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Letters to the Editor
By Design News Staff -- Design News, June 17, 2002
First car should be a fixer-upper
I agree wholeheartedly with your commentary on teens in "The luxury car blues," (DN Editorial 05.06.02). I may not be nearly as mature as you (at the green age of 32) but I believe that everyone's first car should be a learning experience. My first vehicle was a '76 Ford F-100 that I bought with 70,000 miles on the odometer. It died at 80,000. I rebuilt that engine with my father's help over the summer. Eventually I graduated to a new vehicle and gave my old '76 to my brother. The odometer now reads 325,000. Rebuilding that engine was an excellent learning experience as well as something in which I can find a small amount of pride. Fathers, don't let your children grow up to be clueless about everything mechanical, please, for the sake of the rest of the drivers on the road.
John Stütz, Sr. Industrial Designer, Pivot International
Kids and coupes
You wouldn't believe the smile that crossed my face when I read your editorial. I too, have been contemplating the purchase of one of the Mercedes C230 Sports Coupes. I've finally gotten all of my engineering school student loans paid off and thought, "Maybe I can finally move a little upscale." (And that Mercedes certainly is a lot of car for the money as long as you don't option it out too heavily.)
Anyway, as I'm waiting my turn to sit in one at the local dealership in Westlake Village, CA, I had to wait as a teenager was in the car. Finally I got to sit in it and while I'm sitting there I hear him talking to his Land Rover-driving mother. She happened to be on the cell phone to the father discussing whether or not to buy it for him that day! Here I am wondering whether or not I can swing the payments and this kid's getting one handed to him for his 16th birthday or whatever? It just made me shake my head as I realized there's a lot more money than common sense out in the world these days. What does that kid learn by not having to struggle for a crummy car, let alone a good one? Certainly not the value of a dollar or respect for the parents that spoil him rotten.
I guess I'm sour grapes too. But fighting to fix my perpetually broken-down VW Scirocco in college, or watching my payment book for my used Rx-7, taught me many lessons you could never learn from a book.
Thank you for saying what needed to be said.
Steven Nelson, Design News reader
Auto mechanics 101
Loved the article. All three of my kids got cars at 16, but even the girl had to demonstrate changing the oil and filter, air filter, check coolant, and changing a tire. They were warned that if they ever drove the car with a warning light on or drove on a flat tire, they'd not be driving any more. They all had messy cars 'cause they were sloppy and never threw anything out of the windows. Think how much the insurance is for a 16-year old driving a $25,000 foreign car!
David Monnier, Design News reader
Spoiled and unsatisfied
I agree; teens being given expensive cars by rich, indulgent parents rub me the wrong way. Unfortunately, that's life. I saw it in my own high-school years (mid-sixties) and I saw it when my own sons were in high school. While that was not my world (nor, apparently, yours), it is the world of the affluent and they see nothing wrong with it.
If I can afford to buy my high-schooler a $1,200 car, I will (and did). If my son's best friend's parent can afford to buy their son a $23,000 car (and did), well, so be it. I think the moral to this is that my sons kept their $1,200 cars for many years (one still has his, six years later), worked to keep them running, and still have fond memories of those cars and their efforts to make them "just right." (Just as I do of my first car…a $100 Ford purchased by my Dad and Mom). The kids with the high-dollar cars? They wrecked/sold/traded them after a year or two and don't seem to derive much satisfaction from their experience.
Larry E. Fry, Senior Engineering Technician, GKN Aerospace, Chemtronics, Inc.
On my vacation…
The article "Ships cruise on electricity," (DN 05.06.02) was of great interest to me as my wife and I cruised on Royal Caribbean's "Radiance of the Seas" to Alaska last August.
This is the first Turbine/Electric ship for passenger service. The "least" polluting, quietest running (no vibration, noise, smoke, etc.) of any ship afloat. She has two "Azipods" which are giant electric motors that hang below the stern and rotate, very similar to the bottom end of an outboard motor. Thus it does not need or have any rudders. She has three bow thrusters, and can be placed in position in a crowded harbor and computer controlled to remain in position within a few feet, without the use of an anchor (a computer controls the electric motors to maintain position). Due to the small size of the turbine generators, they have a spare that can be installed while underway without removing any bulkheads or decks, in less than 48 hours (a diesel electric would require one to two weeks in a repair facility and have the deck cut open to replace a failed engine).
Rod Beukenkamp, Sr. Systems Engineer & European Liaison
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