I guess Small Car Saturday is not a good idea for this blog. Yesterday was the first day with a post and no comments in well over a month. The number of views was well under the daily average for the previous two months.
Showing an AMC Gremlin yesterday didn’t help, but I think it’s only in hindsight that these cars are so disrespected. American Motors scored a “win” in getting an American sub-compact car to market before the Big Three and the Gremlin was produced for nine model years.
All that being said, I am discontinuing the series. However, small cars may appear from time to time in the In Or Out? posts.
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In this post I asked why Corvettes have never been offered with active aero, which are systems that deploy spoilers and other aerodynamic modifications without active human intervention. According to this post from Corvette Blogger, active aero will be offered in the Z06 version of the C8 Corvette that will be produced beginning in model year 2022. In addition, the engine for this Z06 version will be an all-new (all-new for regular production), naturally aspirated 5.5 liter, 32-valve dual overhead cam V-8 (called the LT6) with a flat-plane crank, a redline of 9,000 RPM and output of 650 HP/600 LB-FT of torque.
Of course, such an engine can easily be the basis for a forced induction motor that can push output into the 800-850 HP/800-850 LB-FT range (ZR1?) as well as the gasoline part of a hybrid drivetrain that could push total output into four figures for HP and torque (Zora?). Without coming right out and saying it, it may very well be that GM/Chevrolet has decided that the first C8 Corvette engine, named LT2, could be the last such motor with pushrods. I could be wrong about that, too. From GM Inside News a picture of a C8 Corvette:
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Of course, today is Flag Day. On June 14, 1777, the US Continental Congress adopted the Stars and Stripes flag, replacing the Grand Union flag. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation that officially established June 14 as Flag Day. On August 3, 1949, National Flag Day was established by an Act of Congress. Flag Day is not an official federal holiday.
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How fast is time moving? We had a plumber fix a semi-clogged drain in the master bath shower. If you asked me when that happened, my first response would be 3 or 4 days ago. It was actually 11 days ago. Is anyone else experiencing this time compression/swift passage of time? Is that just part of getting older? The weeks seem to be collapsing on each other, what seems like last Thursday was actually two or three Thursdays ago.
#NoSmallCarSaturday
#C8Z06
#FlagDay
#TimeCompression
#somanycarsjustonelife
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Disaffected Musings 
So you won’t be highlighting the 2019 Sentra on Small Car Saturday?
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That’d be a no…”billbabowsky” is a very good friend of mine who owns and drives a 2019 Sentra. Actually, with a 106-inch wheelbase and length of 182 inches, the Sentra, while not large, would not qualify for Small Car Saturday. I was focusing on cars with wheelbases of fewer than 100 inches even if I never wrote that explicitly.
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I’m actually surprised that the current performance V8s from the domestic manufacturers are still, for the most part, push rod engines. Overhead cam is a far more efficient way of valve actuation, and all the domestic makers have played with it for 50 plus years.
Time compression; It happens more as we age in my opinion. Perhaps some of it is the increased “clutter” in our lives, perhaps some is the increase in “entertainment/information” available these days that shortens our attention span. Kind of like the pandemic that has had our attention for the last 2-3 weeks….. What? 3+ months? Dang. And then suddenly the BLM/Antifa protests kick it to the back of the news. Then due to information overload we don’t realize the time passing by on either story.
*Just the thoughts of a curmudgeon that often wishes for a simpler time, while simultaneously having 3 active tabs open on this laptop.
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Excellent comment, sir.
Would overhead cam engines be more expensive to produce, at least at first? Americans have become notoriously cheap so if an overhead cam engine adds to the cost/price of a car, then maybe US manufacturers are reluctant to make it the dominant engine paradigm.
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I don’t think an OHC performance engine presents an “unknown” for the manufacturers cost wise. They already make them, just not in V8 form. Not really sure why the reluctance, other than perhaps tradition.
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The information overload aggravates the time compression problem of us “older persons”. To lessen the effects cut down on the overload, by ignoring the information producers. Still keep enough information flowing to be informed and safe. Then be productive and create something other than digital information. This coming from the person sometimes self-referred to as “The Sarcastic Curmudgeon”.
The ability of the manufacturers to build overhead cam engines is effected by several factors, economics, the ability and economics to retool the factories to produce the engines, the industrial engineers to design the retooling and then training the workers to operate the retooled factory. To do all of that you have to be able to also convince your management that it is worth the change. Don’t forget that management is always resistant to change.The final factor is will they be able to build them and still make a buck.
You have only three active tabs open? I have 13 at the present time as I write this and soon the grandchildren, who are here for a sleepover, will be awake and I’ll have to fix breakfast.
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Thanks for the advice and for the exposition on the economics of overhead cam engines.
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Yes, only 3 tabs open. On this laptop. I use this laptop for my personal stuff, my other laptop is only for work stuff. That one has 5 tabs open at the moment.
Related to your other post; Good to see someone else who knows what real chili is. For many years I participated in chili cookoffs, under CASI rules. NO beans, NO “fillers” of any sort. Meat and broth only, they don’t even want to see onions or peppers in there.
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Yes, I’ve heard the bean-no bean chili debate. I’m not really a chili fan, anymore, as it has been swept up in the super-spicy food movement in America. I would bet a six-figure amount that at least 20% of Americans don’t like spicy food, like me, but we are totally ignored these days.
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Chili doesn’t have to be so hot it will remove the enamel from your teeth. There are some who will argue otherwise, but they haven’t competed in cookoffs. The key there is taste, not having one spice overpower the rest.
Judging at a professional cookoff is hard. there is usually a table of 12 judges, testing 12 different chili’s at a time. At most, 2 will move on to the next round of judging. If a particular chili is so hot it will set your nose hair on fire, there is minimal chance of it advancing.I competed for just over 6 years, and the last 4 we never finished out of the top 10 and this was in competition’s that had up to 300 contestants.We also won Peoples Choice 3 times in that same span After we quit competing, I was asked to judge, and did that for a couple years.
Like a restaurant, you want your recipe to appeal to the most people, not just the fringe.
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Many thanks, sir.
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I thought about commenting on the Gremiin post; however, I was busy making a batch of Texas chili so posting was down on the “to-do” list. No beans in this recipe. With the grandchildren here today, it is time to bake a batch of chocolate chip cookies with Grandpa Cookie.
Now it is time to go raise the flag on my flagpole on the front porch. It happens everyday, and especially today on Flag Day.
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Thanks again, Philip.
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Time compression… Yup. It’s a thing. It seems like it’s only been about 5 years since I retired. Wrong, that happened in December 2011. Just my 2 cents worth.
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Thanks, sir. Guess I am not the only one.
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First, it seems like only yesterday that I was hustling the senior class to pay for my “entrepreneurial efforts.”
Second, I didn’t comment on the Gremlin because me and the misses were out test driving convertible Mini Coopers with manual transmissions.
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You probably don’t remember, but I did not participate or contribute to your “entrepreneurial efforts.” 🙂
Hope you enjoyed the test drives.
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