Word: volkswagen
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Still Very Good. Going against the higher-priced trend is the surprising surge of lower-tagged imports, which are racing 27% ahead of last year and should easily crack the record of 614,000 sold in 1959. In the first nine months of 1966, Volkswagen spurted from 277,000 sales to 308,000, while G.M.'s "German Opel climbed from fifth place to second among imports, with sales of 25,000, followed by Sweden's Volvo, Britain's MG and Japan's Datsun. The Japanese cars are rising fast: Toyota is now the second best-selling...
...some makes have fancy variations, including "two D positions" and even "the sequence RN1234D." Germany's Porsche objects to having to prove the safety of its gas tanks in actual crash tests, "because with a production of only 50 cars a day, one car represents a tremendous value." Volkswagen fears that the famous beetle will be in for an untoward face lifting if its bumpers must be raised to a standard height to match the big cars from Detroit; the company wants to bolt on bumper guards instead...
Plea for Flexibility. Volkswagen is also puzzled over how to design an impact-absorbing steering column for its boxy Microbus, since the column is nearly vertical. One especially irksome item is a rear-window defroster. France's Renault complains that such a device would be "superfluous," since an outside mirror does the job adequately. An impossibility in many very small cars, such as Britain's Mini-Minor, is a requirement to have the front seat set back far enough so that in a collision passengers' heads will not snap down to the dashboard. One solution: shoulder...
...fighter group not yet posted to Viet Nam, though he did talk his way into flying one strafing mission over North Viet Nam after delivering a replacement plane last July; of head injuries when his 16-year-old daughter-who also died of head injuries-lost control of their Volkswagen and the car overturned; in Delray Beach...
...Renault's boxy, $2,760 R-8 Gordini, which also has a smaller engine (103 h.p.) than a Volkswagen, lives up to its flashy racing headlights by being able to hit 109 m.p.h...