[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

Lastly - I wanted to comment on the little adhesive letters on the windshields of some of the cars. These may be specific to the Marketing groups as they administrated the photo sessions (or designations of vehicles during a Long Lead/Short Lead press show) but we also use them to designate vehicles during Engineering road trips. Powertrain Cooling, HVAC, Brake Test trips, etc usually have several test vehicles, plus a lead vehicle and a chase truck with technicians and tools. The location is chosen based on what you are trying to accomplish (ie, Death Valley for heating/cooling, Kapuskasing for cold weather, Pikes Peak for altitude and braking, Towns Pass/Davis Dam for trailering up long grades, etc). Participants, consisting of engineers, engineering managers, and guests (quality or marketing reps, or even secretaries participating as a "benefit") are rotated through the various seating positions usually in a prescribed manner, to make sure everybody gets a turn to drive and sit in the back seat. Relevant data is taken while the vehicles are driven and, ideally, reviewed that evening during a working dinner meeting.

One of my favorites was a Corvette test trip where, rather than stick the letters on the rear window of the vehicles, they used the Manufacturer's plates to designate the test vehicle from behind (ie, "12M-001", "12M-002", etc).

K

Here in SE Michigan it is fairly common to see a string of similar camoflauged vehicles flying down the expressway lined up like ducks. If you can't tell what manufacturer or nameplate the vehicles are just based on the overall size and shape you usually can tell by what type of chase/support vehicles are employed - but - not always. I know for a fact that during the Dodge Viper development they used Chevrolet Suburbans as chase vehicles in an attempt to make observers and the media think that the test cars were the next generation of the Chevrolet Corvette.

A lot of the durability testing is now contracted to outside suppliers, like Rousch, and done on public roadways. I can sit on my front porch and see pairs of vehicles (usually Dodge trucks, Darts and full size passenger cars) fly by, or pass them on my commute home along I-75.

K