XPost: talk.politics.misc, alt.politics, alt.politics.usa   
   XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   From: pothead@snakebite.com   
      
   On 2025-08-05, Dark Brandon  wrote:   
   > On 8/4/2025 9:06 PM, c186282 wrote:   
   >> (I do remember some scandal with Jaguars ... they   
   >>    coated aluminum bores with Nikasil, but they did   
   >>    not do it right and total extreme engine failure   
   >>    was common. Next year it was coated STEEL cylinder   
   >>    sleeves instead, much better)   
   >   
   > That sounds like the Chevy Vega.  Unless the driver religiously changed   
   > the oil and oil filter on schedule, carbon in the cylinders would strip   
   > away the plated alloy in the cylinders (in lieu of rings and cylinder   
   > sleeves) with the engine ruined at 28,000 miles.  The Durabuilt engine   
   > with an iron block and sleeves and rings replaced the aluminum block   
   > engine, but it was too late to save the brand.   
   >   
   > The reverse from normal hinged hood, which opened from the windshield,   
   > acted as a guillotine in front end crashes and beheaded the front seat   
   > passengers.   
   >   
   > IIRC, the Mazda Wankel rotary engine had similar flaws and had a life   
   > span of under 30,000 miles while getting terrible gas mileage.  With the   
   > Arab oil embargo happening, with long gas lines, the gas guzzling Mazda   
   > rotary engines were the wrong engine for the time.   
   >   
   > I recall at the time there were stories that the Vega, Pinto and Gremlin   
   > were supposed to have rotary engines, but the sudden surge in gasoline   
   > prices due to the embargo resulted in substitution of the awful Vega and   
   > Pinto piston engines and the in-line 6 in the Gremlin. Detroit handed   
   > the small car market to Japan on a silver platter. VW tried to maintain   
   > its market share with the awful 411. The joke was that it needed 4 more   
   > cylinders and was 11 years too late.   
   >   
   > Then there was the Yugo and the Renault Alliance, LOL.   
   >   
   The Renault Alliance was Motortrend's "Car of the year" in 1983.   
   It was once of the worst cars ever made.   
      
   A friend of mine who had just gotten married came home with a Chevy Vega   
   to surprise his new wife.   
   She cried.   
   The car was a disaster and always broken down.   
   He eventually sold it and purchased, get ready for it, a Pinto.   
   He sold that car quickly and purchased, get ready again, an AMC Pacer.   
      
   As crazy as it sounds, he was still married after these choices and the last   
   car I recall him purchasing was a 78 (?) Camaro base model with, get ready for   
   it, a 6 cylinder motor.   
      
   I lost track of him but I'll bet he is driving some off brand EV these days or   
   some ICE   
   car with a CV transmission.   
      
   I often wonder if his wife finally left him?   
      
      
   --   
   pothead   
      
   "Our lives are fashioned by our choices. First we make our choices.   
    Then our choices make us."   
   -- Anne Frank   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)