PAGE.24,WIIýrrBY FREH PRESS, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30.1989 by JiI Mclntosh As an old car owner, rve tried over the years te find out exactly what makes my car tick. rmn no mechanic by any means, but rve read enough and crawled under my car enough te realize that the automobiles we ahl take for granted are really marvellous pieces of engineering. Indeed, wben you stop and really think about how your car works3, it's mind-boggling! Look around your bouse and think about how many yards of wiring and how many ligbt bulbs you bave. Your bouse contains a lot, but if it's a amaîlbouse, yu car contains more of each. Your furnace keeps you warrn all winter, but the beat put out by your car's engine is capable of heating your bouse to 75 degrees F even wben the weatber is freezing outaide. Today's amali engines can reacb temperatures as high as 4,000 degrees F in tbe combustion cycle (the point wben the air-gas'mixture ignites). All of that beat must go somewbere. Approximately one-third of it is removed by tbe cooling system, whicb must pump as mucb as 32 gallons of coolant per minute througb tubes so small you can't fit a penny througb tbem. Heat is aIse, removed by the exhaust system; but wbile it's doing that, the unit muet also filter out barmful fumes and reduce the deafening roar of the engine to a wbisper. The engine may run smoothly and quietly, but inside there are thousanda of explosions going on eacb minute. A tiny spark is created by the sparkplug which in turn ignites a mixture of air and gasoline; the resulting energy forces a piston to meive. The piston turns the crankshaft, and this ýturning force1 eventually turna "the wheels. int' ail ofthemoving at pistons to the smali valves, have clearances of only a few thousands of an inch. Any more, and the engi ne runs poorly; any less, and the engine seizes or warps and becomes useless. Only a thin fim of oil separates these parts, yet each move in their snug environnient' many thousanda of times a minute. Once the turning force gets to the wheels, the car moves on rubber'tires which must hold 30 pounds of air inside -- and which are held on their rimas mostly by atmospheric pressure! Even though the car may travel in excesa of 150 mph, or turn sharp corners or run over objects, the narrow bead of rubber bas to stay on the rim. 0f course, moving the car ahead is only haîf the story; it must aIse stop. The braking system is another marvel. No matter whether the car bas disc or drum brakes, it stops when fluid pumped through quarter-inch tubes force metal pads against metal rotera or drums and the resulting friction stops the car. Ail of this goes into a body which must be pleasing to the eye, yet capable of protecting the people inside in the event -of a crash. Indeed, wben you tbink about it, the car shouldn't be something we take for granted (at least most of us do, except when it Won't start!). It's a wonderful machine, with a fascinating bistory and hopefully a long future. Contrary to popular belief, Henry Ford didn't invenit the automobile. Wbile no one is sure exactly who invented. the internal-combustion gasoline engine (it's believed te have originated in either Austria or Germany), most. agree that the' firat-true car waa built by Carl Benz in Germany, around 1895. Althougb he neyer met a man nanied Gottlieb Daimler, tbe companies, that eacb formed eventually merged te form, Daimler-Benz, famous for Mercedes. .Ford also didn't invent the assembly lime. It, tee, is a European creation, and wben Ransom Eli Olds saw it used there, he brougbt it te North Arnerica and used it to build Oldsmobile. Henry Ford does take credit for perfecting it, however. Wihile Olds' assembly line was a trolley wbich moved the car between workers, Ford put bis cars on a continuous moving belt and made each work responsible for only one job: the system used today. But even Henry's "better idea"' couldn't have worked witbout Hlenry Leland, who named his product after the founder of Detroit, Antoie de la Mothe COadillac. Prior to Leland, automakers used whatever parts they could find, and not even screws or bolts were a uniforrn size, even on the sanie brand of carLlad, who had produced rifles for the Civil War, used his gurnaking skcills to produce parts which were exactly alike. Té prove b is point, he disassembled three Cadfllacs, mixed the parts and put them back together. Ail three then ran a 12-hou race. Leland won the Dewar Trophy for automobile excellence, and the age of mass production had ]Btidentical parts werenIt ail that Ford and Leland had in common. Origpinally, there were tbree Ford Moor companies; only the third one was succesaful. FInancial woes and management problems forced Henry Ford to abandon the first two. After Henry left the first company, chairman Henry Leland took it over and renamed it Cadillac. Leland ' iniself became frustrated- with bis executives and left it to build a new lime of cars. He named it after the first president be had ever voted for, Abraham Ià Lncoln. SEE PAGE 31 Letter: CAC approved 4'disappointing' To the editor. IRe: Consumer Association article, Free Press, Aug. 2 As a general insurance broker, I was quite disappointed with the CAO approacb on 'no fault auto.' I bave heard a member of the CAO speak on the problema of the system witb greater insight. Obviously, the reai problem witb the system from a consunxers point of view is cost, but did the CAO address the: 1. cost of dlaims and frequnecy? 2. cost of repaira? 3. cost ofjudicial system? 4. ease with wbich drivers licenses are granted and difficulty te witbdraw tbem? 5. public's attitude te sue? No! They suggested that advantages were: 1. efficiency equais government. 2. faster and higher benefits. This reduces costs? 3. uniferm treatment of claimants. What dees tbis mean? 4. integrate benefits. 5. accountability te public. Bureaucraey? 6. at fault drivers penailised. This is new? é 7. negligent/drunks penalised. This is newl In al bonesty I think CAC is suggesting we give up some freedoma in excbange for perbapa a lower coat. I say perbaps because we tax payers will bave te make up for loss'of' premium tax, 0H11' contributions etc. The real savings comes from the fact that Government will take over a business without compensation and cause thousands to be unemployed. I assume CAC feel this is democracy. My opinion is that if costs are going te hoe reduced, we must look at public attitude and accept there ïs ne free lunch. If we want the benefits- pay for tbem! If net, look at lower cost repairable cars, stop punisbing the unf tuate party. that accidentally causýesan accident, dont use lawyers for trivial injurie, and probably get back te the work etbic. I can bear the editer now saying ' Dream On.' I enjoy your paper. Colin Mclntosh Whitby Ready for occupancy After almoat two years of con- struction, the new General Motors administration building on Col. Sam McLaugblin Dr. in Newcastle is ready for occu- pancy. From "the end of August te the end of the year" people will be moving in, says Greg Pierce, GM public relations assistant. The new building waa needed te consolidate ail office person- nel, hoe says. More than 1,100 employeos have boom scattered tbrougbout Oshawa and Whitby, witb the majority workimg eut of the main office on William St., Oshawa. We bave loased facilitios in Whitby and other locations in Oshawa. We, are scattered al over the map,"says Pierce. GM purcbased 140 acres of land for the 285,000-sq. if. build- ing whicb bas a central bub and two wings. SEE PAGE 31 1989CLEAR*O UT SALE CHRYSLER DAYTONA'S 6.9%FINANCING FOR A LIMITED TIME ACT NO W! MA kEVOUR BEST - DEAL ON NEW MODELS IN STOCK ~1DwILM The Masters of: Acrylic Glaze Rust Protection Fabric Guard FR11OFFE ...oil change & filter FREEOFFE ... valud at$24.00) with the purchase ai any ai the above services at the regular price. Qifer expires Sept. 30, 1989 355 Bloor St. W., Oshawa 436-7518