floormats my but

eric lavine wrote: are you label shopping because of me Mi-nick? that would give me a warm feeling inside lol, and yes I would be happy then....im just trying to make the world,"our corner" a better place..

sorry, no. i've been doing that for as long as I can remember...picked it up from the old man.

are you label shopping because of me Mi-nick? that would give me a warm feeling inside lol, and yes I would be happy then....im just trying to make the world,"our corner" a better place..

he must be happy this morning Mi-Nick, its not that hard label shopping is it?
Randy, A vary swayable publication

eric lavine wrote: most reliable car reports came out, Porsche was number one then Lincoln, and 2 other american cars....no asians in the line up,

Asian Brands Dominate Car Reliability Rankings

Not according to Consumer Reports...

you'll have too, Its still under warranty, no recalls on it though. lol
Mi-nick, doesnt your old man give you a hard time about your vehicle, or does he have these discussions with you, he is from the heart of auto country?
dont worry i would still drink beers with you, its opinions thats all. buying american isnt the cure but a step in the right direction.
what eles do we have left to manufacturer from raw materials and sell? you have to remeber thet LTV employed 13000 that supplied steel to these AM's,
I wont get into the unions with you because that will really fire things up around here, a fewww bad apples gave the unions a bad name and this is one i can say it aint 1950 and we dont need unions, there are enough laws in place thru the government to protect the rights of workers

i wish things were like the 50's. i definitely wasn't around then, but my old man was. he grew up in detroit...not the suburbs, city of...and loved it. his old man was a model maker for GM. i was raised on hard work and perseverence...got an
engineering degree and went to work for toyota in 2002. i heard too many bad stories about having to work with unions and the big 3 seemed fat and slow...not like they were in the 50's. in the 50's i would have chosen to work for the general...not chance in he$* of that now.

what's my point?? i'm not sure anymore...maybe that it's not the 50's and saying buy american (meaning ford, GM, mopar) doesn't mean what it used to and won't return us to 50's prosperity.

also, if my transmisson starts acting up again, i'm still driving down to your place

thats why I said the Global economy doesnt work, In America they have a thing of you can take your kid to work one day a year so they see what you do, In China, they take thier kids to work everyday lol, the thing is we are backed into a corner and our forced to buy foriegn products and yes they have fat cats in China too, did you watch the summer Olympics in China?...thats re-investment, pretty impressive
Now my question is, in front of those plants what flag do they fly first? and do they fly thier flag under it? probably not but they really should if they were true to this country
I love sparring with you guys, i listened all night to C-span about healthcare, from both sides, what a cluster fck that is, completely different angles and then they get a guy on there who opposes change to HC, an activist that leads 100k strong who picket outside the Whitehouse, well 22% of thier donations or funding comes from the insurance companies.
your the one who said it aint 1955, I remember, Im old enough to see the selling out of this country and things were good, back then, you could get fired and have a job the next day anywhere, good pay, so chances are you really dont remember how things were, they key word, is manufacturing, which has left

same as I and put 7200.00 dollars down on a new 84 or 85 (crs) toyota truck, the payment lasted longer than the truck, now remember I was 22??
They relly really pushed out some POS's (american car companies) but since that truck i would say I purchased 10 new USA made cars, and yes, I had some problems with a Camaro after that...but nothing really sticks out with major issues, as the years went by it seems the problems disapeared all together, got in the car and drove them,
I see a ton of cars that go tru our shop and interestingly enough alot of high end cars, Mercedes, Lexus, Land rover, I just did a Mini,nice car really...hands down the Linclon MKZ was the favorite amongst anyone that sat in that car or had a chance to drive it. I personally made a point to hit 200k on my LHS and did and the guy I sold it too has another 15k on it. but the best one Ive seen go thru and the guy was repairing it to see how far he could run the van and it had 386k on the clock, it was a Caravan,
but down in Brunstucky those boys run those trucks into the 200k,'"s Fords, Chevy Dodges,
the quality has changed over the years, maybe a little to late

I dont know how much faith I put in those reliability/intial quality studies- how many miles do those Porsches see? Lincoln? Oh man. Buick always rates pretty high, but my mom's is a piece. I think it has a lot to do with the lower expectations of the people who usually buy those products... and people who buy Toyotas and Hondas do so for the reliability- theyre tough customers!

Personally, Ill keep doing my research and buy what best suits my needs. Id love a full size truck, so I hope the American automakers are on the verge of a comeback. I love this country, but my money is going to go towards a product that suits my needs and wont cause me problems. I dont think theyre there yet, but maybe theyre getting closer. They have to earn that trust back with better products... and thats going to take time. Im rooting for them!

Eric, buying American is a nice idea. But to buy something just because its made in your backyard... that just doesnt seem like a good enough reason to me. If I were to move to Tenessee, I wouldnt sell my CC's and buy MC's instead, just because theyre made locally!

If you want to argue that the stuff that Ford and GM are producing now are as good or better than foriegn made stuff, fine. Personally, Ill believe it when I start seeing the reliability reports in a few years. Maybe youre right though- Id love to see the American automotive industry back on top some day.

I dont like the idea of buying something "for the betterment of all". That just reeks of socialism to me. Id prefer that the American car companies simply start making the best cars at competetive prices- and let the market correct itself. Capitalism is a beautiful thing.

Glad to see my Tundra is more American than the GMC Sierra 1500. That was my 2nd choice.

American-Made Index

I completely see your point of view Eric, And I agree with buying American Made as long as it is the best quality and value I can afford. But I think your thinking is a little behind the times. A lot of American cars are not even assembled in America any more and the parts they are assembled with are not being produced in America. So how "American" is a product if it assembled in Mexico, by Mexicans, with parts from China? You mean to tell me that just because it has a name badge on it that belongs to a company started in America decades ago that it makes it an "American" car?

Another thing I found interesting about that list is that both Ford and GM's trucks are on that list but the list seems to be lacking in cars produced by Ford and GM (Chrysler/Dodge didn't even appear on the list) Do you think maybe that is because they know that the consumer of their truck products are males in the 35 - 65 age demographic. The group that would pay the most attention to where it was made? What I'm trying to say is that most females in their 20's - 30's could care less where their car is made, as long as it's "cute" and is painted in a color they like they could care less where it's made. They do their research on who's buying their cars and what is important to them...

If we really want to boost our economy, we will start insisting that other products we buy are American made, not just automobiles. Funny how no one seems to care where their PC is made, or where their refrigerator, dishwasher, vacuum cleaner, tools etc. are made... Think about it, we could add a lot to the economy if these products were still made here...   

I was at Harbor Freight yesterday and seen an old Ford pickup in the parking lot with a "Buy American" sticker on the bumper. That guy didn't seem to care that he was buying tools made in China...

I hear of guys buying them for pennies and getting blue book.

This is very upsetting but i will post, word for word from my local paper, this is the sht that happens when you bow to the dot.

"Sale stamps city with disappointment" 2 million sq ft Chrysler plant once employing 3000 neighbors, friends, family sold for 45.5 million and its contents to a Vanccouver B.C firm.

its a fcin liquidation firm, that will employ basically no one generating no city income and the domino effect will begin, education will go to sht, city services will go to sht, and it will be anytown USA in the city. this company will end up re-couping thier investment by selling off the CAR MANUFACTURING equipment i.e, presses to the Chinese, the Japanese, The Koreans.
as the article ends, and I quote, "I am asking everyone to buy American, in the end it is up to the CONSUMER, CONSUMER to save American manufacturing.
Once again, I may be way out of line, I dont get up every morning and salute the 50 stars, but alot of complaining about the markets, unemployment, healthcare is going on.....and this is the reason, ive been pissed about Jap sht, but now it really hits home, its a fckin car that gets you from A to B, thats it, its not a life threatening situation., keep buying the junk, cause you got baited and switched

I agree with buy american...just make sure you understand what that actually means

American Made Index

the recall was for all the cold salty states but as i hear they will do all of them, you dont have to make excuses for them, they fcd up and got caught
my buddy at the machine shop was cutting a gear today and the company he cuts gears for supplies the steel and they opt to use chinese steel, he faced it and the bit kept skipping in one spot and he also had to drill a hole in the same spot, nothing he had would drill into that area....this is the sht they are all passing off onto us, he tried for 2 hours and finally told them to come get the hunk of steel....now i dont know about you, but i see a problem here
i do see the Fusion and the Volt surpassing the Prius, and will put these guys back in the game. I think people are starting to realize something more has to be done to this economy to get it kick started

I hope you guys know im just bustin your chops, but to me the writing is on the wall and its working, i asked my wife the other day if she would consider buying a toyota and her response was "NO" they are unsafe...a little brainwashing in there and you just dont know it, it has nothing to do with Toyota..its about selling cars plain and simple,
those fkn bastards (IRS) clipped my account again, no notice except from the bank, are you suppose to pay these guys? If someone told me they had to change the frame on my truck i would give the truck back, you think those FR boys own a torque wrench?