theclencher -

Yes, the articles were from me, and the $3 per gallon is something I have also been saying for *years*. I don't want us to be insulated from gas prices. If we had been paying European prices all this time, we would have lots of high MPG cars in the USA and big investment in our passenger/freight railway system.

If I had become president of the USA in 2000, this is what I would have done. I would have created a "penny per month" increase in the Gas Tax. This would mean that the cost of gas would be gauranteed to rise by 48 cents over 4 years. That money would go to alternative energy and/or drivetrain reseach. Where applicable, that would in turn be patented and given "for free" to automobile companies. Preference would be given to car companies that employ lots af Americans. Only truck drivers would be eligible for some refund on the gas tax (i.e. writeoffs as part of their tax returns).

This way, the economy would not suffer price-shocks. Instead, the gradual increase would spur innovation to "change our ways".

Of course, doing this would have made me a one-termer, ;) .

CarloSW2

I only had it for about two years. It blew the head gasket or developed a cracked head and I traded it on the '87 Horizon.
I forgot about two other AMC's. Between the Reliant and the Horizon I had a '67 American. I also had an '83 Eagle at around the same time as the Horizon. My grandpa always had some sort of AMC car when I was growing up and my dad had a mid '60's Ambassador sedan, an AMC station wagon of some kind, and a Gremlin.

Bhg
 

Back in college, a friend had a K-car Wagon that ended up blowing a head gasket -- luckily it was during the end of the school year (kinda figured that yours met the same demise). I bet the Horizon was a great car. So how did the family take it when AMC/Jeep was bought-out by Chrysler?

RH77

Yeah, it was a tough little car. It had just over 139,000 miles on it when I traded it on the '95 Neon. It didn't use a drop of oil between oil changes and I changed it every 5,000 miles. Also, I bet the crap out of it on a regular basis. Twice, I had it over 120 mph. I was racing a friend with a Daytona turbo and, at the time, I was pulling away from him(he was just playing with me) and he said his speedo was registering right around 125.:eek: I wasn't quite as diligent about FE at the time.:o

No.......I hate SUV's, and always will hate SUV's. I wish they did not exist in the USA. Nothing to like about a SUV.
I have purchased small hatchbacks over the years.
1973 Chevy Vega HB, 1978 VW Rabbit HB, 1991 Honda Civic HB, 1991 Honda CRX HB, 2007 Toyota Yaris HB. All with manual transmissions.

I learned to drive in Germany where most of the cars were small and have always appreciated the light nimble-ness of a small car. My first car (in the mid 70's)was a 68 VW beetle that usually gave me 34mpg at a time when Ford and Chevy were touting their 24mpg (on the highway) Pinto and Vega.

The station wagon enters here, more room than most utes, and the economy is better. My last wagon, a Gen III Camry with auto and 5S-FE motor returned 32-35 (best ever) on highway driving. I have carried pre-hung doors, windows, OSB, studs etc back from the store, and the best was an all day drive with an entire Alfa Romeo GTV drivetrain from Ohio to Tennessee. No mileage loss and a cold 12 pack of Amstel for doing it more than offset any fuel loss. Steering was a bit light tho, and the spare was tied to the roof to prevent digging it out in case of a flat.

Clever idea about the spare. Welcome to the site. You should do a "hello" thread in the intro forum and tell us a bit about yourself.

I have a preference for small sports cars and usually despise SUVs.

There is one exception: I do have an intention to build this *****in' apocalypse truck. Thinking of an 80s model Chevy S10 or Dodge Ram, building a ****load of aeromods for it(rear skirts, grill block, aeroshell, ect.), armoring it up with kevlar, mounting guns on it, and building it into a B100/electric hybrid using a 300+ HP diesel, 29 UB121100 AGM batteries, WarP 11" DC motor, and a Zilla 2k controller. The diesel would be connected on a common shaft with the electric motor. This would have the advantage of being able to use either powertrain alone or BOTH diesel and electric powertrains to run the vehicle in unison. Perhaps 600 horsepower would be able to reach the wheels, and the WarP 11" has a redline of about 4,000 rpm, similar to a diesel engine.

Imagine it, with aeromods, ~150 miles all-electric range at 60 mph, a diesel engine that could maintain it at a steady 150 mph by its self, 0-60 mph < 5 seconds, stump-pulling torque from the electric motor and diesel in unison, a top speed over 180 with the right gearing using both drives in tandem, and running the diesel engine on long trips, easily over 35 mpg. It would handle like a shopping cart though. Give it a 30 gallon tank for over 1,000 miles range on diesel by its self, plus the all-electric range. With all of that on board, it would weigh in the neighborhood of 5,500-6,000 pounds. It would be a real match made in hell! No LRR tires for this beast, give it big studded tires. It would need one hell of a bellypan to smooth out its exposed axels once the ride height was lifted to meet the needs of offroad conditions.

The 'aeroshell' over the truck bed would be designed to be retractable, wherein two sloping walls would be installed on the sides of the truck bed with a retractable piece of metal that can be pulled down when nothing large is being hauled in the bed, and opened up when the bed is needed. Install a camera system on the rear so that no mirrors are needed, and allow the mounted guns to be pivoted so that they can be turned and fired electronically while driving.

Paintjob? Camoflauge! It has to look its part.

It would be a very heavy, very aero, alternative fueled truck armed to the teeth that could go offroad. It would have torque out the ***.

It would be the ultimate Mad Max truck, and probably not road legal. But the idea is very amusing, just to own sonmething of this nature. :D

I've driven a few SUV's and have been disapointed in how little they could carry, and how unsafe they felt.
my first vehicle (a "gift") was a ford econoline van, and it was more then enough to convince me to get the smallest car possible, that if I needed to haul that much that renting a U-haul would be the best idea.
Of course with a hatch back you can carry "anything" we used to have a 4 door VW rabbit that we fit two adults, us three kids, a wind generator head in the trunk, and the (50 foot?) tower on the roof rack, then drove a few hours to deliver it, in the same rabbit we fit 2 people, and 5 new windows for our house, in my civic hatch back I've fit tools, camping gear, and food for a week, a co-worker and my self every week for an entire summer while building a straw house out in the middle of no where, I've also fit my full size futon matris in the back of my hatch back, and I helped two friends move from colorado, to montana with my CRX, 3 of us, and most of their stuff in a two seaterl, I've never had problems carrying bags of cement, or lumber, round wood fence posts, or anything else I've wanted to haul in my car, altho when I've barrowed SUV's to haul lumber or other stuff, I've had an extreamly hard time making it fit, and found them dificult to drive/manuver, hard to see out of, and had an overall unsafe feeling.