A Miracle and a Tragedy

Guest Post by Eric Peters

Henry Ford gets the credit for putting America on wheels via the Model T – which was not only the first mass-produced car but also the first affordable car, which is what made its mass production possible.

Ford’s other achievement, however, wasn’t a car. It was an engine. The first mass-produced and – like the T – affordable V8 engine. Chuck Berry sang about it in Maybellene:

I was motorvatin’ over the hill

I saw Maybellene in a Coupe de Ville

A Cadillac a-rollin’ on the open road

Nothing outrun my V8 Ford

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The Ford flathead V8 came out in 1932 and – just like the T – it changed everything. It was light and inexpensive and easy to manufacture. So it could be sold inexpensively – and in quantity.

Previously – just as cars had once been for the affluent-only – V8 engines were ornate, complex and expensive. They were indulgences of the affluent – not unlike an electric car today.

The flathead Ford V8 upended that. For the next 60-plus years, the average American could afford to drive not just a car, but a car with a V8.

A big car.

These, too, became commonplace – and uniquely American. In no other country could you see fleets of big cars being driven by ordinary people. It was extraordinary.

V8s made that feasible.

And the V8s grew to be even bigger.

By the early ‘70s, it was common for sedans (and station wagons) to have engines in the seven liter range. These were middle-of-the-road family sedans and wagons. Not high-end models.

Everyone coulda had a V8 – or just about.

These were six passenger full-size (and rear-wheel-drive) cars and wagons – the wagons often being nine passenger-capable. The roads abounded with them. They were the analogs – from the ’50s through the ’60s and into the ’70s – of a Camry or Accord.   

Then along came Uncle – and once again, everything changed.

Most people now drive cars like Camrys or Accord – if they are lucky. Mid-sized cars with four and – maybe, occasionally – a six cylinder engine.

Almost always front-wheel-drive.

They are very nice cars, but diminished in a tangible way – at least for those who can still recall a different time. 

Today, V8s are – mostly – for the rich only. Or at least, the very comfortably affluent. There is only one new sedan priced under $40,000 that comes with a V8 – the  2017 Dodge Charger R/T, which stickers for $34,895 to start.

It is a great car – particularly because of its stout 5.7 liter Hemi V8. But whip out your inflation calculator. That $35,000 (I rounded) is equivalent to about $5,500 in 1970 money (see here). And in 1970, you could buy a full-size (the Charger is mid-size) Chevy Impala (here) with a 7.4 liter 454 V8 for just over $3,200 – which is the equivalent in today’s dollars of about $20,500.

This is just a couple of thousand dollars less than the current price of a brand-new four-cylinder (and FWD) Camry ($23,070).

Large, rear-drive cars are all-but-extinct. Unless you can afford a Benz or a BMW or  Lexus or Infiniti or Porsche. These brands still sell rear-drive cars and cars with V8s. But – notice – they are all luxury brand cars. They sell small numbers – at high cost.

It is because Uncle.

He didn’t outlaw big cars – or V8s. Not exactly. He just made them expensive so that – once again – they are for the rich only only.

Cleverly, he did this indirectly – so he would not get the blame – by fining the car companies for making them. These fines – “gas guzzler” taxes – are folded into the price of not just the large/V8-powered cars (the ones that remain) but also drive up the cost of other cars – making it twice as tough to make the big ones with big engines.

This is why they are rare – and becoming more so- as they shuffle down the road to extinction.

The V8 Charger probably will soon join their ranks, incidentally. Unless Trump remembers why he was elected, stops bombing foreigners and instead rescinds the latest federal fuel economy fatwa – the one decreeing that all new cars must average at least 54.5 MPG by model year 2025 (seven years away, not that far in the future) it will no longer be possible for FiatChrysler to sell cars like the Charger – and its siblings, the Challenger coupe and the 300 sedan.

The only way they’ll get 54.5 MPG is by running a chain from underneath the radiator support to the bumper of a couple of Teslas serving as electric Clydesdales. They won’t get far, but they won’t burn much fuel.

The other option is for FiatChrysler to just fold the “gas guzzler” taxes into the price of the cars. This is what high-end brands like BMW and Mercedes do. But then, Dodge and Chrysler are not high-end brands. It is doubtful many people will pay $40,000-plus for a Dodge – and even if they wanted to, how many can afford to?

Henry Ford is often vilified but the man not only made mechanized personal transportation possible for the average man – he made it possible for the average man to live large.

Uncle’s agenda is rather different.

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ragman
ragman

Nice article. I remember the 60s when a man could go to the Ford dealership and buy a Galaxie with a fire-breathing 427/425hp for under $3000. Dual quads, 4 speed tranny and a number of other goodies were included in the 427 package. And a 289 Cobra was about 6K with the 427 clocking in at around 8K. For the real thing! Nowadays for your $35K you get a fucking Subaru complete with Birkenstocks, hot chocolate and plaid pjs. I’ll take the ball busting, fire-breathing 60s any day. And not just Fords. GTOs and Chevelles(SS396) are right up there among my favorites.

llpoh
llpoh

Ragman – I thought you would be nostalgic for horse and buggy, given your advanced age and all.

Is this you being hauled around by the misses?

comment image

kokoda - the most deplorable
kokoda - the most deplorable

Capital ‘L’ – put it back.

Funny pic and comment.

EL Coyote
EL Coyote

Don’t worry Koko, he uses 3 versions of his moniker; all small letters, all capital letters or the one you mention.

TampaRed
TampaRed

Is that a whip in his hand?

TampaRed
TampaRed

Seeing the guy on the horse reminds me of the last time I went riding.It was a beautiful afternoon when I picked up my then elementary school daughter.
In her usual excited way she asked,”Daddy,can we go ride a horsey?”
I agreed and we went riding.I watched her ride a few minutes and then decided that I would ride also.It raised some eyebrows when I got on the biggest,wildest looking horse there but I wasn’t scared because I used to ride quite a bit when I was a kid.
All of a sudden though, that sob went to bucking and I got scared as hell.I was screaming for help,thinking I was gonna die,until finally somebody unplugged it from the wall.

doug
doug

The GTO was my mother’s car in 1966. It had a 2 speed automatic! The engine had enough torque you didn’t need gears for acceleration. Topped out around 140 mph; with the speedo pegged. What fun for an 18 yr old. Good thing daddy sold tires and gas.

travis
travis

And the first ford truck got 25mpg. Same as today. Progress.

llpoh
llpoh

Travis – if you were happy with 22 horsepower, doing a grand 30-35 mph, in a vehicle weighing 1200 pounds, then I guess you can say there has been no progress.

General
General

Unfortunately, this country is being driven into the ground by the crony capitalists, politicians, and bureaucrats in Washington DC. Unfortunately, I don’t see it getting better. If anything, I see it getting a lot worse.

Fred Hayek
Fred Hayek

My pappy said “Son, you’re gonna drive me to drinkin’ if you don’t stop driving that hot . . . rod . . . Lincoln.”

Ed
Ed
Iska Waran
Iska Waran

They don’t make movies like that anymore. Thank God.

Alfred1860
Alfred1860

Don’t fucking tell me that any major car company that wanted to couldn’t produce a mid size family car with 130 hp (any more is for status only) and 80 mpg.

JIMSKI
JIMSKI

Nope Can not be done.

Why? Because Science. Do you even science boy?

Current technology allows us to extract energy at a very inefficient rate. Only about 1/3 of the energy from gasoline will be used to move down the road. 2/3 is wasted

http://www.idc-online.com/technical_references/pdfs/mechanical_engineering/Converting_Fuel_into_Horsepower.pdf

Now we have to move x amount of mass down the road. The formulas are much more involved but if you are interested
If there are no non-conservative forces acting on the car, then maintaining a constant velocity won’t take any energy. Taking drag into account is relatively simple actually. Use the work-energy theorem W=ΔEW=ΔEW=\Delta E and the definition of work

W=∫ba⃗F⋅→dxW=∫abF→⋅dx→W=\int_a^b \vec F \cdot \vec{dx}.
The drag equation tells us that Fd=−12ρACdv2Fd=−12ρACdv2F_d=-\frac{1}{2}\rho A C_d v^2. You can look this up on wikipedia for the details.
Now you told us that the velocity needed to be a constant we can pull it out of the work integral and get (evaluating between x=0 and x=x), W=12ρACdv2xW=12ρACdv2xW=\frac{1}{2}\rho A C_d v^2 x where x is the total distance traveled. Now v=dxdtv=dxdtv=\frac{dx}{dt} and with v constant, x=vtx=vtx=vt and so we see the total work done is proportional to v3v3v^3, W=12ρACdv3tW=12ρACdv3tW=\frac{1}{2}\rho A C_d v^3 t.
For a reasonable car and under normal atmospheric conditions, CdA≈7m2CdA≈7m2C_dA\approx 7 m^2, ρ≈1.2kg/m3ρ≈1.2kg/m3\rho\approx 1.2 kg/m^3. So the work done after an amount of time t is numerically approximately (for normal cars, see the ACd product for cars on wikipedia), W≈5v3tW≈5v3tW\approx 5v^3t. For a car going 55 mph for 3600 s, the work is approximately 3108J3108J 3 10^8 J.

Reference https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/energy-to-move-a-car.246885/

Now if you do not science put your fingers in your ears and hum the theme song from The Muppets Show.

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