The Cars Were Never Better — But It Probably Doesn’t Matter

NMA ^ | 12/24/08 | Eric Peters

[XR7]

What killed the Pinto was $.35 a gallon gas >friends mocking and making fun of you when they saw the "new car" you bought<.

[taildragger]

One of my dad's wedding party guys bought one, didn't run it enough and drove the dealer nuts with squawks. Had he run it more often it would have been fine. I think he had one with the big engine and lean burn which if my memory is correct was the highest HP car in that year, more than the Vette.

Now onto the article....

The notes of a consumer driven economy.

For better or for worse the Greenspan low interest rates combined with the CRA, Fannie Freedie drove a housing market that was the underlying cornerstone of our consumer driven economy. That house of cards fell.

We do not manufacture anything anymore, much is shipped off shore because the paint they want to use is not environmentally friendly enough so they say screw it and do it off shore.

But what we have now is our assets have had their unrealized gains deflated and the Obamatons want to restart the economy with a Kenseyian Governmental Pump Prime was well as a continued devaluation of our currency with printing more.

IMHO it won't work.

The big-3's problem is a symptom of a larger problem of our economy not having a strong enough manufacturing base.

How do we fix that? set up an environment that is condusive to manufacturing. We have to look at those that are kicking our butts, in this arena, I.E. the former Soviet "Stans:" Many of these countries have Flat Taxes and much lower Corporate Tax Rates. Case in point, I hear Poland is now the world leader in making drills and tools, what happened to the U.S. being the leader here....The bad news is the Obamatons are married to the Left's ideological paradigm and they will not accept such ideas to bring manufacturing back as a driver.

Yes the big-3 are finally getting it right, darn shame half of America doesn't see it or get it, Darn shame dunnerheads like Frank and Dodd couldn't pass an Econ or Accounting course to save their sorry @$$es and come up with more broad range solutions for the big-3 and the economy in general, ditto that the RNC....

[Wonder Warthog]

"Cars are better, but in Consumer Reports Annual Auto Issue, Honda, Toyota and Subaru have the least problems while Ford GM and Chrysler are near the bottom. Ford is mid-pack."

< And THERE is the crux of the issue. Yes, American cars have improved, but the foreign competition has improved more. And in many cases, those improved cars are built in American factories, by American labor.

[PLMerite]

“LOL...right up there with the Pacer and Pinto”

Ugh! I needed a car bad in 1979 and almost bought a Pacer. Thank goodness my cousin had a ‘69 Camaro he could sell me.

[gilor]

HMMM, I had a 74 Duster (318) that had 170k on it and a friend of mine had a mid 70's Fury (225 Slant-Six) that had over 200K on it.

The author doesn't know what the hell he's talking about.

[Mr. Jeeves]

Why should I spend my hard earned money on a LESSER quality vehicle? That's the real issue.

Because you dare not risk having Pat Buchanan call you a traitor. ;)

[WayneS]

I just had one of those as a loaner while my 2004 Silverado truck was in for repairs. Even though it was a “stripped down” model I still thought it was a nice car. Nice seats, nice stereo, nice climate controls. Better than any other Chevrolet car I have driven (with the exception of the 2006 Corvette I got to try out a while back) in 20 years.

It was a bit underpowered, and the suspension was too soft for my taste, but it is built on the same basic platform as my much better handling/more powerful Saab 9-5 and there IS a family resemblence, even if somewhat diluted.

[dilvish]

They should put their money where their mouth is. When Kia decided to switch from making cheap cars to making good cars they put forth the longest warranty in automotive history (10 years), admittedly the fine print includes a lot of limitations on that warranty but just waving that number around in commercials has an effect. For years and years Ford advertised that quality was job one while making cars that suck, now they make cars that don’t suck and they wonder why nobody believes them. Throw a 10 year warranty on there, if they prove that THEY believe the cars are good the buyers will be willing to take a shot.

[GunsAndBibles]

Here ‘ya go -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIL3fbGbU2o

check out the lapels on that jacket!

also related -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVELhUyLZGk&feature=related

[Las Vegas Ron]

‘69 Camaro he could sell me.

Sweeeet car, classic though I prefered the '67,

'67 Firebird is one of my favorites too...um, umm ;^)

[Senator_Blutarski]

The author ignores the real problem: The US auto makers costs are too high and they lose money on the cars they sell. It's been noted that Toyota and GM had nearly identical sales in 2007. IIRC, Toyota made $19B and GM lost $38B.

GM stayed alive selling profitable SUV's and large vehicles. The gas price crunch removed that crutch and GM collapsed.

[WayneS]

I agree with you.

[glorgau]

Did you actually buy one?

No, but I did total one on a railroad viaduct. ;-).

[painter]

I never owned one.People would make fun of you. I did,why buy a little car to get good mileage when gas was soo cheap.I was driving a 66 Mustang with a 289 at that time that got 25mpg. The pinto got like 32mpg.

[mono]

I just saw a 1976 Cordoba for sale at a Goodwill auction. It was in pretty decent shape with a $500 minimum bid and did not sell. Probably because it had cloth instead of Corinthian leather! Most of them have rusted away.

[WayneS]

And it’s ALWAYS better to total someone else’s car!

Trust me on this one; I know of what I speak!

[WOBBLY BOB]

Only rich Corinthians bought them.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

Probably because it had cloth instead of Corinthian leather!

Real Corinthian leather???

[WayneS]

I thought the Romans killed the last of the Corinthians before Christ was born!

[Pontiac]

Until the broad masses are once again in a position to buy expensive consumer goods such as automobiles, no amount of bailout boodle is going to solve the problem. Trillions in hopelessly unrecoverable debt is going to have to pass through the economy’s colon first.

Unmentioned is the trillions the big three will be shelling out in the coming decades for contractually mandated retiree Health Benefits that will balloon out of control as baby boomers retire.

Unless the big three can get out from under this unsupportable expense there is no hope for their survival. Anything the Government does will merely postpone the inevitable.