No Comparison

Regarding the July 21 article, “Dream Cars,” about former car makers Preston Thomas Tucker and John DeLorean:

There’s a bit of the showman and huckster in all entrepreneurs, but to compare Tucker and DeLorean, the cars and the men, is to raise DeLorean to a status he doesn’t deserve.

The DeLorean’s power-to-weight ratio was not comparable to other cars in the same price range. It was, comparatively speaking, a poor performer both in speed and handling.

The car also was an ergonomic disaster with bad ventilation, awkward windows and inconvenient controls. The stainless steel body looked great but made the car expensive to repair and insure. The steel panels could not be repaired. The only solution for even the smallest dent was to replace the entire panel at great expense.

Incidentally, there isn’t a pair of sunglasses made that will dim the glare from that hood on a bright summer day.

The Tucker, by contrast, was truly advanced for its day in both performance and ergonomics.

LAURENCE H. FITZGERALD

Santa Monica