Re: Four ringed exhaust, criminal bad taste or way cool man?

["Graydon D. Stuckey" <graydon@apollo.gmi.edu>]

On Wed, 6 Aug 1997, Graham Thackrah wrote:

> Initially thinking the former, I visited Ingo Rautenberg's web page and have
> to say it looks a lot better than I expected. Good job I checked before
> posting a very derogatory message stating that Americans simply haven't a
> clue when it comes to matters of taste (!?).
Graham,

I wondered about this too when I first started on the idea.   I suggested 
it anyway, and Bob went along with it, so it happened.   As it turned 
out, there are still possibly some improvements that can be made to maek 
it better on the car.   Technically, the muffelr works as well as any 
I've ever installed - the sound is _very_ interesting.   It blows my mind 
that it actually gives the inline 5  the sound character of a Jaguar or 
BMW inline 6!  (almost)

	As for the 4-rings, it certainly is no more tasteless than the 4" 
and 5" tips you find on a myriad of small cars which usually have no more 
than a 2" or 2.5" exhaust system!   That is technical dishonesty IMHO.

	Regarding the Americans, I was brought up to think the same, but 
after living here for a few years, I have come to appreciate their way of 
life and how that influences their 'taste.'   You have to understand that 
when it comes to automotive stuff, Americans are simply not car buffs 
like the rest of the world.   Hence, the cars they drive do not suit the 
rest of the world.   They suit Americans just fine though.  There is one 
thing that the rest of the world can learn, "There aint no substitute for 
cubic inches!"  :-)
	
Cheers,
Graydon D. Stuckey 
'89 Thunderbird SuperCoupe
'86 Audi 5000 CS Quattro
'86 Mazda RX7 GXL 2+2
'85 Mazda RX7 GS