2 questions about Diesel in U.S.A.

[Sandy G]

Rick-Yeah... I dunno where you grew up, but if it was Nebraska, there was NO REASON for a car to NOT run well there... Flat as a tabletop, no "High altitudes", nothin' like that. But, again, seems like I remember reading GM had "Redesigned" the turbohydramatic for its "downsized" cars, saved a lot of weight, & prolly, if I know GM, left half the damn parts out. MY Th200 in that Gawdawful '79 Cutloose, you'd "Shire down" on it to get around someone in town, & you'd find out it had somehow thrown itself out of gear, & you were just revvin' it to the Moon. Or, it would seem like it had a dozen or so intermediate gears in it, whilst in traffic, & never could find the one it REALLY wanted.. GM nearly went under for shenanigans like this in the mid-80s, if they HAD, it would have been largely deserved, I think. They bowed down to the FALSE God of Cost Accounting, & nearly died for it.. At what point does "Cost Accounting" stop, & REAL value starts being stripped from the product you're trying to produce ?!?