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On 10 Dec 97, Keith Park wrote:
> Not to mention that the handeling was TERRIBLE, it wandered all over the road in the
> wind cause it had negative caster and you felt every bump.
Is there any way that I can appropriately express my total revulsion
at the thought of the destruction this does to the car? I have the
feeling that people do it because they feel that it allows them to
express some originality in their car. Well, perhaps it WAS original
to someone, sometime, but it's now hackneyed and bad engineering.
The response I usually get down to is usually, something along the
lines of "But it's so COOL, Dude!" Well, if your idea of cool is
poor handling, bump steer, and rediculous ground clearance to the
point that it is no longer a useful vehicle, then I really have to
part company.
In the end it boils down to who do you choose to copy: Someone who
carefully designed something that worked well or someone who designed
something that looked "different."
My wife now drives a 96 Taurus wagon. That was a car that was
completely ruined when the stylists got hold of it. In the name of
style they designed a rear window that provides almost no rear
visibility, but it looks cool. It has seats that have lots of
bolsters and a lumbar support and bells and whistles that make you go
Ooh and Aah, but make your back sore in drives of more than an hour.
It has a Cool stereo in the style of the car with a balance control
that has arrows that point L and R and a fader control that is
oriented L/R and has arrows that also point L/R (this control
controls front/rear balance!)
It has a rear window wiper control nicely labeled and lighted, but
located where only the eyeball on your left knee can see it.
All this was done in the name of style without thought to function.
I believe Miles van der Rohe said "form follows function." Ford
forgot that. If we forget that we end up with nice bookends for our
driveways. I love these cars; I love how they drive and how they
look and how they are economical and how they are useful. Don't
settle for one out of four.
Sorry, rant mode off.
Jim
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Melissa Kepner Jim Adney
Laura Kepner-Adney
jadney@vwtype3.org
Madison, Wisconsin
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