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The Last GM Big-Block V-8 Rolls Off the Line
DesScorp writes "It's the end of an era in auto technology, as the very last big block V-8 engine from GM has rolled off the production line. The L18 engine was the last variant of an engine that had been in continuous production for over 50 years. The big blocks powered everything from the classic muscle cars of the '60s and '70s to heavy-duty trucks today. From the Buffalo News: 'When GM said last June the L18 would be eliminated by year's end, the announcement triggered another show of devotion to the product. Some customers ordered two years' worth of L18s, to put on the shelf for future use.' More than 5 million big blocks have been produced over the engine's history. The final big block engine to come off the line in Tonawanda, NY is headed for the GM Heritage Center in Sterling Heights, MI."
74 3/4 ton suburban with towing package. Damn that thing would pull anything. It got 11 miles per gallon in town, on the road, pulling a trailer. No matter what it always got 11 miles per gallon. Drive it 35 miles per hour or 85 and it still got 11 miles per gallon. Weird. I miss that big boxy thing. Nothing has that much room anymore.
Regardless of "better" designs, we're witnessing an end of an era here, considering this format has survived for 50 out of the last 100 years of the automobile. A sad day indeed.
What's sad is that GM had to almost go out of business before they'd finally acknowledge that such an inefficient engine type was obsolete. The handwriting's been on the wall since 19 ****ing 74, for crisakes. But GM couldn't change its mindset, and instead sat and twiddled their thumbs while the Japanese took away their business.
I'm reminded of Sun's inability to shift to commodity processors. But then, I'm an embittered ex-Sun employee...
I suspect GM kept at it this long for a good business reason: tinkerers loved that kind of engine: relatively easy to self-repair and powerful. Now the only choices will be wimpy or too complex to self-service. The Duke boys will have to rely much more on Cooter now.
Table-ized A.I.
While the big block wont EVER make it to a million, I've seen an awful AWFUL lot of diesels fail to make 500k. When it comes time to rebuild the engine the big block can be rebuilt several times over for what the Diesel will Cost. (atleast in parts and machining costs) Diesels commonly give twice the service life of their gas equivalents, anything more than that while not unheard of, is not to be expected either. (some gas engines go 400k too) Don't get me wrong, I would trade my Vortec 454 for a diesel in a heartbeat. But my motivation would be for the improved gas mileage. ESPECIALLY when Towing. The only reason I own Big block is for pulling a 10,000# trailer, and it does this VERY VERY well. But it get's about 10mpg when towing (15.5 when not) A Diesel would probably get 18mpg when towing and i could run homemade bio diesel. My tow vehicle with a big block is inexpensive, dependable, easy to work on, and gets pretty poor gas mileage....
That looks to be output from the Complaint Generator, so it involved less effort to create than your post did.
It's probably a reference to the fact that DNS-and-BIND has used that exact post before.
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law
Anymore this sounds just like a "GET OFF MY LAWN" comment.
I enjoy maintaining my own vehicle, and while I get the WTF moment when a part costs more than I'm expecting to pay (for instance, Ford wants 600$ for a light controller. 4 relays, a few transistors and caps... WHY!!!) I still notice that a new car has similar components to any other car out there.
Yes, it's a little complicated by the electronics now and then, but you still have a motor, a transmission, battery tires oil younameit it's all there, user serviceable. Even the steering components haven't changed much - and things you do more often are still accessable. Ball joints, brake pads and rotors, oil, wheel bearings etc.
With all the features cars offer today, I've got no complaints.
Karnal
The only GM product to include the big block V8 from the factory was heavy duty pickup trucks. This engine hasn't been for sale in a Caprice, Impala, Corvette, Firebird, or Camaro for several decades. While you're right in general terms that GM has screwed up its products, product reliability, and understanding customer needs for a very long time, your specific example here is inaccurate.
This huge old engine was excellent for towing, very nearly as strong as GM's large pickup truck diesel engine and far cheaper for both GM to build and purchasers to buy. High RPM performance was a joke, but this was built for running below 4000 RPMs, which is normal for an engine used to tow. This is a case where GM did something right, and sold something that customers in the target segment wanted to buy.
The problem with a tiered product lineup is that you divide your resources in research, marketing, advertising, and design too far. Toyota grew from nothing to a juggernaut of the US market with just two brands: Toyota and Lexus. They only added Scion recently. Honda bit off a big chunk of the domestic manufacturer's market share with just Honda and Acura. Nissan has just Nissan and Infiniti. Hyundai has just Hyundai and Kia, and only now that they're highly successful are they considering a separate luxury brand.
Ford has made an amazing turnaround in product competitiveness and desirability in the past four years, and they did it by selling Aston Martin, Jaguar, and Land Rover, cutting down their stake in Mazda, and reducing their number of Mercury models. Now they just have Ford, Lincoln, a bit of Mercury, and Volvo and Volvo is rumored to be for sale. GM is in the process of shutting down or selling Saturn, Hummer, Saab, and Pontiac and it has sold its pieces of Isuzu, Suzuki, and Subaru. The only reason Buick was kept is that it's GM's most successful brand in China. The only reason GMC trucks was kept is that most Buick dealerships are Buick/GMC dealerships.
GM management is finally focusing on building 30 decent products spread across four product lines (Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Caddillac) instead of 80 substandard products spread across twelve product lines, which was the mess they had in 2001.
how about this - in NC you can't pass inspection if you have a check engine light code active.
even i that code is a dealer only code
even if the car runs fine and would even pass emissions if they used the sniffer
dealer wants 85$ just to read the code out. and 90% of the time it is a set of things that can cause it and are dealer only parts.
it has gotten to the point that you can't even get shop manuals for newer cars.
and with the way ODB ties every thing together - that 600$ ford part is going to be the only one that might work - where as in my older cars i can wire it up the way i want so that it works, using parts of my choice.
'...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'