Monday, November 30, 2020
Some odd constants
In engineering and electronics, e and pi tend to show up in many constant patterns, even when the patterns have no obvious relationship to exp curves or circles or sines.
I've been noticing a few odd constants in the auto industry.
1. The market for limos is constant. Not the total market, but the market for each brand. When a carmaker decides to (more or less) mass produce limos, it can expect to sell 2000 per year. Before 1950, when GM and Chrysler and Packard were all serious about limos, each sold 2k. After Chrysler and Packard retired to occasional handbuilts, Caddy was still selling 2k, not 6k. When Lincoln finally entered the market in '61 with the parade phaeton, it sold 2k.
2. The Ford manopause. Henry had a sudden shift of personality late in life, which writers attribute to a stroke. The same thing happened to Henry's son Edsel, then to Edsel's sons HF2 and William Clay. Each started out as an innovative and sharp manager, then suddenly shifted to a moody recluse who couldn't be bothered with management. The later generations were drinkers, which sometimes accounts for such a change, but Henry Senior was an absolute non-drinker. The shift looks more like a genetic constant.
Labels: Bemusement, constants and constants
¶ 6:12 AM
