American Specialty Cars
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American Specialty Cars
American Specialty Cars (commonly known as ASC or American Sunroof Company) was an automobile supplier of highly engineered and designed roof systems, body systems and other specialty-vehicle systems for the world’s automakers. The company was headquartered in Warren, Michigan, in the United States and was one of several coach convertible builders. ASC sold assets to its Creative Services division in late 2016 to Roush Industries. In late June 2017, ASC effectively ceased operations, laying off all staff and had tooling and production equipment removed from the manufacturing plant in Lexington, Kentucky. Founding The company was founded by Heinz Prechter in Los Angeles, California as the American Sunroof Company in 1965. The company soon expanded its operations into Detroit by 1967. The company first supplied OEM services for the Ford Motor Company's 1968 Mercury Cougar XR-7. Innovations In the industry, ASC became well known for converting standard coupe automobiles into c ...
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Automobile
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, people instead of cargo, goods. The year 1886 is regarded as the birth year of the car, when German inventor Carl Benz patented his Benz Patent-Motorwagen. Cars became widely available during the 20th century. One of the first cars affordable by the masses was the 1908 Ford Model T, Model T, an American car manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. Cars were rapidly adopted in the US, where they replaced Draft animal, animal-drawn carriages and carts. In Europe and other parts of the world, demand for automobiles did not increase until after World War II. The car is considered an essential part of the Developed country, developed economy. Cars have controls for driving, parking, passenger comfort, and a variety of lights. Over the decades, a ...
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BMW Z3
The BMW Z3 is a range of two-seater sports cars which was produced from 1995 to 2002. The body styles of the range are: * 2-door roadster (E36/7 model code) * 2-door coupé (E36/8 model code) The Z3 was based on the E36 3 Series platform, while using the rear semi-trailing arm suspension design of the older E30 3 Series. It is the first mass-produced Z Series car. M models were introduced in 1998 in roadster and coupé body styles and were powered by the S50, S52, or S54 straight-six engine depending on country and model year. The M models came with a 5-speed manual transmission. Production ended on June 28, 2002, with the Z3 line replaced by the E85 Z4. Development and launch Development on the roadster began in 1991 and was led by Burkhard Göschel. The exterior was designed by Joji Nagashima, being completed in mid-1992 at 39 months before production and the design was frozen in 1993. Design patents were filed on April 2, 1994, in Germany and on September 27, 1994, ...
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Dodge Dakota
The Dodge Dakota, known as the Ram Dakota for the final two years of production, is a mid-size pickup truck from Chrysler's Ram (formerly Dodge Truck) division. The first Dakota was introduced in late 1986 as a 1987 model. From its introduction through 2009, it was marketed under the Dodge brand, and for the final two years under the Ram brand. The Dakota was sized above the compact Ford Ranger and Chevrolet S-10, but below the full-sized pickups such as Dodge's own Ram. It is a conventional design with body-on-frame construction and a leaf spring/live axle rear end. The Dakota was the first mid-size pickup with an optional V8 engine. The Dakota was nominated for the North American Truck of the Year award for 2000. __TOC__ First generation (1987–1996) The Dodge Dakota was developed by Chrysler as a mid-sized pickup. To keep investment low, many components were shared with existing Chrysler products and the manufacturing plant was shared with the full-sized Dodge D an ...
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Chrysler Executive
The Chrysler Executive was a car offered by the American automobile producer Chrysler from 1983 through 1986 during the malaise era of American automobile manufacture. The Executive was a stretched version of the Chrysler LeBaron aimed at the then booming market segment of limousines. Chrysler chose to use the stretched wheelbase E-body instead of the M-body platform used by the rear-wheel-drive Chrysler Fifth Avenue. The Executive and the 1985–1987 Cadillac Series 75 were the only factory-offered limousine models during the mid-1980s that both offered front-wheel-drive only. The two original 1982 Chrysler Executive prototypes were finished in dark red with matching vinyl tops, and red cloth interiors. Although fully functional, these two vehicles were for promotional use only and were used in various car shows. History All Executives were built by conversion specialist ASC near St. Louis, Missouri, and began as standard LeBaron coupes. Standard front doors (from LeBaron ...
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Chrysler Cordoba
The Chrysler Cordoba is a full-sized luxury car based on the Chrysler Newport that was marketed during the 1970 model year only and two generations as an intermediate-sized two-door personal luxury model manufactured by Chrysler in North America from 1975 until 1983 model years. The personal luxury version was the company's first model produced specifically for that market and the first Chrysler-branded vehicle that was smaller than full-size. The name was taken from the Spanish city of Córdoba, Spain. History In the early 1960s, when other upmarket brands were expanding into smaller cars with such models as the Mercury Comet and Buick Skylark, Chrysler very publicly declared that there would "never" be a smaller Chrysler. The 1963 Chrysler deluxe catalog says of the New Yorker, "This is no jr. edition car." The 1962 deluxe catalog goes even further, proclaiming on the rear cover: "there's not a jr. edition in the whole family!". The Chrysler Newport Cordoba name was intro ...
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Chrysler 300
The Chrysler 300 is a full-size luxury car manufactured and marketed by Stellantis North America (and its predecessor companies) as a four-door sedan and station wagon in its first generation (model years 2005–2010) and solely as a four-door sedan in its second and current generation (model years 2011–present). The second generation 300 was marketed as the Chrysler 300C in the United Kingdom and Ireland and as the Lancia Thema in the remainder of Europe. Background The Chrysler 300 continues a tradition of large front engine, rear wheel drive V8 powered luxury sedans the company has offered, starting in the 1940s with the Chrysler Saratoga and Chrysler New Yorker, followed by the Chrysler Windsor, Chrysler Newport and the Chrysler Cordoba, with the last rear wheel drive sedan, the Chrysler Fifth Avenue that ended production in 1989. When the company began operations in 1925, the Chrysler Six was entered as a roadster in the 1925 24 Hours of Le Mans where it finished ...
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Chevrolet SSR
The Chevrolet SSR (Super Sport Roadster) is a retro-styled retractable hardtop convertible pickup truck manufactured by Chevrolet between 2003 and 2006. The 2003 and 2004 model years used General Motors' 5.3  L 300  hp '' Vortec 5300'' V8. Performance was 7.7 seconds for with a 15.9 second quarter mile run at 86.4 mph. The 2005 SSR used the '' LS2'' V8 also found in the C6 Corvette, Trailblazer SS, and Pontiac GTO, and also offered a manual transmission option, the six-speed Tremec, for the first time. For the 2005 model year, the LS2 engine featured minor modifications that boosted its output to 390 hp (395-400 for 2006), respectively. Performance improved dramatically with the LS2; the 6-speed manual version had an advertised 0-60 mph (97 km/h) time of 5.29 seconds. In addition, GM badges were added to the vehicle. Design The SSR's styled design was inspired by Chevrolet's late-1940s Advance Design trucks, in particular the 1947–1955 picku ...
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Chevrolet Cavalier
The Chevrolet Cavalier is a line of compact cars produced by Chevrolet. Serving as the replacement of the Chevrolet Monza, the Cavalier was the second Chevrolet model line to adopt front-wheel drive. Three versions of the Cavalier have been sold, including three generations sold in North America sold from the 1982 to 2005 model years, a version produced by SAIC-GM for China from 2016 to 2021, and a SAIC-GM version produced for Mexico since the 2019 model year. The Cavalier was among the inaugural vehicles of the GM J platform. One of the first "world cars" of General Motors, the J platform was developed for use by each North American GM division (with the exception of GMC), alongside models from Opel, Vauxhall, and Holden. Though sharing chassis underpinnings, J-body cars from Europe and Australia used slightly different body designs and different powertrains; in Europe, the Vauxhall Cavalier and Opel Ascona were marketed as mid-size cars. Initially a divisional counterpart o ...
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Chevrolet Corvette
The Chevrolet Corvette is a two-door, two-passenger luxury sports car manufactured and marketed by Chevrolet since 1953. With eight design generations, noted sequentially from C1 to C8, the Corvette is noted for its performance and distinctive fiberglass or composite panels. It was front-engined through 2019 and mid-engined since. The Corvette is currently the only two-seat sports car produced by a major United States auto manufacturer and it serves as Chevrolet's halo vehicle. In 1953, GM executives accepted a suggestion by Myron Scott, then the assistant director of the Public Relations department, to name the company's new sports car after the corvette, a small maneuverable warship. The first model, a convertible, was introduced at the 1953 GM Motorama as a concept car; production models went on sale later that year. In 1963, the second generation was introduced in coupe and convertible styles. Originally manufactured in Flint, Michigan, and St. Louis, Missouri, the C ...
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Chevrolet Camaro
The Chevrolet Camaro is a mid-size American automobile manufactured by Chevrolet, classified as a pony car. It first went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed to compete with the Ford Mustang. The Camaro shared its platform and major components with the Firebird, produced by General Motors' Pontiac division that was also introduced for 1967. Four distinct generations of the Camaro were developed before production ended in 2002. The nameplate was revived on a concept car that evolved into the fifth-generation Camaro; production started on March 16, 2009. Background Before any official announcement, reports began running during April 1965 within the automotive press that Chevrolet was preparing a competitor to the Ford Mustang, code-named ''Panther''. On June 21, 1966, around 200 automotive journalists received a telegram from General Motors stating, "...please save noon of June 28 for important SEPAW meeting. Hope you can be on hand to help ...
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Buick Reatta
The Buick Reatta is a low-volume transverse front-engine, front-wheel drive, two-door, two-seater grand tourer manufactured and marketed by Buick as a coupe (1988–1991) and convertible (1990-1991) — both featuring a 3.8 liter V6 engine and shortened version of the GM E platform, shared with the seventh generation Buick Riviera. As Buick's first two-seater and its first convertible since the 1985 Riviera, the Reatta was manufactured in a highly specialized assembly program at the Reatta Craft Center (later known as the Lansing Craft Center) in Lansing, Michigan—achieving production of over 21,000 units in four years. Overview For the Reatta's manufacture at the Reatta Craft Center, specialized teams of workers assembled the car at a series of stations rather than on a conventional assembly line. After a team had completed their portion of the assembly, the car would be moved by robots to the next station. Paintwork was performed on site under subcontract to PPG I ...
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Turbocharger
In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement.
The current categorisation is that a turbocharger is powered by the kinetic energy of the exhaust gasses, whereas a supercharger is mechanically powered (usually by a belt from the engine's crankshaft). However, up until the mid-20th century, a turbocharger was called a "turbosupercharger" and was considered a type of supercharger.


History

Prior to the invention of the turbocharger,