Whoa, My wife's Sunbeam Rapier had Lucas(knight of darkness) electrical and Stromberg side draft twin carb. Keeping that car running was a fun then as a young guy. Thinking back I just smile to myself wondering how I managed. The charging system in it was not a generator, not an alternator, it was something in between which needed polarizing when disconnected.
Huh? The first Mustangs were just Ford Falcons with a sporty body. Until Carroll Shelby tore one apart and rebuilt it with a decent suspension, there was not much sporty about them. Guys who had real sports cars laughed at all of the American "sports cars", including Corvettes. They might have been good between stop lights but if you got one on a winding road, an old MG with a good driver would leave you, spun out in the dirt.
And the easiest way to get a UAW member worked into a tizzy, is to agree with him that management did, indeed, screw things. Especially in the way they managed the unions.
Only detriment The UAW had was making the cars cost more than otherwise. You might argue the bean counters cut quality to accommodate the union costs, but that was their call. Union didn't design the cars or oversee quality control. That's all management. Same with model changes. Best car I ever had was an '88 Celebrity 2.8. Almost flawless for 190K miles, when it rusted out. GM dropped it a year later. Same with the '97 Lumina I'm driving now. Gone. Corolla, Civic, Campy, Accord. How old are those names? What does GM have to compare? Nothing. Toyota/Honda made decent models, grew a brand recognition, and protected the brand with quality. The GM mentality kind a reminds me that exec who came out with "new" Coke.
--Vic
That's why they were called "muscle cars". They weren't sports cars at all. Sports cars were what the French drove. ;-)
The detroit diesels were (in)famous for being bait (swinging from the hook). Remember the Caddie V8-6-4? There was another winner.
Like that's a small thing? The UAW workers were getting about 2x what workers at non-union auto manufacturers earned in wages and benefits.
I wouldn't be so sure about the quality control part. If you have inflexible union rules, I can see it affecting quality. I have two guys doing X. I want to reassign one of them so he does both A and B, which would improve quality Union rules say no way.
Camaro, Corvette, Impala, Malibu, Regal come to mind
On Wed, 1 Jun 2011 13:09:22 -0700 (PDT), " snipped-for-privacy@optonline.net" wrote:
None compare. Impala is full size and the name was dropped for some years. Malibu is another name without continuous service. Camaro and Vette aren't "family" cars. Niche. Regal is high-end. Corolla, Civic, Camry, Accord have been the bread and butter of Toyota/Honda for more than 25 years. Family midsize and compact. GM has nothing to compare in sales figures and model longevity. Until the "new" Malibu the GM counterparts were the Chevrolet Cavalier/Corsica, Celebrity/Lumina and their Pontiac/Buick/Olds siblings. The 1986 Celebrity was the best selling car in the U.S that year. It was improved until 1989, then dropped. Replaced with the Lumina, early ones with problematic rear disk brakes, and all with dicey intake manifolds gaskets on the 3.1. I just replaced the intake manifold gasket with the improved gasket on my '97 as a precaution. The Lumina is a good car besides the known gasket issue. But 2001 was its last year. The Malibu is upsized to fill the hole. The Malibu name was brought back from the dead in '97. In the meantime the Cobalt came and went and now there's the Cruze. Corolla, Civic, Camry, Accord brings back buyers to Toyota/Honda. Old names that speak "quality." You can blame GM's failure to do the same on the unions if you want. Easy target, but I don't let management slide a bit. Looks like GM is coming back. Hard to project future sales, but the Malibu stays strong and the Cruze appears to be doing well in its initiation. Here's one version of 2010 sales.
See the top four? That's what I mean when I say GM has nothing to compare. That might change, and it might not.
--Vic
First time I saw the current (soon to be replaced) Malibu, I immediately was reminded of my trusty 99 Accord. Same profile and look, about the same size, etc. I wonder if one of the GM designers owned one? (IMHO, the 98-02 Accord was the last decent looking one- the next gen model looked like it had a fat ass, and adopted the then-trendy high beltline look. To my eye, the current gen just looks bizarre.)
I agree. I liked the lines of my 1990 Prelude but later versions took on that high-butt design that probably held more cargo but looked chopped off like a badly docked dog's tail.
The PT Cruiser showed that there's a market for retro and/or eye catching designs. Jaguar could probably bring back the XK-E and built it so that it not only looked good, but actually ran reliably.
-- Bobby G.
That two-speed automatic transmission was, even for that vintage, one for the ages.
Art
The automatic was a dog, but I had the 4 speed manual. There was a block that you could buy to lessen the shift stroke. Made it much more fun to drive.
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