Word: cars
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Some legislators had already driven the car in Daytona Beach, Fla. Florida Congressman Bill Chapell (see photo) was so impressed he sent a telegram to Jimmy Carter: "I've seen it, I've driven it, and it works...
...changes to the car are essentially straightforward. Moody, an engineer, and Shetley, a car buff, made some aerodynamic changes in the body of a standard Capri, stripped the drive train, rear axle and motor and added a Pinto transmission, a Mustang rear end and a Perkins diesel engine. The key change was putting on a turbocharger. This reroutes hot exhaust gases (which would normally escape from the tail pipe) to a paddle-wheel turbine that compresses the engine's air-fuel mixture and gives the motor a sudden burst of power...
...make the car, Moody and Shetley needed six weeks and $10,000, of which $5,200 was the price of the Capri. They hope that they can eventually mass-produce the Moodymobile for as little as $7,400. Although noisy, the car already has its supporters. Says Bill Gordon, chairman of the automotives department at Daytona Beach Community College: "I was skeptical when they brought the car in for testing. But it does everything they said it would and more...
More skeptical, Detroit's automakers at first showed little interest in the Moodymobile. Chrysler President Lee Iacocca last week announced that he would like to meet Ralph Moody, while Ford Motor executives plan to hold talks with Shetley about supplying cars for further conversion experiments. General Motors sent the director of its new devices section to study the car...
...Looney Tunes, but a talking Ford may well be in the future, not to mention babbling Buicks and loquacious Lincolns. Ford and General Motors are tinkering with computerized voice synthesizers that in several years could replace the dashboard gauges with oral announcements about the condition of the car. Officials of both companies stress that audible autos are still a long way off, but, says a GM spokesman, "We might have something to show you in a couple of years...