new GM ownership

[M. Sage]

All I have to say is that the government took over a brothel, the Mustang Ranch, for tax violations and couldn't make a profit.

If they can't make a profit selling a product that has nearly unlimited supply that never seems to meet demand, how are they going to manage something as tough as the auto industry?

 

[country_boy]

I'd rather drive American than jap crap. Some 70's cars were good like the 79' pontiac bandit trans am with that 6.6 liter engine. I can actually work on those vehicles.

 

[dee]

Ford looks to be the only american car company that may be around in a few years.

 

[M. Sage]

Ford looks to be the only american car company that may be around in a few years.

Because they snuggled up tight to the Japanese and learned from them, unlike the other two.

 

[JKTex]

I'd rather drive American than jap crap. Some 70's cars were good like the 79' pontiac bandit trans am with that 6.6 liter engine. I can actually work on those vehicles.

Wow, your that guy that swears his beta is light years better than blue ray aren't you?

Half kidding since I owed a few Z28's from that era and a few running buddies had TA's etc. But that was a sad, sad time for American muscle cars. Some of the sluggiest performance ever. At least all the emissions crap was easy to get around. It was in my 1st '79 Z28 that I took a trip over an overpass. That wasn't intentional.

That said, many imports kicked US auto makers butts and did for a long time. They're closer now than ever but still not quite. After a life as a GM'r by blood, I've owned a couple of Honda's, a Volvo, Mazda p/u, Chev. truck, I think our newest '09 CLK puts us at 16 MB's gooing back to about '89, a couple of Jeeps and a couple of Ford's which includes my current daily driver. GM lost me and a 2000 Expedition turned me around then it was replaced with an Excursion.

There's a place for most and many imports still get it right more than the US makers. Even with the US auto makers fad of buying major pieces of so many of them, about all they did was jack up the import brands.

I'd like to see the US auto makers hands get untied and they do the right thing by building what we need. We'll see how it unfolds 'cause it's far from over.

But pound for pound, HP for HP, MPG for MPG and especially dollar for dollar, the new auto's kick the crap out of the old ones, no matter how cool they were and still are.

 

[DCortez]

K-cars!

 

[JKTex]

Because they snuggled up tight to the Japanese and learned from them, unlike the other two.

GM snuggled up to Toyota, Suzuki and Isuzu and even shared a several of platforms or formed joint ventures to build them and still didn't get it right. Remember GEO? Prism was with Toyota. Metro and Tracker was a joint venture with Suzuki although I think the rag top was built in Japan and the Spectrum and Storm were actually built wholly by Isuzu.

The Nova was with Toyota and was a re-badged version of the Corolla until it was renamed. It was a great car, but it was a Toyota and Chevrolet still couldn't sell a near the number Toyota did.

Seems like Chrysler snuggled up with someone years ago, way before Daimler screwed up and bought them. Can't remember who thought. They just have a history of getting Government money to keep them afloat. But the last time, the Government actually made quit a bit of money off the deal. Something people don't bring up much these days.

 

[JKTex]

K-cars!

Wow, when you think about it, they really did screw up a lot over the years.

 

[country_boy]

The heck is a beta?? I drive diesel on a 3/4 ton frame with the confederate flag painted on the roof.

 

[M. Sage]

But pound for pound, HP for HP, MPG for MPG and especially dollar for dollar, the new auto's kick the crap out of the old ones, no matter how cool they were and still are.

They also last longer, and are more serviceable for the most part.

I have to tell you, I hate hearing people say "but at least I can work on it" about old cars. You might be able to, but the thing is that you'll have to almost monthly. Swapping points is for chumps. There's a reason that you hear a collective groan at the shop whenever a customer brings in a 30+ year old car...

My current shop project is a 68 MGB. Admittedly, part of the problem is that it hasn't run in 10 years, but the thing is a thorn in my side. The right way for the customer to get it running again would have been to drop the car off with a blank check and the only instructions being "make it right and call me when it's done". Not for him to check in every couple of days "is it done yet?!" or to try doing it piecemeal. Every thing that I fix exposes another problem, and that's just how it's going to be until I've gone down the line.

GM snuggled up to Toyota, Suzuki and Isuzu and even shared a several of platforms or formed joint ventures to build them and still didn't get it right. Remember GEO? Prism was with Toyota. Metro and Tracker was a joint venture with Suzuki although I think the rag top was built in Japan and the Spectrum and Storm were actually built wholly by Isuzu.

The Nova was with Toyota and was a re-badged version of the Corolla until it was renamed. It was a great car, but it was a Toyota and Chevrolet still couldn't sell a near the number Toyota did.

Seems like Chrysler snuggled up with someone years ago, way before Daimler screwed up and bought them. Can't remember who thought. They just have a history of getting Government money to keep them afloat. But the last time, the Government actually made quit a bit of money off the deal. Something people don't bring up much these days.

Yep, I know. GM didn't seem to learn from it. Nor have they learned from Subaru (they hold controlling shares of Fuji Heavy Industries). My wife had a Geo Metro (rebadged Suzuki Swift) and it's one of the easiest to work on cars I've ever seen. Very reliable, too; I'd love to have another one or three.

Chrysler got close to Mitsubishi, which is kind of the pits when it comes to Japanese cars. IMO they came out of it just as bad as they went in. Mitsu makes fun cars (I'd still like to have a first gen Eclipse Turbo, or any Evo except the X, but especially the IX), but they're just not as reliable as Honda, Toyota or even Mazda - who also makes some excellent enthusiast machines.

 

[JKTex]

The heck is a beta?? I drive diesel on a 3/4 ton frame with the confederate flag painted on the roof.

You're showing your age.

The first video I ever saw was at a neighbors house on a Beta player that cost $3000. The movie was Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid. That was in 1975 when BETA first came out so the movie was a few years old, then VHS kicked it's butt in 1976.

 

[M. Sage]

Dude... $3000 in 1976 was almost new car money!

 

[JKTex]

In '78 a good friend (live up here now) bought a brand new Chev. truck for $7800. We beat that poor thing to near death.

Electronics were insane. Microwaves were pretty new too.

But weed was really cheap.

 

[country_boy]

beta was already on its way out when i came into this world. Showing my age?? Try 1987.

 

[M. Sage]

Oh, Beta didn't disappear for a long time after it went away from the consumer side. It stuck around the professional side for a long time because it honestly was the higher-quality format. I'm not sure if they've found something better yet, but I know digital Beta was still pretty popular on the professional market as of two or three years ago.

My wife has some film school stuff from 10 years ago.. on Beta tapes. Can't find a player for the damn things though.

 

[DCortez]

I think the general saying went along the lines that Beta was x3 quality, VHS was x3 quantity. More movies per tape won out.

 

[sean_bart1]

I blame the big 3's problems on the government in the first place. The EPA has yanked them around so hard for the past few years. It cost them a fortune to redesign their diesels for the '09 emissions crap that was all brought on by "JUNK SCIENCE" in the first place. Then the EPA sticks the rest of us in the hind end with this low sulfur diesel junk, that tears up injectors and 3,000 dollar fuel pumps. The problem was and has been the government for years. The big 3 has to spend Zillions on conforming to the Mind Farts of these EPA, Global warming, tree huggin yayhoo's. It was only a matter of time that they where red taped to death. None of this bailout shenanigans will work.... Why??? Because, we the people, are just about broke. The reason we are broke is because we don't manufacture anything anymore. Our economy is based on buying, and we aint buying nothing! A bailout may work if the people had money to buy. We must end the cycle of our money going overseas to places that hate our guts. But they love our money. This country is in an EPIC FAIL. Sorry for the rampage, I'm just sick of this whole mess.