Comments by "John Luetjen" (@jehl1963) on "Tedward" channel.

  1. From a time when life (at least in Italy) existed at a different pace. If you've ever driven through an Italian town, you'll also appreciate that the scale of things was different from the US too -- the roads were/are much tighter.
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  2. When I was younger my dad always told me to avoid "jack rabbit starts" and to accelerate gently. Back in the 80's BMW tested that idea (and others) prior to developing the 325e. What they concluded is that long gentle acceleration uses more fuel than accelerating swiftly to cruising speed. This was because of the amount of time that it took to accelerate "gently". The longer that this period was extended, the more fuel that was wasted. My experience is that the most efficient method is to accelerate up to the peak torque engine speed and than shift to the next gear. Above the peak-torque RPM, the engine starts to become air limited (even though the HP continues to increase as initially the torque doesn't drop as fast as the revs are increasing) and the pumping losses increase. Increased pumping losses results in decreased mileage. This concept prompted the development of the engine for the (often derided) BMW 325e, which had a torque curve more akin to a diesel than a high-speed gas engine. While the sportier 325i engine developed 168 HP at 5800 RPM/164 lb-ft of torque at 4300 RPM, the more efficient 325e engine generated 121 hp at only 4250 rpm, and a relatively strong 170 lb-ft of torque at 3250 RPM. The reduced rev range allowed lighter components in the engine, softer valve springs and other changes, all of which reduced friction (which contributed to the higher torque, the result of an increased Brake Mean Effective Pressure (BMEP) at lower rev's).
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  3. Back when 1600 CC's was enough. This car encompasses what made German cars of this era and earlier great. Americans picture the Autobahns full of Mercedes S classes and Porsches. The reality is that those were way outside the budget of most Germans. Most got by with 1.6 liter and 2.0 liter Ford's, Ooels and VW's, and often even 1500 or even 1300 cc engines. But the engines would be unburstable. A 1600 cc car like this BMW would still be able to cruise down the Autobahn at 4000 rpm, 5000 rpm or more for an hour or two at over 100 mph, without wondering or overwhelming the chassis. Very unlike the American cars of the time.
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  4. When I was younger I had the opportunity to drive the 500's slightly more modern descendant, the 850 around Germany for a few weeks. It was an absolute hoot since you could (needed to?) drive it like Mario Andretti just to keep up with traffic. There was no excuse to not drive it flat out all of the time. Try doing that with most modern cars and you'll end up in jail. I think we've kind of lost touch with how little HP and speed you actually need to get around. With 250 HP sedans becoming the norm, we've forgotten how usable 50 or 60 HP can be.
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  5. For years, if you flew into Frankfurt's airport, there would be tens of these parked outside in the taxi stand ready to take you where you needed to go. Surprisingly, this was also true elsewhere in the world. I was once picked up by one at Kuala Lampur's airport. They were comfortable, could carry lots of stuff, got great mileage for the time and would last forever! The quality of the engineering in these car, and the attention to detail was worlds better than just about any other car of the late-'60's/early-'70's.
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  6. Despite what modern car manufacturers insist are all of the features that you need, the 2CV really demonstrates how little you can happily get by with.
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  7. The first day of my summer vacation: I woke up. I went for a drive in a Fred Flintstone-mobile. I almost died.
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  8. For years until he passed away, Carrol Smith (and the publishers of Race Car Engineering) would do reviews of leading FSAE cars. Reviews like this carry that legacy forward. 👍👍
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  9. Something that I can aspire to buy used in about 20 years.
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  10. The 280ZX was not a sibling of the 280Z, but the replacement. It fell between the 280Z and the all together different 300ZX. As such, it's kind of the awkward 'tweener. A new bigger and more luxurious chassis than the Z, but just an update of the earlier motor with more pollution control gizmos to strangle the performance. The 300ZX was an altogether new car and V6 engine.
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  11. To answer the question -- the gearbox was called a 914 gearbox. ~98% of the parts are common with the 901, except that the final drive is assembled on the opposite side of the case so that the output is "backwards" compared to a 901 gearbox, and the case is machined slightly different with the vents located in a different location so that they won't overflow during normal use. Of course the linkage is different too. If the engine is stock spec, the drivability difference to the E that you mentioned is down to the milder cams. The T's peak torque was from 3500 RPM to 4500 RPM, the E's peak torque was from 4000 RPM to 5000 RPM, and the S's peak torque was from 5000 RPM to 6000 RPM.
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  12. I think that cars like this are fun because you can use the whole car between 0 and ~100 mph. You don't need an unlimited autobahn before the car feels engaged. You can easily drive the car at 9/10's at 55 or 60 mph. 25mph turns taken at 35mph are fun!
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  13. At about 11:00 when you're talking about going to 3rd, or other upper gears -- the thing that I have learned is to not try to over-control the gear shift lever. By this I mean a lot of people grasp the lever with their full hand and then try to feel 3rd, 4th, 5th or 6th gears. Even worse, they grasp the knob with their palm over the top. This may work with Ferraris and other cars with exposed gates, but most cars have a boot, and you can't see, and may not be able to feel a gate -- because there may not even be one. The way around this is to use the palm of your open hand to move the lever. So from 2-3 in your car would be done by pushing with your palm straight forward. By not grasping the lever you won't apply any lateral force on the lever and potentially put it into the wrong gear. Instead you allow the spring to do it's job and gently move the shifter from the 1-2 plane to the 3-4 plane of the H. You shift from 3-4 by cupping your fingers around the lever (while NOT grasping it!) and pull the lever straight back. To shift from 4-5 you would use your palm (open hand) to push the lever toward 2:00 o'clock. To shift from 5-6 you backhand (open hand, thumb pointing down) the lever toward 4:00. To go from 6-5, you push the lever toward 2:00 again. From 5-4, you use the cupped fingers of your open hand to pull the lever straight back. From 4-3 you use your palm to push the lever straight forward. From 3-2, you use the cupped fingers of your open hand to pull the lever towards 7:00. To shift into 1st, use the palm of your open hand to push the lever towards 10:00. I learned this technique decades ago driving a Formula Ford, because they don't have gates on their shifters or anywhere else in the linkage. So you shift by pushing the lever in the direction of the gear that you want. It works every time in every car that I've ever driven.
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  14. Gotta love the Mass-hole ahead of you on RT2 at 23:00 who vacates a perfectly empty right lane to pull ahead of you into the center lane. People like that give massachusetts drivers a bad rap!
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  15.  @Schreibtisch1  I stand corrected, I watched that and some other NHTS style crash tests. It sounds like Mercedes did their engineering well - which I guess is no surprise. They've been a leader in that since the 70's. I withdraw my snarky skepticism.
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  16. Which is my favorite generation of turbo? The 3.3's. Why? Because they have the closest connection to the 934s and 935s. Later cars are of a different time, and like all more recent Porsches, faster, safer, etc. But the 3.3s are of the time when they were the kings of the road. On track they easily had the number of Pantera GT5s, Various Ferraris, BMWs and Chevies.
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  17. 8:20 - you were having "The Talk" that we have heard so much about recently. Hats off to you, it's good sense for everyone. A couple of other tricks: 1) Don't be the fastest car on the road. It's better to be the 2nd fastest and let the fastest guy get the ticket. 2) Be looking as far down the road as you can see. Note how the other drivers are acting. If you see a car half a mile ahead of you on the highway dab their brakes, assume he has seen a cop.
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  18. Just the thing for taking your local chancellor to an important meeting about global warming!
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  19. At 12:35 you pointed out that "They (MB) had figured it out." Yes they had! They were arguably the most technically advanced car manufacturer of the 50's, 60's and 70's. Then, the accountants took over! MB has never been the same.
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  20. Kraftwerk appreciated your intro music choice! BTW - Don't discount the impact of the toe settings on the steering feel and the push/loose balance of the car.
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  21. I've got an old Chilton manual, and it describes in typical detail how to rebuild the engine, but when you get to the section on the MFI, there is basically a small paragraph that says "Here be dragons". Nowadays you can buy the factory manuals along with "Check, Measure, Adjust" which describe in detail how to tune and adjusts the system. There is also a ton of knowledge on forums like Pelican Parts. Also companies like Eurometrix and PMO can help with throttle bodies and hardware. Finally, having access to a dyno helps for the final set-up.
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  22. I've always been impressed with how Triumph was able to exist and develop their cars for as long as they did on a budget that was most likely less than GM spent on the Corvette's interior in that era. Also, it's interesting how offset the steerimg wheel is from the pedals.
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  23. A Maroon '89 XL with a 5sp manual transmisision, 2WD and the limited slip option was the first new car that I ever bought. To my taste, it was under-sprung in the rear so I added some helper leaf springs (which cost maybe $50 at the time). These went a long way to preventing the rear end from falling over in sharp turns, and kept the whole car more stable. Even with the 2WD, it never got stuck in the snow thanks to the Limited slip. It had the same interior as this one. (Oh! The happy memories!) To me, with that set-up it had fairly sporty handling (for a front engine, rear wheel drive vehicle with a solid rear axle and leaf springs) as long as you didn't do anything completely stupid with it. Folks! It's a short wheelbased vehicle with a higher center of gravity than your average hot-hatch! Don't try to drive it like an MR2!!! The engine was an improved version of the Cologne V6 which was used in numerous Capris. If my memory is correct, I would get mid- to upper 20's over a tankful. I even towed my FF, or the family's boat with it, although a sway control was needed due to the short wheelbase. Ultimately I wore out the transmission and ended up donating it to charity after ~120K miles. The ride was very comfortable over rough Boston city streets and various dirt roads. Everything except for the transmission was still in fine shape. Also the small footprint made parking it in Boston surprisingly easy. I loved that vehicle! As far as the stability, there are lies, damn lies and statistics. Ultimately the reputation of roll-overs killed it even though I'd be hard pressed to believe that it was any worse than the Samurai, CJ-7 or the Toyota 4-Runner, and other similar products of the time. I suspect that there was a bit of momentum generated, just as had occurred with the Audi sudden acceleration syndrome and other vehicles that caught up in crowd stampedes. Don't be confused. It was a great car!
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  24.  @sesh3508  Yes, I often do that too. For example; accelerate briskly through 4th gear and then jump to 6th to cruise.
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  25. I visited Rome in the summer of 1981, and in a city full of Fiat 500s and 750s tearing around within an inch of their red-line, there were still some of these to be seen for the person who could afford something in a class above the Fiats. Among the small FWD Italian cars, the Lancia Fulvia (1500 or 1600 cc's at that time) were the top of the heap.
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  26. Storrow Drive is totally Boston's best sports car road! My daughters and I chuckle at the 35 mph speed limit. Jamaica Way is a real trip too!
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  27. This car requires what I would refer to as a "tantric driving style", as in how long can you drive the car without burying the throttle? I'm sure Brighton Auto Group hires you to do these videos because they can claim "plausible deniability" if anything happens. "What did he do officer? I had no idea!"
    8
  28. I'm always amazed in my 986 at how well Porsche did the shock tuning. The shocks are firm at low shaft speeds, but soften up as the shaft speed increases. The result is a car that can that feel a little stiff at 20-30 mph, but becomes surprisingly compliant at 40mph and above.
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  29. I always cringe when modern road testers driving an oldeer car just assume that everyone in the od days was used to driving cars with sloppy gear shifts, loose steering and weak brakes. It wasn't like that in the day. In most cases the tester is driving a car that hasn't been well maintained. "In the old days" the steering WAS direct, the shifter WAS tight and the brakes would haul the car down from 60 mph in 100 feet (if the tires could live with it!). I just hate it when half-assed cars (which this 914 does not appear to be) are assumed to be representative.
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  30. Forgive me if I'm repeating the obvious, but for the fuel filler, most modern cars have an indicator on the fuel gauge which tells you which side of the car the fuel filler is on. Next to the symbol for gas (usually a fuel pump icon) will be a small arrow or triangle. It will be to the right of the pump for cars with fillers on the right, and to the left of the pump for fillers on the left.
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  31. Lots of fun until you hit something.
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  32. In many ways this version is soooo much cooler than the later V6 version.
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  33. The Strosek 964, but I'd leave the exhaust. Assuming the recording is faithful, I'm not a fan of the exhaust.
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  34. Oh! The sound of the hood, trunk and doors closing! (tears of joy)
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  35. Spring is in the air! Tedward is testing another open topped car.
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  36. One of the classiest of A-M's if you ask me. Back when they were making the best cost-is-no-object GT's, and they didn't care if anyone else got it. When I was younger I often wondered why the A-M V8 was such a bust at Le Mans. Later I came to appreciate how it was specifically designed to be a smooth, torquey engine with a lot of flexibility. But as soon as you got out of that designed GT environment and tried to increase the HP by spinning the engine faster, pretty much the entire engine needs to be redesigned. The Mercedes V8 of the same era had the same quality to it. Too bad you didn't include some shots of the engine. Hopefully in a follow-up video with the usual voiceover. Beautify car!
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  37. I wonder if the wind noise is just a function of 22 year old seals on the doors and windows.
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  38. My understanding is that the steering wheel was designed that way so that it would collapse (absorbing energy) in the event that your face hit it during an accident.
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  39. No seatbelts in an Italian car? Eh! You're not going to live forever! Enjoy today, who knows what tomorrow will bring. To drive in the style intended for this 1300 cc Lancia you should have a cigarette hanging from the corner of your mouth while you blast around at 10/10ths. Who needs seatbelts?
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  40. I wonder if the pressures are low or the tires a bit old?
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  41. Great insight Tedward. Driving off while putting your seatbelt on has been identified as a stupid act since at least June 14, 1969 when Jacky Ickx walked across the track at Le Mans and calmly put his seat belt on before driving off. He (and Jackie Oliver) ended up winning the race. If he could do it, so can the rest of us! At 5:20 you neglected to point out that you should always keep to the right on a highway UNLESS OVERTAKING. Yes, I'm talking to you Red Crossover! Don't encourage other drivers to pass you on the right (referred to as "undertaking" in the UK). The center lane is not intended "cruising lane" (nor the left lane) where you can idly park yourself and ignore other traffic while you check your mail, shave or converse with friends or family. Those lanes are there to allow other drivers the option of safely overtaking you if they choose, or for you to overtake other cars who chose to travel slower than you.
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  42. Incar in a Dino 206 GT? That's a one-of-one on YouTube. It does seem distinctly different from a 246 as far as the experience.
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  43.  @Silver_o  Yeah, that is always the objective. But sometimes things reach out and hit you. With no crush zones, the physics does note bode well the occupent of a Smart Car if the other vehicle is anything bigger than another Smart Car.
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  44. II believe that the Mercedes 300 CSL was one of the first production cars with fuel injection -- a mechanical direct injection system no less. It came out maybe a year or so after the Corvette, but the system was in another league when it came to performance.
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  45. Even "in the day" (i.e. the 1970's) everyone would complain about how Porsches had put on size, weight and price compared to their cars of the 1950s. Car and Driver held up the Karmann Ghia as "today's Speedster" that offered 90% of the experiance of a Porsche Speedster, for half the price! (...of a used Speedster of the time)
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  46. When I was in college, someone nearby had an A-M DBS (the straight 6 version). While the engine was less powerful, and dated back to the 1950's, I wonder how it compares to the pollution controlled V8.
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  47. People with AWD or 4WD cars often forget that while the technology will help you go better than 2WD in slippery conditions, it doesn't help you stop or turn any better than a 2WD.
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  48.  @TedwardDrives  Curious. Wikipedia says 260 , with a citation to a WSJ article from 30-January 1997. It's also notable that in 1989 the NHTSA looked into the roll-overs, and decided that the rate was similar to other vehicles and closed the investigation. The NHTSA declined to reopen the investigation in 1997. But once one lawyer was able to convince a jury, the parade of litigation rolled on.
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  49.  @maxnewts  Yeah, but to clarify - I was referring to 1600 and 2000 normally aspirated cars. Turbocharging is just a way to fit 3 liters of air into 2 liters of engine.
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  50. There is a degree of irony that you have put the BMW and Porsche in storage for the winter (in spite of the fact that both brands galvanize their chassis -- Porsche started this in 1974) while you drive your ungalvanized Honda in the salt. 🤔
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