<VV> SUV configuration (no Corvair, except maybe Lakewoods)

[Frank DuVal]

Best of both worlds:
My  70 Buick and 96 Caprice wagons have a door/gate. Pioneered by F**d.

I can use the extra 2 feet of cargo flat area with the tailgate down, or 
open tailgate as a door and reach right in. The 96 also has a "transom" 
window above the tailgate, so that can be opened separately without 
using an electric motor to lower the glass as my 70 does. With  either 
of these designs I can drive around with the window open.

Saftey Note:  Driving around with the rear window open can suck in 
exhaust fumes (and CO), especially NEVER just have the tailgate window 
open and the other windows closed. I had a school chum get carbon 
monoxide poisoning riding in his parents back seat on vacation one year!

Without a tailgate, how does one eat at a football game???

Go Hoos

Frank DuVal

J R Read_HML wrote:

> Sorry - did not mean to confuse with the terminology.  I'm talking 
> about the tail gate (1/2 height) opening down - flat and the window 
> opening UP.  '96 Blazer was like that.  Could put a long load on the 
> floor - tail gate combination and have the load supported by the 
> tailgate.  '01 Blazer - glass will open up OR entire (BIG) tailgate - 
> including the glass will open UP. Useable floor space is now 2 feet 
> shorter (when open) than the earlier version and it is probably not 
> too smart to drive around with that full tale gate opened UP.
>
> I grant that there can be some inconvenience reaching in with the 1/2 
> height tailgate folded down (and that is where the women's influence 
> on the later design comes into play), but if the item is not too 
> large, it can be put in or out by just opening the window.
>
> Later, JR
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "airvair" <airvair at richnet.net>
> To: "J R Read_HML" <hmlinc at sbcglobal.net>
> Cc: <AeroNed at aol.com>; <VirtualVairs at corvair.org>
> Sent: Sunday, October 01, 2006 12:53 PM
> Subject: Re: <VV> SUV configuration
>
>
>> JR,
>>
>> Are you refering to the early '70's GM full-size wagons, where the
>> window went up into the roof and the tailgate slid under the rear floor?
>> That arrangement was widely refered to as the clamshell tailgate.
>>
>> Or are you refering to the traditional tailgate model, where the glass
>> goes into the tailgate? Or maybe the traditional double-door models?
>>
>> None of the above types are, IMHO, the ideal way of doing things.
>> Tailgates put a huge tailgate in the way of reaching in, while
>> double-doors have that annoying, vision-blocking pillar in the middle of
>> the rearview mirror. The clamshell design, while slick, just took up too
>> much practical space. Liftgates help, but put a huge door above you,
>> which is either too low for tall people or too high for short people.
>> Plus the wide swing-up radius can be a detriment at times.
>>
>> I DO, however, like the dutch door type that the Astro (M) van
>> introduced a number of years ago. Double door lower, to get rid of the
>> tailgate, and a full-view window in a shortened liftgate arrangement.
>> Best compromise of all the types.
>>
>> -Mark
>>
>> J R Read_HML wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Actually - I'd like to see a return to the clamshell opening at the 
>>> rear -
>>> for large, long, or flat, cargo.  But since they (SUVs) now get sold as
>>> grocery getters, the "mom's" have won that round.
>>>
>>> Later, JR
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> -- 
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>>
>
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