That spot will always be held by the Ford engineers when they introduced the Fairmont.
Posted on 04/03/2009 7:20:55 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The global financial crisis is suffocating the Detroit automakers, but the problems at General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler have been festering for years—even when the mighty "Big Three" were earning billions. Aging factories, inflexible unions, arrogant executives and shoddy quality have all damaged Detroit. Now, with panicky consumers fleeing showrooms, catastrophe looms:
There will be plenty of business-school case studies analyzing all the automakers' wrong turns. But, as they say in the industry, it all comes down to product. So here are 10 cars that help explain the demise of Detroit: GM and Chrysler need a multibillion-dollar government bailout to survive, and both could be in bankruptcy by summer if they don't meet tough government demands. Ford hasn't asked for a bailout—yet—but it's bleeding cash and racing the clock to turn itself around.
Ford Pinto. This ill-fated subcompact came to epitomize the arrogance of Big Auto. Ford hurried the Pinto to market in the early 1970s to battle cheap imports like the Volkswagen Beetle that were selling for less than $2,000. Initial sales were strong, but quality problems emerged. Then came the infamous safety problems with exploding fuel tanks, which Ford refused to acknowledge. Message: The customer comes last. "The problems for the domestics really started in the '70s when they were offering cars like the Pinto up against higher-tech, better-built Toyota Corollas and Honda Civics," says Jack Nerad of Kelley Blue Book.
(Excerpt) Read more at autos.yahoo.com ...
“If it has an air cooled motor in the back, it’s a corvair.”Could also be a VW or a Porsche.
but not a monza.
Would you please hit 8-mile on the way out.
If it is labeled "Monza", it's a Monza. Ask any marketing guy/gal.
See Olds Ciera. Or Cutlass.
I doubt that it says Torino anywhere on its body.
....
For me, the Oldsmobile Skyhawk was the car that made me swear off GM vehicles. We later on bought a Ford Aerostar, it died on us at around 145,000 miles.
You should have gone to the engine plant the day the engine for your car was made to supply some platinum tipped plugs to avoid replacement when an easy job was made more difficult. Just swap in a Diesel and your plug issues are GONE!
For me it was the Cavalier. Before that, when we were very poor, and Mr. Adler was not willing to buy a foreign car, we had a Chevette Oh, what awful cars both of them were.
This is a bit off topic because it concerns a dealer rather than the manufacturer, but when I was shopping for the Chevette, my older daughter was a baby. I was looking at a Chevette which, for some reason, had no backseat, just the front seat and a flat space behind the seat. The dealer told me I could just put the baby in the babyseat in the rear and drive around (how 'convenient' that would be, you see). I was absolutely appalled that anyone would advise someone else to drive with a helpless baby in a babyseat, completely loose, in the back of a vehicle.
This was way before all the regulations about (much better engineered) attached babyseats in cars, but I knew full well, that you didn't leave a babyseat loose; I did know enough to belt it in which was the only option at the time.
That one dealer was enough to put me off of General Motors cars forever, though we still did get the Cavalier, as our one, last Chevrolet, because Mr. Adler wouldn't consider a foreign car at the time. It still makes me angry when I think of it, that someone else would tell you to do that with your precious child, just to sell a cheap car.
yep, it came in only one color....black
Chrysler had several Billions in cash until Daimler bought and sucked off all the capital and ruined the product.
No,
If you want to be honest, bad management sank detroit. Trust me, there is not a more mismanaged company on the planet than GM.
Actually, it was general MacArthur who brought Dr. Deming to Japan. Japanese products were soooo bad after the war that MacArthur felt he had to do something to improve it, and he brought Dr. Deming over to fix the problems.
The government is directly responsible for many Prius sales. In places like Northern Virginia where commuting is the bane of most people’s existence, the government has established High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes on I-95, I-66 and elsewhere. Only cars with 2 or 3 passengers are allowed in these lanes during rush hours.
The exception is a bit of government social engineering: if you drive a hybrid, you can hop on the HOV with just a driver on board. Many people bought hybrids for this reason alone and its a great reason - it can cut your commute by up to 2 hours per day and you can go to work at a normal time.
That spot will always be held by the Ford engineers when they introduced the Fairmont.
Yes, AC, 110 degrees in Sacramento at times.
Don't say it. I walked to work.
Yeah, we owned a couple of GM cars in the eighties, never bought one since. GM mad some great cars before the eighties. My husband had a camaro and a cutlass that he put over 200,000 miles on, each. The odometers always went before 200,000, so we never knew exactly how many miles were on them. He drove the Camaro for almost 15 years and still sold it for a thousand dollars. It was a rare four speed manual with the same engine as a Corvette. I used to hate to drive it, because people were always pulling up next to me and asking to race.
Of Course it is the government and unions that killed all but Ford (so far anyways). Ford; the first and last American automobile manufacturer.
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