An other thing to consider is the cost of gas.
America has some pretty cheap supplies of gas (even if
it is close to $2 a gallon in some areas). Especially
compared to many other parts of the world.
A guy I work with came over from England within the
last couple of years. He told me that in his part of
england, gas is ~5 american dollars a gallon or
something like that. At those prices, an Imperial
would be a costly habit.
That and a lot of older cities, especially in some
parts of Europe, are so thin, that American big cars
simply aren't practical. This isn't so much of an
issue now, as say, WW2, when most of the roadways were
not designed for this big machines, but rather the
older horse-powered (as in literally using horses) to
transport.
I had several relatives in WW2, most fought in the
European front. Basied on what I've heard from the few
who came back, things were really not friendly for
such big cars- especially in the rural areas.
So naturally, smaller cars "work" over there. Take
Japan. Very densely packed area in some of the more
populated cars. Gas also more costly over there.
Trying to use a big older Imperial over there would be
like trying to drive a golf cart around on NY city
sidewalks during a lunch hour. Would be nice on paper.
Not gonna happen though.
I think that as fuel prices increase with a smaller
supply of oil, and as more smog laws are put in place,
it will become ever more easier for us over here to
use the cars over there. Why do you think US cars have
pretty much gotten smaller (I'm talking cars- not
SUV's and such). The 90's Imperials are a lot smaller
and MPG fiendly then a 68 and such.
--- Hugh & Therese <hugtrees@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > True to some extend. It was not ALL about speed,
> correct. It was about
> luxury
> > and speed. Or may be, luxurious speed! All
> Imperials were known to have
> > better handling and high speed stability than the
> competition, and often
> more
> > power. True, the average luxury customer did not
> care about speed and
> that's
> > one of the reasons Imperials never sold very well.
> Imperials always had a
> bit
> > of Chrysler 300 blood in their vanes! With little
> effort, a late 60's
> Imperial
> > can be turned into a nice and efficient speed
> machine. I am not talking
> about
> > 200 mph of course!
> > D^2
>
> As a furr'ner, I was somewhat taken aback, and still
> am, by the American
> lust for more horse power. I read somewhere that
> American cars are the
> oddity on the planet, in terms of size and thirst.
> When I went back to
> Scotland for a visit last year I was amazed to see
> all the unrecognizable,
> and tiny, cars there. MPG seemed to be the big
> issue, and cars seems in
> general smaller and more efficient.
>
> I think what controls American car sales is speed
> from zero and passing
> power. Not matter what is being driven, there is a
> perceived need for it to
> be able to tear away from a dead start and to be
> able to blow the doors off
> any slower vehicle. Size matters, too, and the
> social statement the car
> makes, so being in fashion and trendy ensures people
> end up buying
> considerably more than they truly need.
>
> What women want is key, and all the women I work
> with want to be in big
> trucks, high off the ground. A young colleague of
> mine recently went from
> an Acura two door sports car to a four door Chevy
> pick up. Though she
> complains about the poor mileage, she feels a lot
> safer.
>
> Our Imperials were designed to be status symbols.
> Whether they ever truly
> made the grade in that area is open to debate. They
> had all the ingredients
> but never quite made it, largely because, in my
> opinion, of Chrysler's
> chronic mishandling of the make/brand.
>
> I don't think my 58 is very fast off the line, but I
> don't tend to drive
> that way anyway. Being pulled into my seat has
> never appealed to me. Being
> used to anemic cars, I seem to prefer gentle
> acceleration. The car is a
> phenomenal high speed cruiser, of course, and has
> passing power in spades.
> Despite its heft, it will happily accelerate up
> long, steep hills, though I
> don't get that many opportunities to test this
> lovely availability of power
> all that often in my part of Texas.
>
> I find that the car is chronically thirsty to
> operate in town. Terrible
> mileage. But, on the freeway, it comes close to
> being almost miserly, as
> the big old V8 chugs along at fairly low revs at
> cruising speed. I made
> some disagreeable comments about "WOT" (wide open
> throttle) performance not
> long ago. My point, which I managed to mangle, was
> that I never seem to
> reach that state of affairs. I cannot ever recall
> flooring the gas while
> driving, let alone leaving it there for sustained
> periods of time. Maybe
> that's just me.
>
> Hugh
>
>
>
>
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