Bail-Out Bonuses

[Dirty White Boy]

We're starting to see more and more hybrids at my shop. Mostly Honda's...I personally believe it will lead back to a dealer defect in the transmission but time will tell. Average repair so far is $2,400+.

My first car was a 68 Dodge Dart with the slant 6...I just got rid of 2 4 cylinders (escort & geo) for 2 full size buicks.

I have my mothers car at the shop right now. 76 volare premier...



They need to dump off the ethonal though. That stuff is KILLING gas mileage as well as cars in general. Since they started with the ethonal we are replacing about 6 converters a month compared to 6 a year like we used to.

[Yanita]

Hi,

Well I may not have all my facts straight, so feel free to correct me...

I own a Monte Carlo...supposedly USA made, well my car was manufactured in Mexico, others come from Canada.

Annnnd, Toyota has a manufacturing plant in the USA, or more than one if I not mistaken.

The good old Harley Davidson, another American symbol...yeah, my BUTT! We have 2 sitting in our garage as I speak...I can say that if you were to take either a part and look at what is stamped on the cylinders and a gazillion other parts it does not say USA...Japan..sooo much for an American symbol.

I do understand what you are saying Greg, but how do you buy what we no longer manufacture?

As for vehicles, imports are a far more superior vehicle to anything America makes, sorry but that is the way I feel. We are as American as anyone else, but, the truth, he wants another older Toyota truck..why, dependability!

As with you, and many others I do agree that the CEO's and all the Wall St. garbage has had a huge hand in where we are today. I think they should all be fired and let the chips fall were they may. All these huge bonus's to failing companies..talk about throwing good money after bad!

Until our Govt comes around to the little mans line of thinking I doubt that much will ever really change. In our world if/when our smaller business starts/does fail we have to move on to other things...there really are no "bailouts" for us!

Yanita

[Yanita]

Dirty White Boy,

I know what you mean about ethanol...went to a different gas station than usual, filled up, before the week was over I looked under the car to see if a gas line/tank had developed a leak.

Also thought to myself that the car lacked in horsepower. LOL, Hubby said it was in my head..but he does not drive the Monte as a primary vehicle like I do, so of course I notice everything.

Anyways, I did a search and found that in NC, our gas stations do not have to show that they are selling gas with ethanol. I believe there are only 7 states that actually display on the pumps about ethanol.

Thanks for your input.

Yanita

[Dean2]

Well Greg,,,yes,,You are right in lots of ways,,but the Big 3 need to know that They should have been leading the way in economic car production by pushing them allllll the way down the line to the independant salesmen that influence the buyers.

While the 3 were building SUVs,the foreign automakers were diversified,building econ cars as well as larger models.

I think the absolute *worst* thing we could do *ever* is to forget/ignore the lessons the last year has taught Us.We did forget/ignore what the fuel shortages of the early 70s did to Us all too quickly. Within 20 years houses grew in cubic feet,SUVs became popular with everybody not just the wealthy,things were good and We acted like it,,,"too much of a good thing" maybe..

I bet some of the Folks that pushed for anti-pollution and alt energy developement back in the 60s and 70s sit back and shake their heads.

My general comments do not begin to cover it all,just too many dangerous nooks n crannies that lead to more of the same,,I probably stepped in a few just now too.

Dean

[JD]

Hey Greg,

The Vega was an excellent car to work on. It had points and condenser ignition back then. But the way the motor was situated, you could change oil, filters, points, condenser, spark plugs and do the timing without moving your feet. Everything on the same side and accessible from the top. How cool was that? There was enough room under the hood for 3 motors. Clutch plates and pressure bearing? Just hold on to the back of the tranny, pull the past bolt and pull it down. I put them back up the same way, just lift them in. I did it twice and didn't even have a pilot shaft. Just looked up in there and eye-balled the plates. Yep, loved that little car. My bud put a 350 LT-1 and a chopped down Monte Carlo rear end in one. It was fun but not nearly as fast as we thought it would be.

JD

[Dean2]

I like what said directly above,but,I don't understand the ethanol thing.I run it almost all the time.I put about 150,000 miles on the truck using it and no prob that wasn't miles/wear related,the truck has about 180,000 on it. My car is older than the truck and has 230,000 miles or so,I run the 10% ethanol in it and have had no fuel related problem(only 1 year tho),I'll guess My Sis ran the ethanol mix too because She is even more frugal than Me.

I thought the original big issue with ethanol was that it dried/cracked rubber fuel lines back when it 1st came out,,I also thought that issue was dealt with by using rubber that resists it. Idunno tho.

Dean

[Gladey]

Greg, I bought a foreign-made car because I've ended up hating every American-made car I've owned. It could have very well been a coincidence that the American cars I've had have been money pits, but I'd be an idiot not to let past experience influence my purchase. I like to keep cars for a long time, and it seems to me that a Honda or Toyota or Subaru is more likely to last me 15 years than a Ford or a Chevy (with the exception of trucks). But again, that's just based on my own experience.

[Greg]

This is not the place to debate American / foreign cars, all I am saying is that if we keep buying American products jobs stand a better chance of staying here - unless the corperate greed kicks in. And its not just the auto industry, we need to become a self sufficant again. Greg

[Dean2]

I might have to eat My words about ethanol,,didn't get 1 mile down the road,smelled gas,came back,and I think I blew a line under the car. No sooner than the words left My keyboard!

Dean

[Gladey]

I hear ya, Greg, and I didn't mean to come of defensive. I actually agree with you. We're working on becoming as self sufficient as possible, heating our home with wood we cut ourselves, growing own own fruits and veggies. I don't understand how people can handle being as dependent as many are (not that we aren't still quite dependent). I just jumped on the car example because we just bought a Honda.

[Greg S]

The main reason the major car makers are in the economic mess they are now is because they concentrated there manufacturing efforts on producing vehicles which were in high demand by the car buying public. They gave the customer what they wanted while at the same time producing a diversified product line.

So the automakers made money producing a product that people wanted to buy, that the public no longer wants to buy, automakers could not retool fast enough to adjust, the economy is about to implode and we blame this on everyone except ourselves.

I am beginning to learn the customer is not always right.

Interesting.

[Dirty White Boy]

A few years ago GM was (still) having problems with employee medical situations...They decided "yes" our employees can have health care but we'll bump the price of our cars up between $800-$1,500 dollars to cover our losses. Well, then they came into another problem, over priced vehicles.lol

Well they weren't selling as much as they should so they decided to lay off hundreds of employees.

The CEO who gave the yes to raising prices was the same one who solved the problem of declining sales by layoffs....

and he got almost a 2 million dollar bonus for his wisdom...lol



Toyota motors went through a problem along the same time, with the same issues. The CEO declined his bonus and took a paycut so the employees could have healthcare...

[Harry]

Yo

I agree with Yanita....where's my stock certificate?

So far $158.56 billion tax dollars distributed to 30 banks.

Harry

[Jim from Canada]

Last year I bought a Chevy HHR. Why, styling, North American brand (they are made in Mexico, but, by the way, so is the Chrysler hemi motor). I get about 36-38 mpg, and I love the car. On the other hand, it cost $28,000 and I could have got a Kia for 10,000.
The last soft fruit canning factory in Ontario just closed (peaches, pears, plums, etc.), if you buy a can of Del Monte or any other brand of fruit in a can, it comes from asia. It can be grown, processed and shipped to and throughout Canada cheaper than it can be done here.
It's all wages, and some people make ridiculous amounts of money. You have to lower your standard of living if you want to compete globally. I bet the people making over $250,000/yr. won't be the first in line to volunteer a wage cut, and I bet the top 10% wage earners will be the first with their hands out for bail out money.
Things have to change, but it willl get worse before it gets better.

Jim