That sounds like something I'd like to read.
Unfortunately,I can't read. :( I never told anyone on
the list here due to embarrassment,but I can't read a
single word! Writing isn't an issue,and I'm an
excellent spellar!! But anything in written form has
to be read aloud to me,preferably from some type of
stand or podium.
Thanks Jon!
Steve P.
--- jon@dakota-truck.net wrote:
>
> Steve Preston <steveophonic@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > Maybe the ultimate "correction" will occur when
> the
> > CEO is chairman only of himself? Well,him and the
> > secretary. Forgot about her. People like Lee
> Iacocca
> > don't answer their phone!
>
>
> For sure. :-) I recently finished reading a
> book written
> by a former Chrysler engineer, and in it he mentions
> that Lee was
> basically treated like royalty. You did not speak
> to him (avert your
> eyes!), and whenever he visited a plant, they would
> basically cordon
> off the hallways where he would be walking; bizzare
> stuff. I don't
> know if any of that was exaggerated, but that is
> what he wrote.
>
> There were some other interesting things in the
> book too,
> quite a few references to the Cherokee and Grand
> Cherokee since he was
> a suspension engineer in the Jeep/Truck area. He
> was fairly heavily
> involved in the design of the (Jeep) TJ, so there is
> some interesting
> stuff about it in there too. Also some solid axle
> vs IFS stuff.
> There is some Dak content scattered through it too.
> One interesting
> tidbit being that a bean counter wanted the Dakota
> to have a solid
> front axle (based on cost) but was overruled because
> it was thought
> that just about everything would be going to IFS.
> C'est la vi!
> Interestingly, according to the book, the vehicle
> dynamics engineers
> were lobbying for IFS on the TJ (the author called
> them "wannabe race
> car drivers"), and in the end, the reason the TJ
> ended up with a SFA
> instead of IFS was based on cost, so I guess the
> bean counters gained
> some clout in the intervening decade. :-)
>
> Another item which may be of interest to the list
> is that Chrysler
> was working on a midsized SUV based on the Dakota at
> the time that
> they aquired AMC. AMC had been working on creating
> the Grand Cherokee
> at that same time, and when AMC was brought into the
> fold, Chrysler
> scrapped the Dakota SUV and went with the Grand
> Cherokee instead. So,
> if it weren't for that, there might have been a
> Dakota based SUV
> competing with the Cherokee. We got one in the
> Durango 10 years later
> of course, but this would have been based on the
> GenI Dak.
>
> I bought the book for the Chrysler info, but
> there is also some
> good info about hybrid vehicles in it, mostly
> related to why they are
> a false economy and will not actually save fuel
> until battery
> technology catches up. The author makes the case
> for diesel being
> much more economical than hybrids. There was some
> funny stuff in
> there too about Chrysler pulling the wool over the
> eyes of automotive
> journalists when allowing them to test drive certain
> hybrid prototypes
> which were claimed to be fully functional but were
> anything but - in
> one case, it was a completely electric car and the
> diesel engine
> purring away in the back was not connected to
> anything, it was just a
> fuel oil powered noise maker. :-)
>
> In case anyone is interested, the book is "Common
> Sense Not
> Required - Idiots Designing Cars & Hybrid Vehicles
> (My Career with
> Chrysler)" by Evan Boberg. Its a small book less
> than 200 pages but I
> enjoyed it.
>
>
> --
> -Jon-
>
> .- Jon Steiger -- jon@dakota-truck.net or
> jon@jonsteiger.com -.
> | '96 Kolb Firefly, '96 Suzuki Intruder,
> Miscellaneous Mopars |
> `--------------------------------
> http://www.jonsteiger.com --'
>
>
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