bryankazmer

The "get it right and cancel" was a theme. It comes from not spending the time before launch to get it right in the first place, so by the time things are fixed, the model's reputation is trashed. I think Fiero is absolutely the poster child for this. GM also typically thought the customer should want a bigger vehicle. if you wanted a smaller car for reasons of performance and handling, GM offered you an econobox to drive until you realized you should want a DeVille. This really hindered their competing with the Japanese and Europeans, and with developing good 4 cylinder engine

it didn't end in the 1980's

Is it? GM earned their reputation for cheating suppliers, letting finance make unsound engineering decisions, waiving specs when the price was tempting and taking government money without reforming their own house very much. There were and are some good people there trying to make quality vehicles, but the company's record is what it is.

pretty common in junkyards

any idea of the coachbuilder on the Hisso? hi

I don't think the Dauphine Gordini got disk brakes until '64. The 4 speed was I think an option on at least the Ondine version as well. Your car may have some retrofitting.

Have you tried to title using the serial no.(predecessor of VIN) or the engine number? This is not likely to be done without an in-person visit to DMV. They will want to be sure you pay sales tax on the purchase price, and that the purchase price reflects reasonable market value

Billy hits on an important issue for the "rolling admission" clubs, but not a new one. WWII has been a rather arbitrary break point in the hobby for a long time. But how much different is a 46 from a 42, choose your make? I think the other major break point is around 1970-72 when early smog controls went in, and 1970 and 1975 cars do drive very differently, to put it kindly. The "closed end" clubs don't have this issue (CCCA, MARC, any orphan marque) but have the demographic issue of not covering cars younger people remember from daily life. Joint meets make sense t

What are you trying to do? When you change the wheel offset you screw up how your suspension is supposed to work.

Without any political bias on the outcome, even if the owner is ruled to own the data, there is the question of what constitutes probable cause for search or need for a warrant. An accident would likely mean the cops get the data.

There is an open legal question on who owns that data

Selling parts for compliance avoidance is not at all new - muffler cut-outs, "test pipes" to replace catalytic converters, grey market imports, etc. Usually under the not for on road use language. The enforcement waxes and wanes is all

Perhaps the least-loved V12 ever.

It's possible to electroplate a layer of an alloy like brass, but much trickier than plating a single metal. You are basically doing two electrodepositions at the same time at the same voltage.

NORS parts are not necessarily inferior to NOS OEM parts - remember that the OEM was driving price down hard for the contract. It is true that some OEM's had, in at least some cases, a lesser standard for OEM service parts. I recall doing a development project and the feedback on prototype parts was "not good enough for production but acceptable for service parts." An example of where a NOS part and NORS part are clearly different: I have some NORS Packard Clipper grills - they are aluminum. The OEM parts are pot metal.