[T3] General questions...Vintage VW-related...

John Jaranson john at carartbyjohn.com
Sun Feb 5 17:40:50 PST 2017


On Feb 5, 2017, at 2:19 AM, J. Jonik wrote:
> 
> 1)  Where did Wing Vent windows go?...and why?   Without them, how to get a little air in the car without blowing hats off people in the back seat?

As some others have mentioned, vent windows went away for a number of reasons.  They are more expensive to manufacture and assemble.  They lead to lots of warranty costs due to leaks and wind noise.  They lead to excessive wind noise even when closed and cars are so much quieter today than 40 years ago that it is really noticeable.  Also air conditioning is pretty much standard equipment on every car making the vent windows almost unnecessary.

> 2)  Where did car color go?   Virtually every car today has no color or as little color as possible...so as to be invisible on a dark road.   

There are plenty of bright colors available on modern cars.  Jill drives a screaming yellow Ford Mustang.  Ford offers a couple of different reds and blues, some oranges and greens.  The problem isn't that the colors aren't available; it's that people tend to buy black, white and silver cars.  It is a free market system and we build what people buy.

> 
> 3)  What's the deal with almost all of today's cars, even small ones, having Four Doors? Whhat car, except a taxi, needs more than two?   Is it that with an older population, back seat riders can't get in just by pushing the front seat(s) forward?   And what about expense of fixing those 3rd and 4th doors if hit in an accident?  ...not to mention expense of electrical doo-dads in those unnecessary rear doors?

Same deal here.  With the exception of the Mustang, Ford doesn't sell a 2 door car because people just don't buy them.  We sell 2 door Fiestas and Focuses in Europe and elsewhere because people buy them.  When we used to offer them in the US, they were such a small percentage of the take rate that it just didn't make sense to keep the cost of different body styles and the complexity and warranty costs associated with them.  4 door cars are just more versatile and easy to use.  

Heck even most of the F-150s we sell are Super or Crew Cab.  Regular cab trucks (2-door) are a very small percentage (~10%) of overall trucks sold.

As for the power windows and locks, kind of the same story as these former options have become pretty much standard.  These also tend to be lighter than the mechanical mechanisms that they replaced which is important for meeting fuel economy targets as more and more content is added.

Later,
John Jaranson
www.carartbyjohn.com



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.vwtype3.org/pipermail/type3-vwtype3.org/attachments/20170205/1490dd28/attachment.htm>


More information about the type3-vwtype3.org mailing list