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Well you know what they say, 95% of all Chevy's are still on the road, the other 5% made it home.
HEMI-most people don't even know what that means or let alone what it is.
Americans like style in their automobiles thats just the way it is. With gas prices the way they are foreign auto manufacturers will sell more vehicles but the American manufacturers will bounce back. Its ashame America is losing its identity when it come to the automobile. We built the finest looking cars in the 50's.(no reason to have fins other than they looked great). The Chrysler Airflow made in the 30's, I think, was so far ahead of its time with its aerodynamics, but the people weren't ready for that. Just think if they had been.I think American cars would be world dominant today if people didn't turn the other cheek. The 60's brought out the muscle but we got behind with our fuel economy and the new California emission laws. The early 70's hit hard on American automobile makers because the switch over to emission laws and insurance company's would no longer cover HP cars and that appealed to a younger crowd. Since then it has been an up hill battle to compete with foreign auto's and legislation doesn't help much either. Billions of dollars more will be needed to help American auto's get ahead of other world leaders. In the end there will be probably just 1 American manufacturer left. That will be a sad day with all the American auto manufacturers miles we have driven and the memory's we shared gone. I feel like its a strong part in American history that will be lost. EW
OH gosh, I dare hope that does not happen. I love my Chevy's - own 4 of them not counting the ones in our fleet of big trucks (two of the 4 are from the 60's, 1 from the 90's and the last one a 2002). I've NEVER had a Chevy or GM that gave me a problem. I do believe that the 70's gas crunch and emissions really hurt the American auto makers. It continued on into the 80's when the gov't came down hard on VOC's for paint. Remember all of the bad paint jobs on 80 and early 90 cars? YUCK! The manuf. were having to pay to repaint all of those cars. Gee, and that put MORE VOC's into the air all because of restrictions that were somewhat over the top. At least they figured that out. I'd hate that nothing but imports would be available to us....... talk about REALLY giving away our country. We need to step up and get our butts in gear and get our American automobile makers strong. What is funny is that the imports that are manufactured in another country pollute THAT country in their manufacturing process. So it is okay for the pollution to be THERE but not HERE........hm. Kind of that "not in my backyard" syndrome.
Anyway, when you were talking about the loss of our American auto makers it brought back in my mind all of the automobile makers of the early years. Do you know how many car makes were once made in this country? I have no number for this but after touring the Automobile Museum in Reno, NV it is VERY IMPRESSIVE!!! Everyone and their brother was making some line of automobile back then. If every one of those would have survived longer than the 2-15 years we would have dozens of car makers in this country. Alas, that was not to happen. Now we need to fight and keep the few we do have left alive.
OH gosh, I dare hope that does not happen. I love my Chevy's - own 4 of them not counting the ones in our fleet of big trucks (two of the 4 are from the 60's, 1 from the 90's and the last one a 2002). I've NEVER had a Chevy or GM that gave me a problem. I do believe that the 70's gas crunch and emissions really hurt the American auto makers. It continued on into the 80's when the gov't came down hard on VOC's for paint. Remember all of the bad paint jobs on 80 and early 90 cars? YUCK! The manuf. were having to pay to repaint all of those cars. Gee, and that put MORE VOC's into the air all because of restrictions that were somewhat over the top. At least they figured that out. I'd hate that nothing but imports would be available to us....... talk about REALLY giving away our country. We need to step up and get our butts in gear and get our American automobile makers strong. What is funny is that the imports that are manufactured in another country pollute THAT country in their manufacturing process. So it is okay for the pollution to be THERE but not HERE........hm. Kind of that "not in my backyard" syndrome.
Anyway, when you were talking about the loss of our American auto makers it brought back in my mind all of the automobile makers of the early years. Do you know how many car makes were once made in this country? I have no number for this but after touring the Automobile Museum in Reno, NV it is VERY IMPRESSIVE!!! Everyone and their brother was making some line of automobile back then. If every one of those would have survived longer than the 2-15 years we would have dozens of car makers in this country. Alas, that was not to happen. Now we need to fight and keep the few we do have left alive.
I agree with you. I'm a mopar man but I've seen plenty of Chevy's with 250,000 or more miles. I think the big three make some good rides. EW
Remember all of the bad paint jobs on 80 and early 90 cars?
Yup, seen way too many 80's and up to the mid 90's cars with the paint peeling and what not....
I'm still trying to figure out what it was....someone told me they went from a lacquer based paint to a water based paint, and someone else told me it was the new steel they were using that didn't jive up with the paint they were using at the time.
Yup, seen way too many 80's and up to the mid 90's cars with the paint peeling and what not....
I'm still trying to figure out what it was....someone told me they went from a lacquer based paint to a water based paint, and someone else told me it was the new steel they were using that didn't jive up with the paint they were using at the time.
I think it had to do with the move away from lead-based paint and the fact that the regulatory timetable forced alternatives on the industry before it really knew how to cope. I have a 1989 Ford with horrific clearcoat peeling...
Add me to the problems with shaky point on my 1990 Suburban.
That stated: once GM went with TBI on their traditional 305/350 Chevy V8's; the longevity zoomed from 100-150K miles (if your were lucky) to well over 300K with no better maintenance.
My 1990 has over 230K on the clock and despite that blue puff upon cold starts; the 350 in it uses less than one quart of oil every 3-4K miles between oil changes and does not foul sparkplugs either.
My understanding is that they had two problems.One caused by no sealer over the primer than caused everything but primer to pile. The other was a non-binding of the clearcoat.
I understand... I just mean that a typical american can buy economical Honda/Toyota instead of crappy Chevrolet/Dodge/Ford...
Honda / Toyota will never burn Ethanol, nor do they want to, which is cleaner than any ULEV that Honda and Toyota makes. Honda Spokesman advised that they are content with their efficiency and will take no more steps to reduce our foreign oil addiction. Brazil had it right to start with when the world criticised them in the 80's.
I must also state, that My 5.7L V8 LS1 Camaro, gets as good fuel mileage as any imported Japanese or Korean Car. I get 31mpg on a 5.7L V8. The Toyota Camery gets 34mpg on a 4cyl. So do the math.
Plus Honda is no longer in the top 5 best sellers anymore. They are sitting on their laurels while everyone else is passing them by in America.
Add me to the problems with shaky point on my 1990 Suburban.
That stated: once GM went with TBI on their traditional 305/350 Chevy V8's; the longevity zoomed from 100-150K miles (if your were lucky) to well over 300K with no better maintenance.
My 1990 has over 230K on the clock and despite that blue puff upon cold starts; the 350 in it uses less than one quart of oil every 3-4K miles between oil changes and does not foul sparkplugs either.
My Grandfathers 03 Corolla used 2 qts. of oil every 3000 miles and he bought it with 5 miles on it. What a crappy car. He sold it at 36,000 miles after the Totyota said it was normal to use 2 qts of oil in 3,000 miles... My Arse!!!!
Yup, seen way too many 80's and up to the mid 90's cars with the paint peeling and what not....
I'm still trying to figure out what it was....someone told me they went from a lacquer based paint to a water based paint, and someone else told me it was the new steel they were using that didn't jive up with the paint they were using at the time.
It was pure economics, plain and simple. All the auto manufactures tried to save money in paint application those years because The Basecoat/Clearcoat is more expensive than Lacquer. The type of primer they used was not compatible with the new base coat. Notice that it was only for about 3-4 years, and after all the cars they had to repaint, they quit the penny pinching and did it right afterwards.
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I like American Cars
