Word: chevrolets
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Skimming through the voluminous stacks of mail that reach him in Washington, Ralph Nader last summer began picking up an unusual pattern of complaints about some products made by his old antagonist, G.M.'s Chevrolet Motor Division. Scores of engines on Chevies made from 1965 to 1969, the letters indicated, were twisting loose from car frames, sometimes with the frightening result that the auto's accelerator pedal was pulled all the way down to the floor and the brakes failed. At roughly the same time, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was looking into similar complaints. Last week...
...breed of small, racy, relatively inexpensive "sports compact" cars for young and old alike. The first of the new group, the Ford Mustang, made a fast breakaway in 1964. It was rapidly followed by competing cars whose names evoked feelings of adventure and even danger: Plymouth's Barracuda, Chevrolet's Camaro, Pontiac's Firebird, American Motors' Javelin, Mercury's Cougar, and the Dodge Charger (later called the Challenger). Soon the sports compacts grabbed almost 11% of the nation's car market, and souped-up "muscle" versions were introduced for the "performance" minded...
...months it has plummeted to 3.9%. At this year's Detroit auto show, which ended last week, the sports compacts were elbowed to the sidelines by family sedans, high-ticket luxury models and by two categories of lightweight, low-cost cars: the compacts (such as the Ford Maverick, Chevrolet Nova and American Motors Hornet) and subcompacts (such as Ford Pinto, Chevy Vega and Dodge Colt). Summarizing the change in taste, Chrysler Vice President Bob McCurry told TIME Correspondent David DeVoss: "The emphasis now is on practicality, quality and convenience, and it is the young people who are leading...
...found a way of cushioning the blow of declining sports sales. Ford, for example, now offers a "Grabber" model of its compact Maverick equipped with hood scoops, rallye stripes and a special paint job. It costs $175 more than an unadorned Maverick. Similarly, for $349 over the regular price, Chevrolet is marketing a "GT" version of the subcompact Vega with a black grille, racing steering wheel and sturdier wheel rims. Both models give the illusion of being fast sports cars, but beneath the paint they are still economy cars with little engines...
...Safety program. They might badly shake many buyers of small new cars, which now account for one-third of sales. In some crashes, the small car was smashed into a pile of twisted junk barely recognizable as an auto, while the bigger car sustained relatively moderate damage. In the Chevrolet crash, a dummy placed in the Impala only struck its head against the dashboard, but the dummy in the Vega was beheaded by a section of the hood that was hurled back through the windshield...