70 Series Front Clip Update/ Conversion.

[Gun Runner 5]

Unless, of course, one brings them in illegally. That's never been done before.

That’s always a possibility but a handful of folks do not constitute the “American” market in reality or spirit.

 

[calen]

That’s always a possibility but a handful of folks do not constitute the “American” market in reality or spirit.

assuming this was quoted wrong? yes, I dont believe all Americans are one way. just like all Canadians are not all nice and polite. living example right here

 

[sark]

neither was the whole car lol. sorry, when i said American market i was referring to it in spirit. Unfortunately American preference has drivin the majority of car design internationally. by American I meant people that want to drive a transformer looking war machine from the hypothetical future while going to work and back.

Most of the reason we see larger cars in the US today is because of the emissions law from the 1970's, which basically told car manufacturers that they needed to dramatically increase full economy in their vehicles sold to the public. They created an exception, however, that excluded vehicles over a certain size from these standards, such as trucks and purpose-built vehicles, which would not be able to meet these standards.

Car manufacturers had two policies, one for passenger vehicles and another for light trucks. Passenger vehicles were determined by size, and I think the deadline was in the 80's to have them roughly double their fuel economy. The other category was light trucks, which had a much more relaxed policy.

So car manufacturers said ok, we'll just make light trucks more attractive to regular consumers, by adding cargo space, comfort, radios, etc. and market them to families. Saved car companies from R&D costs of creating economy vehicles. Adding a topper to trucks basically created the SUV. This was the start of the bigger is better trend we see today, with the Suburbans and Escalades. Law makers essentially incentivized car companies to have a minimum size vehicle.

Also helps that our infrastructure was setup to allow for these larger vehicles to maneuver, and our highways tend to be more forgiving towards full size vehicles than smart cars.

 

[calen]

Most of the reason we see larger cars in the US today is because of the emissions law from the 1970's, which basically told car manufacturers that they needed to dramatically increase full economy in their vehicles sold to the public. They created an exception, however, that excluded vehicles over a certain size from these standards, such as trucks and purpose-built vehicles, which would not be able to meet these standards.

Car manufacturers had two policies, one for passenger vehicles and another for light trucks. Passenger vehicles were determined by size, and I think the deadline was in the 80's to have them roughly double their fuel economy. The other category was light trucks, which had a much more relaxed policy.

So car manufacturers said ok, we'll just make light trucks more attractive to regular consumers, by adding cargo space, comfort, radios, etc. and market them to families. Saved car companies from R&D costs of creating economy vehicles. Adding a topper to trucks basically created the SUV. This was the start of the bigger is better trend we see today, with the Suburbans and Escalades. Law makers essentially incentivized car companies to have a minimum size vehicle.

Also helps that our infrastructure was setup to allow for these larger vehicles to maneuver, and our highways tend to be more forgiving towards full size vehicles than smart cars.

I was referring to the concept of styling over utility. 90% of the shapes involved in car bodies today have absolutely zero relationship to the function of the car. in fact in a lot of cases they are a detriment to the car. unnecessary crevices to rot, difficulty to repair after damage, integrated headlights that are proprietary and fill with water, instead of globally sourceable sealed beams. and on top of all that, styled car bodies look bumming the second you dent them. The aesthetic language of styled cars is that of something that should never be dented or scratched. it looks foreign. where as dents and scratches on utilitarian bodies are expected simply by the nature of the vehicle. The shapes in most trucks and cars today, are added as decoration and styling. bellbottoms got nothing on straight leg jeans.

 

[slow70]

Well unfortunately these new cars aren't designed to rust out like your old 40 does but hey that's just my opinion and I to would put a vdj front on my 93 78

 

[calen]

Well unfortunately these new cars aren't designed to rust out like your old 40 does but hey that's just my opinion and I to would put a vdj front on my 93 78

what? 40s are by far the least rusty land cruisers. your newer truck is made of modern inferior steel cut worse then cheap coke lol. 100% will rust faster then my 41 year old truck. dream on, yours will be dust while mines still just surface rust lol.

 

[slow70]

what? 40s are by far the least rusty land cruisers. your newer truck is made of modern inferior steel cut worse then cheap coke lol. 100% will rust faster then my 41 year old truck. dream on, yours will be dust while mines still just surface rust lol.

Well the 40 in backyard rusting would say otherwise and the mismatched guards would say yours was rusty

 

[calen]

Well the 40 in backyard rusting would say otherwise and the mismatched guards would say yours was rusty

? back yard? rust? ya dont say. guess all the other backyard cars you see are all pristinene? what are you actually getting on about? never said a 40 had the steel of a 1920s car. doesnt mean its still better then a late 90s car. lots of war and resource heavy events happened between then and now cheapening steel. hahahah yes, my car is two bodies. it was a heavy use farm truck in australia and its 41 years old. you thought i was saying a 40 is immune to rust? you might need to go outside for a while.

 

[Gun Runner 5]

? back yard? rust? ya dont say. guess all the other backyard cars you see are all pristinene? what are you actually getting on about? never said a 40 had the steel of a 1920s car. doesnt mean its still better then a late 90s car. lots of war and resource heavy events happened between then and now cheapening steel. hahahah yes, my car is two bodies. it was a heavy use farm truck in australia and its 41 years old. you thought i was saying a 40 is immune to rust? you might need to go outside for a while.

I believe you missed your true calling in life. You would have made a great motivational speaker.

 

[dogfishlake]

Such a weird turn to this thread over whether the new style front looks good.

Anywhoo..... back on track

I doubt I would ever convert a narrow/round eye front truck to the new style, but I went for a ride in a new style nose 70 series last weekend and that truck looks sweet. Just something different makes it interesting. I have more of the pieces than not to swap one over, so I am still interested in what all has to be done.
One question I have is whether the inner fenders from the old can be made to work with the new? I highly doubt it, but don't know for sure.

 

[AirheadNut]

I'd love to see some actual, quantifiable evidence showing that 1970's steel is actually better than 1990's and later steel. I hear that said a lot, but have never seen anything to show that is the case metallurgically. If anything, the quality of alloys in recent decades has gotten better from a strength/weight standpoint. Certainly the quality of corrosion resistant treatments has improved since then.

Granted, back in the Model T era Ford was using vanadium steel alloys for body and chassis parts, which certainly helped with both strength and corrosion resistance, but as far as I know that has not been common practice since the 1920's.