Motorweek; 903

This. Time on Motor Week 90 the Lincoln Town car turns into a modern design. The turn of the season with a look at the 1990 GM cars that God takes a look at your car's alignment needs and Craig seeing Hoff needs to sit on a pillow for America's longest vintage auto race. So come drive with us. Next. Week might be TV's automotive magazine with your host John Davis. Well hello and welcome again to motor week 90. We're glad to have you with us. There's a big wave rising in the luxury car waters and it's coming from the east.

The introduction of new high end cars from Nissan and Toyota. No one knows exactly how successful these new cars will be but it seems like Detroit in some ways is making an effort to head off the latest Japanese assault on the car market. You'd never know it by looking at this 1989 version of the quintessential American luxo boat the Lincoln Town Car. But to prove our point let's see what Lincoln's done to the town car for 1990. When you tamper with a legend. The risks are high. When that legend is the Lincoln Town Car with some of the most stubborn buyers going there risks become almost unacceptable. But to Ford's credit they knew that while the 1980 vintage town car was still selling well it could easily become tomorrow's fire sale. But how do you change your car that buyers want. Just as it is. The answer is carefully making sure that each change increases appeal while leaving the basic character untouched.

To bring the town car styling into the 90s Ford borrowed some of the themes from the smaller Continental large wraparound headlamps less chrome and a generally more svelte look. Yet the formal route line is still present and all Fender ends continue to make right angles. The result is a conservatively modern yet extremely rich looking big car that is actually longer and taller than last year. And the restyling Ford attacked two big negatives of the old design. Drag and noise extensive wind tunnel shaping and such details as flush door handles and glass resulted in 20 percent less wind resistance doors that wrap into the roof new seals better insulation and special Michelin tires were added to cure both wind and road noise. The result is a town car that is even more and effortless and luxurious hiway cruiser than before. While all of this will please most current town car owners looking to trade up. We found one change that we like but many of them will not. There is no padded roof option. Heresy. But there is no such heresy. Inside everything is again

new yet familiar seats are broad and too flat. But both under the leg and lower back support are much improved. Seat controls still reside on the door panel but there's a storage nook there to seat position memory is available for the first time dash controls like the big knob for the lights and the three lever automatic climate control panel worked like before. Stereo preset radio standard and upgraded JBL unit and integrated compact displayer are available for electronic gauges are now standard but more comprehensive for aging eyesight's leftside engine readouts are large with a trip computer on the right and while the big steering wheel still has cruise control buttons now it also houses a standard driver's airbag. There is also an airbag for the right front passenger yet Ford also managed to maintain a sizable glove box underneath the fuel door release is now located on the dash both front and rear cabins benefit from increased hip and headroom increasing the town cars already generous six passenger space.

Even the trunk is larger now. A full 10 percent with a more usable floor power trunk pull down is another first time option. Mechanically the town car remains mostly as before. But again with improvements offer instruction contains a separate body and brain. The rear suspension now includes air springs for load leveling board also installed a new speed since the variable power steering unit combined with a change in front suspension geometry and rear sway bar steering wheel is improved and the car responds better to it. Any change in direction. There are lots of road type fast corners enough to provide a few more gray hairs yet. Overall Hegland response is more impressive and the chassis reaction is predictable and stable. Severe bumps are soaked up quickly and quietly with less tendency to float right. Comfort is also better. One thing we think Ford should have done on the new Towncar is make HP look great. Standard those are concerns from Fleet buyers about maintenance costs kept this worthy safety feature and option.

This ABS equipped prototype stopped in 132 feet from 60 miles per hour. A good result. Abs pedal pulsation is mild and less alarming than some other systems we try. One area that Ford was not able to change at all on the 1990 Towncar is the engine. However the smooth fuel injected 500 V-8 is just what Lincoln buyers want. Power output is one hundred fifty horses and 270 pound feet of torque for the base and signature series cars. The Kirkgate design series delivers ratings of 160 to 80 thanks to a lower restriction dual exhaust. As you might guess with two tons of weight to pull around acceleration times are less than walk light. However with 150 horsepower model we tested it towards proving ground man is a very acceptable 0 to 60 run at eleven point eight seconds. Our quarter mile times also averaged out fine to eighteen point one seconds at 77 a new and much more powerful Towncar V8 is still at least a year away. The only transmission remains a column shift for speed automatic with bone mets gear ratios

and generally smooth shift points smoothness and shifts and in ride top our list of town car hits. Steering wheel was also impressive. We also applaud the attractive stately styling quiet luxurious interior and high level of standard features especially the twin front airbags. Based on our first impression with prototypes the only things we found lacking in the mostly new Towncar are the lack of standard antilock brakes much too flat seat bottoms and more body rolling corners than what should be necessary for a smooth ride since anti-lock brakes are available on all models. The Towncar makes a clean sweep of our safety check the rear shoulder belts are also above average in comfort. Comfort. After all is what the Lincoln Town Car is all about. As for whether the change made for 1990 should affect sales we think yes those that may not have been completely sold on the Towncar before should find enough new to swiftly push them to the positive side of the sales fence.

As to the large and loyal clan that the town cars were afraid of change take part. The 1990 Lincoln Town Car remains the same. Only now it's much much better. One of the great aggravations of modern life is the traffic jam. Few of us who drive more than a mile a day can avoid spending time at a standstill wondering why we didn't leave for work a half hour earlier. Salvation however is riding on the airwaves and Lisa Barrow is here to tell us more. It's 7 o'clock. I don't know about you but before I had to work in the morning I listened to the traffic reports just to make sure there aren't any major back ups but I'm wonder how they all come together. Where do they get their information and why are some reports accurate and some not so bend to 85 is slow through the works and as you head down toward the Suitland Parkway with the lanes open up.

For. All the traffic team of Bob Marburg and Jim Russ of WTOP in Washington DC. Begin their day with the start of rush hour. Jim covers the traffic from his car while Bob gets an overview of the Beltway from the airplane. This. Is what you're looking for. And. I. Think around. Everybody's. Home. Is. Somewhere. I spent the morning in the car with Jim Ross. Jim drives against the heavy traffic so he's usually not stuck in a time like a report where the tides are. To row advantage as we have the car is at number one. We can go to places that the airplane can't because of the restricted airspace around the city and we can get specific major incidents and figure out what's happened at the scene. Figure out how long it's going to take to get it cleared up. These are things that the listener probably wants to know about when they're planning a route to and from work.

Usually we become aware of incidents by monitoring the police and the fire departments or by calling Public Works fire departments. But you have to go out and field check. You have to verify the information you try very hard to see that on which you're going to report Jim's cars equipped with police and fire scanners so a total of five. I wondered how he could listen to them all at one time and concentrate on driving and giving traffic reports. Jim Ross WTOP traffic listening to all the radios at once is basically a function of practice you become familiar with a lot of the voices in the codes and you're listening for specific things. So that's sort of a secondary function well over 40 and driving is a little more difficult that's really an acquired art. You have to practice it and it took me a couple of years to become comfortable with it before I never really felt like I know what I was doing. But have you ever gotten to a backup that was recorded only to find that there is no backup. We realize that every time we push the push to talk switch and go on the air that our credibility is on the line.

If the information isn't accurate. It simply isn't worth presenting to the audience. So credibility accuracy that equally useful. As transportation becomes a bigger challenge. I think that we've found that we can actually make a difference both as reporters. And as a stimulus to change. It's the stimulation and the challenge of the job. Which to all of your senses actually winds up making. Fun. Pace cars of the Indy 500 is a wonderful piece of Brickyard memorabilia. L-Spence are rags and his family have produced a fascinating book on the cars that always start how America's greatest auto race but never finish in 78 years of Indy pace cars are covered. There's plenty of technical information along with some fine old photographs and fascinating historical detail. Pat Goss has a history of saving our viewers time and money by solving their automotive

problems. Here he is to do it again. Pat a lot of car owners at one time or another John have had the front ends of their cars aligned to cure a tracking or handling problem only to find out after the alignment that the problem still persisted. Now we have a letter in that vein from Dave cone of Copperas Cove Texas. Now Steve ask more questions in his letter than we could answer. But one thing that he does mention he says the rear wheels of his 1983 Reno Alliance look like they are out of alignment. He's noticed the same condition on some other cars. He wants to know if he should be concerned. And if there's a way to adjust the alignment. Well before we get into the specifics of that you know alignments have changed on cars over the last few years. Seems like in the past what we had was something very simple we'd have a piece of alignment equipment that would be hooked to the front wheels of the car only. And we did some adjustments up here and that's all there was to it. Well times have changed you know cars have become a

lot more complicated and sophisticated. Now we have front wheel drive. We have independent rear suspensions on a lot of cars all sorts of things like this that were only dreams a few years ago but along with this we have some complications as far as keeping everything aligned so that the tires wear well and that the car handles properly. Now the alignment equipment that I use today well it has four of these units or heads as they're called to for the rear wheels and two for the front wheels. Now at the bare minimum with these what you do is you do a four wheel alignment four wheel alignment simply means that you're taking the rear wheels into consideration when you're aligning the front wheels. Doesn't mean that you're aligning the rear just using them as a reference. You also have rear wheel alignment. Now this means that you actually align the rear wheels of the car. Now you've followed cars down the road I'm sure from time to time you'll see some of them where the tops of the rear wheels tilts in quite noticeably.

Well this is telling you that that car has a negative camber means that tires may be tipped into fire may not mean anything but then again it might mean that that particular car needs a rear wheel alignment also could mean there could be some worn parts back there but rear wheel alignment that's what we're really concerned with. Most modern cars will have provisions for adjusting that camber to make the tires sit more straight up and down. They will also have provisions in most cases for towing. And that means that the front of the tires either point toward one another straight ahead or away from one another. There are adjustments for these. OK. But you say I have a front wheel drive car. I've been underneath it when it's been up in the air having serviced on a I've got a solid axle in the back of it can't align that Kenya. Sure you can. In virtually all cases this is a rear axle out of a front wheel drive GM car. And how do you align it. Well very very simply you get all the equipment hooked up on it and

then inside the brake mechanism there are bolts that hold the spindle or the bearing whatever you want to term it or whatever configuration your car has. But there'll be bolts that will loosen that. And then the wheel can be moved around like this. OK but what good does that do us. Well we have shims just like this. These shims are designed so that they fit in between the spindle and Aksel they will establish the proper attitude of the tyre. It tightened everything down and you have done a rear wheel alignment. Now the things that you need to look out for you have to make sure that the place that's doing your alignment that they have a piece of equipment such as we see here it will read front and rear wheels it will read all sorts of different things that are vital. As far as the alignment of a car concerned if the shop that you're going through doesn't have modern equipment like this find one that does

if you have a question about your car I would love to hear from you. If I select your letter to be used on the air I'll send you a motor week T-shirt. The address is Motor Week. Owings Mills Maryland 2 1 1 1 7 that's Motor Week. Owings Mills Maryland 2 1 1 1 7. It's another new season for motor week and another new model year for automakers. Last week we showed you what Ford has in store for 1990 and now it's time to see what the general has to offer. As you might expect from the army of divisions at General Motors command there's a lot new for 1990 Chevrolet will be building up its luminal line with two new models a sleek two Ford GM 10 car and the innovative Lumina PV minivan. This front drive plastic bodied people mover offers show car styling seating for up to seven and a standard 3.1 liter V-6 power train. The popular Beretta coupe now includes a quad for low powered GTC Motl and

next spring it will lose its top for a sleek convertible version. While everyone knows about the Corvette Z-R one most will be surprised at the new dash for all Corvettes complete with a 200 watt cassette CD stereo and mostly analog gauges. Continuing with the Chevrolet if you can't beat them import them theme is the new geo storm built by Isuzu. The storm is a snappy looking sport coupe with the safety of a driver side airbag built in. Chevrolet trucks weigh in with upgrades on a variety of models including rear anti-lock brakes on the venerable suburban The full size 454 SS pickup gives a new meaning to the word workforce with a potent $7.40 V8. Both Chevrolet and GMC will offer stretched in four wheel drive versions of their Astro Safari mini vans and next spring Ford or S10 blazer and 15 Jimmi sport utility wagons are also due. GM's performance division Pontiac reeks 1990 with a new sports sedan version of the Grand Prix. While basically a GM 10 there's no mistaking its hungry

Pontiac styling for the turbocharged V-6 that's an option on the Grand Prix S-T that engine standard along with anti-lock brakes on the Grand Prix turbo coupe. Ball Pontiac's minivan. The transport uses the same engine as the Lumina APB styling and features. Again set it well apart from a Chevy cousin. Other Pontiac changes include a new face for the Sunbird and an upgrade in suspension and engine performance on the imported lemons. GSC while Pontiac joined Chevrolet in a mass minivan market Oldsmobile will try to carve out a luxury niche with its silhouette APB plus to the point of a full leather interior. The silhouette is a new alternative for luxury station wagon buyers. Oldsmobile restyled Toronado and trophy Bayo now with perhaps the most controversial rear end styling of the year. Aside from the voluptuous lines there's more trunk space. New instrumentation and improved ride and handling Oldsmobile will also offer a GM 10 sedan under the familiar Cutlass Supreme headache over

its sleek styling and standard high output quad for engine are special. Also no other brand has this GM 10 Buriat a convertible the Cutlass Supreme convertible includes a fixed rollbar for both safety and above average body stiffness. Buick also has a convertible in the news for 1990 only. This one is the two seat riata manual. Top is simple to use and reveals a new dash without the infamous CRT screen. The riata share is its new dash design an airbag with the Riviera Buick's new mid-size sedan the Regal will not balance till next spring yet when it does the available three point eight leader engine will be the largest available in GM 10 sedans over a Cadillac Fleetwood Brohm largest uphaul domestic luxury cars receives a modern facelift for 1990 along with standard anti-lock brakes and an optional one hundred seventy five horsepower V-8. The pin in Farina designed to launch is the first American chassis to include traction control here acceleration wheel spin is controlled by both automatic brake application and

stopping fuel to up to half the 4.5 leader V8 cylinders. It's easy to see that GM has massed a formidable array of troops for its onslaught. With a 1990 new car buyer price. Our car of the week is a 1956 S.R. to Sebring race Corvette. It's owned by Richard and Carolyn Forte of Swartz Creek Michigan. If you've got a one of a kind car that you'd like to share we'll consider it for car of the week. Just send a good color photo and self-addressed return envelope to motor week Owings Mills Maryland 2 1 1 1 7. Lisa Barrow has some photos of one of a kind cars too only hers her partner types of new models. Here she is with another one and all the latest Motor News. Thanks John. As we've just seen GM is bringing out three slick new

minivans but the general styling has failed to inspire the folks at Chrysler. That company is working on its second generation minivan. And this believe it or not is it. Chrysler has apparently decided that there's no point in messing with a good thing. The bumpers taillights in front fenders appear to be new as does the back window while caravan Voyager exterior styling looks about the same as before. We're told the interior is all new and more luxurious. As for engineering. Chrysler will finally offer four wheel drive. Chrysler has another model coming for 91 that it's working on with Japanese Breitner Mitsubishi. It's called the Dodge stealth and is the replacement for the conquest but it will surpass the conquest and a number of its higher price competitors. This stealth will have 270 horsepower that will come from a turbo charge 24 valve version of Mitsubishi's V-6. To put that power to the ground there will be a full time four wheel drive system similar to that used in the Eagle Talon the stealth as you might have guessed will sell for a good bit more than the Tallin

expected price in the neighborhood of $25000. Mitsubishi will produce a version of the upcoming stealth and they'll call it the 3000 Jeanty. It will have completely different bodywork and finally Daihatsu and MGM United Artists communications have jointly announced a resolution of the dispute between them over the use of the name Rocky on Daihatsu upcoming sport utility vehicle. If you are a member and GM not an artist have threatened legal action against you if they introduced their new vehicle under that name I Hotsy blinked. Cancelling the vehicle's introduction Daihatsu is rescheduled introduction of the vehicle under the name of ragi for later this year. Daihatsu and Enghien United Artists have agreed to keep the details of the agreement confidential John. Thanks Lisa. Of all the different kinds of motorsports there's something truly unique about vintage racing. Only a very crazy or very rich person would take a valuable sometimes irreplaceable car and subjected to the dangers of the

race track. But is Craig Singh hahs found out during his travels along the high road some are even crazier than that. They not only race their precious automotive relics they chooses their truck the entire U.S. Servais. Everybody enjoys good cross-country trips say from Norfolk Virginia to Disneyland to California. If you're doing it in a pre 1940s car though that's another story. That's the great American race. These restored automobiles of the past don't actually flex their engines in a mad dash across the United States. Rather the event is around a test of precision driving controlled speed and most importantly endurance. One of the major supporters of the great American race is Norm Miller president of Interstate Batteries. Well the two big factors and one real dear to my heart Is this the family aspect. I had

no idea when I got into it that this thing was going to promote family participation in that we have grandmothers and grandfathers grandchildren and father laws and fathers all these days all of these different cars now with 120 different cars to choose from. I was confident that I could hitch a lift back to our home base in Baltimore. All I needed was a ride. And the guys had a good year were gracious enough to extend the luxurious accommodations of their 19:17 Packard truck wing for the express. Little did I know that that meant traveling cargo style. As we left with a flourish and fanfare for driver Jack McGrath explain what was in store for the day ahead. What it is is speed distance rally intercourse is measured out to within a couple of feet and they know exactly how long it will take and how far we have to go and we just have all we have for information is the speeds we don't have any way to measure the distance. So we have to maintain the speeds and know exactly how fast we're going for how long at all times.

That's amazing. While my brains were being scrambled in the back of the wing these guys could figure out where they were going and what kind of schedule time they were making with all of the use of a speedometer a stopwatch and pencil and paper. Much of a thrill. The Great American Race is knowing that we were part of an entourage or some of the greatest names in antique auto collecting names like Buick. And Packard. And blue god. I'm not an old car person as far as a collector or whatever but I think that the great American race has really brought a lot of national attention to the old car hobby. Most times people have to go to museums or shows or whatever to see these wonderful magnificent old cars. Makes one wish we could stop and say hi and sign a few autographs. Unfortunately that demanding schedule usually meant the rest stop but just enough time for a quick gas fill up. And you'd better not be dallying around when they're ready to go. Of course by mid-afternoon I was looking like I needed

restauration more than hard. I guess the Winged Foot and the other vehicular participants could deal with the heat and bumps far better than I could. So naturally when Baltimore skyline came into view I was anxious to plant my traveling feet on familiar sod. I was right by. The finish line was warm with tons of spectators both young and old eager to greet the participants and take a look at history on wheels. The first leg was over and while I would be snuggled in bed the next morning these pioneers would be up and eager to tackle the mountains and deserts and challenges of nature. Their motto. To finish is to win. And why not. After all California was only nine more sunsets away. Greg will be back next week with the story of a city that once rival Detroit has America's

automotive capital. Lisa Barrow will tell you how to sell your old car and we'll look at some new cars from Chrysler. Pat Goss will be here too along with our usual new car road test and Motor News. I'm John Davis. We'll see you then. If you'd like a transcript of this program Santa's $4 to Motor Week transcripts Owings Mills Maryland 2 1 1 1 7. Residents of Maryland add 20 cents sales tax. Ask for show number 9 0 3. 9. 0. Motor

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