Purcell: What a concept for US automakers
By TOM PURCELL
CAGLE CARTOONS NEWS SYNDICATE
What's billed as America's biggest car show wrapped up in Chicago yesterday. Boy, American concept cars sure aren't what they used to be.
USA Today reports that "in a more cynical age of downsized dreams and tight development budgets, the wild concept car -- auto show eye candy -- is becoming rarer."
I'm an American. I love cars. I love how the automobile has been an American success story.
In the early 1900s, Henry Ford perfected the assembly line, which made the automobile affordable. By 1950, America was producing two-thirds of the world's cars. And up until the early 1970s, America was producing magical cars.
I speak of the '69 Chevelle SS, with its 396-cubic-inch engine, four-barrel carburetor and 375 heart-stopping horses under the hood -- the first car I ever drove and one I will never forget.
The early '70s also gave us the Plymouth Duster, one of the most reliable vehicles ever mass-produced. A 1972 Duster was my first car, which I bought in 1984, fresh out of college, from my Uncle Jimmy for $400. He'd bought it -- wrecked -- for $75 in 1981, fixed it up and driven it 40,000 miles without so much as a tune-up.
Could the vibration be caused by the transmission again? A. The most common source of a vibration in a Jeep is the result of worn control arm bushings or a faulty steering stabilizer. I would also look at all the engine and transmission mounts and