blk7gxn
Royal Smart Person
- Feb 7, 2019
- 1,390
- 113
Your exactly right about the GM protocol on trimming the fat on frugal things such as the example you have just given.It was my understanding via my father, who was an employee of the Iowa State Patrol, that LEOs got the same powertrains that GM had certified for production cars. Powertrains had to be federally certified for emissions purposes, and GM was not likely to spend thousands (10 of thousands?) of dollars certifying one-off or VERY limited combinations for a handful of sales.
Many people over the years have asked, "why didn't GM make a stick shift Grand National?", Same reasoning. When a limited production vehicle, such as the GN over the span of 5 years (inclusive of model years 1982-1984-1985-1986-1987) only sold a little over 20 thousand unites, and with only 2% to 3 % of the market purchasing standard transmission vehicles at the time, the desired standard OPTION would be at only 400 to 600 units, not worthy or cost effective for GM to tool up for.
YET, this is not the end of the story. On the flip side, GM was notorious for wasting money, wasting money like they didn't have a budget to answer to.
Again, another story here. My source, a longtime friend and retiree, was there to witness this event back in the mid 80's, when GM's Turbo engineering department was assigned a project from Buick headquarters. Buick was trying to get the turbo market boosted (no pun intended
Will