. To call a car or any product an Edsel is to provide the worst of insults. The Edsel was a car designed and manufactured by the Ford Motor Company of Dearborn in the late 1950s. 157, 1958, 1959 to be exact. The debacle of the Edsel was both one of the most spectacular and worst failures to befall the vibrant American automobile industry of that day. To call a car or any product an Edsel is to provide the worst of insults.

Some authorities will state that the reason for the Edsels failure was just poor market timing, not a poor product. Timing can be said to be most everything vital for the success of failure of any product. In those days, before computerization allowed for rapid sharing an interchanges of design and the car design process everything was done on paper. It took great amount of physical logistics and delays for the paperwork and blueprints to be sent and coordinated among the various players in the automobile design process. On top of that it seemed that everyone seemed to despise and those further down the line. The designers disliked their bosses and the engineers. The engineers hated the parts people etc etc etc. On top of that the name Ford was on the door signifying the ultimate authority in the car designs and marketing process. The Edsel project was initiated during a time of big cars from G.M. the market leader , yet introduced many years later when the concept of a second car , a compact car, for the wife to drive the family and kids around was beginning to be established in the automobile marketplace

Other authorities will state that the reason for the poor market showing and demise of the Edsel was that it was just a poor product poorly designed and poorly built. To further corroborate this viewpoint it is now known that the actual workers building the Edsels were none too happy building this model. The Edsel was not built on its dedicated Ford Division production line but rather the Edsel was built (or shared space) on Ford Mercury Division production line. These Mercury Division employees considered themselves as the luxury end of the Ford Car company entities and indeed saw themselves as a cut above the run of the mill Ford employee and workers.

They both resented the intrusion into their turf as they say it and as well felt that a Ford product was muscling into their terrain that of more prestige vehicles. In the end the marketing and sales failures of the Ford Edsel can be said to be a combination of both factors.

Interestingly enough the unspoken order from the Ford family was that the new product the 1958 Edsel was to be named anything but Edsel. The late Edsel Ford was the founder Henry Fords only son and the grandfather of the then current patriarchs commanding and directing the Ford Empire. The senior Ford even stated that he did not want to see his late grandfathers name spinning around on hubcaps. The design development process had worked with the E or Experimental Car. Since it was such a major and revolutionary product of Ford many assumed that the designation E car had of course stood for Edsel. How better to honor such a major figure in the Ford family and empire. Imagine if the name had not stuck. Would it of made a difference in the ultimate success or failure of the sales and marketing of this automobile product.

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The fastest sports car according to various critics is the 1994 Dauer 962 LeMans, with acceleration speed of 2.6 seconds from 0 to 60 mph. The fastest Ferrari car is the 2002 Ferrari ENZO, and this one can accelerate from 0 to 62 mph at breakneck speed of 3.5 seconds. Other fast cars include a Chevrolet, a Dodge, a LeBlanc, a Renault, an Audi, and a Corvette, all of which have acceleration speeds of not more than 2.9 seconds from 0 to 60 mph.

Now, the question that begs answering is: what makes a fast sports car?

While stylistics make for a very good standard when getting a sports car, theres more to the sleekness than just style. The very sleek and streamlined designs of these fast sports cars actually contribute to fantastic aerodynamicsmaking it much easier to drive the car fast without worrying about air resistance, air pressure, etc. In effect, the hot and sexy car design actually makes for more than aesthetics, but gives a boost to the speed and performance of the car.

Another feature that contributes to the speed of the car is its reduced weight. Its evident in the reduced cargo capacity of a sports car. Luckily, this isnt much of an issue with sports car enthusiasts. Related to cargo capacity and reduced weight is the fact that some sports cars may have smaller seating capacities, and usually are characterized by firmer, tighter rides, compared to the more spacious and comfortable rides offered by sports utility vehicles or sedans.

A last consideration in speed, however, is its general dynamics which include handling and drag when driving. A sports car has very little value if it cannot sustain its straight-line speeds when driving in tight curbs and ends up crushed after it hit a dead end. It is for this precise reason that even the fastest sports cars are usually rear-wheel driven rather than front-wheel driven, because of the fact that the rear-wheel drive provides greater traction and allows for the weight to be distributed evenly as the car makes a turn.

While theres more to a sports car than just speed, it also doesnt hurt that your sports car is fast. After all, the 1994 Dauer 962 LeMans is prized precisely because it rises above the speeds of every other fast sports car.

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Since his adolescence, Ferdinand Porsche showed glimpses of
technical genius: at the age of 18, he wired family’s home for
electricity in 1893. Still, he didnt show many signs of disciplined
engineering skills that will eventually become his trademark. Even
if the Doctor is usually appended to his name, it is in essence
honorary, since his only formal technical training was as a part-time
engineering student in Vienna.

By the age of 25, the young Ferdinand Porsche had entered the
field of automotive design. His first car design was already
accepted by Lohner & Co. of Vienna. Over the next 20 years,
Ferdinand Porsche, the temperamental but brilliant engineer
succeeded in associating with every major automobile manufacturer
in Germany. At the same time, he designed a dozen of the most
technically significant cars in history.

Working for Mercedes-Benz, he helped develop the most revered
Mercedes-Benz cars of all time: the SSK series. For NSU, he
designed Auto Union Wanderer and the Type 32, a precursor of the
Volkswagen Beetle.

After being dismissed from Mercedes for disagreeing with the firm’s
staid engineering policies, Porsche decided to establish what later
became Porsche A.G.: his own engineering consulting group. In a
small office in Stuttgart, the senior Dr. Porsche gathered a select
group of engineers to work under the dramatic name, “Doctor of
Engineering Ferdinand Porsche, Inc., Construction Facility for Land,
Air, and Sea Transportation.” One of his employees was his youthful
son, Ferry. His primary interest was one that any young man might
select: sports and racing cars

The senior Dr. Porsche and his team were kept extremely busy. The
consulting firm developed for Steyr (now the utility-vehicle wing of the
Steyr- Daimler-Puch combine), the Austria luxury sedan, but it did not
progress beyond the prototype stage. They worked a lot for Auto
Union, now Audi: the company developed the Front, the world’s first
front-drive economy car. They astonished Auto Union with the mid-engine
Grand Prix cars and their supercharged V-12 and V-16 engines
which, together with Mercedes- Benz racers, dominated European auto
racing for nearly a decade.

After that, the firm created its best-known designs for NSU and Zundapp.
The pair of prototypes was characterized by Dr. Porsche’s patented
torsion-bar suspension and a rear-mounted engine. Since neither
company moved rapidly enough to manufacture the designs, Porsche
sold the concept to the German government. Then, he oversaw the
construction of a plant on Wolfsburg to manufacture the design. His
drawings called the car the Type 60. The world came to know it as the
Volkswagen Beetle

After the second World War, the Porsche Company started to create vehicles
that beard its name, and so became knows world wide. Now, nearly a
century later, Porsche became the marque and the family that created
outstanding, often unique and surely lasting contributions to automotive
engineering and design.

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