That's part of the joke about the Belv, actually - Gryphon's discovery that the design was really quite good, and what let down previous examples of the type he's experienced was a combination of substandard materials and shoddy build quality. He and Shirley are, more or less by accident, essentially hand-building the car the Belv's designer intended, rather than the one Transbelvian Automobile Industrial Works managed to come up with.

>...then again I actually know next to nothing about automobiles
>period, so. Salt grain about the size of a beagle goes here.

"Ewww, what is this?!" Lucchini demanded, pulling an epic face and backing away from the salt lick. "Where's Wolfgang?"

--G.
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.