From: jtchew@csa3.lbl.gov (Ad absurdum per aspera)
Subject: Re: It's a rush... (was Re: Too fast)
Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory - Berkeley, CA, USA
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Wharf Wrat rites:

>They were designed for speeds of upwards of 80 - I forget the
>exact spec - but for military vehicles.  That's 80 in a 1958 Dodge 
>Powerwagon.  Not 80 in a 1993 Ford Taurus.

Ever' once in a while, you still see a reference to the super-
slab system as "Interstate and Defense Highways."  But whether
the military has much of anything that goes 80 on the road is
another matter.  A few of their most whomped-up diesel trucks,
maybe, load permitting.  The military surplus stuff I've
driven -- "Jeep Classic" (Willys/Kaiser/AMC, pre-independent
suspension) and Power Wagons (Slant 6 in a crew-cab pickup)
weren't exactly congenial at highway speeds, and I wouldn't
swear any of them would do 80 except as a bedload on a semi.

You just gotta love the standard military tire, too, or at
least the one they used to use.  Designed circa WW II as a
compromise between traction in icky sticky goo and longevity
on sharp rocks and so forth, it's quite ill-adapted to high
speeds on civilian roadways.  For those who can't remember
what they look like, imagine a mountain-bike tire with a
road rib in the middle, scaled up to car size. Oh, yeah, and
narrow too. One of the standard mods for civilizing a surplus 
Jeep was to install tires and wheels that reflected some of
the advancements made in ride and handling since D-Day.

But the point made by Wharfie and others still stands:  if
you're going to do 80 in a mil-spec '58 Power Wagon (or a
Jeep or a tank transporter or other unwieldy rubber-tired
vehicle) anywhere, I'd suggest the American interstate.  
Your safe speed there tends to be limited more by your car
and skills, road maintenance, and the swarms of fools around
you; the roads were designed for going like the devil.

Naturally, neither I nor my employer advocates unsafe or
unlawful driving.

--Joe
"Just another personal opinion from the People's Republic of Berkeley"
