Word: cars
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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This midnight ride of American Motors engineers was a regular test in their effort to develop doors that slam with what automen call a solid "thunk." One result showed up last week as American Motors introduced the Hornet, its new small car, with an advertisement that urged: "Open a door and listen for the reassuring thunk you get when you close it." In auto showrooms, the sound of a car door slamming touches some responsive chord in the frazzled psyche of the American buyer-and all the automakers know it. "There is very little to go on when...
...quality of the thunk depends on many factors: the rigidity of the car's body, the locks, the soundproofing in the door, the carpet on the floor. Heavier cars tend to have sturdier thunks, but lighter models can do well if aided by a few gimmicks. Special bracing inside the. door can improve the thunk, but technicians do not know just how or why. "There's a lot of black magic in this thing," says John Adamson, an American Motors' vice president...
Apart from the new small and sporty cars designed to frustrate the fast rise of imports, the 1970s look like and are much like the 1969s. In the year of déjà vu, the only completely redesigned full-sized car is the Lincoln, which, among other things, now has a body bolted to the frame for a quieter ride. Several cars have more powerful engines; the biggest of all is the Cadillac Eldorado's, at 500 cu. in. The Plymouth Barracuda is one of the few cars that have had enough sheet-metal changes to give...
...course, there have been some changes in prices. G.M.'s are up an average of $125 a car, Ford's $108, Chrysler's $107, American Motors' $81 (though the Hornet, at $1,994, is pointedly priced $1 below Ford's competing Maverick). Automen justify the increases by citing higher production costs. G.M. figures that payroll costs have risen 6% in the past year and will go up another 6% this month under terms of the company's labor contract; steel is up 6%, copper and lead 24%, zinc...
...cost squeeze is of Detroit's own making. It stems from the proliferation of models, options and special features. Ford's general manager, John Naughton, boasts that "we can run our assembly plants at maximum capacity, maximum overtime 365 days a year and not build the same car twice." Ford's Torino, for example, offers a choice of five vinyl roof colors, plus 16 body colors, and 33 sets of interior trim. All that contributes to the more than $2 billion that Detroit is spending to bring out its new models, and denies auto plants the economies...