When You Don't Buy American

W. C. Edgar · Posted 23 Nov 2005 1:02 pm

My new single, If you like it please play it for a friend. If you don't, turn the dial, it's as easy as that. www.wcedgar.com An yes that's Mike Johnson on steel. WC

Mark Eaton · Posted 23 Nov 2005 2:23 pm

W.C., I'm checking in for a few minutes so I will listen to your single when I get home this evening.

That said-I read your homepage. I appreciate your spirit-and your patriotic outlook.

However, the next part of this post I'll put into the "you made your bed-now sleep in it" category for American auto companies.

I'm 51, work as a traveling sales rep., and have had a Honda Accord for a few years that has about 125,000 miles on it. The car runs like the day I drove it off the lot.
Our Northwest and Mountain states rep last year got a new Honda, gave his '92 Accord to his son, with 400,000 miles on the original engine-and it's still going strong.

This is first foreign car I have ever purchased in in over 32 years of car and truck buying. To say that I was being loyal to American car companies is a bit of an understatement. The longest I have ever drove an American was 120,000 before the sh#*-hit-the-fan and had to pour serious money into it.

I know there are exceptions to every rule. I have heard stories of American cars that last as long as Hondas or Toyotas, but I think it's safe to say that it is an exception.

Consumer Reports just recently came out with an article that stated that in the 1st year of ownership, that 29 of the top 31 (why 31 instead of 30?) vehicles as far as correcting problems are Japanese.

One of the worst American cars cited in the article is the Cadillac-that symbol of American luxury and manufacturing might.

I will also add that near the bottom of the list are some models of Mercedes-which struck me as weird when you think of how expensive they are.

Before I bought the Honda, the same-sized car from an American company that I had rented a couple of times and enjoyed driving was the Chevy Malibu. I had planned to stick with American, but read a report that stated as far as owner satisfaction over a two year period, on a 1 to 5 scale with 1 the worst and 5 perfect-the Accord scored 4.5, and 2.7 for the Malibu.

I asked a buddy who is a long-time auto mechanic and owns his own shop why does he think that some of the Japanese cars hold up better and he said that one of the auto industry theories is that the metal alloys in the engine parts are harder in the Japanese cars and the engines are built with closer tolerances.

A friend of mine that I have known for about 35 years, had his first "real" job out of high school working at the long defunct Ford plant in Fremont, California. He told me on more than one occasion that pot smoking and cocaine snorting during lunch breaks was rampant in those days. So you had a bunch of guys that spent a good portion of their shift being loaded...building your car.

As a traveling rep, the only types of drivers that put on more miles than folks in my line-of-work are commercial truckers and bus drivers. I need to get the most reliable car for money spent.

You would think GM would buy some Japanese cars, tear them apart, and figure out what makes them tick. Remember that term "planned obsolesence?" Or maybe they know what it takes but don't want to spend the extra dough to build them right?

Thank goodness that our American steel guitar builders do such an outstanding job: If a Japanese built Excel significantly out-performed an MSA or Mullen or Fessy, etc. don't you think a lot more Excel steels would be sold here?

If the stories about engine parts are true, and hopefully in this day and age the drug use on the line isn't much of a factor, but the bottom line as that American cars are flat out not as good as Japanese. With all the geniuses at GM, this should not be the case.

I don't care for supporting an American car company anymore if they don't much care about supporting me, the customer. I don't have any reason to try to help keep them in the black when my job and putting food on the table for my family is my high use of driving up and down California and Nevada, and my car, like a pro musician's guitar, helps earn my paycheck.

GM is going through some major problems right now, they made ther bed, so it's time to sleep in it. I wouldn't preach to any fellow American to do their bit to help bail them out when they could have fixed the problems a long time ago.

Sorry about the rant-but I look forward to the new song later-I have listened to some of the music by W.C. in the past and it's American made, good quality stuff-I only wish our auto companies took the same approach to their work.

So what was with an American company like Chrysler selling out to a German company, Daimler Benz? Why do they deserve our help?

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Mark

[This message was edited by Mark Eaton on 23 November 2005 at 02:26 PM.]

[This message was edited by Mark Eaton on 23 November 2005 at 02:37 PM.]

[This message was edited by Mark Eaton on 23 November 2005 at 02:39 PM.]

[This message was edited by Mark Eaton on 23 November 2005 at 02:58 PM.]

Bill Hatcher · From: Atlanta Ga. USA

Good post Mike.

New day, new economy, different quality from America, more competition from foreign sources. I hate like heck to see GM cut 30,000 jobs, Delta Airlines go into Chapter 11 and such, but if management and labor and government in US corporations can't get together and work to up the stakes on American made goods then the very economic principles that govern capitalism are going to play out right before our eyes. In the past, it was all in our favor--not anymore.

Webb Kline · From: Orangeville, PA

Quote:[You would think GM would buy some Japanese cars, tear them apart, and figure out what makes them tick.]

That is precisely why the Japanese companies have succeeded. Their engineering schools don't emphasize design ingenuity; they teach their engineers to improve on the existing designs of their American competitors--a much more efficient and productive approach I would think, and the reason why they have been so successful.

I bought a new 70 HP 4x4 Kubota tractor once. I wanted to buy American, but when I looked a John Deere, Case, etc, I found that all of their tractors under 100 hp were made across the pond somewhere. It didn't taking engineering knowledge to see that the Kubota was far superior to the tractors with the American names. Really there was no comparison. That Kubota was the best bang for the buck of any piece of equipment I ever owned.

Every 500 hours I Japanese engineer would come to visit me. He crawled all over that tractor, took pictures, marked down data on his laptop--a device that I had never seen at that point in time--and he took oil samples, changed the oil in the engine, trans and differentials for free and went on his merry way.

I never had one single problem with that machine in 10,000 hours of operation. And it was used very hard. With a manufacterer that conscientious about his product, why should I have been surprised?

I sold my business and never needed another tractor, but if I did, you can bet it wouuld have been orange.

Yesterday we found out that GM will lay off 25,000 employees. Is it any wonder why?

Tony Prior · From: Charlotte NC

geesh, tuff crowd !

I purchased a 2004 Suburban for my wifes business last year, July 04...

guys, hands down, this is the nicest auto I have ever owned..I'm also a roving sales rep in NC and SC...I drive Chevy Midi vans ( company provided ) they are ok,they do the job.

Ok, back to the thread...WC has some great tunes..I didn't see a link for a CD though..maybe I missed it..

good stuff there WC...let me know if you are ever in the Carolina's...

t

[This message was edited by Tony Prior on 23 November 2005 at 05:21 PM.]

Steve Hinson · From: Hendersonville Tn USA

I don't see anything wrong with the way cars are BUILT...it's the substandard PARTS...all the automotive troubles I've had this year were due to parts failure...many parts are manufactured"offshore"these days(Mexico,China,etc.)I had to have the starter replaced on my wife's Accord today...after 140,000 miles...the engine still runs like a top!I have a'93 F-150 that has 140,000 on it,too...the only things I have had replaced on it(other than tires,batteries,brake pads,etc.)are the window motor gear and an O2sensor...a Ford...made in Louisville,Ky...

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http://home.comcast.net/~steves_garage

[This message was edited by Steve Hinson on 23 November 2005 at 05:35 PM.]

b0b · From: Cloverdale, CA, USA

This topic isn't about music. I'm closing it.

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