebaker exports, was a friend of Hoffman’s who took interest in having Porsche design a small car more in-line with American market tastes. Even though Hoffman struggled to sell VWs and only distributed them from 1950 to 1953, Hutchinson liked the idea of the Volkswagen and personally had one of the first Beetles shipped to him while VW was still under British control after the war. His plan was for Studebaker to become the exclusive importer of Volkswagens, and he tried very hard to do so, but the firm’s bosses disagreed. (Imagine if they had signed the deal – by the time Studebaker closed, VW had sold well over 100,000 Beetles in the US.) Nevertheless, Hutchinson still arranged for Porsche to meet with Studebaker officials in 1952.
Ferry Porsche, Erwin Komenda, Karl Rabe, Leopold Schmid, and Max Hoffman drove a 356 coupe and their latest sedan prototype, the Type 530, to South Bend, Indiana. The 530 was not overly impressive to the Studebaker people, but Porsche’s potential prevailed and an agreement was reached.


According to the contract, the car, which would be known as the Type 542, was to be a front-engined sedan, rear-wheel-drive, and use a six cylinder (air cooled) power plant. Porsche embarked on a radical design for the time in terms of the engine. The initial proposal was an entirely air-cooled 120° 3.0L V6. This wide angle was chosen due to its inherent balance and required a less complex crankshaft. Studebaker was concerned about trouble with interior heating and noise from an air-cooled unit. Subsequently, Porsche also proposed a similar V6 using water-cooled cylinders and air-cooled heads. The heated water would then be used for a more conventional heating system, but Studebaker still felt the blower fan was too loud. Ultimately, a final entirely water-cooled iron block version of the V6 was decided upon. Iron was chosen due to obvious cost restrictions, but also because Studebaker was not well equipped to work with aluminum castings. Regardless, all versions of the V6 used aluminum heads and pistons. Fuel was fed through a single Stromberg carburetor, though Porsche had also experimented with using six Zenith carbs and even Bosch fuel injection. The engine produced 106 hp at 3,500 rpm and weighed 455 lbs.

Above: The air and water cooled engine. Below: The final water-cooled engine.

Studebaker supplied Porsche with numerous parts (including wheels, brakes, handles, a transmission, and steering gear) for the car from their existing inventory to keep costs down and some similarity across the brand’s lineup.
The suspension was fully independent all-around. The front was rather unique in that it combined trailing links like a Beetle with coil springs. The rear was similar in design, also using trailing links with coil springs – something that would not appear on a Porsche model until the 914 in 1969.
Studebaker had always used body-on-frame chassis designs before, but the 542 called for unit body construction. While parts were constructed in South Bend, Studebaker wanted to be able to transport the unfinished cars to a final assembly plant in California. As a result, Porsche developed a removable front section that bolted on at the firewall. This allowed Studebaker to transport the bodies by special railroad cars that they had developed for their other vehicles.
Styling wise, Studebaker preferred their designer, the famed Raymond Lowey. For the prototype though, it was necessary for Porsche to have an entire car due to the unit-body construction. This was produced by Reutter who was of course also building 356s.
The 542 was completed in 1954 and after some testing in Europe, was shipped to the United States.
Unfortunately, Studebaker was struggling too much with finances due to poor sales from quality control issues and stiff competition from Detroit and that same year merged with Packard. The new management lost interest in the project as it would have been too costly to produce at the time. Studies had also shown that now the public preferred cars like the Beetle when it came to smaller cars. Porsche had been afraid of this and even proposed yet another design to Studebaker-Packard, the Type 633. This concept was surprisingly similar to the yet-to-be-born Corvair – rear engined, air-cooled, and smaller. Studebaker-Packard could not afford further development however.

Above: A Studebaker sketch for a small car. Note rear air intake fins.

Eventually, the 542 project would get some attention again in 1956 after John Z. DeLorean – then director of experimental engineering had a look at it. He was not impressed however and the project was over. In 1956, Curtis-Wright of aircraft fame took managerial control of Studebaker to try and turn the company around. Interestingly a Studebaker Lark was modified by Curtis-Wright to use a Porsche 356 drive train with Type-2 Bus gear-reduction, though this too remained a one-off. While the American firm struggled on, the project had supplied a good deal of funding to Porsche when they needed it most. While Studebaker and Packard were closing factories, Porsche was building new ones. Studebaker-Packard did manage to get a piece of the late 1950s imported car market eventually though – they became the American importers of Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union before exiting the auto industry all together in the mid 1960s. (Imagine what Max Hoffman must have thought.) The rest, as they say, is history.


Much research credit must be given to Karl Ludvigsen's articles on this topic from the mid-1970s.

Happy Thanksgiving from RWP

Ah, the good 'ol days. This 1929 Oldsmobile (featuring the "New Viking 90º V-Eight" engine) delivered these turkeys to President Hoover for pardoning.

Photo courtesy of http://www.shorpy.com

Race Oddity: Chaparral 2J "sucker car"

Texas racing driver, team owner, and oil man, Jim Hall had become rather succesful in the Can-Am series by the time the Chaparral 2J was put on the track. Hall and his Chaparral cars had become known for pioneering aerodynamic developments from the start and the 2J of 1970 was perhaps the most advanced - if not outlandish - of the time.
The Can-Am series was a perfect test-bed for new ideas as the rules were extremely open to design variances. As Hall already knew, aerodynamic downforce was extremely important to keep a 700+ horsepower race car sticking to the track. Chaparral's previous models had sprouted wings and air-dams already though the 2J sort of "went to hell with the joke".




To create downforce, the 2J used a 2-stroke snowmobile engine to power two large 17 inch fans which literally sucked the car to the track. The suction was comperable to adding 1000 lbs of force to the car's tires. The car was skirted with Lexan to create a seal between the underside of the chassis and the track. The fans ran at a continuous speed, and therefore the downforce of the car remained nearly constant at all times regardless of the speed of the car.



To actually drive the wheels, a Chevrolet ZL-1 Corvette V8 was mated to a three-speed semi-automatic gearbox which was essentially a manual with torque converter rather than a clutch. It was rather similar to Porsche's Sportomatic transmission. Between the massive power and the massive downforce the 2J was a remarkable force to be reckoned with. Though extremely fast, the Achilles heal of the car was reliablity. Despite this, the potential was there, particularly with Jackie Stewart behind the wheel and McLaren in particular was not pleased. Due to complaints from that team, and others, that the car's fans kicked up debris from the track and als violated the rule banning 'movable aerodynamic devices' the SCCA outlawed the car. 1970 was the only season the car competed.

Pennsylvanian Pickup

Volkswagen began producing the Mk 1 Golf/Rabbit based pickup truck in 1979 at their new North American plant in Westmoreland, Pennsylvania. It was the VW attempt to cash in on the new compact truck segment that was gaining significant popularity at the time. 

Natrually, the prime location of this market was in the United States. Cleverly, VW decided to base their new compact truck on the Rabbit which was already being built in the States, thus saving on development, tooling, and shipping. 

This particular example found its way to my place of employment at Wolfgang's Foreign Car Service in Erie, PA - about 200 miles from it's original assembly point. The body, while recently painted, is showing some signs of corrosion, but overall, the truck is in remarkable condition considering the less than stellar rust-proofing and 25 years of PA weather. 

The interior is also in fair shape, though the vinyl on the dash is getting a bit lumpy and puffy with age. Poor interior quality was a frequent complaint of the Pennsylvania-built Rabbit cars and trucks. 

Like many of the Rabbit trucks, this example is a 1.5 litre diesel with roughly 50hp. Needless to say, it's barely fast enough to get out of it's own way. 

Great Automotive Failures: The Chrysler TC by Maserati

Mention the name “K-car” to anyone familiar with automobiles and it will likely conjure thoughts of maroon colored 1980’s Chrysler sedans with hopelessly tacky velour interiors and engines with more tappet noise and oil smoke than a German submarine. But there was more to Chrysler’s “K” platform than that. Lest we forget, allow me to re-present one of the auto industry’s more horrid creations of the late 1980s: The Chrysler-Maserati TC – or as it was officially called, the Chrysler TC by Maserati.

Alejandro DeTomaso, (of DeTomaso Pantera, Mangusta, etc. fame) had acquired the Maserati brand in 1975 during a time when the small-scale Italian manufacturer was having some serious financial troubles. DeTomaso of course had some ties with the American auto industry through the likes of the Pantera which used a Ford “Cleveland” V8. This is how he met the man who would later become the president of Chrysler, Lee Iacocca. My research leaves me unable to determine who actually spearheaded the idea of Chrysler and Maserati producing an automobile together, and really, either party could be equally as responsible. Nevertheless, in 1984, Iacocca and DeTomaso joined forces to develop a sports car based on the Chrysler K-platform.

The car would become known as the TC (for "Touring Convertible" presumably… it even came with with a removable hard top complete with gaudy port-hole windows). The TC utilized Chrysler’s platform, K-engine architecture, and even hopelessly uninspired LeBaron-esque styling. Underneath the car utilized parts from the Dodge division’s Daytona rather heavily in the suspension area. The TC was actually assembled in Italy but still managed to deliver endless amounts of Detroit’s patented bastardized badge engineering.

The “Chryslerati” was first shown to the public in 1986 and finally in 1989 the first models (proudly sporting the Maserati trident inside of a Chrysler pentagon) were put up for sale for a rather princely $33,000+ price tag.

Inside the TC sported plenty of over-stuffed leather and Mopar bits and pieces. The interior design was hardly what would be called ‘rich’ despite all the cows that died for it. Though to be totally fair, it did fit in with the overall concept of the car that had more or less turned out to be about as classy as a middle-aged man in a tan leisure suit sporting a fake Rolex.

The first engine offered in the TC was a K-based 2.2 liter, turbocharged, inline four cylinder. The pedigree of this engine can be traced to such illustrious Mopar models as the Plymouth Reliant K and Dodge Aries K. There are many differences however. Enter, the Maserati connection. Maserati engineered much of the modifications to the 2.2 K unit which would find itself in to the early TCs. England’s famed Cosworth produced its special 16-valve heads which where then shipped to Italy for Maserati to finish off and mate together with the rest of the American built components, save for the Japanese IHI turbocharger. These “Maserati” engined models also featured the only manual transmission of the TC’s history – a 5-speed Getrag from Germany. Unfortunately, most of the cars were automatics that were mated to typical 175hp Chrysler 2.2 turbocharged K-engines that were also found in Dodge Lancers and Daytonas.

For the last two model years of the TC, Chrysler decided to do away with all hints of any kind of Maserati heritage and use a Mitsubishi sourced 3.0 liter V6 lump that would also live on in various Chrysler products for years to come.

In 1991 the plug was thankfully pulled on the TC. Less than 7,500 of these Italian-made Detroit disasters were made and Iacocca and his boys decided to focus their meddling in the Italian auto industry on Lamborghini for the next few years. But that, of course, is another story.

Great Automotive Failures*: AMC/Renaults

*Part 1 in a series.

American Motors Corporation didn’t have a whole lot going for it by the time the 1980s rolled around. Their Jeep division was more or less keeping the operation going and their somewhat less than stellar cars such as the Concord, Spirit, and Eagle were plagued by typical, gaudy, late 70s styling courtesy or designer Richard Teague, and aging drive train component designs – some of which dated to the 1960s. Fortunately for AMC, they were rather resourceful and had friends in a lot of places - most significantly with Renault of France. Renault had been selling AMC products abroad for decades such as the Torino in Argentina.

Renault had more or less “bailed-out” AMC from near imminent demise by taking controlling interest in1982. Renault utilized the AMC dealer network for their own cars and sold the Fuego and 5 (“LeCar”) along side the American products. Renault management started working closely with AMC and decided to sell the Renault 9 (and later 11) in the US market as the AMC/Renault Alliance and Encore, respectively. Interestingly AMC/Renault had chosen to produce the car in the States rather than simply have it imported from France. Manufacturing took place in AMC’s Kenosha, Wisconsin plant (which was inherited from Kaiser) and the interior was re-worked by their master of tackiness, Teague, to cater more to American tastes.

It seemed like a relatively good idea. The Renault 9 was voted European Car of the Year and became Renault’s best selling car. AMC was also in need of more economical cars in their model line up. The Renaults, with their 1.4 or 1.7 liter engines, were indeed economical, achieving over 50 miles per gallon depending on transmission, and they seemed to be a superior design to other American made compact cars of the time such as the Ford Escort. 

Unfortunately, shortly after the Alliance and Encore came to the American market, it became evident that the build quality of the Wisconsin produced French cars were rather lacking. Reliability issues popped up frequently and the reputation of the Renaults began to decline fast. Attempts by AMC/Renault to boost sales with the Alliance convertible and hot-rodded GTA (with 2.0 L 95hp engine) versions didn’t help much either. Especially considering the rising popularity of increasingly more reliable Japanese imports from Honda and Toyota. The writing was on the wall. 

The attempts to sell other Renault products such as the 21 (called the Medallion, and later Eagle Medallion in the US) also failed due to the poor image of the French carmakers products. The AMC/Renault partnership was going to Hell in the proverbial hand-basket and Renault also found themselves in a bit of a financial crisis by 1987 that was certainly not helped by their American counterpart. Renault dumped AMC to Chrysler, who was more than happy to get the Jeep division. The Alliance and Encore ceased their US production at that time and the Medallion would putter on for another two years as an Eagle until Chrysler killed it off too (along with the Eagle Premier, which was based upon the Renault 25 but never marketed as a Renault in the US.) The last vestige of the AMC/Renault partnership was the Jeep XJ Cherokee which had been designed with the help of Renault engineers in the early 1980s. May they all rest in peace (or pieces).