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  #1  
Old 11-07-2002, 11:04 AM
Breck SVX
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Test Cars

This isnt really SVX related but anyway...since i've moved to this town i've seen more pre production 'test cars' than i've seen anywhere else. Last night i saw a whole fleet of new, 2004 i'm guessing, Ford Escapes. They all had tons of computer equipment and gagues mounted to the A-pillars. Not much had changed on the car except (im assuming) the front end which was heavily disguised. A few weeks ago across the street from me there was a new S4 avant (with the V8), the new A8, 3 VW Pheatons, 3 VW Touaregs and to top it off an RS6 wagon and sedan...all of which arent out yet. With the cars was about 10 germans and a ryder truck full of computer equipment. Its times like that where i wish i had a camera on me at all times. The week after that i saw something driving around that was completely indesipherable(spelling), it was covered from bumpber to bumper with some sort of bra material. A few months before that i saw the new 9-3 driving around...and last may there were some hummer h2s...but that was in moab....i donno if its the mountain roads or what but theres been lots of interesting cars here in the past year or so...k, back to work


-Alex
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  #2  
Old 11-07-2002, 11:08 AM
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let us know when you see the "new" SVX!
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  #3  
Old 11-07-2002, 11:17 AM
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Alex, you could probably make some good $$$ if you kept a camera on you. Road & Track and other car mags would probably pay good money for pics of the cars you've seen.
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  #4  
Old 11-07-2002, 11:58 AM
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Try living near Detroit some time - I see all kinds of weird things here. One morning, on the way to work, I saw two or three Opel Speedsters on the freeway. Another morning, taking my wife to work, I saw an Alfa 156. On the way to Blockbuster this summer I saw a Ford Mondeo.

Sometimes you see cars driving around here with the black masks all over them...

I used to park in the same garage as the Automobile magazine staff, so I saw what they had on loan for road tests.
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  #5  
Old 11-07-2002, 04:59 PM
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Quote:
Originally posted by CigarJohnny
Alex, you could probably make some good $$$ if you kept a camera on you. Road & Track and other car mags would probably pay good money for pics of the cars you've seen.
I agree...people were paying money for pics of the Holden Monaro (the one that will be marketed as a Pontiac GTO in the US) and I remember a magazine article that had a fellow chased in the desert in the US when he took photos of the then then new Honda Legend Coupe - he managed to get photos of them chasing him too!!

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  #6  
Old 11-07-2002, 05:06 PM
Breck SVX
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k, thats it...i'm buying a digital camera tomorrow.
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  #7  
Old 11-07-2002, 09:25 PM
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I used to see fleets of new cars making their way up I-70 from Denver. They use a mix of interstate and mountain roads for different measurements. Sometimes they're after NVH (noise, vibration, harshness), sometimes performance at altitude, etc. Mostly I recall seeing Audis, VWs and Toyotas heading up the hill.

I used to work for a shop in Florida (West Palm Beach) that rented three of their bays to Ford each winter. They used a particular part of town to take data recordings for NVH. They would transfer the data to Dearborn and it could be reproduced on a hydraulic chassis simulator. They did disguise their cars quite a bit, at the time they would have a Mustang front-end grafted onto a Fairmont, etc.

I forget how many different areas (locales) they used for their data gathering. Just off of east Colfax in Denver/Aurora, Ford used to have an emissions lab. I used to work nearby and we'd run into their techs at the local watering hole on occasion. I believe they closed that lab in 1980.

Here in Louisville I don't see any of the test mules. However the Ford truck plant down the road ocassionally sends a truck over for me to check the alignment readings. I don't know what method they use at the plant, but apparently they're using our machine to verify theirs.
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  #8  
Old 11-08-2002, 08:58 AM
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Quote:
Originally posted by Beav
Just off of east Colfax in Denver/Aurora, Ford used to have an emissions lab.
Subaru R&D has a facility a couple of miles from my office. I'm pretty sure that they do mostly emissions stuff there.

Whenever I see a Subaru that's going through their testing, the guy behind the wheel is beating the snot out of it. Or maybe I just see the same guy and he happens to have a lead foot.
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  #9  
Old 11-13-2002, 12:55 PM
Breck SVX
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Last night i saw a Porsche Cayenne driving opposite me on I-70. It was all black...not very good looking (though i think i might take one if it were given to me).

-Alex

Last edited by Breck SVX; 11-13-2002 at 12:58 PM.
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