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The consequence seemed fatter too, aggravated by a short, squat grille — eggcrate on Customs, bar-kind on different ­models — that was far-less-elegant than the slim prow of 1941-47. All this moved auto writer Tom McCahill to pronounce the ‘forty eight Packard match for “a dowager in a Queen Mary hat.” Many merely known as it a “pregnant elephant.”

Thus far no less than, the twenty first century has been a rough time for Detroit. Regardless of closing plants and slicing jobs for the reason that 1980s, Normal Motors and other major carmakers misplaced their as soon as-vaunted competitive edge, burdened by big fixed prices and persevering with losses in sales and market share to import-model rivals. Add in unexpected jumps in materials prices, plus a market whipsawing from thirsty trucks to thriftier vehicles in the face of record fuel prices, and the result’s a “excellent storm” that threatened to ship the big Three crashing on the rocks of bankruptcy.

Serving the cause of fresher air was the Vue Green Line, Normal Motors’ first mainstream automobile with a low-emissions, high-mileage gasoline/electric hybrid powertrain. An early 2007 addition, it employed a 2.4-liter Ecotec 4 and a nickel-metallic-hydride battery pack feeding 10 kilowatts to an electric hyd motor/generator. A four-pace torque-converter computerized transmission channeled a most 170 internet horsepower to the entrance wheels.