Growing up in Michigan, it was a rite of passage that the boys on the little league teams would ask each other "what kind of car does your dad drive?" Somehow Mom's car didn't quite get the same badge of shame that your dad's would get. Mothers were off-limit, unless you were itching for a black eye.
In the our household, we had a couple different cars. When my parents got married, they drove my father's VW Beetle. It got good gas mileage. My dad owned a '57 Chevy when he was single and in the Navy. But he became more practical by the time he got married in the early 60's. A few year later, when they had three kids, they traded it in for a Dodge Dart and a VW Fastback. In the early 70s, Dad traded in the VW for a Buick LaSabre, which went well with his promotion. He eventually got rid of the Buick when it wore out, and bought a Dodge D-100 pickup truck. He was now solidly a Dodge guy, and so I told my friends.
When my sisters and I learned to drive, Dad bought several junk cars. We had a Vega, a Maverick and a Honda Civic--all old and cheap. The Ford Maverick was my first car. When Dad had to give up the Dodge Dart, he bought a Plymouth Reliant, and then a Plymouth Horizon for Mom. He stayed a "Dodge" guy, owning Chrysler products, until he died.
On the other hand, I kept to my Ford line, perhaps out of rebellion. I saw the problems of the GM and Chrysler products. His Vega's aluminum engine loved to leak oil. The Dodge Dart, although stylish and roomy, it didn't have air conditioning, power brakes and power steering. I got those those in the first car I bought after college, an '85 Ford Thunderbird. I've owned a couple Thunderbirds, an Aerostar, a Mercury Villager, and now a Mercury Sable and a Ford Expedition.
I went to school at University of Michigan. Many of us in the engineering program looked to the Big Three for jobs after graduation. But with Chrysler's bankruptcy and remembering of how tough things were in the 70s, many of us hedged. Half of us in my fraternity got jobs with the DoD, several through the ROTC program. A couple now work for Ford.
One of my Ford fraternity buddies shattered my sense of self. "You know, the engine in your Mercury Villager is the same one as in the Nissan Quest?" I was shocked. I thought the 3.0L engine was the same one as in my Thunderbird. He laughed and informed me that those days are gone. He told me that a lot of its parts were sourced from Mazda. They could have been made in any country, probably Mexico or Japan. If I still had that van, I could have gotten a replacement engine at Used Japan Motors dot com ([link edited for length] ). I liked that Villager much better than the Aerostar I had before it.I remember staring at the engine compartment and realized there was nothing I recognized from my high school tinkering days. I couldn't just set the timing by twisting a screw and listening. "No user serviceable parts inside" applied to more than my microwave. The last of those "simple" cars died in the 70s. In order to survive, American car companies had to produce fuel efficient cars that were also environmentally friendly. They had to adapt their technology quickly. As part of that survival, they've had to resell foreign cars as their own. The Mitsubishi Lancer was sold as the Dodge Colt and the Eagle Summit. The Ford Probe and Mazda 626 have a lot of parts in common. 30 years later, they have to do it again.
So what is an American car company? Apparently it's one whose headquarters are in Detroit. GM has Opel in Germany, Holden in Australia, Saab in Sweeden, Vauxhall in the U.K., and Wuling in China. Ford has Mazda in Japan and Volvo in Sweeden. Ford spun off Range Rover (U.K.) to BMW this year. Chrysler is still 20% owned by German car maker Daimler.
The Big Three employ a lot of Americans. But so does Honda-- 25,000 directly and 100,000 through dealerships ([link edited for length] ). If a Toyota is made with 90% American and Canadian parts vs. a Mustang with only 65% American parts, which car is more American? ([link edited for length]) If Volkswagen makes Porsches and Audis in this country ([link edited for length] ) and put more Americans to work, shouldn't VW be rewarded for running a good car company?
GM will have to make some huge cuts, regardless if they do get the government funding. I think we'll see Buick or Pontiac go the way of Oldsmobile. GM will probably keep Saturn, eventhough it's now just a relabeled German Opel. Chrysler got rid of Plymouth. Don't look for the K-car to save Chrysler this time. Ford is raising cash as quickly as it can ([link edited for length] ) by selling its share in Mazda and conserving its lines of credit. We'll see who makes it through next year. If gas can stay cheap, maybe they can get by with selling big trucks? Nah.
When it's time to retire my Ford Expedition, I might get an Xterra or some other smaller four-wheel drive SUV. Nothing says I have to get an Explorer. My biggest concern is not getting stuck in the snow here, regardless of gas price. I already like Nissan engines. If you put a round, blue tag on the back, with some script writing, I might not notice the difference.
©2008 Bob Nightingale, all rights reserved. You must have written permission from the author in order to republish this work.
Published: Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Last modified: Tuesday, November 18, 2008
The views expressed in this article are those of Bob Nightingale only and do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. Bob Nightingale is solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
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Reader Comments:
Posted By: Jahfre Fire Eater
Date: 2008-11-19 17:29:31
Fun article Bob. I agree with your perspective, free trade benefits everyone in the long run, Unfortunately the short-term bite of failure, especially BIG failure across the board is a dose of reality that most people would rather avoid.
My dad was a Ford man and a mechanical genius. He was always building some kind of vehicle around Ford running gear. Sometimes restoring a classic from the 50's and sometimes dropping a high performance 289 from a Comet Cyclone into a Cj-5 Jeep.
My first vehicle was a '66 Mustang 2+2, then a 1963 1/2 Galaxie 500 Fastback. I've had a bunch of Mustangs over the years and now I'm driving a 2001 Explorer Sport Trac. I absolutely love it. I've had Chevys and Dodges, Subarus and many Jeeps. In fact, my current Jeep has ford truck axles under it. I've never really thought of myself as a "Ford Man" but my choices have said otherwise.
-Jahfre Fire Eater
Posted By: Heather
Date: 2008-11-20 19:11:12
If you want a small, good-mileage SUV that will go through anything (as in I have actually used it for the kind of crazy off-road stuff they have in their commercials, and it was happy--and it was equally happy 5 minutes later on the interstate, at speeds you can only really get away with in Montana), look hard at a Subaru. Small vehicles that are happy in snow or off-road that will also deliver hundreds of thousands of reliable miles have been their bread and butter since the 70's. They don't offer a wide variety of vehicles, but what they do, they do well, & they have firm grasp on the notion of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". They also have a wagon version of their hot little sports car.
Posted By: Bob N.
Date: 2008-11-21 09:26:06
Subaru? I hadn't thought of that one. When I had a '77 Honda Civic with its 1238 cc engine and front wheel drive, it was a better deal in the snow than the Maverick I drove in high school. When it got stuck, I'd put it in first gear, start the engine, and got out and push. It stalled when it hit the pavement. It was easy to replace its clutch cable. The suspension was terrible, but it was great on gas. I had a neighbor who liked his Subaru wagon with all-wheel drive. I'll put it on my list. Parts dealers and mechanics will always have cars to work on, regardless of country of origin. We live in interesting times!