Sometime between '73 and '78, Detroit manufacturing went into a death spiral. The pressures of rising fuel prices, economic malaise, and foreign competition caused the people who built the cars to focus more on staying high at work (and enjoying UAW-provided diversions during break time) than any sort of attention to the product they turned out.
Fleetwood Mac was turning out hits while inhaling mountains of cocaine, and the guys on the assembly line were saying "why should they have all the fun?"
The results were a big turn-off for a generation of car buyers, maybe two generations.
Now, Japanese, Korean, and German cars dominate the market. American manufacturers are concentrating on trucks.
“Fleetwood Mac was turning out hits while inhaling mountains of cocaine, and the guys on the assembly line were saying “why should they have all the fun?”
Great book from a guy working the assembly line in the GM Bus and Truck plant in Flint Michigan. Explains why the door won’t fit because the quarter panel is welded on 1/2” too far in...
https://www.amazon.com/Rivethead-Tales-Assembly-Ben-Hamper/dp/0446394009