DMC and Tucker (LONG) ; WAS DMC a classic

[Senatorpack@xxxx]

This past summer at the Washington, DC get-together we were allowed 
another opportunity to view a private car collection of 1948 Tucker 
Automobiles. After the tour, the owner of the Tucker collection, thanked me 
for organizing the DeLoreans and proceeded to show me some pictures of my 
DeLorean that he took on a previous visit. 
The Tucker owner was impressed with the DeLorean car and the features of 
the car beneath the surface, specifically the chassis, rear mounted engine, 
the operating mechanism and function of the gullwing doors, and the placement 
of the interior cabin ergonomics, and the large amount of legroom. He was 
interested in sharing his comparison of the two cars and their place in 
automobiledom, way ahead of the market and a significant step ahead of the 
current 1948 & 1981 technical advancements.
Additional speculation about the 1948 & 1981 legislative persuasions, 
economic stability of the automobile manufacturing industry, and the trend of 
the car companies to hire lobbyist to lobby the manufactures point.
We discussed the current SUV market dominance and consumer trend of the 
"truck chassis underneath a stationwagon body." 
He described how unsafe cars and specifically some SUV's are allowed to 
enter the marketplace to consumers, and how a paradigm shift in the process 
of automobile consumerism such as the DMC or Tucker could actually benefit 
the consumer, better known as significant leaps in advancement are quickly 
discounted and placed on the shelf.


If anyone has seen the Frontline SUV story on public television, 

FRONTLINE Bulletin
http://www.pbs.org/frontline/


- This Week: "Rollover: The Hidden History of the SUV," 
- Inside Frontline: Behind the scenes with producer Marc Shaffer
- Live Discussion: Chat with the producer on Fri. at 11am ET



Consider these statistics:

- During the same ten years in which Ford-Firestone rollover crashes caused 
some 300 deaths, more than 12,000 people died in SUV rollovers unrelated to 
tire failure. 

- There will be an estimated 70,000 SUV rollovers in 2002, in which 2000 
people will die.

- 1 out of 4 new vehicles sold in the U.S. is an SUV. They are the most 
popular (and profitable) vehicles in America.

Now, if you find these numbers surprising -- and disturbing -- consider that 
automakers and government regulators have long known about the high rollover 
tendency of SUVs. 

... FRONTLINE investigates "the hidden history of the SUV" and examines how 
politicians and regulators in Washington, from the early 1980s to today, have 
given the auto industry a free pass on SUVs despite the serious safety risks 
they pose. Should they have done more to inform and protect the public? We 
hope you'll join us on Thursday night for this important report.

On our website following the broadcast -- at http://www.pbs.org/frontline/ -- 
you'll find an overview of the SUV's political and legal history, including 
the most recent developments; extended interviews with former top regulators 
(from opposing political camps) and other auto-safety experts; and, in a 
special web-exclusive, we're offering never-before-broadcast audio excerpts 
from an Oval Office meeting between Richard Nixon and the top executives of 
Ford Motor Co. in 1971. More on this below, in a behind-the-scenes Q&A with 
producer Marc Shaffer.


Frontline went into detail describing the terrible state that the US car 
manufacturing industry was in during the early 1980's. The major manufactures 
(big 4) "were skidding on an ice patch towards a brick wall."
"The US car manufacturing industry was heading towards bankruptcy in the 
early 1980's due to their refusal to accept the fact that they were building 
out of date cars, for out of date customers. The US car industry was taken 
over by the regrouped European manufactures and the Japanese automakers."

There were further reports on the C. A. F. E. (Corporate Average Fuel 
Economy) requirements and how the major car companies, "With the help of 
lobbyist, the President and Vice President of the United States and 
legislative persuasion, were able to get around the CAFE requirements, market 
THEN develop a hybrid car attached to a truck chassis." 

Best Wishes,
Michael