Good point John. You may be starting a whole new branch on this thread! I have heard in the past about the various engine designs the Japanese have supposedly "stolen" like the chevy straight six, but not thought about the origins of the Subaru flat motor. At least with the American designs, even if co opted, the Japanese designs improve over whatever they have come from. I recall from a book about the history of Harley Davidson that the Japanese bought rights to manufacture them over there, then later during WWII they were riding around various battlegrounds on Japanese Harley's! Interesting stuff~! Sam McCarthy Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:02:55 -0600 From: John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET> Subject: Re: The real story about the invention of the WBX? Sourchasm aside, Sam, I wonder about the WBX/Suburu - Germany/Japan connection. Japan was part of the Axis during WW II, and the Japanese got much technical assistance and a lot of info on building warplanes during that period. Would it not be reasonable that they should get auto engine technology as well. And the flat four was being used in the war effort, so surely it migrated to Japan, where in the fullness of time the Japanese have transmuted it into a very fine piece of modern machinery - the Suburu flat four.- and now the flat six and most recently a flat diesel all of which evidently can fit nicely into a Vanagon. Regards, John Rodgers 88 GL Driver sam mccarthy wrote: > I am sure the reason VW didn't put gas inline-fours in the van was that they did not want to upset the "amazing handling" of the Vanagon by raising the center of gravity over that achieved using the flat four. They compromised with the diesel due to its "slightly lower" power output and, how to put it, "more relaxed cruising attitude". > Who could blame them?? > Sam M > -------------- |
Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of
Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection
will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!
Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com
The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.
Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.