whitefox

I bet some of you remember the sissy car thread... if not then my girlfriend's dad called the 928 a sissy car and I got this message through her. Well I met this man for the first time a few days ago and I actually like him, she took me to meet him at work and we walked in on a meeting, he got up shook my hand and asked me if I was the kid with the Porsche hes heard so much about. He said lets go look at this crappy car car (jokingly) and we chatted about it and his viper for awhile and I offered him the keys to the 928 (A first and probably last), he refused because he was in a meeting but he turned out to be alright afterall.

Daniel Dudley

So he was alright. The bastard.

icsmike

CALL OFF THE DOGS!!! hehe

Fabio421

Great. It sounds like he was a true gentleman to you. Alot of fathers aren't so kind. Congratulations Ross.

Rufus Sanders

It never fails to surprize me when people knock the 928, and have no idea that is ihe most copied car ever. The Corvette is just an Americanized 928 w/o the unique suspension, or refined engine desgn. A Viper is just an attempt to out do a Corvette. At least GM had the guts to copy the best. Dodge is still in denial. - Ruf

MGW-Fla

I read an article once where GM admitted that they took alot of the technology engineering from the 968 in the early 90s & put it into the vette. Surely they did with the 928 as well.

Evil Patrick

You did let him know that you and his daughter were "hitting it" on a
regular basis, right?

SwayBar

What information do you have stats-wise to support your position? What specifically was copied from the 928?

Since you state that the Corvette does not have the 928 suspension nor 'refined' 928 engine design (..the 928 engine weighs 200 lbs more), what part(s) make the Corvette 'just an Americanized 928'?

A Viper is much much more than that. What exactly is it that Dodge is 'in denial' about?

928drvr86.5

I'll take a crack at that. The front Engine/rear transmission configuration.

JimBob951

Tony Lapine said the Datsun Z car was the inspiration for the design or the 928. Also, it was to be the "German Corvette", big V8 in front, automatic, etc. So actually, it was the other way around. Sure, later Vettes went with the rear transaxle, that just makes sense for balance in a front engine/rear wheel drive sports car. Wasn't the first, won't be the last.

As for the Viper, it was ment as a modern interpretation of Shelby Cobra. Had little to do with the Corvette. Infact, the vet has been playing catchup ever since the Viper came out. The Z06 finally beats it. But the '08 is being redesigned with 700hp to counter that. Gotta love competition! :-)

Jim
87 928 S4
87 944 turbo

Jim bailey - 928 International

GM had a number of "firsts"....."In its first iteration (1961-63), the Tempest was a compact car with an innovative curved driveshaft and a rear-mounted Corvair-derived transaxle - a combined differential and transmission that makes the weight distribution between front and rear more even. The Tempest was Motor Trend magazine's Car of the Year for 1961. Road & Track also praised the Tempest as "exceptionally roomy" and "one of the very best utility cars since the Model-A Ford."

Power came from a 194.5 in³ (3.2 L) straight-4 derived from Pontiac's V8. This engine produced 110 hp (82 kW) (gross), barely enough to push the 3000 lb car. This early Tempest was soon also available with the innovative aluminum Buick-built 215 in³ V8, which was discarded in 1963."........................................... So in the early 1960s GM had a production car with a rear trans axle front engine , also a 4 made from a V-8 ( ala 944), and an aluminum V-8 engine . Who copied whom ? The answer is a difficult one since GM probably did not originate any of these features!

JimBob951

Front engine, rear wheel drive vehicles tend to have the transmission up front just after the engine, but sometimes a front engine drives a rear-mounted transaxle. This is generally done for reasons of weight distribution, and is therefore common on sports cars. This design was pioneered in the 1950 Lancia Aurelia, and was conceived by the legendary Vittorio Jano. Earlier vehicles had used similar designs, including the 1914 Stutz Bearcat.

Notable FR vehicles with a transaxle design include:

1914-1939 Stutz Bearcat
1950-1958 Lancia Aurelia
1961-1963 Pontiac Tempest
1964-1968 Ferrari 275
1968-1973 Ferrari Daytona
1977-1988 Porsche 924
1982-1991 Porsche 944
1992-1995 Porsche 968
1978-1995 Porsche 928
1972-1992 Alfa Romeo 116-series
1985-1991 Volvo 300 series
1992-2003 Ferrari 456
1996-2005 Ferrari 550/575M
1997-up Chevrolet Corvette
2004-2005 Ferrari 612 Scaglietti
2004-up Cadillac XLR
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transaxle"

Vilhuer

Ferrari 275 GTB and 365 GTB/4 (Daytona) have similar TT as 928 etc. As much as we would like 928 is not origin of all good ideas.

SteveG

1. Whitefox: IIRC, I guessed the guy would be OK and was just pushing your (young) buttons.

2. Jim/all, interesting about Tempest; I'm pretty weak on car history, but that supports my feeling and yours that innovations are hard to pinpoint. There were something like 1200 car makers during the early years in the US. It was a natural transition for lots of little bicycle and carriage shops to "manufacture" an automobile. I have to check my car source, but didn't Bugatti put out a turbo V-12, in something like 1915??

SwayBar

Now THAT's backing up what one states with FACTS; excellent post!