10 Cars That Sank Detroit

[Ron61]

Saw this on the news module and thought it may interest some of you. A few of them I wasn't surprised at.

http://autos.yahoo.com/articles/auto...-sank-detroit/

Ron

[Cobrabill]

Inaccurate list.Where's the Aztek?Where's the Pontiac Astre?Where's the Vega?As bad as the Pinto was,the Vega made it look like an engineering marvel.
Where's all the AMC "entries"?Even though they are gone,their disasters helped fuel Detroit's "swirl" into the sh!tter.

Ragging on the trucks & SUV's is a constant theme here.But nothing is mentioned about GM not having a light diesel truck to compete with the Cummins & PS for 10 to 15 YEARS!But that does fit GM's M.O.

[Ron61]

Bill,

They would have had to list to many cars and trucks to get in all of the flops that have helped drag Detroit down. My Father bought a Pinto and I swear I was afraid to drive it after the first few times. I always felt as if the seat may fall through the floor. And of course the Chevy Chevette, The company bought a bunch of them and you wouldn't believe the things that fell off and broke. I remember starting out one day and it was a 4 speed and when I shifted I wound up with the whole shift knob and handle in my hand and no way to get it out of 2nd gear and I was on the freeway.

Ron

[bart]

I had a pinto, best $35 dollars I ever spent

where oh where will our government "lead" us now?

[cobra de capell]

It's not necessarily the cars, it's the perception of a lack of quality that did in Detroit. Well, partly the cars - but the competition stressed quality with style secondary - that's a winner over time. Therefore, it's all about the union workers just not giving a damn, with exceptions of course.

Also, lame management played a huge part - not being able to manage the union, no being able to envision simple things such as the price of gas can go way up.

[Ron61]

Ray,

There was a great lack of quality in some of the cars, but I think the management fell on their faces with the refusal to stop making those huge SUVs and other big gas hogs when the other car makers were making more fuel efficient vehicles. The this is what made us tons of money 10 years ago attitude I feel really hurt Detroit. It wasn't they couldn't make quality cars that were efficient and reasonable priced, it was more the stay with what sold big a few years ago attitude. Now GM can't even sell their Hummer division as no one wants it.

Ron

[427 S/O]

Why is the most butt ugly not listed.........Gremlin?.

[Ron61]

That was a car?

Ron

[olddog]

I have to say that ragging on a car built 40 years ago and claiming it has anything to do with today’s problems is about as lame a brain thing as I have ever heard.

Hell, why don't they bring up Nixon taking us off the gold standard too, while their at it?

No wonder corporate America is about to collapse. The CEO and talking heads all around us are true idiots!

[Silverback51]

Originally Posted by cobra de capell

It's not necessarily the cars, it's the perception of a lack of quality that did in Detroit. Well, partly the cars - but the competition stressed quality with style secondary - that's a winner over time. Therefore, it's all about the union workers just not giving a damn, with exceptions of course.

Also, lame management played a huge part - not being able to manage the union, no being able to envision simple things such as the price of gas can go way up.

Got to agree. It was not the cars, but the mindset of management.

[Cobrabill]

Originally Posted by olddog

I have to say that ragging on a car built 40 years ago and claiming it has anything to do with today’s problems is about as lame a brain thing as I have ever heard.!

Not as lame as someone that doesn't realize that Detroits problems TODAY started in the early 70's.If you think otherwise-you're a fool.

[Jamo]

Cobrabill...ya just bought some time off. Olddog...you're right on the edge.

We meant it.

[392cobra]

Originally Posted by Ron61

And of course the Chevy Chevette, The company bought a bunch of them and you wouldn't believe the things that fell off and broke. I remember starting out one day and it was a 4 speed and when I shifted I wound up with the whole shift knob and handle in my hand and no way to get it out of 2nd gear and I was on the freeway.

Ron

Ron,
I think I can help bring back to life some of the past fun times in your life.

I have an Original 1976 Chevette Scooter.
It is down at Port Aransas at the Beach House.

I believe we could make a deal on it.

[Ron61]

Fred,

What a nightmare to post in public. How many pieces have fallen off and does it have 50K miles on it. Every one the company bought, the rear ends started howling at about 50K miles and by 60 to 65K just froze. And of course there was the asphalt ripping 4 cylinder engine that couldn't run the air and car at the same time. I could spend hours telling tales of what all happened to people driving those cars before the company sold them to a scrap dealer.

Keep yours. It will be worth a fortune some day as I haven't seen one around here for years.

Ron

[427 S/O]

Chevette!!, dang Fred, I forgot what they looked like...................

[joyridin']

Remember the Pinto's catching fire? The shield that prevented the fires was supposedly a 5 cent part. The management at Ford at the time chose to save 5 cents and pay the insurance claims.

Sorry, most of this isn't about unions. Most of it is about penny-pinchers thinking they are engineers. I have a buddy that is an engineer at Chrysler. He could go on for hours on how the accountants at Chrysler saved a penny here and a penny there only to have a huge warranty issue in the end. It is still cheaper than making the cars right.

[Bobcat]

Unfortunately I do remember that issue with the Pinto . I came on an accident in Augusta , GA shortly after it happened .... a Pinto was rear ended as it was trying to merge onto the express way and caught fire . I can still see the two bodies in the back seat with the car on fire and the emergency workers unable to do anything about it . Later , the news said two children died in the fire .
As far as I`m concerned , whoever made the decision to not properly shield the gas tank should be put in the back seat of a Pinto and have the car rear ended !

[trularin]

The largest problem these automakers have is most of them seem to be rather top heavy and operate ( even to this day ) in the "good ol' boy" network.

Before I go into a rant, let me just say that these companies need to understand their own problems before they will fix them.

[Bill Bess]

Hey Now..I just got to weighin on this one.

Think back to the 50's, cheap cars..buy a new one every two years..no problem.
60's, bigger cars, more HP, still cheap to buy..same poor quality.
70's, really junk quality..getting more expense..really poor quality, had to do a valve job every 35'000 miles and hope to hick the darn thing lasted until it was paid for.
80's , still junk, slightly better quality, too many mis guide attempts to improve, they provided too many new variations of the same old stuff.
90's, better quality, more dependable, more expensive, poor service from dealers, couldn't compete with the continuing imports.
2000, much improve quality and reliability, improve mileage and performance, but too many models that nobody wanted and staggering increases in costs. Too many government reulations and requirements, Unreasonable Union demands and stupid contracts...no end to their stupidity.

Anyway, here we are in a situation that doesn't give the car companies much wiggle room, no way out and they will fail. Whos' fault is it?

I think it part public perception ( mindset) that foriegn cars have better quality, Americans that won't support their own countrys products, Unions, greedy CEO's and very poor leadership in the big three.

Buy one of the big three now...Obama will cover the warranty forever! How can you beat that deal.

Bill

[Ron61]

Bill,

I think it part public perception ( mindset) that foreign cars have better quality, Americans that won't support their own countrys products, Unions, greedy CEO's and very poor leadership in the big three.

I agree with you on that, but it is getting hard to find anything made in America any more. Go to any store and look through everything you see and look at the tags to see where it was made. I have a couple of magazines that you can order American made clothing and stuff from, but the stores here have 99% of their stuff with tags of Made in China, Japan, Korea, & etc.

As for the mindset, you are right, but it was created by the car companies and their greed and like a first impression, after years of shoddy products it is hard to change overnight. I think that Greed is the biggest factor in the fall of the American car companies and also in many other factories and companies. I hope that it can be turned around, but it isn't going to happen in a hurry. And hearing every day about those CEOs getting more millions in bonuses isn't going to help the cause any either.

Sorry for the rant, but it is frustrating to know we could do better and don't.

Ron