Y no amortize? 2
In previous item I noted that Nash had built a water-cooled boxer six in 1948, then abandoned it. The engine would have been just right for the 1975 Pacer, but instead AMC designed the Pacer around a Wankel rotary, a totally un-Nashian engine. Rotaries are intrinsically wasteful and short-lived. Even worse, it was going to be outsourced from GM, leaving AMC vulnerable to shutoff at any time.

And the shutoff came just before production, forcing AMC to hastily reshape the Pacer for its own long inline six. The Pacer was a totally awful idea, but it might have been marginally less awful with a squared-off boxer six that didn't crowd the passenger compartment.

Well, the answer to the puzzle is clear. By the '70s the amortizing and saving and HUMAN spirit of Mason and Romney was long gone. Abernethy had mistakenly tried to be GM. When you ARE the big cat, you can make mistakes like Pacer and go unpunished. The mouse can't afford to make such stupid errors, and certainly can't afford to rely on the cat for supplies.

Here's an even bigger Y no amortize question, with the same answer.

From 1959 to 1962, AMC built its own Jeep for the government.

The Mighty-Mite was shorter than the Willys Jeep, and shorter than the Metropolitan. Wheelbase was 65 inches, and total length was 107 inches. It had an air-cooled V4 engine. It had independent suspension on all four wheels, and the 4WD transfer case was sync'd so you could shift in and out of 4WD without stopping. It had a light rustproof aluminum body, and was designed to wade through high water without stalling or damage.







AMC did briefly discuss using this engine in the Metropolitan to copy VW, but at that time they didn't really need an extremely small car because the halfway small Rambler was gaining ground fast. So they phased out the Metro. Just as well. Air-cooled engines are a bad idea, and GM lost ground by attempting to copy VW.



The Mighty-Mite wasn't a prototype. AMC built 3000 of them for the military, which is enough to debug and improve manufacturing methods.

So. Why did AMC need to REINVENT those features for the Eagle in 1980? The Eagle had IFS but not IRS, and switchable 4WD. Those were advertised as 'new' features.

Tech historians bemoan the not invented here syndrome, rejecting an invention because it would require paying royalties. After Mason and Romney were gone, AMC suffered from invented here syndrome, forgetting and rejecting its OWN earlier developments.

= = = = =

Later thought on GM tactics: GM loved playing cat games with its mousy competitors. The fake development of a Wankel was clearly a game to force AMC into a fast fix. Earlier, GM famously forced Chrysler into a last-minute downsizing by letting Chrysler's CEO "accidentally overhear" a discussion of GM's "planned" downsizing.

Mice need to be maximally paranoid. Don't listen to what the cat says or promises. Watch what the cat does, and act accordingly.

THEY KNOW IT'S A HOAX BECAUSE THEY CREATED THE HOAX.

Labels: skill-estate, storage

  ¶ 5:16 AM