European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 20, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Thursday february 20, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 13 Pontiac s be mans will return in 88 be mans an automotive nameplate associated with pm s Pontiac division for More than 20 Yean will return to the Pontiac lineup in 4988 but it will no longer be of Pontiac be mans sport it or la mans can am Fame. In fact the be mans won t even be made in America. The 1988 be mans cars will be Small ones derivatives of the opel Wadett with the design and engineering by opel of Germany and the manufacturing to be done in Korea by general motors korean affiliate Jaewoo motor company. The car will be offered in three door Hatchback and four door Sedan versions. Pontiac says that the name be mans came from the French Road race and was first used by Pontiac As a trim option on the 1962 tempest convertible and sports Coupe. Starling in 1971, the entire inter mediate size tempest line was renamed be mans the sporty be mans cars Especio Cally popular in it and other sports ver Sions. In 1982, Thole mans lineup was replaced by the Pontiac 6000 series. Shelby Back in Market sex racing Driver Carrol Shelby of Texas whose Shelby cobra and Shelby Ford mus Tang gt500 and gt350 cars made him famous is Back in the Market. Shelby who with englishman Roy Salva Dor won the 24 hours of be mans for Aston Martin in 1959, recently announced the formation of Shelby automobiles inc. The new company based in los Angeles will sell High performance versions of Chrysler products. Production will be Small Shelby says about 500 to 1,000 units a year for each of several lines of Chrysler cars. But the implications for Chrysler could be considerably larger because Shelby says if any one of our cars hits a Home run then Chrysler could move it into its big Assembly plants for much larger Shelby has played a Strong role in the Chrysler comeback responsible for turning out such cars As the Dodge Charger Shelby Turbo Hatchback Coupe among others. He was approached and signed on by Chrysler president Lee Iacocca the sex Ford chief the Pontiac be mans of German design korean manufacture who is father of the Ford la Cocca and Shelby had worked together on the special Shelby Ford performance cars of the 1960s. Car parts service last year we wrote briefly about a firm in Texas that specializes in Quick car parts service and markets solely to Apo Fpo customers on a worldwide basis. The owner of the company is Jeffrey Wilbur an air Force Veteran and he dropped a line recently to say that his first year of operation has been a highly successful one. Wilbur says that his firm. Home Auto motive products of Lubbock Texas has Access to virtually All aftermarket and dealer warehouses in Dallas and that the majority of orders Are shipped within 24 hours of Wilbur says that any general car part can be obtained immediately while special application items trim dealer Only Etc May have to be ordered. If it takes longer than five Days from receipt of order the customer will be notified. The parts service includes both . Car parts and parts for .-specification for eign cars european japanese and others. If you need parts that you can t obtain quickly or want More details write Home automotive products 5204 72nd Street Lubbock Texas 79424. Bow s Best Cycle year Bow of Munich said recently that 1985 was the most successful sales year in the 62-year history of Bow motorcycle manufacturing. Despite the shrinking and somewhat stagnant Cycle Market worldwide Bow reported that its 1985 record surpassed that of 1984, which was the firm s previous re Cord year. The Bow motorcycle factory in Berlin Spandau produced 37,104 cycles during 1985 the previous year output totalled 34,001and 36,320 were sold worldwide previous year 33,804a 7.4 percent sales gain. Of this total 26,858 bikes were exported 73.9 percent of total production. The larg est Export markets Bow said included the United states Britain France and Australia. Bow attributed its sales gains to the kilo four Cylinder Bike which was introduced in the fall of 1983, and the new three Cylinder k75c, which was introduced last fall. Genera Auto show after the automotive outpouring at the Frankfurt Auto show last september the Swiss have a Tough act to follow but their show is always one of the Best and this year s 56th Geneva Auto Salon should be no exception. The show opens March 6 and runs through March 16 in the exhibition Center near Geneva International Airport. Along with cars and accessories other automotive items will be on display. Companies from More than 30 nations will be represented at the show. The Geneva Auto Salon is always regarded As an important one because of the test Market Factor. The Swiss do not manufacture cars but they buy a lot of them and there Are no Home car favor ites in the show s limelight. Randy Barnett Enoy driving Here Are some helpful tips editor s note today we print a letter in part from Glenn j. Behrmann a civil Ian electrical Engineer serving at the Kapaun air station in Germany. He has some interesting things to say about driving is Wells some observations that contribute to traffic safely from the numbers of bows Mercedes porsche and other serious cars in the hands of americans it s obvious that America s love affair with the automobile is alive and Well Here in Germany. It s also obvious that there Are a lot of americans out there enjoying speeds Well in excess of the Good old double not Only do the germans build some of the world s great go fast cars but by government decree their superhighways have no maximum Speed limit unless otherwise posted of course. These aut Bahnen Are kept in outstanding condition by fanatical maintenance remember the pot holed obstacle courses that we Call superhighways Back in the states. That Road grooming is Only a part of the Story. If the German Tuv vehicle inspection Agency were set Loose in the United states it probably would Send half of the cars on american roads where they belong to the junkyard. The essential ingredient that makes the world s fastest roads some of the safest however is the Drivers using them. The natives observe traffic rules in a Way that would have any Boston cabbie running for the next night out of Frank furl. There Are exceptions of course but for the most part our hosts Are Damn Good Drivers. Since i love to drive i be enjoyed my first year in Germany immensely. I m one of the growing majority of americans who believes that 55 Mph is too slow. But i be been wondering lately if it in t too fast for some of us and our cars. Part one of the problem seems to be Well in hand. There Are smart people in both the German government and in the . Military that make it All but impossible to Register the kind of automotive debris that smokes and wobbles Down american highways. Keep up the Good work Guys and when in doubt be Tough. It could be you when the other Guy s Rusty suspension mounting Breaks away. Or any of us. With that part of the problem in control there s the other larger part the Way some of us drive. I be spent lots of time on race courses trying to learn How to drive fast and also safely and i m amazed at what even a big Sedan can do if it s in Good working order and the Driver is too. These Are big ifs though. Out of this i be made up a Rule that i try to drive by to wit i try not to do anything that will Force the other person to use his brakes unexpectedly. Think about that the next time you get in your car. You la always notice Brake lights coming on at Normal stopping slow ing Down areas but you la also see a lot of Brake lights coming on because of an emergency a Driver has forgotten to signal for instance. Signalling and following the rules Are not stupid or slow. On the contrary if you like driving fast you must realize what makes it possible. It s the people on the Road taking their driving seriously. Along with the Speed limit the real Rea son you can t drive fast Back in the states is that most people Aren t aware of what s happening around them. A Driver should develop a sixth sense of where everyone else is relative to him or her. When in doubt signal. Another Rule when you turn the steering wheel to change the heading of your car you should probably be signalling. This includes going around Lurns where you have the right of Way. Then there s i Don l care who does it it s dumb. Want some num Bers the Speed limit on German land Strassen is 100 Kph 62 Mph. That s about 90 feet per second. Thai is your car travels the length of a football Field in the time it took you to read this sentence. It is said thai formula one racing Drivers can get off the Gas and onto the brakes in about 200 milliseconds 2/10ths of a second bul even that is still 20 feet of Forward travel. Another problem. At Zebra Cross walks i be lost count of the number of times i be watched people waiting to walk through until cars finally Stop for them. Let s review the Law when a pedestrian is in any part of a Zebra crosswalk both directions of traffic must Stop. Anything else is illegal. Telling a German police Man about not seeing a pedestrian in a crosswalk won t Wash. It s your responsibility to see pedestrians and furthermore it is technically illegal to go Forward after the person in the crosswalk has cleared the area Only in front of your car. Many examples come to mind bul one Sticks out. I was stopped behind another car at a crosswalk Between the High school Field and the commissary by parking lot Here at vog Cloch. A woman with two Small children the woman was also pushing a baby Carriage started across our Side of the crosswalk bul had to Stop Halfway to Wail for nol one bul iwo cars to drive through this while Sev eral cars were slopped in my Lane. Fortunately her kids were smart enough to know that they could not always take the right of Way guaranteed by the Law. Drivers you must be observant around crosswalks. Parents should Leach their children to Cross carefully and not to Loi Ter around crosswalk entrances. The Bottom line is concentration and consideration. Don t Lei driving fool you. It s More difficult than it appears to be and it gets much harder As speeds go up if you re going to drive Don l do things that Are dumb. One last suggestion if you think this is just so much wimpy talk go try a High Speed gymkhana or driving school put on by the adar or avd or some other Ger Man driving club or car club or Auto clubs in whatever country you May be stationed. Experienced participants will show you by example just How Little you really know about Irue High Speed driving and they la also help you learn some valuable skills that might save someone s life
