Displaying items by tag: General Motors

If you regularly visit the World car blog website, then you have probably heard us many times talking about a famous brand from this country, the one called Packard. The subject of discussion was mostly the abandoned factory of the brand, which is still located next to Detroit and largely reflects what happened to the former center of the American automobile industry.

We also talked about how Packard was the best-selling premium brand across the pond, before General Motors and Ford entered the big trade war through Cadillac and Lincoln, respectively. In such conditions, Packard did not have a chance to survive, so in the early fifties of the last century, he allied himself with Studebaker, before he officially went bankrupt.

The last "real" model of the brand left the factory in 1956, while the name survived for another two years, thanks to the sale of "repackaged" Studebakers. In essence, the Packard for 1957 and 1958 was nothing more than a Studebaker with a few design labels and a far higher price. Of course, it is not difficult to conclude that the sale was disappointing, but for that reason, if you find any of the copies today, be prepared to set aside larger sums of money.

The subject of today's discussion is Packard Hawk from 1958, who recently appeared on the eBay resale site. During that year, this car was based on the Studebaker Hawk model, but had a slightly modified front end with no openings on the radiator grille. It was also cracked with equipment to justify the higher price, while the biggest change was noticed under the hood.

There was a V9 engine with a volume of 289 cubic inches (4.7 liters) that developed 275 horsepower and a maximum of 450 Nm of torque. Such a figure was achieved thanks to the McCulloch compressor, making the Hawk one of the few cars from that period with such a factory option. The price was certainly not small, and amounted to 3,995 dollars (37,558 "greenbacks" in today's value of money), which was about 700 dollars (today's 6,580 smallest greenbacks) more than was needed to buy a relative from Studebaker.

By today's standards, the Hawk was not an overly fast four-wheeler with acceleration from zero to 100 km / h in about twelve seconds and a top speed of 200 km / h. Only 588 copies were produced before Packard put the padlock on the lock.
A copy of today's story is in the city of Lenkester (Pennsylvania) and the owner says that he spent the last five decades in the hangar. The chassis and engine numbers match the factory ones, so although the Hawk at first glance seems to have seen better days, finding it in such a configuration is a rarity.

It was originally sold in the US state of Michigan, and was used in everyday driving until 1968. He was then parked for an unknown reason, and it is stated that he was in a driving condition when it happened. The current owner bought it in 2018 with the aim of restoring it, but gave up when he realized that corrosion “ate” the chassis and that renovation would certainly not be cheap. The owner notes that the engine "started" three years ago, and that the compressor works without a mistake, so we will assume that the new chassis will certainly be the biggest expense.

The auction has just started and the highest bid so far is $ 8,100. We will mention that the restored Packard Hawk can be worth up to 135 thousand "greens", although when it is in perfect condition, and we hope that one day we will see it just like that.

Published in Blog/News
Tagged under

How does America’s second-best-selling pickup satisfy in Rally Sport Truck guise?

Chevrolet sold 594,094 Silverado pickup trucks in America last year. Again, that's last year—you know, the bad one with the global pandemic. Also, General Motors will hate me for mentioning this, but since the two vehicles are virtually identical, we really ought to toss in the 253,016 Sierras GMC managed to move in 2020. Grand total: 847,110 trucks. I mention these massive sales figures because I always get a bit nervous when reviewing a product that sells in such bulk. Porsche sold 8,839 examples of the 911 last year. That's a number I can wrap my head around, and maybe say something that will affect the numbers. One man's opinion about the second-best-selling vehicle (Ford's F-Series total in 2020 was 787,372 units) in the United States of America? I'm throwing a pebble into the proverbial ocean. You know what? I'm still gonna try, dammit.

2021 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 4×4 RST 6 2L 30

Materials And Design

This Chevy is a handsome fellow. Our test truck's black paint with red accents (the latter being part of the $3,280 Redline Edition option package) seriously pops. Full-size trucks are massive these days, and most of the visual mass is concentrated on their grilles. The Silverado RST wears this facial weight well, managing to look aggressively thick yet sporty. The Ram 1500 looks downright dowdy by comparison, whereas the Ford F-150 is just plain. Sure, the Chevy has strange, sideways-U daytime running lights, but the rest of its front-end styling is solid, especially the black bowtie badge smartly framed in chrome trim. There's little to note on the rest of the Silverado's exterior except for the crucial fact that the steps cut into the rear bumper are still the smartest, best way to access the bed of these hulking half-ton trucks. Yes, even better than Chevy's overly complex transforming tailgate.

 Inside the Silverado, everything comes crashing to a halt. Look, the competition sells trucks with nicer interiors. That's just the way it is. What angers and upsets me about that fact is that it's no secret! Ford and Ram combined deliver more than one million pickup trucks a year with better interiors. Everyone knows this to be the case, and yet GM does little about it. Being even more frank, I'm a perennial MotorTrend Truck of the Year judge. I can attest to the fact that the Chevy Silverado's substandard interior has knocked it out of contention for the golden calipers. Twice.

 
 
The problem is twofold: design and materials. From a design point of view, the Chevy appears to be two generations behind the more upscale innards found in the competition. The screen is nice, and it's similar to what you'd find in a Corvette, but there's creativity or visual interest in the cabin. And then there are the materials; nearly everything in the interior looks and feels chintzy. Bits of plasti-chrome brightwork has been applied to some of the buttons, but it's maquillage on swine chops, if you know what I'm saying. I sat in the passenger seat for a few minutes and examined the plastics used for the dual glove boxes and the surrounding structure, and my kid pulls nicer-looking and -feeling stuff out of his Happy Meals. Moving on.

What's Under The Hood?

The mechanicals are better, and the Silverado sure has a great engine. We all know EVs are the future of not just General Motors, but pickup trucks, too. But, man, this V-8 is a honey. It's big, at 6.2 liters of displacement, and delivers 420 eager horsepower and 460 lb-ft of torque. Cylinder deactivation means that the pushrod small-block can run around as a 3.1-liter four-banger part of the time, as well, in a nod toward efficiency. I've probably used the following quote from Bob Lutz more than any other in my career but, "Americans buy horsepower but drive torque." Chevy has done such a masterful job coupling this mighty V-8 to the jointly developed Ford/GM 10-speed automatic transmission. There are certain cars where it just feels good when you push down on the go pedal. This truck, with this powertrain, is one such vehicle.

2021 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 4x4 RST 6 2L 6

 Interestingly, the 3.5-liter twin-turbo V-6 in the Ford F-150 makes 500 lb-ft of torque (and 400 hp), but because of both a touch of turbo lag and the fact that Chevy is better at programming the 10-speed, the Blue Oval truck doesn't feel as quick nor as powerful. Also, the big 6.2-liter beats up on the numbers put out by Ram's 5.7-liter Hemi V-8, which pips out "just" 395 horsepower and 410 lb-ft of torque. Even though the American wing of Stellantis has shoved its 6.4-liter V-8 into everything from the Dodge Chargers to Keurig coffee pod machines, it's not available on a 1500 pickup. (That said, there is an eTorque version of the Hemi that adds a supplemental 130 lb-ft of electric torque.) One more thing about GM's 6.2-liter: It sounds phenomenal. 

 The Driving Experience

Looking at the test numbers, the 5,420-pound Chevy is pretty quick. It pulls from 0 to 60 mph in 5.5 seconds and covers the quarter mile in 14 seconds flat at 99.5 mph. I used to own a Subaru WRX that was slower than that. If you're a pickup-truck-drag-racing kind of person, know that the lighter, 5,340-pound Ford is a touch quicker, hitting 60 mph in 5.3 seconds and dusting off the quarter in 13.9 seconds at 99.8 mph. Not much, but quicker is quicker. The big-boned Ram (5,960 pounds) truly lags, needing 6.6 seconds to hit 60 mph and a full 15 seconds to do the quarter mile, travelling at 93.4 mph. The Silverado definitively loses the braking contest, requiring a longish 133 feet to come to a stop from 60 mph. The Ford uses 123 feet, whereas the Ram needs just 121. I'm not sure what we gain from putting full-size pickup trucks around our figure eight handling course (they all do poorly while killing their front tires), but the Chevy was the fleetest at 27.5 seconds, beating the F-150 by 0.1 second. The Ram was a distant third, requiring 28.8 seconds.

 Subjectively, I liked how the Silverado drove when tackling twisty canyon roads. Dare I call it sporty? I dare. Would I—could I—use the word sporty to describe either the Ford or the Ram? No. However, that's not the common use case for a pickup, and the Chevy's ride quality trailed that of the excellently tuned Ram. When unloaded, you were fully aware there was nothing in the bed. The same is true of a Ford F-150, and both the Ford and the Chevy use leaf springs to suspend the live rear axle, whereas the superior-riding Ram has coil springs. Of the two with the old-school tech, the Chevy's ride is a bit more pleasant than the Ford's.

2021 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 4x4 RST 6 2L 38

 One of the reasons given for sticking with seemingly ancient suspension technology is that leaf springs are better for towing. Fair play, if you're actually purchasing the truck to do some work—or at least tow your party boat—as you want as much capability as possible. The Chevy can tow quite a bit, 9,300 pounds, which is more than the similarly equipped competitors. On paper, at least. With a 7,600-pound loaded horse trailer hanging off the hitch (that's 82 percent of the RST's capacity), the reality was quite different. 

 The big V-8 and its hill of lag-free torque had no problem moving the horse-laden trailer. However, as experienced horse hauler and senior editor Aaron Gold explained, "Unfortunately, the Chevy isn't as stable as other trucks I've towed with. I could feel the horses moving and the trailer trying to shove the truck around on steep downgrades, and the brakes felt severely taxed. The Chevrolet is a reminder there's more to towing ability than power. "

2021 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 4×4 RST 6 2L 21

 Conclusion

Where does this leave us? The 2021 Chevy Silverado 1500 RST is a good-looking full-size pickup truck with a great engine and some decent performance chops. Towing horses isn't the truck's forte, but despite what decades of marketing has told us, plenty of people buy trucks simply because they like driving trucks. If you're one of those people, I'd almost recommend you buy yourself a Chevy truck similar to this one. Why almost? That interior is just a drag, especially if you're not explicitly buying the Silverado as a work truck. Chevy comes close to delivering a satisfying pickup with this RST, but that's the same story it's been for far too long.

(motortrend.com)

Published in Chevrolet
Wednesday, 01 April 2020 16:57

Impact of Coronavirus on car industry in US

More than one million people are employed in automobile and auto parts manufacturing in the United States, and 1.3 million work for auto dealerships.

The companies bowed to pressure from union leaders and employees who called for protection from the pandemic that’s spread to more than 212,000 people in nearly every country across the globe.

According information which we receive from Ford Company the plans to close its factories from March 30 up to end of April in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. That pressure intensified after it was revealed on Wednesday that a worker at a Ford truck plant in Dearborn, Mich., had tested positive for the virus.

In addition to G.M., Ford and Fiat Chrysler, Honda, Toyota and Nissan also said they would idle their North American factories. The shutdown of car plants will force hundreds of companies that produce parts and components to follow suit over the coming days.

Ford, which has 55,000 U.A.W. employees, said those with at least one year of service would receive 75 percent of their regular pay through a combination of unemployment benefits and supplements paid by the company. G.M. is discussing a similar plan with the U.A.W.

From Honda we receive information that that will restart production at first week in April. They stop with production on Marth 23. They will provide full pay for the 27,000 employees in North America affected by the decision.

Nissan stop production on Mart 27, and also make a plan to restart production at first week in April.

According information from General Motors all North American factories will be closed and will evaluate the situation on a weekly basis after that. 

Adjustment regarding stocks - that fallout from the coronavirus could send global auto production down 16% in 2020, fueled partially by an expected 20% decline in U.S. sales. 

 

Published in Ford

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