Similar things are happening in Australia. We now have only three manufacturers; Ford, Holden (local GM) and Toyota. Mitsubishi fell over a few months ago after persistent rumours they were going to fail, and despite government handouts, closed the factory. Sidebar: Mitsubishi bought out Chrysler in the early 1980's here in Adelaide, took over the factory, everything. Now an empty factory.
Ford were going to close down their engine factory over in Geelong (near Melbourne) but heard today they are going to revamp it to make a "Euro 4" engine, whatever that is.
Holdens are closing down for 5 weeks after Christmas as they don't need to built any more cars. Your Pontiac GTO is our Holden Monaro, although not made anymore for our domestic market. The last one went on Ebay and raised big $$$ for charity.
Comment on "Jap crap" - I have a Toyota Hilux twin cab. Has 232,000 kms on it, never touched the auto, I change the oil every 10,000 kms, is on it's 3rd set of disc brake pads, still has the original rear drum brake shoes, and just goes and goes and goes. I think that's what we want - utter reliability for little outlay.
Dave
PS. AMC content - In my shed I have a 1970 Jav, 64 American convertible, 1974 Levi's Gremlin X, and out the back a 78 Concord and an 84 Eagle.
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