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Vert-A-Pac train cars kept your Chevy Vega's price in check

Our apologies to those who've seen this before, but for the rest of the class, how awesome are these pictures of the Vert-A-Pac shipping system General Motors came up with to ship the Chevrolet Vega back in the 1970s? Developed along with Southern Pacific Railroad, GM was able to double the amount of Vega models it could ship by packing them into the unique storage cars vertically.
At the time, rail cars could fit 15 vehicles each, but Chevrolet was able to lower shipping costs by making it possible to ship 30 Vegas per rail car, in turn allowing the price of the Vega to remain as low as possible. Each rail car had 30 doors that would fold down so that a Vega could be strapped on, and then a forklift would come along and lift the door into place. All the cars were positioned nose down, and since they were shipped with all of their required fluids, certain aspects had to be designed specifically for this type of shipping, including an oil baffle in the engine, a special battery and even a repositioned windshield washer reservoir. See for yourself in our image gallery above.

New Takata problem results in recall of 414 GM vehicles

An airbag-inflator rupture discovered by Takata during testing has resulted in a new recall affecting 414 vehicles from General Motors, including 395 of them in the US. This latest campaign covers 2015 model-year examples of the Buick LaCrosse, Cadillac XTS, Chevrolet Camaro, Equinox, Malibu, and GMC Terrain. There are no reported breaks in any of these vehicles on the road, and the company estimates only one percent of them actually have the faulty parts. According to documents submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (as a PDF), one side-airbag inflator failed a cold test at -40 Fahrenheit "releasing high pressure gas and propelling the separated components apart." The supplier told GM about the failure the next day. In these vehicles, the safety device might not only burst but the bag could inflate incorrectly, as well. GM and Takata say that a cause is not yet known, but they are "conducting an investigation." GM will begin notifying affected owners via overnight mail on Oct. 19. Dealers will replace the side airbag modules on all of the affected vehicles with new components outside of the suspect lot. All of the removed parts will also be collected for further study. Takata's faulty front airbag inflators have resulted in a serious scandal for the supplier. Initial figures indicated 34 million US vehicles are need of repair, though more recent figures have knocked that down to 23.4 million bad parts in 19.2 million automobiles. GM was already among the dozen automakers with models to fix, and some of its pickups were affected, along with the Saab 9-2X and Pontiac Vibe. GM Statement: General Motors is recalling 395 cars and crossovers in the U.S. because one of the front seat side air bags inflators may be defective. In the event of a deployment, the air bag's inflator may rupture and the air bag may not properly inflate. The rupture could cause metal fragments to strike the vehicle occupants, potentially resulting in serious injury or death. GM is unaware of any incidents involving vehicles with these components, which were part of a lot in which one inflator failed acceptance testing at the supplier. Dealers will replace the side air bag module or modules in affected vehicles. Including Canada, Mexico and exports, the total population of the recall is 414, GM estimates 1 percent of the recalled vehicles may have the defect.

GM’s Charlie Wilson was right: Stronger regulations can help U.S. automakers

Charlie Wilson had been the president and CEO of General Motors before being nominated to become secretary of defense by Dwight Eisenhower. During his Senate confirmation hearings, he controversially said, "For years I thought what was good for our country was good for General Motors, and vice versa." And he was right. While car companies aren't necessarily the most progressive when it comes to things that might have the slightest possibility of political blowback, General Motors should be credited for doing something absolutely forthright in this regard with its announcement that it wants the federal U.S. government not to squash the California Air Resources Board's emissions requirements but to actually create a 50-state "National Zero Emissions Vehicle" program that, in the words of Mark Reuss, executive vice president and president, Global Product Group and Cadillac, "will drive the scale and infrastructure investments needed to allow the U.S. to lead the way to a zero emission future." Filing comments to the Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient Vehicles Rule for Model Years 2021-2026 Passenger Cars and Light Trucks is one thing. But a graphic the company developed for this announcement — shown above — is something else entirely, something that is absolutely credible, creative and clever. There is a photo of a Chevrolet Bolt EV driving along a highway, which seems to be in Marin County (based on the blurred San Francisco skyline in the background). Text on the photo states: "It's Time for American Leadership in Zero Emissions Vehicles." It seems to say, in effect, "If we want to make America great again, then we're going to do it by leading in technology, not by retreating behind weakened regulations." General Motors understands that the auto market is globally competitive, and if U.S.-based companies are going to be in the game, then they'd better be able to out-innovate the companies based elsewhere, where emissions and economy standards are not being weakened. What's good for our country ... Related Video: