The beginning of speed control - Ford Thunderbird

For the 1964 Ford Thunderbird you could order a new speed selector device. Ford claimed that motorists could save up to 20% fuel and that the system would reduce driver fatigue and lessen engine and brake wear.
Well, I wonder whether this was really true. If you really want to save fuel you actually turn the speed control off. Interesting was that the system would take control as soon as you are driving with the speed you have selected with the little wheel, different to today where you have to restart the system when you are ready.
But anyway, in 1964 this system was quite an innovation as you can imagine

Air condition and Convertibles

I rarely have seen so many closed convertibles (top up) as currently with temperatures around 30 degrees of Celsius and higher. Nobody would have done this in the 70ies or 80ies - convertibles are built for being driven open when the weather conditions allow for it. With the habit of having powerful air conditions on board though, people consider the temperature in the car can be lower with the top up and air condition. But why do you need a convertible for this. And what about the disadvantages of modern convertibles with the top up? The Nissan 370Z is one of the car with the worst visibility when the top is up. And also many of the coupé-convertibles suffer from bad visibility. So, my advise, forget about the air condition, open the top, enjoy the real weather, be more safe and save fuel.

Peugeot 504 - yet another successful long runner

Here's another one of my leaflets from my collection - the Peugeot 504. You can see from the picture that it's probably a 70ies picture with the Volkswagen Beetle on the right side. Interestingly the star of the leaflet is out of focus. But as a car the Peugeot 504 was a huge success. More than 3 million cars were built in Europe alone between 1968 and 1973 and production continued outside of Europe in various forms until 2002. The 504 was a typical family sedan following traditional engineering routes used for French cars. It was famous for its reliability and durability and many of these cars probably drove through a desert at least once in their life. There as an break/estate version (station car), a pickup and of course the gorgeous coupé and convertible versions. From begin on the car had independent suspensions and disc brakes for all wheels. Designed by Maestro Pininfarina it looked good and survived the long period of production very well. Most people probably have been driving one or being driven in one. Compared to a Citroen DS or an Alfa-Romeo Alfetta this probably was an unexciting drive, but that was good enough for most people. The French police used these cars for many years and in movies you can often see both the villains as well as the good guys chasing each other in a Peugeot 504.

Is the Tesla changing the world?

There are more Teslas in Switzerland (per capita) than anywhere else in the world. Actually, you now see them quite often. I have been writing about the Tesla before. It's based on a great car (Lotus Elise) and has been able to retain its donor car's handling excellence despite the extra weight. Combine this great basis with an ecological drivetrain and a courageous choice of battery technology and you actually have a pretty good car. The fact that you now see a Tesla besides an Audi R8 or a Ferrari 458 Italia at the airport lottery (win a great car for just 20 £) supports the assumption that owning a Tesla is quite hip. What do people use the Tesla for? I have no clue. They probably don't use it for traveling (range to narrow) and neither on a race track (you will not be able to complete a lap at the Nurburgring with the Tesla before the battery is empty) and for shopping it's probably not practical neither. So it's rather an item to own (and show) than one to use. Good so, if you can afford it. But there are not enough people in this segment to make Tesla a true success.

Using a Windschott with your Classic Car?

In 1989 Mercedes-Benz presented a real innovation with its new R129 convertible, the Windschott (German word for wind deflector). It's the thing behind the driver's and co-driver's seat that makes the air go over the heads of driver and co-driver. The accessory became very popular. Many R107 (that's the predecessor of the R129) was equipped with a Windschott and many other (modern) cars followed the trend.
One question though is whether it suits your classic car to be equipped with a modern windschott. I think it spoils the design lines of a car, if the car hasn't been made for being used with a Windschott. And it's clearly not a part that was available when the car was new, so it is as inappropriate as a subwoofer or wide wheels for your oldtimer car. Now, at least you can take off the Windschott, as you can remove the TomTom or the plugged in iPod, so that's not so bad. But for me it spoils the sensation of driving an old car and that's why I don't use a Windschott on my classic Mercedes. But who knows, maybe I will have to when I am getting older ...

Where has the bonnet gone?

When you drive an older car and watch through the wind screen you will most like see something you can't spot anymore when you drive a modern car - the bonnet. Modern aerodynamics and current design trends make them disappear from the driver's eye. Too bad, as seeing the bonnet makes a car easier to drive and park. The picture shows the bonnet of a Mercedes 300 SL (R107) but you can look at many older cars and you will spot the same. Today you need a park distance control system to "hear" the car, when you park it to compensate for you eye being able to actually see the dimensions of the car.

Today's Convertible Cars are for Softies

What has happened with the convertibles, the cars we loved so much because they made you become one with the environment around the car, the wind and the weather? Well, today's convertibles basically make you feel like being in a limousine but with an invisible top. The new Mercedes convertible optimizes this new approach. It makes the wind go around so that even the passengers in the back don't have to "suffer" from the fresh air. In comparison, open cars like the MG TC, the Morgan +8 or even the later R107 Mercedes offered a lot of weather contact, long before the "windschott", air scarf and all kinds of new gimmicks were invented. So, this is yet another reason to buy old cars, I think. Anyway, it's a matter of personal taste and the type of clothes you are using ... As they say, there's no bad weather when you own an open car, there's only wrong clothes.

Where has the spare wheel gone?

When have you last time seen somebody change a wheel? When did you use a spare wheel last time yourself? Do you actually have one in your car at all? As you may know many of the modern cars come without a spare wheel, but they may be equipped with a tire fit system. You pump some stuff into the wheel and re-inflate it. Often though the process doesn't work. Because either the stuff in the bottle is too old or there's just not enough of it to really fix the tire. For me these things never worked. In the old days spare wheels were much more important than today. Much more often you suffered from a puncture. And sometimes even one spare wheel wasn't enough, that's why pre-war cars often even had two spare wheels. Even in rallies, for example the East African Safari, the pilots loaded two wheels onto the roof or into the trunk if there was enough space. Also the tools were different in the past. There was a central fixture for the wheel, you needed a hammer and a pretty large tool to remove it. But I am sure there's not a lot of nostalgia in changing wheels. I am actually glad that we rarely have to do this today, not everything was better in the past ...

Why are Car Operating Manuals so fat today?

Have you recently bought a car? Did you read the operating manual(s)? Well, if you buy a car such as the Volkswagen Passat you receive a booklet with approximately 500 pages. It's so fat that it doesn't even properly fit into the dashboard compartment. If you want to read it page by page, you probably spend more than three hours. And this is only one language! So, next time, when you rent a car, will you go through all of this? Probably not.
Well, in the past this was quite different. As you can see on the picture there are a number of car manuals displayed. The operating manual of the Renault 4 has 24 pages, the one for the Ford Granada 64 pages. That's a fraction of what the new car brings to the owner. Why this difference? This probably has a number of reasons: Cars have become more complex, things like the entertainment system need a lot of explanation. Car manufacturers have become much more risk averse. Anything I driver could do wrongly and has the potential to create a liability lawsuit needs to be documented in the manual. And, people today have much less technical understanding compared to the past. Remember, in the 50ies or 60ies you were asked technical questions for getting your driving certificate!
I am still impressed from the Renault 4 operating manual. It's so condensed, the 24 pages even include the index and the table of content. And funnily they had to add another 4 pages to add corrections to the 24 pages already printed in large numbers before.

Maserati 3200 GT - great and distinct rear light design

We loved these boomerang rear lights at the Maserati 3200 GT, didn't we? And it fitted the car so well that some people buying the 4200 GT actually changed the rear bodywork design to fit these unique lights. But it was not just the rear lights. The whole car was a beauty and quite a good design given the size and the ability to actually seat four people. And there was a lot more space for the rear seat passengers than in a Porsche 911 or a Lotus Evora for example, so no alibi seats. I tried it myself, it works! Of course the 4200 GT even had a bit more space but the 3200 GT was okay already. It drove well also, was pretty fast and had a decent handling. Most of these things the 4200 GT could do a bit better even, but as said, they removed the boomerang lights to fit the preferences of the American market. Sad! I almost bought one of the early cars and the guy offering me a test drive was a former formula one driver. He showed me what the car can do and it was impressive! From a financial point of view it was probably a good decision not to buy the car, because depreciation was hefty and maintenance cost for these cars is significant. And what all of these early cars sort of lack is the great sound engineering applied to the new GranTurismo Coupés of Maserati. Despite the same ingredients (engine) the new cars sound so much better. Other than this though the old car seems to be the more desirable one to me, as it was more nimble, more light and was available with a proper manual gear box. Will the 3200 GT ever become a true collectors' car? This is unclear and all depends on whether we will be able to maintain the complex electronics of these cars in 10 or 20 years from now (see also other previous blog entries on this topic).

BMW C1-E - electrical bike that actually could make sense

It hasn't generated that much noise in the press landscape, but what BMW presented last November (2009) was actually quite convincing! They took their BMW C1 bike with roof and seat belts and replaced the dull gasoline engine with an electric motor and batteries. The result has a number of convincing attributes:
It's zero emission (if you don't include the production of the energy).
It can be parked like a motocycle - so you don't need to look for a parking space!
It can be driven without a helmet, if you want (in most countries), so less of a hardcore vehicle compared to real motocycles.
I know a number of people who loved the C1. Obviously though it didn't bring the sales figures expected and BMW stopped production after only 3 years. With the BMW C1-E we could have seen a resurrection, but obviously BMW decided to not produce this one. Big mistake in my eyes, as for marketing purposes this would be at least as convincing as the Mini-E.

Remote control your car - the DIY approach

Have you ever thought it would be good to not have to leave your house to park your car or to move it into the garage? Have you ever thought it would be good to actually standing outside when trying to fit the car into a narrow parking space? Well, it's easier than you think. Thanks to the electronics in modern car and the drive-by-wire approach most car manufacturers choose to control engine, brakes and even steering, with a few electronic building blocks you can actually remote control your car just like you steer an RC model car from Tamiya. Just plug the controlling unit into the CAN bus of your car and an interface kit into a standard remote control with steering and throttle/break controls and you are done!
The parts can be purchased here.
It doesn't take an engineer to fit them to your car and instantly you can start, control and stop your car with the remote control. Impress your friends and make your life easier! It feels a bit like playing James Bond (remember the 7 series he controlled with a mobile phone?), but it's much easier with the controller shown here. And of course you can also do it from the back of your car, because having visual access is crucial! You should't hand over the controller to your kids also, as you can imagine.
If you have any doubts then look at the testimonials of people having already done it!

Adaptive Cruise Control - is this the start of the auto pilot for cars?

What we know as "Cruise Control" (other terms are Tempomat, Tempostat, etc.) has been introduced by Chrysler in 1958. Mercedes-Benz was the first European manufacturer adding cruise control to a car in 1962. For years the cruise control mechanism mainly controlled the throttle. With the enhancement of modern electronics mechanical approaches to do this were replaced by sensors, electronic steering signals and computer control. And after controlling the throttle car manufacturers added the controlling of the brakes. Which makes a lot of sense, as when you go downwards it would nice to still keep the speed. In 1998 Mercedes-Benz added radar to the equation and started to measure the distance to the cars in front of the controlled car to adapt the speed based on traffic flow. These systems are called Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC). The version of Volkswagen is displayed in the picture. So, it took 30-40 years to get from throttle control to brake and throttle control and another 10 years to add traffic flow and advanced computer control. But what's next? And what is the disadvantage of ACC systems?
First, let's start with the disadvantages: ACC doesn't increase the capacity of highways and streets it actually rather decreases it. ACC tries to always keep the preset distance to the car in front of you. This leads to a lot of breaking and acceleration, which is bad for street capacity usage, but also for fuel consumption. In certain situations the systems even interpret the traffic context wrongly.
There are of course advantages too. For the driver it can be relaxing to not having to think about speed, throttle and breaking. And ACC systems can prevent accidents, as the can brake down a car completely if the driver doesn't react quickly enough himself.
But what would be the perfect solution? Imagine a traffic lane with all ACC controlled cars and computers actually talking to each other so that the car behind knows already that the car in front of him will brake before actually "seeing" it. With this you could decrease the distance between the cars and increase the capacity of the lane. For the car drivers it would almost be like riding on a train. The cars could even take over the steering, the technology is already out there.
Of course this would mean that non ACC cars could not play the same game and of course driving a car would be a lot more boring than today. Which is why I wouldn't be a fan of such a system. I actually do not really like the ACC. But cruise control clearly is a necessity today, as it's the only way to make sure you do not speed in cities and on heavily monitored highways (speed cameras).

Steering Wheels - 100 years of evolution

One of the things that has been there even in the first cars and still is an integral element of any modern car is the Steering Wheel. Funnily enough there are quite a lot of similarities between modern steering wheels and very old ones. Just have a look! In the beginning there were lots of controls in the steering wheel, for example to fine tune the ignition. In the 60ies and 70ies the steering wheels got more and more pure and thinner and thinner, just to become fatter again in the 80ies and later. Today again we have lots of additional control functions in the steering wheel and we can switch radio stations, talk to the car or start the window heater on the push of a button in the steering wheel. In most cases it's still round, though there are exceptions with flattened wheels in Audis and other cars. Material wise we still have mostly leather and wood being used today, the plastic feel of the 60ies and 70ies definitely has gone. So a lot of evolutionary changes over hundred years but no questioning of the initial concept.

Car makers made visible progress in 2009

Despite of the financial crisis and the recession 2009 was a good year in terms of new car announcements. And if you look at many of the new cars presented you must acknowledge that a lot has been achieved. Most new cars were clearly more fuel efficient, many were lighter than their predecessors, most were safer and quite a number of them were also prettier. So, overall, that's good news.
The new Toyota Prius is a good example. It's slightly bigger but clearly offers a lot more space. The design has been modernized and the interior now looks much more impressive than the one of the previous model. And it became more powerful while being more economical on the other side. That's how we like progress to happen.
There are a number of negative points in the 2009 car year. I get the feeling that car manufacturers spend a lot of time and energy to lower ECE driving cycle fuel consumption while what actually happens in regular driving is less impressive. Safety progress is focusing on achieving five stars in the standardized crash tests while passive saftey features like 360 degree visibility is neglected and sacrificed for design aspects. And also cars become more and more complex with all those gadgets and electronics built in making them a maintenance nightmare in a few years. But that's maybe the price for progress.

How virtual is driving a real car today?

Some of us have been playing with a Playstation or Xbox and trying to drive fast around the Nurburgring. It's clearly quite different to the real thing. There's a lot missing despite the always improving graphics and more and more computing power. Not even a 720 degree turning steering wheel makes the sensation really real. But is "real" driving really real? More and more of what we do in a car isn't directly influencing mechanical elements but rather sensors and digital processors. When you step on the throttle today a computer decides how much of your command is really good for the engine and the driving condition. And when you turn into a corner your wheels in the back may also turn to make the driving safer. Engineers work hard to still give us "feedback" and make the driving less artificial, but in reality not even the sound of the engine may be real, as modern cars like the new Lexus LF show. So more and more real driving becomes virtual and at the same time virtual driving becomes more real. Brave new world!

Is this what we will drive in 2030?

As every year some design studios situated in or close to California revealed their visions for the future of motoring at the LA Autoshow. This year the designers where asked to design cars that would appeal to 16 to 23 years old chaps in the year 2030. Quite a challenge. You see three results here, one from GM, one from Mazda and one from Honda. Clearly they look futuristic. However I really wonder about the usability of these "things". Either these "cars" are very big or very difficult to enter. But clearly they look cool and I could imagine my son dreaming about such a thing (even today).

So, let's see. In 20 years we will know better. Given that apparently we have gone beyond "peak oil" already, more than smart design will be needed so that future generations still can commute and travel individually.

The importance of driving further

How far can you go, seems to be an important topic for many people. The range a car can do is a serious purchasing criteria. With the new electrical cars the discussion as been heating up. Most electrical cars have a range issue. The best of them claim to being able to cover 300 kms (Tesla Roadster), but road tests reveal that it's rather 150 - 200 km in reality. Most electrical cars do maybe 70 - 150 km with one full load of the batteries. The other extreme currently is been shown with new environmentally friendly Diesel cars. Take the Volkswagen Passat Bluemotion for example. With it's low fuel consumption of 4.5 liters per 100 km it can cover 1'600 km with one tank of Diesel. Impressive!
But how important is it really? Most people cover less than 100 kms every day for their commutes, so they can easily deal with a range of less than 100 km. And many people driving cars with very long ranges have fogotten how and where to fill in the gasoline when they next time have to. In the 70ies and 80ies a range of 350 km and more was quite acceptable, nowadays anything below 800 kms seems to be an issue. It all depends, I guess. If I can "fill in" my car at home in my garage I have no problem with having to connect it to the power source every day. If I have to find a gas station, queue to get served and to be able to pay and loose 10 or more mintues with it then I prefer of course to have a long range. In the past the range was also a safety attribute. If you have to stop to fill up your tank then you do at least stop. Think about the Passat Bluemotion driver who covers 1'200 or more km without stopping because he doesn't have to ...

Car seats as a symptom for technology evolution

Modern car seats are engineering masterpieces. The difference between what you get in a modern BMW or Audi to what you had in a Jaguar or BMW in the 50ies or 60ies couldn't be more striking. In the old days car builders did the minimum to allow the drivers seat somewhat comfortable. In sportscars they did even less, often the driver sat basically on the floor of the car or in very rudimentary bucket seats. Since then a lot has happened. Modern seats support the driver by moving electrically, storing seating positions (of more than one driver), can be heated and cooled, and some even do offer a massage to the driver. But there's more. Modern seats also have airbags built inside and they track whether actually somebody is sitting on them. And in some cases seats vibrate to wake up the driver or make him aware that he is leaving the road.
No wonder that modern seats have become much more heavy, probably many hundreds of percentages heavier than seats in the old times. A modern seat can easily weight 30, 40 or 50 kg, or even more, compared to 5 or 15 kg in the past.
But would we want to go back? Probably not, as today we sit much longer in these cars and our back is glad for optimal support. Maybe there's a way to get a bit more from both worlds, some of the lightweight racing seats available in super cars are good examples.

One of the better innovations in cars - the head-up display

I have been talking a lot about all the things that make driving more boring or create distraction for the driver. But there's one innovation in modern cars that I really like - the head-up display. When I search for a 5-series BMW this was a requirement high up on my list. And I loved it from the the first day on. The head-up display gives you your current speed or the direction (arrow) you need to take to reach your destination. And you can see all of this without taking your eyes from the street. This is really practical and increases road safety I think. However there are a number of things I wasn't fully happy with. Firstly, you couldn't program that thing. I would have loved to also see the current gear for example or the ABS indicator. Secondly, I can't understand why it's only available with the 5-series but not with the 3-series I bought after. And thirdly and most importantly, I don't understand why you have to pay more than 1'800 USD for this feature and even have to take an automatic air condition with it on top. The cost to produce the TFT screen unit and the controlling computer must be close to or lower than 200 USD, so everything else is margin for BMW? Isn't there a thing like price elasticity? Wouldn't they be able to sell 100% or 300% more of these units if they offered them cheaper?
And last but not least, if you would design a car with a head-up display in mind the whole dashboard could be structured and modelled very differently. So, here again, is a great chance to come up with something new and different. Go for it!