Word: diesel
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Most important, the days of the classic, gasoline-burning internal combustion engine are clearly numbered. The most likely replacements for big cars are the diesel engine, which is championed by GM, and the stratified-charge gasoline engine, being developed by Ford...
...diesel, widely used in trucks and some European cars, offers 25% better fuel economy than conventional engines. Installing a diesel has about the same results as trimming 1,000 Ibs. from one of GM's largest cars. The company, which began offering the engine as an option on some Oldsmobiles and Cadillacs in 1977, expects to sell 190,000 diesel-powered cars and light trucks this year, or about 4% of all GM autos. Barring further Government interference, the com pany expects to expand production of diesels throughout the coming decade...
Here, too, Washington regulators are putting up roadblocks even though, ironically, the diesel meets all present emission standards. Unlike conventional engines, diesels give off tiny specks of soot known as particulates. In January the Environmental Protection Agency proposed that a limit on diesel particulates be set at 0.2 grams per mile (g.p.m.). The diesel on GM's 350 Oldsmobile now throws off 0.8 g.p.m., and nobody in Detroit knows how to reduce that level in full-size cars without losing power. The agency announced that it will set a final standard later this year after hearing from the auto...
...diesel has other shortcomings: it is costly (GM charges $287 extra for it), starts poorly in cold weather and some times causes a car to vibrate. Ford, the No. 2 automaker, regards the diesel as a back-up and hopes to ride into the future on a stratified-charge "proco" (programmed combustion) engine. In it, the fuel is essentially divided into two mix tures of gas and air, one of which is "rich" (high on the gas) and one "lean" (high on air). The two mixtures are burned in sequence in the combustion chamber, and this produces 20% more mileage...
...West German firm of Neoplan Co. for some $600,000, the 594-ft-long Snoozer consists of two double-decker cars, joined by an accordion-like hinge, on an air-suspended chassis; it can traverse the bumpiest byway. Powered by a 10-cylinder, 400-h.p. Daimler-Benz diesel engine, the superbus can reach 80 m.p.h. and is as high and wide as the aw permits (13.12 ft. by 8.2 ft); a six-footer can walk its length without stooping...