The Blog Has Reached a Tipping Point: 1987 Suzuki Samurai

Suzuki was selling this vehicle around the world long before it arrived in the US, and still sells it today. It was marketed here from 1985 to 1995; Suzuki pulled out of the US entirely in 2012. We remember the Samurai for Suzuki's lawsuit against Consumer Reports after that organization rated the vehicle as unsafe due to its tendency to rollover in certain situations. The lawsuit was settled, with Consumer Reports not shown to be wrong really, but because they exaggerated the Samurai's problems, sort of.

From Wikipedia, "A Suzuki memorandum dated July 14, 1985, stated: "It is imperative that we develop a crisis plan that will primarily deal with the ‘roll’ factor. Because of the narrow wheelbase, similar to the Jeep, the car is bound to turn over." Over the years, over 200 Suzuki Samurai rollover lawsuits have been settled, and Suzuki's own expert witnesses testified the automaker was aware of 213 deaths and 8,200 injuries involving Suzuki Samurai rollovers." "The dispute and eventual lawsuit stemmed from the CR statement easily rolls over in turns, which CR attributed to the sudden swerve test and was not meant to generally apply to the Samurai in respect to other tests that CR undertakes to simulate normal routine driving such as 0-60 mph acceleration and stopping."

The Samurai's defenders usually say things like, "Hey, it's unlikely that you'll swerve like that, and the the Samurai is no more prone to rollover than other similar SUVs." Reminds me of the old joke:
Patient: "Doctor, it hurts when I do this."
Doctor: "Don't do that."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tweet

1959 Jaguar XK150S

In 1959, the car magazine The Motor described a car as, "the fastest closed car the magazine had ever subjected to a full road test". Was it the fuel-injected Corvette? Perhaps a hemi-head Chrysler with dual-quad carburetors? Maybe the supercharged Studebaker? Nope. It was a Jaguar XK150S with a 3.7 liter, six-cylinder engine.

The car pictured was the final, and most powerful iteration of the XK120/140/150 cars introduced in 1948.

Tweet

1970 Citroën DS

Sold from 1955 to 1975, the DS was decades ahead of its time. Its curious to me why its many innovations did not appear in American cars a lot sooner.
* A hydro-pneumatic suspension. By creating a sphere of liquid with compressible gas above it, the ride was such that many still regard this to be the best riding car ever built. The spheres used for the suspension also controlled the brakes.
* The roof is made of fiberglass to lower the center of gravity and save weight.
* The DS introduced swiveling headlights that turn with input from the steering wheel.
* Citroën had been using radial tires since 1948, while American cars were still using inferior 'bias ply' tires into the 1970s!

Tweet

1971 Honda N600

I've never seen one of these before, not even in a museum. The N600 was the first Honda imported into the US. According to californiaclassix.com, "Informed sources claim that of the circa 35,000 Honda N600s sold in North America, there are fewer than 1,000 extant, and most of those do not run." The N600 was succeeded by the slightly sportier Z600 (I've never seen one of those on the street before either). Then in 1973 the first Honda Civic arrived, and the rest is history.

You have to stand next to this car to appreciate how truly tiny it is. Then engine is 598cc (hence the model name '600'). In today's dollars, this car cost about $9,700.

Tweet