Random Car Facts

[Obelisk]

I am not sure those hyperutectic pistons, powdered metal rods and shallow skirt block agree with that. The LS engines have a crazy strong block making them stay together, not so much the V6/60° family. And I have never heard anything but grief about how weak the GM front drive trans were at the time.

Sorry, not trying to troll here, just skeptical of these claims.

Well, it took me a while to dig for the information. I found it somewhere obscure so the credibility is a bit questionable...

 

[LM7325]

I have an ancient GM performance parts catalog hiding somewhere. It has a section devoted to the 60 degree engines. Summit even sells aluminum Bowtie V6/60 blocks still. 400 hp is well within reach with a little work, and a generous amount of forced induction. I just doubt the stock setup would hold up very long is all.

But what do I know, stock 5.3 truck engines have held over twice that power with similar questionable internals. I figure it has to be the block holding it all in for them.

 

[Neddo]

Does term armourcars gets used for something else than literally?

 

[LM7325]

Does term armourcars gets used for something else than literally?

Balogna is the last thing you want on your paint. Vienna Sausage may be just as bad. Please don't Armour my car...

 

[Turbo]

• Audi never intended to bring the TT RS to the American market, but decided to do so after a large FaceBook protest.
• To reduce weight, badges on most racing-oriented Porsches are actually just stickers.
• To deter thieves, the hood ornament on all current Rolls Royce models will automatically retract into the hood if touched.
• The Noble M400 uses the same exact taillights as the 4th-gen Hyundai Sonata
• Honda lost money on every Integra Type-R DC2 ever sold.
• The Ford Thunderbird was the last American car to have porthole windows.
• The 2009-2015 Toyota Prius and Scion FR-S use the same exact tires.
• The first wrecked ND Miata was totaled after it's new owners had only driven it 1/2 a mile!
• All current Rolls Royce models have built-in umbrellas into the rear doors.
• If you drive a Bugatti Veyron at it's top speed for 9 minutes, it's tires will completely wear out.
• The U.S. government classed the first-gen Lexus IS as a subcompact car, due to it's abysmal interior legroom.
• The Tesla Model S used the same steering wheel stalks as the Mercedes-Benz E-Class
• The subcompact has more interior legroom than a full-size Toyota Avalon!
• The Dodge Charger is the only sedan on the market that still uses lift-up door handles, rather than pull-out ones.
• The GMC Terrain has the GMC Logo in it's taillights, if you look very carefully.
• Mercedes originally wanted to name the ML-Class crossover "M-Class", but BMW would not allow that, due to it's line of M performance cars.
• The Chevrolet Suburban has been the longest produced car that's still in production. It has been produced for 79 model years so far.
• In Russia, it is a criminal offense to drive a dirty car in the city.
• The 4th generation Honda Prelude beat every Ferrari, Porsche, and Lamborghini model (from it's time) on the slalom test.
• 18% of all American car owners drive a manual.
• The current Lotus Elise and Exige uses engine and transmissions designed by Toyota.

 

[RandomCarGuy17]

The Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth has Recaro seats.

 

[AlvaroF]

The Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth has Recaro seats.

The non RS500 (Sapphire) has them as well

 

[MisterWaffles]

• The Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione shares a similar V8 to the Ferrari 458.

• Buick used Shaquille O'Niel as a benchmark for headroom in the LaCrosse.

•President Lyndon B. Johnson used an amphibious car to scare guests by driving into a lake while screaming about brake failure.

•Google's self-driving Prius has only ever been in two accidents, and both were from external causes.

•The Tesla Model S broke the NHSS' rollover testing machines.

 

[Turbo]

The air conditioning buttons in the Pagani Zonda are the same ones used for the Rover 45.

 

[homeforsummer]

Reviving this thread for a great car fact:



P-Jones is Richard Parry-Jones, the engineer most hold responsible for turning Fords from utter crocks in the 1980s and early 90s into some of the best handling cars in their class from the mid-90s onwards.

Reminded me of another great fact though, which I read recently in a review of an Abbot Racing-tweaked version of the old Saab 9-3 Viggen from the late 90s. One of Abbott's modifications was a hefty brace for the steering column to quell that car's huge torque steer - the company found that under full load the steering column was moving as much as 4-5cm...

 

[RocZX]

You can play Tetris on a GAZelle Next

The video is in Russian, this the the translation on how to get it

1) Turn the ignition on 2) Start a car 3) Activate the right turn signal for three blinks 4) Two click the trip odometer reset twice (the computer translated this as “two times distant,” but this is what I think that means5) Push the clutch five times 6) Rev the engine to 2000 RPM while turning on the left turn indicator

Jalopnik

 

[RandomCarGuy17]

The first car created by Ferdinand Porsche was the P1.
http://press.porsche.com/news/release.php?id=842

 

[GranTurNismo]

Here's an interesting one. All three of the Big Three (Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford) have made a car called the Durango at one point or another.

Most obviously is the Dodge Durango, 1997-

1979-1982. A dealership conversion of the Ford Fairmont mid-size sedan into an ute. Between 250-350 were produced.

Finally, the Chevrolet S-10 Durango, which was the name given to the middle-of-the-road trim of the 1980s S-10.

 

[GranTurNismo]

• The first-generation Rover 200 (launched 1984) initially used the same suspension settings as the Honda Ballade, upon which the 200 was based. Rover later investigated the 200's suspension after reports of bad handling, and found that the rear spring rates differed by up to 17% per side. They made the necessary adjustments, and the changes were so successful they were later adopted by Honda themselves.
• A 2010 study of BMW 1-series (hatchback) owners revealed that about 80% of them thought that the car was FWD, not RWD.
• In 1995, Volvo was originally going to name the new S40 and V40 model, the S4 and F4 respectively. Due to Audi already having used the S4 name, the names were going to be switched to S40 and F40, and ultimately V40 was chosen after F40 was already used by Ferrari.
• Mercedes-Benz attempted to sue Volvo, in 2000, for naming their mid-sized car the S60, for bearing too much similarity to the flagship S600.
• The 1998-2011 Lincoln Town Car can reach speeds as high as 63mph in reverse.
• In 1980, Chrysler had to decide if they wanted a 4 speed or 5 speed stick shift transmission. A 5 speed would had been $20 more to produce. They went with the 4 speed because that's what Ford and Chevrolet had.
• The roofs of the 2007 Ford GT and Tesla Model S are so strong that when they were roof crush tested, they both broke the machine.
• The TVR Chimaera had design input from Trevor Wilkinson's (founder of TVR) dog. The story goes that his dog got hold of a scale model of the car and gave it a good chewing. Having got the model off the dog, Trevor looked at the result and thought "actually, that looks pretty good" and incorporated some of the bite marks into the car.
• The Chrysler PT Cruiser was the first car completely designed in CAD. Because of how tight the engine fit it took several weeks to get production up from more than just a handful of cars a day.
• Apparently the decision to cancel a production version of the HSV-010 in 2009 was SO unpopular among Honda engineers, the brands marketing director was literally warned not to visit the R&D centre in case of a riot.
• A 1987 Yugo was the only car to ever get blown off the Mackinac Bridge due to strong winds. The incident took place in 1989.
• In production of the 2018 Dodge Demon, Dodge decided to skip production number 666 to avoid creating a bigger resale market for a single customer. There are rumors that this production number was secretly produced anyway.
• Following the sale of the new '99 Mustang Cobra, people began realizing that it was making around 285 horsepower, far less than the 320 Ford had advertised. This actually made it slower than the Cobra of the previous model year. Ford halted new 1999 Cobra sales in August of '99 and recalled every single car. They replaced "the intake manifold, certain computer components, and the factory cat-back" to reach the 320hp number they were looking for.
• The Volkswagen Phaeton was supposed to be designed with 10 required parameters. When Ferdinand Piëch announced them, half of the engineering team supposedly walked about because it was impossible to achieve. The only parameter that’s been made public is this: "The Phaeton must be able to be driven all day at 186mph, in 120-degree weather, while maintaining a cabin temperature of 71.6-degrees".
• The Saab Sonett name has nothing to do with the poetry style, but rather from the Swedish expression "Så nätt den är", which means "it's so neat".
• Volvo's turn signal sound come from the sound of branches being broken in the Swedish forest. Took about 300 different branches to find the perfect sound.

 

[Centroid]

• The first-generation Rover 200 (launched 1984) initially used the same suspension settings as the Honda Ballade, upon which the 200 was based. Rover later investigated the 200's suspension after reports of bad handling, and found that the rear spring rates differed by up to 17% per side. They made the necessary adjustments, and the changes were so successful they were later adopted by Honda themselves.
• A 2010 study of BMW 1-series (hatchback) owners revealed that about 80% of them thought that the car was FWD, not RWD.
• In 1995, Volvo was originally going to name the new S40 and V40 model, the S4 and F4 respectively. Due to Audi already having used the S4 name, the names were going to be switched to S40 and F40, and ultimately V40 was chosen after F40 was already used by Ferrari.
• Mercedes-Benz attempted to sue Volvo, in 2000, for naming their mid-sized car the S60, for bearing too much similarity to the flagship S600.
• The 1998-2011 Lincoln Town Car can reach speeds as high as 63mph in reverse.
• In 1980, Chrysler had to decide if they wanted a 4 speed or 5 speed stick shift transmission. A 5 speed would had been $20 more to produce. They went with the 4 speed because that's what Ford and Chevrolet had.
• The roofs of the 2007 Ford GT and Tesla Model S are so strong that when they were roof crush tested, they both broke the machine.
• The TVR Chimaera had design input from Trevor Wilkinson's (founder of TVR) dog. The story goes that his dog got hold of a scale model of the car and gave it a good chewing. Having got the model off the dog, Trevor looked at the result and thought "actually, that looks pretty good" and incorporated some of the bite marks into the car.
• The Chrysler PT Cruiser was the first car completely designed in CAD. Because of how tight the engine fit it took several weeks to get production up from more than just a handful of cars a day.
• Apparently the decision to cancel a production version of the HSV-010 in 2009 was SO unpopular among Honda engineers, the brands marketing director was literally warned not to visit the R&D centre in case of a riot.
• A 1987 Yugo was the only car to ever get blown off the Mackinac Bridge due to strong winds. The incident took place in 1989.
• In production of the 2018 Dodge Demon, Dodge decided to skip production number 666 to avoid creating a bigger resale market for a single customer. There are rumors that this production number was secretly produced anyway.
• Following the sale of the new '99 Mustang Cobra, people began realizing that it was making around 285 horsepower, far less than the 320 Ford had advertised. This actually made it slower than the Cobra of the previous model year. Ford halted new 1999 Cobra sales in August of '99 and recalled every single car. They replaced "the intake manifold, certain computer components, and the factory cat-back" to reach the 320hp number they were looking for.
• The Volkswagen Phaeton was supposed to be designed with 10 required parameters. When Ferdinand Piëch announced them, half of the engineering team supposedly walked about because it was impossible to achieve. The only parameter that’s been made public is this: "The Phaeton must be able to be driven all day at 186mph, in 120-degree weather, while maintaining a cabin temperature of 71.6-degrees".
• The Saab Sonett name has nothing to do with the poetry style, but rather from the Swedish expression "Så nätt den är", which means "it's so neat".
• Volvo's turn signal sound come from the sound of branches being broken in the Swedish forest. Took about 300 different branches to find the perfect sound.

Just a small correction. Trevor Wilkinson had left the company in 1962 and it was the company's third owner, Peter Wheeler, who's dog made the styling suggestion*


* I actually got to pet said dog on a impromptu visit to the factory back in 1993.