hyperv6

For BMW it was either buy the cheap design of the Isetta or make pots and pans like so many other Germany companies did to survive. Times were tough in Germany in the 50's My father lived there then and told me how hard some of the people had it back then. Even the mighty Benz tried to make inroads to the US market had to have help from Studibaker. The 2002 was the car that Americans grew to know. Most were the Eurocentric people who wanted a smaller but sporty car. That car planted the name in the main stream here. Then in 1975 the 3 is the one that grew the brand. For the most BMW in the late 70's was a car that was for the people who could not afford a Benz but still wanted a sporty upscale car. The slogan "The Ultimate Driving Machine" worked as it sold performance and mid level luxury image. BMW already had a performance following but the Gold chain look at me Disco era people are the ones who put them into the main stream. Once BMW put people behind the wheel that wanted to be seen in a BMW they were on a solid road to main stream acceptance. Lutz changed their image in the 70's from the odd Euro car like Volvo and Saab. Once they gained their image the people who grew up in the 70's had a different out look on the BMW line and wen to them in great numbers in the 80's. Most were not what you call auto or performance enthusiast. Either way this is how BMW built from the bottom line up. This is why I see the ATS as the most important car Cadillac has to make. This is the one more people will come in contact with. Then they can build on this one.

I think one was the 700. BMW had other cars but they were few in Europe and really just not around much in the US market. Post war Germany was hard on all their cars. VW was the one that really was prepared with a cheap reliable car. It was lucky the British help get them back on their feet in the post war years.

The Isseta keep them on life support through the post war years in the 50's. They still nearly went under in the early 60's. It was not till the early 60's lower priced sports sedans did they really start to recover in Europe and get discovered by many Americans. It was in the 70's when the 3 series finally won the hearts and money of the look at me American crowd. They then built on that to sell Americans larger more powerful expensive model.

It really does not matter how they do it and with what engine. The ATS needs to be best in class all the way around. GM has tried the almost as good but at a better price and not gain much. Now they have just as good as near the same price and still have not broken through. This time they need to be the same price and just flat make a better car. It is not just the engine, suspension or the interior each alone that will win this fight it is the complete package. The highest G and fastest 1/4 mile does not win this class. A car with the complete package of great performance with a top quality and wll designed interiror in a attractive styled body will win this. The car with the biggest numbers does not always win. Sometimes less and balanced is more. The bottom line Cadillac needs this car to be a no excuse car. No more almost as good no longer applies. The present CTS has come close but they need to do better. When this car is compared to BMW and Benz it needs to top them. The ATS will be the foundation that Cadillac will be built upon. All other Cadillacs are to come will be judged on the ATS since it is the car more will come in contact with. If GM can't get the cheaper one right why would you go back and spend more money for a higher priced Cadillac? BMW was saved from the brink by cars like the 2002 and built its future on the 3 series.

Note the GMPD kit is 100 HP short of the engines stock potential and is under the 5 year 100,000 warranty. I think if GM felt safe for the factory warranty to remain in place they have keept it safe. I think you know how much space GM demands for that kind of warranty. As of yet I have not seen any of the engines fail due to the kit. I have seen a few clutches but I feel that may have been just due to driver abuse. I would recomend anyone to spend a little time with the GMPD tuned LNF. It is more than just tossing numbers around and saying what it should or should not do. This is not the normal turbo we are all used too. One needs to really drive one to really understand what GM has done here. Di VVT, Electronics and modern turbo's are a whole different program. Even the 1.4 the reviews complain for the lack of the feel of the turbo kicking in. I would say that was not an accident. I am sure GM worked the system so it would be seemless. Few normal Cruze drivers could care less for the big pow of power. I was never a fan of Turbo's till I drove this car. The lag and sudden hit of power usally was a turn off. The driveability of this car is amazing and even in the snow it is so very easy to manage. The only issues with this kit is that the transmissions used limited the torque. Also it would be difficult to use on cars like the Cruze 1.4 where they are sold for economy The Premium used would be factor in this class. Now with a sports car or more ecpensive car like the ATS that factor is removed. I own a Series III 3800 SC and the tuned LNF and have thousands of miles in both. If give the chance to only choose one to keep the LNF would be my choice.

He normally does not ID himself or what his job is. I noticed him on the HHR site and Solstice and Sky site helping people with info that few have. I took a stab and guessed who he was. Check you messages.

See that is why GM has such a hard time getting good help these days. All the good people like us with the answers are to busy on the web.

Note at this time there is no so called stage II set as the cars that this kit was for are all out of production. Now with new cars coming production cars with more power or a new Turbo kit for say the GS could very well be offered for some of these vehicles. The kit is a great money maker and a safe mod as it does not hurt the warranty. My work was involved with several Sonoma and Cobalt Turbo Race cars at work. John Lingenfelter was working with the Eco as early as anyone. He told me that he was taking the stock heads [saab casting] and block to 1,500 HP before they were cracking. He then was getting close to 2,000 HP with the race head when Chevy wanted them to move to the HF Turbo V6. This was the engine he was running when he had his accident that lead to his passing. It has been a while but I think he was right at 7 sec and 200 MPH back in 02. Either way the Eco is a very capable and solid engine that GM has yet to really tap into what all it can and will do. Right now MPG is the greatest need so that is what we are seeing. We will get some future perfromace versions that will pass the LNF in due time.

Here is a good interview with Bill Duncan. It give insite on the Cobalt kit and the ideas behind the kit. http://gmtunersource.com/blog/news/item/923-cobalt-lnf-turbo-upgrade-update-8/5-%E2%80%93-qa Bill is a very good guy and a excellent engineer. I wish he would visit this site and help set the story straight on many things GM has done. I know Bill keeps involved at many performance web sites and gets involved. Nice to know GM is watching and willing to jump in and help.

Here is the true facts on the LNF turbo with the GM performance upgrade. Stage 1 Vehicle: Stage 1 Horsepower: Stage 1 Torque: Cobalt SS 280 HP @ 4700 RPM 320 lb.-ft @ 4300 HHR SS 290 HP @ 5200 RPM 315 lb.-ft @ 4800 Solstice/Sky Auto Trans 290 HP @ 5200 RPM 325 lb.-ft @ 3600 Solstice/Sky Manual Trans 290 HP @ 5200 RPM 340 lb.-ft @ 3600 The FWD transaxles limit things a bit and the new 6 speeds should make it possible to make more power. The RWD in the Solstice as you can see will take much more torque so the new RWD cars also should be able to handle thing even better. The changes are The engine goes from Premium Recomended to Required. The Boost in most parts of the country depending on alt and temp will see 21 - 23 PSI. These numbers can vary 1-2 PSI depending on the variables. The Boost lag is no different from the stock setting and if anything goes less noticed as the power comes on so hard, fast and at such a low RPM and keeps it throught the range. The best Turbo car I ever drove was the twin turbo Calaway and it has much more lag than the LNF. The Fact is you would not want it all to come at the crack of the pedal as it is because you would never keep traction. I can spin the tires at will on dry pavment rolling at 30+ MPH and on wet over 50 MPH with a Auto. Even under normal driving the boost will hit a fast 13-15 PSI with only a easy hit of part throttle. Contrary to what some say the MPG goes up 1-2 MPG. Everyone at the HHR site has noticed this. I have gotten to know Bill Duncan the Drivetrain Engineer at GMPD who developed this kit. He has confirmed the 1-2 MPG gain. He told me that GM saw the same results in development. Bill said it was a unintended result. He attributes it to the fact the car has much more torque and gets to speed faster resulting in more off gas time. The DI engines shut the gas off to the engine when you cost or off the throttle. If anything the kit make the engine realy come to life. You can ask any Solstice or SS owner and none have found any negitive to this set up. In fact the only real complaints I have heard are that some dealers who do not have properly trained techs have issues witht he install. Poor crimp connection by techs have lead to drivability issues. A tech using the proper tool to crimp the connections are not an issue. The other complaint is the need to replace the tires if you drive it hard. The Pilots will wear fast if you drive it hard. The LNF as it is can go to 400 HP with not need to replace any internal parts. At 400 HP GM recomends to upgrade the pistons and rods. Then the engine can make a even larger jump with few needs parts. This engine with a proper tranny and rear axle would be amazing. So many people really do not know what this thing could really do. The 500 HP Solstice Pontiac had in the Drifitng series as not a fluke. It could be built very easy by anyone. The Ecotec could be the Small Block Chevy of the Future. GM is going to use it in so many car and they need to make sure the aftermarket keeps up and makes performance parts for this engine.

Increasing power here would not be terribly difficult. They hardest and most expensive part is the EPA cert. New Maps and a new computer flash and more power could easily be obtained. The questions are how much can they gain with out the use of Premium gas and how much can they push the transaxles and related parts. I would think they would have room for 15-20 HP. The added torque would also help in MPG according to the GM engineer that did my the Turbo upgrade kit for the LNF. That is one benefit to turbo engines are that they can often gain HP with only tuning.

The 3.6 in the Bu with the 6 speed is very smooth. It makes my 3800 Series III SC feel like it is missing on two cylinders.

This is true in our more is better thinking society. And don't think companies are not marketing to this way of thinking. They have been doing it for years. Just look at all the people here that still think you have to have 8 or 12 cylinders to be fast or important.

Profit.....That is the name of the game. The engine would be a great issue here if this car was proclaimed a sports sedan or performance car and it makes no such claim. In one spot they claim sports sedam like handling and that is all. This car if it makes a profit for GM will do what it was intended to do. Leave the performance to the GMPD version that they are looking at. If it comes to market it will sell to the 3,000-5,000 units to the people who want a performance Cruze. This car was never intended to please the Auto Web site enthusiast. It was made to make money and convice people who are happy buying boring imports that GM can make a better one. The Boring people support the auto industry because God made so many of them and gave them money.

It is too soon to tell what we will get with this package. But this will be the most important Cadillac to be made. They need to make the ATS the car that people get excited about and able to be easily sold in volume. If you can't sell a excellent cheaper Cadillac you will never push a 6 figure flagship even in low volume for a very long time. If GM wants to show that Cadillac is world class they need to do it in their cheapest car and make it best in class. Not as good or almost as good but best. BMW started to build on the 3 series and grew it into the othe lines of the more expensive cars. The Alpha will touch so many cars they need to get it right. The Zeta was good but in cost cutting and other issues they left a little on the table. Weight and cost will be the main issues they can not mess up on. They need to bring it in so they can built a proper priced Chevy Coupe but they also need to keep the weght down so this platform will perform well with the Ecotec and stay relevant well into the future.

The real question is will it be more profitable per unit than the Cobalt. I think that was the stated goal of this car.

The truth is it did very well for a car not really marketed as a performance car or sports sedan. They may say sports sedan like but never make the big claim. This car will do what it needs to if they can get people to take a look at it. While the Cobalt was not a failure it still was not a car that many import buyers would even consider. That is the makret GM needs to win over. More power will be easy to fix and is nto a prime issue with who this car is targeted at. I must say the brakes look very impressive at 122 feet from 60 MPH.

In this case if you beat Ford do the others really matter. Ram is the only other one that is even close and they are not new this year. Lets face it there are only 4 trucks that matter in this class and two are GM.

No offense taken I just could have used a better word. The red truck you posted is like the one that was near where I grew up. Man I loved that truck.

Here is a little background on the Palomino. Nice find. http://www.1955gmc.com/1957palomino.html http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z12868/GMC-Palomino.aspx I think the present owner is still Ralph Wescott in FL. He is a large 50's GMC Suburban Pick up collector.

Ok I did a little digging into my collection here and here is what the GMC Cameo was called. The first marketing ads in 1955 called it the Town & Country Runabout. Later in 1955 marketing ads called it the Suburban Runabout. Later on it became the Suburban Pickup. The name change was because Chrysler already was using the Town and Country name. The styling was by Chuck Jordan and was inspired by the Nike Missle transporters he saw while in the service. They were built from 1955-1957 and came pretty much as a Cameo but witht he Pontiac V8 or GMC inline 6. I could not find production numbers but they have to be very very rare. The Cameo is rare on it's own and I imagine the GMC was built to less than 1/4 og the Chevy totals. I know my GMC Sprint SP was built less than 600 units so I would think this truck may have been built less than 1000 units per year with few remaining today. I wish I knew where that red one is today. It as restored to near 100 point condition. For a good example of a Fleet grill truck check page 62 of the book GMC The First 100 Years. It has a 1958 GMC 350 Stake bed truck with the fleet grill back in the day. Note the 59 Cannonball Semi at the top of the page is someone know and see at local shows and the Pontiac Nationals at Norwalk. The truck is starting to show a little wear now but is still in great condition.

Sorry for the choice of words. I just was calling the hole a cut out knowing it was stamped. I don't think many people whould really think it was cut by hand. Imagine how long it would have taken to to do it and the quality. The hood are two different stanping based ont he truck I have seen. Now take the Motorama truck in the photo and make it red and that is the restored truck I used to see around here. I liked it better than any Cameo I ever saw. I can't remember what the production truck was call. Did they also call it the Palomino? the one we had here was the only one I have ever seen. If I recall the one in the photo was a Motorama truck or it at least is the same colors as the one they used back in 57? I think.

I too thought the fenders were the same and the hood was cut for the GMC emblem.

I remember this hood as we had a local guy with a GMC Cameo version. It was red and had more chome on the front than the Chevy but it had the same bed as the Cameo. To this day that was the best looking 50's GM truck I had ever seen. I would love to know where it is today.

While the commercials were a little more spunky too bad they did not have better product to go with it. Not all of it was bad but I swore I saw a Celebrity and a few other ghost of the past I would rather forget.