Things the car factories did that made no sense to you

[bandit67]

Ford and there different engine families. 289, Boss 302, 351C, 351 w, 352, a few between here and the 427, 428, 429, BOSS 429 bet I missed a few. Look at the inventory to service these engines!

And didn't many all these different Ford engines require a unique transmission? Mopar was better in that you only needed one for big blocks and one for small blocks, but GM nailed it, in that most any tranny will bolt up to any block, big or small.

 

[Photon440]

And didn't many all these different Ford engines require a unique transmission? Mopar was better in that you only needed one for big blocks and one for small blocks, but GM nailed it, in that most any tranny will bolt up to any block, big or small.

Except for the Buick/Olds/Pontiac bellhousing being different from Chevrolet.

 

[eldubb440]

hands free driving makes ZERO sense to me

 

[ckessel]

On early GM products, trim emblems and moldings. Most of them couldn't be removed from the outside as they had nuts on the backside holding them on. I put many a barrel nut in GM holes on reassembly after paint. Then there's getting at the blower motor on early Camaro's. Buried in behind the inner and outer fender. That meant I had to take off other components just to get those off and get access to the blower motor.
AMC. Worked on a Scrambler to replace the master cylinder. It's pretty much crammed in behind the shock/spring tower. There was less room in front of the cylinder than needed to get it off the studs. Had to partially move the booster which meant having to take the hood off to get in there.
European cars. Especially the teutonic trash. Any time the battery was disconnected, ALL systems had to be reprogrammed. At the time I was at the body shop, none of the scanners available nearby could reset systems. Had to get the cars towed to the dealer for reset. 4 tows involved for that! 1 round trip just to drop it off and a 2nd round trip to get the pile of crap.

 

[Dipstick]

IMO, those Matadors looked great with the bumpers removed.

 

[Ron_M]

"What did they really save by doing that?"
One perspective.
Probably to minimize fraud. If everything was the same, what's to stop someone from warrantying an out of warranty vehicle against an in warranty one? While such action didn't stop it entirely, it was a method to discourage such an action.

At the end of the day, where's there is a will, there is a way

 

[68-500]

Ford and there different engine families. 289, Boss 302, 351C, 351 w, 352, a few between here and the 427, 428, 429, BOSS 429 bet I missed a few. Look at the inventory to service these engines!

You forgot the 351m

 

[68-500]

Why did Dodge discontinue the crew cab in the 80’s then put a Cummins in the Chassis? Had they refired the Crew cab and a Cummins in the early 90’s Ford and Chevy would have basically stopped making pickups.

 

[F4R/T]

Being blessed/cursed with a curious mind, I always wonder why, what if and how come.
Companies like Chrysler always seemed to swing between being flush with cash to then being borderline bankrupt. You'd think that they would have had better control of themselves and controlled costs better by finding ways to reduce costs.
Few people liked the 1972 and later side marker lenses but they used those for MANY years. Outer door handles were also used across many models.
What confused me was why automakers made post sedans and hardtops. Why two different designs? You then have to have different glass, door frames, weatherstrips, the post models sometimes had taller windshields meaning different A pillar covers inside, different wiper arms and other parts. Why? All these different parts cost money to make.
How about K members? Why use a different K member for slant six, regular V8 and then Hemi engines? They all had different motor mounts anyway, why have a different K member? That made no sense at all. GM didn't do this stuff.
Ford was stupid in many ways. 4 lug hubs for 6 cylinder, 5 lugs for V8s? That was dumb as ****. What did they really save by doing that?

I think GM really missed the mark , yes the used different k frames but GM would use different engines across the board and Chrysler got smart long before them.. GM was a pro a bringing them selves to the brink as well, WPC saved Buick ... things really do make you wonder..

 

[Kern Dog]

GM, at least Chevrolet, used the same bell housing across the six, small block and big block engine lines. I thought the distributors for small blocks also fit big blocks? I may be wrong there.
I'm still boggled by the post and hardtop models built concurrently. What is the reasoning there?

 

[Photon440]

IMO, those Matadors looked great with the bumpers removed.

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I think they would have looked even better if they didn't have those big 7" headlamps breaking up the front end. They could have used rectangular lights that were legalized in 1975, or even hideaways...