[DMCForum] Re: Ride height.

["therealdmcvegas" <dmcvegas@xxxxxxx>]

I'm rakcing my brain right now to figure out who told me this... But I
did hear it @ the Open House event. It went down like this...

Colin Chapman was no fan of the DMC-12, and resented the fact that he
had to take on the engineering contract, because Lotus needed the
cash. So Chapman wasn't thrilled that after his people worked so hard
on the DMC-12, that it handled BETTER than *his* Esprit on the test
track @ Hethel. To be outdone by a care that he already resented
didn't please him.

So Chapman decided to screw up the handling of the DMC-12 on purpose
with longer, sub-quality springs. Chapman just told JZD that the car
handled very well with these springs. And while the car did look goofy
with the nose up in the air, these springs were cheap, and would
increase the company's bottom line. Which is pretty important when
you're hurting for cash, because production had not yet started up. So
the change wasn't that hard to get De Lorean to agree to.

In fact, who knows if DeLorean even got a chance to drive the test
car(s) with the intended springs that the Lotus engineers designed. If
so, he may very well never have let the change happen.

I too have heard over the years that the change was due to new DOT
regulations. But no one has EVER been able to cite the specific
regulation that would have affected this. Sure, there was a regulation
that Reagan repealled that required car manufacturers to install 15mph
bumpers. But never anything about bumper height.

-Robert

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