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[email protected]It’s hard for a reader to be “on location” in the
middle of a pandemic, so Phil E. VanSwoll
of Columbia, California, dug through some
old pictures and found this photo. “I found
this shot from 2009, taken just before my
ride on the maglev train in Shanghai. I
don’t remember ever seeing a photo in
your magazine taken at this location, yet
it is one of the most exciting concepts of
getting people from one place to another
I’ve ever experienced. More than 250
mph! Odd that it has never become a
mainstream solution to mass transit over
long distances. I have been subscribing
to MotorTrend since the 1950s and enjoy it
today as much as when I was young.”Readers Weigh in on Trucks,
Dusty Tires, and Our POTY
In your February 2021 “Technologue,”
you state the average tire properly inflated
emits 5.8 grams of particles per kilometer.
For the sake of using units more Ameri-
cans are used to, this translates to 0.327
ounces per mile. Now let’s stretch this to
the expected life if a given tire of 50,000
miles, and we have a total of 16,367.14
ounces, or 1,022.95 pounds of tire dust
emitted from a single tire throughout the
life of that tire.
I don’t know what your thoughts are on
this, but I am quite sure there are no tires
on any average vehicle that can lose over
1,000 pounds of dust over their useful life.
I’ve crunched these numbers a dozen
times and still come up with the same
result. My conclusion is someone there
made a mistake in their reporting of 5.8
grams per mile; if you make this number
5.8 milligrams per mile, the result would
be 1.022 pound of tire dust over 50,000
miles, a much more reasonable number.
Your thoughts?
Michael F Palmosina II
via email
We forwarded your question to Emissions
Analytics CEO Nick Molden, who explained
that this was an absolute worst-case test of
road-legal driving—full payload, aggres-
sive driving, and cheap tires. Such condi-
tions would indeed have worn the tires out
quickly. Subsequent testing has shown
that tire emissions are likely to vary widely
based on conditions.—Ed.After reading your article on the GM
Defense ISV, you’ll have to excuse me for
chuckling at this line, “The ISV will be
treated to a strict regimen of preventa-
tive maintenance checks and services.”
It is true that the government requires
extensive maintenance tech manuals, but
the tech manuals are primarily used for
standing on to reach high objects while
wrench twisting. Spoken with confidence
after spending 33 years working on a
maintenance and logistics base.
Ed Rosner
Perry, GeorgiaThanks for the thoroughly enjoyable
article about racing the Motor Trend 500,
when stock cars at least sort of resembled
actual stock cars and you told your
date, “Don’t wear anything white.” Trueenough, NASCAR has done some good
things, and safety advances have been an
obvious game-changer, but some of us old
folks remember the “run what ya brung ”
days with great fondness. Again, thanks
for the memories.
Side note: It would be good if your
advertising folks would get with GEICO
and tell them that the ad with the carefree-
looking dude cruising in a vintage convert-
ible (maybe a Ford Starliner circa 1960?)
shows the car in park or maybe second (or
reverse?!?) in a three-on-the-tree manual.
Looks a little silly, no?
Ray Janicek
Naperville, Illinois
Can’t crash your car if you’re not driving it,
right, Ray?—Ed.Your interview column is a nice feature.
But reading the interview with Mike
Koval, Jr., head of Ram Brand, was an
adventure in a trendy hype lingo. It took
him half the space to not say what a
forthcoming midsize Ram pickup might
or might not be. “It’s an ongoing conversa-
tion internally. I wouldn’t expect anything
certainly this year.” Oh, no, really? Then,
“The question is still open. We’re moni-
toring the competitive landscape ... we’re
futuring what the segment might look
like ...” Futuring? Like Nostradamus? And
let’s not broach the subject of naming the
vehicle ... the Dakota? This vehicle is filling
“a tremendous white space opportunity.”
All of this work comes about because
“we’re actively looking into things.”
The interview isn’t without merit, as
we get some interesting stuff on hybrid/
electric Rams and the assurance that the
Stellantis group won’t have much effect
on Ram products. When he goes on to
discuss the difference between Ram and
Jeep buyers, though (referring to possible
competition between the upcoming
Dakota and the Gladiator), we’re back in
the quicksand: “The Jeep brand is a spirit,
a way of life. ... We’re a scrappy truck
maker.” I would say that the Gladiator has
the heritage he speaks of, simply because
it has an ancestor in the Gladiator of the
’60s. Likewise the Wrangler and Cherokee.
No question Ram has taken off since
splitting from Dodge, but I’d say that’s
because FCA made a huge investment in
keeping it at or above a competitive level.
And the resurgence was underway well
before the name change—since the firstrestyle in 20 years that gave us that bull-
nose look in the mid ’90s. Dodge trucks
are older than the Willys Jeep and had a
connection to WWII, as well (in different
roles). Reading between the lines and
the jungle growth of verbiage, maybe his
thinking really is a concern about Ram and
Jeep cannibalizing each other?
I’m not complaining about the inter-
view. I just wish executives could look
beyond the equivalent of a Readers’
Digest “Increase Your Word Power” quiz
to express themselves. You see, I worry
that the competitive landscape, while
madly futuring, might actively disrupt this
segment with white space.
David Carniglia
Placerville, CaliforniaI could not agree with your Person of the
Year choice of “The American Driver”
more! I became a licensed driver in New
York City when I was just 17, and I’m now
turning 69. I remember vividly the short
road trips with my family as a child in the
late ’50s from Brooklyn to upstate in my
dad’s ’52 Dodge, ’56 Chrysler, ’60 Rambler,
and on and on until I got my first set of
wheels, a ’67 VW Bug. I’ve enjoyed driving
it and many other cars since.
Prior to the pandemic shutdown and
forced furlough, I traveled weekly from my
home in Central Jersey to the southern-
most tip, Cape May. I hope when this crazy
mess we are all in is finally over and more
and more cars are back on the road, all
American drivers will become more appre-
ciative of the sanctity of life and consider
more what their actions and especially
their inactions could cause behind the
wheel. Happy, healthy, and safe 2021.
Mike Planclan
via emailYour Say...
Reader on Location
Correction
Due to a production error,
Ferrari CTO Michael Leiters
(pictured) was represented
by the incorrect image in the
2021 Power List. MotorTrend
regrets the error.APRIL 2021 MOTORTREND.COM 25