It seems part of the problem is simply buildind shit that is prone to crater later. Sort of like going to Best But and (now closing down) Circuit City and buying a new computer, camera, big screen, whatever, and they try to sell you all the add on warranties. Excue me, but this thing is new I am buying and should already have warranty. I know stuff happens (like hurricanes!) or surges and what not, still, there is a ton of money to be made in shit that simply breaks down.
A case in point is many Houston auto dealerships around me have flooded my mailbox with flyers for "service" since they are not moving cars, figured will let people know they do paint, body, engine rebuilds, alignments, oil changes, tune ups and more. And are in neighborhood so someone (like Paige's mom who is 78 and drives a new Buick Lecerne) might opt to go to the dealer a few blocks away for service as opposed to driving on Loop 610 past hellhole Galleria 610 & 59 interchange (over 300,000 cars daily pass thru there, highest in state of Texas) so might opt to stay a little closer to home for those service oriented issues perhaps.
I just got thru changing a driver side door latch this morning on my 82 Eagle. Now it won't snap door handles anymore. Have finally figured out what was causing that, after yesterday changing out a same latch on my 81 Eagle. Now can open door like regular person withuot fear of pot metal handle snapping, or opening door thru driver side REAR door in rain. But this Eagle has over 200,000 miles on it. Distance to moon from earth is 210,000 miles. This Eagle has driven that distance now since 1982. And runs good and no smoke. AMC built some damned good cars. Not sure why the US automakers can't do it again.
One thing that bothers me is for many....MANY. ...years Ford, GM, and Mopar have spent MILLIONS of $$$ to lobby congress for loopholes in CAFE ratings and truck ratings, so they could continue to build big ass gas guzzling SUVs where they would make most profit. Year after year a extension. And more lobbyists. And continue to build 15mph stuff and BILLIONS spent opn commercials telling us, we have to have this vehicle! Our sex lives will increase. Women will be all over us. We can climb mountians in our new Toiletota Land Bruiser and sit on top of Moab. We can happily fill our Jeep with endangered species while driving in forest. Drive a Aztec and YOUR life will change forever as you experience waterfalls, remote beaches and under the stars.
Sort of like seeing all those Viagra and Celias commercials. Why are those people always sitting in bathtubs in remote areas? Ugh, I know if I had a woodie after 4 hours the last person I would want to drive to see, and sit in front of dozens of other people in waiting room is my doctor so he could laugh. In other words, no, if you take Viagra, the old lady will probably tell you go sleep on couch before you poke a hole in waterbed. There is no bath tub in middle of nowhere and if so, how the hell you going to get to it with that Hurst shifter there?
Same with automobile makers. In high school I took a neat class which dealt with media and how manipulative advertising makes people want to buy, or see a product. There is a lot of symbolism in what you see in commercials, even the lady speeding for no reason in tunnel at night. Dumbass, hope Henri Paul is not your driver so you won't end up like Princess Diana, fajitas on side of pillar. There was a Mitsibushi commercial where the girls drive up and the party starts with everyone. Please. Not unless they had the beer or weed I guess, but that not in commercial.
Even Absurdity, sorry, Infinity has stupid commercials, and the Volkswagen one with all the people getting knocked up quickly comes to mind. Sure would like to see some of the car companies simply show the engines, xray cutaway view of car, gas mileage, and even how long a car will last under general maintainence circumstance. Now that would be different.
One more thing, yesterday saw a Smart car on Wesleyan and Westheimer just east of Galleria when taking boys to visit mom at work. The first thing I wanted to do was jump out and go turn it on it's side. Cute little booger however. But we used to turn Datsuns and little Hondas on their sides down in Corpus Christi after football games in mid 1970s.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, November 22, 2008 6:19 PM
Subject: Re: [BaadAssGremlins] USA Car Biz
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I agree with you Dave.
More reliable cars that last longer are the best idea.
I know of two mid ninetees Chevy trucks around here one with 600k miles on it and another with 300k miles on it. Both with original engines.
A coworker had a 'mid ninetees Nissan 2x4 with 250,000 on it with original rear brakes.
I got almost 200k miles out of my Ranger and it had original ball joints. (still runs, but had a run in with an Acura and a Scion last summer, I drove it home from New Hampshire)
And people said 2.9s were junk. Mine never had a head gasket problem
What I am getting at is that it seems like you can either end up with junk or a good one despite what name is on it. I've seen both sides of the coin.
I work in the parts industry and it seems to me like foreign car parts are harder to get and cost more, plus alot of customers complain about working on them.
Hmmmm if Chrysler goes out of business I wonder if I should wait in line at the local Chrysler dealer ship that bought out the local AMC dealer when it closed down.....
--- On Thu, 11/20/08, Dave Tuck <davesdocs@yahoo. com.au> wrote:
From: Dave Tuck <davesdocs@yahoo. com.au>
Subject: Re: [BaadAssGremlins] USA Car Biz
To: BaadAssGremlins@ yahoogroups. com
Date: Thursday, November 20, 2008, 12:34 AM
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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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