Skip to main content

Search the Special Collections and Archives Portal

ent001356-017

Image

File
Download ent001356-017.tif (image/tiff; 66.43 MB)

Information

Digital ID

ent001356-017
    Details

    Publisher

    University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Libraries

    example. The other school of thought runs to superchargers and turbochargers, cram- ming compressed air and gas into the cylinders of a relatively small engine. Today?╟╓s hot compacts include two with freely aspirated engines: The Falcon Sprint and Tempest Le Mans. One, the Super Lark, is mechanically supercharged; and two, the Corvair Spyder and Olds Jet- fire, get compressed air and fuel through blowers driven by turbines in the exhaust stream. The Sprint is limited to two barrels as a fuel-economy measure. One engine in the five, that of the Spyder, is a flat six. The others are V-8s. (Here is the report on the Super Lark). Stabilizing bars gave the Lark the de- corum of a church deacon in hard turns. The rear end broke away only under con- siderable pressure. The car was highly stable at 100 miles an hour, with prac- tically no tendency to pitch. The suspen- sion was firm but the ride nonetheless, was smooth. The brakes (disks in front) snugged the car down promptly and as straight as an arrow from 80 miles an hour with hands off the wheel. The gearbox (again from Borg Warner) had the customary B-W smoothness and agility. Parking, with the overall shortness of the vehicle, was a pleasure. With an engine peaking at 5,000 r.p.m., an acceleration of 0-60 never reached third gear. Upshifting to third at 60 m.p.h. was like a kick in the pants. Traction bars, shrewdly added to the rear axle to ac- commodate the torque of the blown en- gine, effectively prevented axle windup and any hesitancy when the accelerator went down from a standing start. The instrumentation properly included a vacuum gauge for the power output. For a front end weighted with a V-8 and supercharger, the steering was sur- prisingly easy SC due, no doubt, to a steer- ing ratio that is high for a compact. ?╟≤ Studebaker Printed fii U. S. A.