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AutoliklieeklFor Week October 14,

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75 Cents

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@T!- Ultimate Offroader?

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By Bob I n i n 'The revolutronary off-road L a m b o r g h i nl Ctec,tah passed new perfarnmance tests wlth f ; y l n g colors last week a n d now plan!i iire proceeding to bulld it in Italy early next y e a r a n d in the U S . in late 1978 or earl," 1979. Au:oweek discovered the t e s t ~ n g prograrn 11) the Nevada desert a n d e v e n h a d a n orsportunlty to t r y the c a r briefly l a s t week a:+ the t e s t l n ~ was com~leted. A s I started the englne. I idly wondered how it would perform against off-road vehlcles like the Brttish Land Rover a n d d a y but I think l t w i l l ~ r s t oa l n d a cannon." ris, president of Mobility nternational. t h e Sari J o s e . crested t h e Cheetah.

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Instead of a n y competltlve testnng. mE4Crnt weeks

latc ~ e r f o r m u n c cd a t a r e q u l r r d by the U S Arrny.l'he r n ~ l ~ t a i rs yu v a l u a t i n g t h e veh~cle irnd l'harls h a s h o p e s a f s e l l i n g i t . T h e Cheetah i s the off-road v e h l r l e of thc f u . u r e . It looks l l k e s o m e t h i n g o u t of . i r s. ' y . & r s It w a s unveiled attlle G e n e v a

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auto s h < ~ w last March. After thal. Lambol'gll I11 took it 10 Italy fur s o m e testing and i n S u p t u n ~ b e r P h n n s b r o u g h t it back to t11e U >)ledS t a t e s for lestrng here. Ile Luok tlme o u t from h i s testing p n , g r i . n , to talk about the future of the ueli~cl,?. l l e revealed 'l'eledyne Contlnental Motors uf Muskegon. Mich.. h a s been llcrnsctd to build the An,erxcan version of the Cl~e,!tali.He said Teledyne c u u l d easily b~.+ln prcxluction i n lala 1978 or early 1979." 'l'lle ,\~iler!canversion wlll beequipped .r.ltll cl1h.r a d l e s e l o r n g a s u l l n e c n y i n e uhl<:hr.v,:rtlrc ct~somcrs order. 'l'llr cibt.sel will be made by Continental Motc,rs. . L Irlodlf~c;rt~un of une 11 alwiidy 1;illds. ir x;rs eriglrrc wlll be 111~. s a m e as ' n tllc l ~ n ~ l o t . v p e - 3 i~ 6 0 c u b l c 111(:11c111.y~-

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ivl~ur1b;rse acrd ;r rill~lnrlr tritck. Its o ~ e r a l l length 1s 179 inriles ;and width 74 inches ~ ~ i lIlit. l l lhc~ght ti5 I I I C ~ ~ S I t ac,iglib 45liO pr>i>nds and r a n c a r r y 17110 i o i .r 1520U lb. <;VU'. 'l'llr g r o u n d I s 11 i n c l ~ r silndcl. tht! rear f i r m is p l a n n i n g to m a k e a l u m i n u m versions of two iron e n g i n d ~ l l e r c i ~ t i13 ~ l tinder . thc front a n d rear (.r \ ' k . the 153 i n c h Pontiac L four and the 165 i n c h . 2.7 l ~ t e 60 r degrec . .. ir<.tloils. ~ l i 15 ~ l u,iderthecentcrsectir~r. It l'Il.:l.~s ialil l.an~bortrh!ni i s c x p c r t t ~ d to i.in tit, u p x 77 ,lc.grc,e i n < 1ior aud down a C h e v r o l e t is s t i l l developing f o r i n t r o d u c t i o n in 1979. The V 6 is part Legln llr iduc:tlOn 111 11i1114. 197H I t s i , e r - -i.( tlc,~'~.c'(. 51'111e i t C ~ I >:o I Y l l ~ n l l t . ~ ahour rl o f G M ' s f r o n t d r i v e compact car program. the r e p l a c e m e n t f o r the ::IOII 01 the Chcetall wtll be s11ghtl.v i~lld d~ 0 ~ 6 0 111 11 ?err,nds. It h a s a threeNova s e r i e s of cars i n 1 9 6 8 n 1 o d e l s . I t isexpected that i n 1 9 8 3 GM w i l l .,nr;%lle . t ran the t l r s t p r n t o t y p e d ~ s p l i ~ y e r i.;pt.rd ('Ilryslei- aiiti,,natlr transrnlsslon :o ( ; a n < : v . ialld tasted in Nevada &nrl I - L C , ;r i ~ ~ l l - l ~ n f< i~ e u r - w h e e l do an aluminum version of the V6. That is the year G M is planning another downsizing of i t s standard cars. The alumtnum version o f 1'll.rris .&ndU l l l .lanowski, pl.es>dent of d i l i ~ 5).511'111 Il.rt,rM<,t~vcIric.. the Heno, N c v . . lrrnl Ulleri I lrled t t r s I w a s the iron four w o u l d be a year or two after that. The move would be to ivl~ich dl!l tlre t r ~ s r ~ n g cornpletcd , their s ~ ; r p r l s r : dat hrru qulet it was, "That is save weight to i n c r e a s e fuel economy. -dol-k li.st Weldnesday a n d tc,ok t h e Chee- vl,l.y Ilnprll-t;Lnt tcl tlre inllltary-Low nulse Front Wheel Drive may be on over o n e - t h i r d o f a l l American cars a:10 d I,>w ~ t i i r o u c ~ t l ePllirrls . sirld. tah b a c i IoCalifurnla. I t wlll bedlspiayed by the mid-1980's. Industry sources say General Motors has already i'llerr is om trick t o d r l v ~ n g t h Chaelah. r !n l;rle Liltober by T e l r d y n e a t itn A r m y been a s k i n g vendors about parts needed f o r a m a j o r conversion o f erl trans~n \Vttshln~rton. Lanlburghlnl 1 s with 11s f l i ~ ~ , r ~ m v o n tnutomatlc h its car lines in the early 1980's. GM's f r o n t drive has been limited ,colr~ 1,) ~enter tin the t:astAfrlci~nSafars r n l h s l o n . 'l'lle otlllr controls are a l s o the lgnltlon k e y 4 t r r th s j'ear anrl P h a r 1 s s ~ l d h w ~1 a n t s tu c c , r , v c r r t ~ , i n . ~ l - e v e ~ ~ before to the personal luxury cars. the Toronado and Eldorado. But Hut tlicrc I S nolhlny conventl<,i~al about ,'nter it 111 the next Bajis rirce i n 1978. next winter the program will receive a big boost when GM's new i n sl~rrrr. the Cheetah h a s m<jveda step tlu. w;ry tllc velricle performs. On the compact cars appear with front drive. And even before that-in the .l,>scr I,, l>roductlr,n a n d sale. P h i i n s l s n t Nt!vadir lesl, the Cheetab eas1l.b cllnlbed fall o f 1978-GM's luxury cars will be downsized a n d still use f r o n t ' ~ I k l n g p r ~1101 c r h e (makes i t c l e a r that the three fnut f;illen tree t r u n k s , boiders half drive. Word now is that Cadillac may use f r o n t d r i v e on all ~ tcars s in :SL:~.IllrOIlgurr inlrrltlonerl i n s l u r l c s about 11s stze. lunlprd { i f f six fuut high e m b a n k 1983. m a k i n g it the f i r s t division to do so. : l e Chcrt:th lbrfoie is way above a i l a t he rn~.nts tind went tllr-iluyh three foot deep ~ ~ ~ p ~ ~ ~ t s ' l ' ~l : i> ls ch ra ly rg nefr,rthc e r\rrirr>- Stl~PillllS. Monza Models have been delayed at C h e v r o l e t . The division has i . r n mo<lrl.I'resurnably. $IS.DOU would be Srirne. d u s t grrt intu the e n g i n e and set back u n t ~ l December the introduction of the wagon a n d Vega< I 1 ~ 1 0 1 . t . r(.allztlc price fur the vehlrlt. as ruiltlcrd i , e r f < > r i I > n ~ ailatre r s f r w d a y s but t.ype hatchback m o d e l s o r i g i n a l l y set for introduction t h i s f a l l . Word t.,ju~pped in tilo basic trim end not w > l h Pli.rr~b wasn't rvorried. i l e said t h n g s i~itrned in t l ~ u ~ ~ i s t ~ ~ ~ r tests ~ipl would e t c d is Chevrolet wants to use its new 2 D O - i n c h V6 a n d this requires t!it! rnorr i.o'itly ~ n ~ l l t a n~odlf~ciitlcrns. ry ; h e i'h<?eti%lr is built o n a 118 incli Continued On Page 2 Continued On Page 2

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