Pomeroy still defends Cortina

Sir,

Having read your footnote to my letter, I feel I must have failed to express myself with less than my customary lucidity. Or, are you trying to send me up? Or, are you suffering from an attack of obtuseness?

Of course I know that to obtain the optimum combination of safety and comfort independent suspension to all four wheels is needed, but just putting it in a specification is not enough, and the results on the road given by Alfa on their Giulietta are not inferior to Porsche; nor is the DB4 less stable than the E-type; nor the Simca Aronde to the Simca 1000, to name three widely differing types of car.

I do not think the difference between having a normal, live rear axle on one hand and a lighter, dead axle on the other justifies calling one car “dreary” and the other “technically brilliant” when their other merits are very evenly balanced. Surely the lesson is that if the unorthodox is to show a real advantage over the orthodox, the new ideas must be developed by someone of great experience and great strength of character who can force development, often in discouraging circumstances. Having complete confidence in your fair mindedness I am looking forward with interest to your comments on these two cars when you have tested both of them, and I would like to reiterate that my efforts have been solely to evaluate the one against the other and not to pass any judgment in relation to other makes and other concepts, be they in respect of suspension or other features.

LAURENCE POMEROY Director, Technical Relations Ltd.

London, W.1.

[Pomeroy and Boddy seem to be coming very near to agreement. I exorcised the view in the same issue as that in which Mr. Pomeroy’s letter appeared that a rigid axle, if of light weight and properly located, can give excellent cornering and road-holding and without waiting for Alfa Romeo and Porsche owners to argue about this I am happy to reiterate it. There are, however, far more advanced features in a Taunus 12M f.w.d. V4 than a dead-beam back axle! So it would seem that Cologne has the “great experience and great strength of character to force development” that Dagenham lacks. My impressions of the Taunus 12M appear elsewhere in this issue and one day, like Rabbit and Reddy, I may drive a few more miles in a Cortina. I was glad of the opportunity to try a 12M round the Nurburgring; I note that I wasn’t invited to dice a Cortina round Brands on Boxing Day!—ED.]