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[theolodian]

Can't believe that no one has mentioned the 'Clutch and Manual Gearbox'.

Seemed like a good idea at the time.  

I remember those! And 8-tracks, and front bench seats for 3!  

Isn't progress a wonderful thing?

 

[Andy B]

Can't believe that no one has mentioned the 'Clutch and Manual Gearbox'.

Seemed like a good idea at the time.  

Careful! You'll start Paul M  off again ....reading the road ahead .... in control ...........      

[theolodian]

Can't believe that no one has mentioned the 'Clutch and Manual Gearbox'.

Seemed like a good idea at the time.  

Careful! You'll start Paul M  off again ....reading the road ahead .... in control ...........      

He feels the road through the gear lever? Odd.  Is holding the gear lever replacement therapy of some sort?  :-?

[Markjay]

DAF variomatic drive....

'Forwards for forwards, back for back.  Its as simple as that' as per original TV advert....

Was that the one that relied on rubber bands for transmission?

Yup ..

http://www.classic-daf.nl/indexb.html

Yup.  Think it started on the DAF 33 which became the DAF 44, which became the Volvo 343 etc when bought over by Volvo.....

Not the worst idea in the box as far as OAP's and the hard of thinking, but simply did not catch on.  Ford reincarnated it in the CVT Fiesta but again, did not really catch on too much...

Afaik Volvo bought DAF because they wanted the CVT system for their smaller cars, and DAF's was patented.... Obviously Volvo thought that CVT will be a hit. Ahem...

[Markjay]

hydronumatic spheres Citroen RR Bentley

still being used today in Citroens.....

When it works it is one of the most comfortable rides you will encounter

Yes, but again it seems that great travelling public are not really interested in cars that go up and down....

[Markjay]

As for digital dash, e.g. Astra GTE style, it is interesting how thing have come 360 degrees... new Mercs now have a small LCD display instead of the instrument panel, and the display is showing an image of.... a good old round analogue speedometer  

[Markjay]

Tri-rotor Wankel.  

I wouldn't rate this the same as the others... Wankel failed not because it did not pick up in the market, but because the engines were very short-lived with typical life span of 20-30k miles before major overhaul.

The thing bankrupted NSU in the seventies (they bet heavily on their Ro-80 exec saloon) and were then taken over by Audi.

So even though it was adopted by Mazda for the RX7/8, I would say it was a technological flop at the time rather then just a good/reasonable feature that the market did not warm up to.

[Markjay]

#5 Heated front windscreen (Ford Granada style)

OK, so it does bring costs up a bit, but it can't be that expensive... I have it on my Scorpio at the time and it was very useful.

[Markjay]

#6 Inboard brake discs

As discussed in another thread... Alfa did it initially on their RWD cars, the discs were attached to the diff on both sides i.e. were on the inner sides of the drive shafts, and then they did the same for the front discs on the Alfasud.

They said at the time that this was done in order to reduce the 'unsprung' weight' of the road wheels, i.e. reduce the mass that is made to go up-and-down thus allowing much better adherence to the road surface.

Again, great idea that comes with no extra cost (the only potential complication is that disc brakes near the diff are somehwat vulnerable to oil leaks).

So if it is so brilliant, why isn't everyone doing it?

[Markjay]

#7 Alloy engine block

Before you say that there are many cars that do have it....

Many automotive innovation were very quickly adopted across the industry: overhead valves (OHV), then overhead cam (OHC), then dual overhead cam (DOHC), and then alloy engine heads.... these features are now all commonplace.

But not so with alloy engine blocks... yes it is more expensive, but surely this will be offset by a massive weight reduction, which should aid both fuel economy and handling?

Yes still many new cars have good old iron blocks....

[waspy]

#7 Alloy engine block

Before you say that there are many cars that do have it....

Many automotive innovation were very quickly adopted across the industry: overhead valves (OHV), then overhead cam (OHC), then dual overhead cam (DOHC), and then alloy engine heads.... these features are now all commonplace.

But not so with alloy engine blocks... yes it is more expensive, but surely this will be offset by a massive weight reduction, which should aid both fuel economy and handling?

Yes still many new cars have good old iron blocks....

If my memories correct, Rover used this idea for V8 that they bought from Detroit.
Correct me if i'm wrong  

[waspy]

The Americans had an idea of having a record player back in the 50's.
I wonder why it didn't catch on  
Did we have owt similar over here  :question

[theolodian]

#7 Alloy engine block

Before you say that there are many cars that do have it....

Many automotive innovation were very quickly adopted across the industry: overhead valves (OHV), then overhead cam (OHC), then dual overhead cam (DOHC), and then alloy engine heads.... these features are now all commonplace.

But not so with alloy engine blocks... yes it is more expensive, but surely this will be offset by a massive weight reduction, which should aid both fuel economy and handling?

Yes still many new cars have good old iron blocks....

If my memories correct, Rover used this idea for V8 that they bought from Detroit.
Correct me if i'm wrong  

It's used on quite a few engines, but the vast majority are still iron.

[theolodian]

#6 Inboard brake discs

As discussed in another thread... Alfa did it initially on their RWD cars, the discs were attached to the diff on both sides i.e. were on the inner sides of the drive shafts, and then they did the same for the front discs on the Alfasud.

They said at the time that this was done in order to reduce the 'unsprung' weight' of the road wheels, i.e. reduce the mass that is made to go up-and-down thus allowing much better adherence to the road surface.

Again, great idea that comes with no extra cost (the only potential complication is that disc brakes near the diff are somehwat vulnerable to oil leaks).

So if it is so brilliant, why isn't everyone doing it?

Inboard brakes don't get enough airflow for cooling. Also, the front brakes need to be the big ones, you need driveshafts to have them inboard, and there isn't enough room with transverse engines to have them inboard. Lastly, ride quality isn't as important in the back and servicing is harder.

Audi did inside-out rotors (nicknamed UFO's) in the early nineties. Worked great until they started to wear out or warp and then they were a nightmare.

[theolodian]

Tri-rotor Wankel.  

I wouldn't rate this the same as the others... Wankel failed not because it did not pick up in the market, but because the engines were very short-lived with typical life span of 20-30k miles before major overhaul.

The thing bankrupted NSU in the seventies (they bet heavily on their Ro-80 exec saloon) and were then taken over by Audi.

So even though it was adopted by Mazda for the RX7/8, I would say it was a technological flop at the time rather then just a good/reasonable feature that the market did not warm up to.

I wasn't talking about regular dual-rotor Wankels. Those are/were in the RX2/3/4/7/8 and a few other models over a span of decades. The latest version is a good if thirsty engine.

There was a Corvette concept car in the 70's with a 3 or 4-rotor Wankel. If you want a lot of power in a small package maybe a 3 or 4 rotor Wankel with turbos . . .