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Ive always felt that american engineering is lacking compared to european and asian engineering.



Then, explain the VW 1600TL, Ruin-O and Traubant? Ever see a self leveling torsion bar Packard doing pushups at a redlight like the air over hydraulic Citroen?
Did you know that the first auto shifters used by Rolls Royce were GM dual range Hydromatics and Mercedes used Studebaker Automatic Drive because neither were successful at making their own?
Ever notice that, in the 70's and 80's, Japanese vehicles had headlights that would dim when the turn signals flashed because they used undersize wire?
Ever notice that Japan.inc was totally unable to make a V8 until they broke their old rules and hired American engineers? When Toyopet (now Toyota) tried to make their first car, they built a copy of a DeSoto and tried to power it with a copy of the 221 cubic inch Ford V8. When they gave up trying to cast the cylinder block, they went with a copy of the Chevy 6. They didn't want to use the DeSoto engine because it was too complicated for them.
For that matter, they didn't even know how to make a motorcycle in Japan until Harley licensed out their flathead design to them and set them up a factory to make it. Even then, they did a really third rate job of making them.
Ever adjust the fanbelt on an air cooled VW? There are shims behind the pulley on the generator to align the belt. There are shims in the pulley to loosen the belt tension and there are shims in front of the pulley to use in the adjustment. As the belt stretches, you disassemble the pulley and move shims out of the middle to the front. Of course, this makes it narrower but only moves one side and the center effectively moves, so you have to occasionally add a few shims behind to realign the belt. On American cars of the same era, you loosen a bolt, pull the generator to tension the belt and tighten the bolt. Toyotas from those days used a jack screw to move the generator. By the way, typical of Asian bolts of that time, the jack screw looked like the threads were chewed by a dog and was very easily stripped.



I was speaking more on the modern terms. I guess I shouldve said that. But I obviously wasnt comparing what Japan put out when they first started flooding the market. Of course they ripped off everyone elses designs. You dont make money by reinventing the wheel. You build the company, earn the money, and then improve the wheel.

Yes the US set the standard in alot of areas of automotive engineering, but they lost it. I never said european/asian manufacturers were flawless, they all have their own quirks and bad designs in them. But theres tons of things to be listed for american designs as well.

Either way you cant compare todays nissan/toyota car to a dodge/gm/ford car. The US lost higher regard on cars a while ago, and American trucks are on their way out the door too.

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