[TheForge] Brand Loyalty?

[Ries Niemi]

On Aug 22, 2006, at 10:12 PM, Peter Fels And Phoebe Palmer wrote:

> Y'know Bob;
> I had a '60 Peugeot 4 door that i used as a truck with the back seat 
> removed. A fairly sizeable car by today's standards, great seats , 
> comfy suspension and the original radial tires that went over 60000 
> miles.
>  It got 32 mpg consistantly on the hwy and was quite reliable. I beat 
> and overloaded it mercilessly and it seldom faltered.
> 46 years later ford equals it, sorta.....pf
>

Brand Loyalty to Peugot is a concept that I havent heard much lately.
I owned an early 70's 504 Diesel for a while- great concept, lousy 
execution.
And I had a girlfriend who used to drive 404's for a long time- about 
the vintage of yours.
They seemed like decent cars, but you have to remember our expectations 
were lower then.
I didnt expect the 404's to go much over 60, or accelerate much faster 
than 0 to 60 in 12 to 15 seconds, and that was speed shifitng with that 
4 on the tree.
Mileage between major rebuilds was maybe 50,000 to 70,000 for those 4 
cylinder engines designed in the 50's.
Horsepower- I dont know, but it was well under 100hp. Probably not much 
over 50.
Air conditioning- it is to laugh.
Brakes- 4 wheel drums with a lot of leg muscle required.
Wipers were anemic, headlights feeble, heat was nominal, defrost a 
myth, and ergonmics and crash safety unheard of.
Big slippy leather couches of seats, on the one I drove.
Manual locks and windows, of course, no passenger side mirror.
Cornering was great, as long as you slowed to 15mph or so.
But yes, you could throw a lot of weight in it, and it had a lot of 
room, and it handled no differently with a few hundred pounds in the 
back- the suspension didnt do much anyway.

In all, a very low powered, slow car, with no creature comforts.
If you were willing to settle for those parameters today, assuming our 
government would let you, which of course they wont, you could do much 
better- a nice cheap japanese car, with a metal dash, vinyl seats, and 
no airbags, manual everything, and a 4 cylinder or even 3 cylinder 1000 
to 1500 diesel engine and a 4 speed could easily get you 50 to 70 miles 
per gallon. And it would last a lot longer and be much more reliable 
than those old 50's cars I used to drive. Of course, it would be a hoot 
to drive in america- that is, everybody would he hooting their horns at 
you, as your top speed was maybe 60 on the interstate. But it would 
probably only cost about 10 grand, new.
The japanese and koreans actually make cars like that for poorer 3rd 
world countries.

Ries Niemi
Industrial Artist

http://www.RiesNiemi.com