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When it comes to luxury cars, Cadillac was, is, and will always be The Standard of the World!
Here's my ride:
Wouldn't you agree that GM would be in vastly better shape today, with far more UAW members drawing paychecks, if Cadillac had figured out how to pull those "pretentious yuppies" into its showrooms?
Don't forget that Cadillac was a huge marketing success & cash machine back in the 50s & 60s precisely because the badge chasers of the day craved it. So what went wrong? How did Caddy lose them?
That is true. As a kid in the big city, I remember that in my neighborhood that the undertakers always had Cadillac limos, hearses and flower cars.
Seasoned citizens also like Cadillacs, many with padded tops.
Does anybody have any stats on what percent of UAW members, active and retired, that drive Cadillacs.
Lets see... My 115,000 mile 3 Series track rat has averaged @$33/month to run(that includes three sets of track tires) since I bought it new in 1995. My wife's 2004 X3 has 78,000 miles and running costs have averaged $56/month since we bought it in 2005. If you want to compare debt/equity ratios or net worth just bring it on...
No, thanks! I'd rather keep my money, not worry about the bill collectors, and trying to impresse[sic] pretententious[sic] yuppies, (whom I hate with extreme prejudice) with a three-pointed star or blue and white roundel on my hood.
Nice to know that you don't stereotype people. This is why I've driven BMWs for over 25 years:
UAW content: I often get dirty looks(or the one-finger salute) from guys driving 'murrican pickups plastered with UAW stickers. It never fails to give me a warm feeling deep down inside... :P
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
That and my 1968 DeVille Convertible
and My ElDorado custom convertible by coach builders (one of only about 70 made):
Poor reliability: not on your life
Current cars:
Lets see DeVille convertible - engine and drive trained needed overhaul at 150,000 miles but I'm not the original owner of this 41 year old beauty.
1995 Fleetwood, 195,000 miles with no internal engne or transmission work ever needed. lost it in an accident - otherwise it would be over 200,000 miles and still looking and running like new. I'm going to get another when i get home!
2000 El Dorado coach builders hard boot convertible. more trouble with the top than the whole rest of the car put together, needed crank position sensors replaced, but it didn't leave the car dead on the road. Still gets 30 MPG at 80 MPH at over 120,000 miles
2005 CTS, nearing 100,000 miles with nothing other than routine servicing, brakes are a DREAM to service, less than $100 per axle with Ceramic pads, unlike the $3,000 for a BMW!!!
Earlier cars:
1992 LeSabre, 175,000 miles only time i was left dead on the road was when a fitting to the heater intake broke (I will admit that GMs use of a plastic fitting was stupid, the replacement part i bought from the dealer was metal). traded it in on the Fleetwood, and i saw it going down I-275 three years later!
1987 Cavalier, contrary to the press bad rep, this car ran trouble free for 110,000 mles, gave it to my niece and she drove it for 2 more years, and this was in the NY NE snow country.
Does GM make less than adequate cars, yes, the 1986 Fiero got traded in after only 75,000 miles, constant motor mount and AC problems.
But by and large, my GMs have done very well by me.
Nice.. What a classy bunch. NOT!
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
Of course the UAW and its poor quality control practices at the US plants just worsened the US cars in the eyess of many, partucilay the (biased) press, profit and non-profit alike.
I think the US caught up around the early to mid 90s but it was too late, and the press is still biased. and the american public contues to drink the kool-aid.
Throw in a terrorist attack on NYC, and the current mess (across many spectrums) and here we are!
My dad has got 200k trouble free miles out of his last two Ford's and he still ended up buying an '09 Accord EX-L v6. He's put 10k on it so far and he told me the other day he likes it so much, he doesn't know why he didn't buy a Honda sooner, other than his 40 year loyalty to Detroit that is obviously gone now.
Watch it now! I occasionally drive one of them 'murrican pickups, and I don't flick anyone off, BMW or not, unless they cut me off or do something else inconsiderate. :P
I don't have any UAW stickers on it, though. There used to be a Crimefighters sticker on it that my stepdad put on it years ago, before I had it, but that went away when I got a new bumper after a 2000 Infiniti I30-something or other decided it wanted to go under me.
The end result is that G.M. will not become more like successful car companies. It will become less like them. The federal merger will not accelerate the company’s viability. It will impede it. We’ve seen this before, albeit in different context: An overconfident government throws itself into a dysfunctional culture it doesn’t really understand. The result is quagmire. The costs escalate. There is no exit strategy.
I think GM could be Obama's Vietnam. Once in, it is hard to get out. $100B a year so Lemko can buy a new car every 5 years.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
I disagree, I think they've mostly caught up by now (desirability is still questionable and the sales show that), but most of the domestic's I had in the 90's were pretty bad (small - midsize and I'm not talking reliability, but also desirability). I don't know how anyone would think a something like a mid 90's Lumina/Grand Prix/Grand Am/Alero is even in the same universe as mid 90's Maxima, Camry, or Accord. Same with a Cavalier/Sunfire vs. a Civic, Corolla, or Sentra. Even something like an early 00 Impala still sucked imo. My wife had an 01 and I can't think of one desirable thing about that car other than decent fuel economy. Just a completely unremarkable vehicle. Cheap inside and out. That's pretty much been my opinion of GM until the current CTS/Malibu/Aura came out. Those are first GM car's since something like a 87 Regal T-Type/GN that would even be close to earning my money.
The few times my hard earned money went towards a purchase of a GM vehicle, I've immediately regretted it from ending up with a horrible ownership experience. That's why myself along with thousands of others have left GM probably for good.
Funny thing; I sometimes think that the Mazdaspeed generates more angry responses from the UAW crowd. Must be some subliminal "Remember Pearl Harbor" vibe going on or something...
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
I think the US caught up around the early to mid 90s but it was too late, and the press is still biased. and the american public contues to drink the kool-aid.
So I'll bite. Which early to mid 90's cars do you think were caught up with the imports of the same day? :confuse: :P
This discussion is about the UAW.
I think you are totally wrong. The only 2 products they made that were even with the rest of the world in quality was in 2008.
I think the market share proves your wrong and based on the 6 points in the article, GM might never recover.
Time will tell.
Regards,
OW
Just curious, but where did you get that number? At worst you might be talking @$1,000 at the dealer, and that's for OEM pads and rotors at all four wheels. I usually fit Axxis Deluxe pads on my street cars(@$90 F&R) and use Hawk HP Plus(@$171 F&R) on my two track rats. BMW rotors for my 3er run $55 each, F&R.
If I do all four corners myself I'm out @ $310-$400.
Works for me.
Why not bring your CTS to a BMW CCA HPDE? I'd like to see how a newer Caddy would do. You'd have a blast.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
My guess is that Toyota will continue to make cars at NUMMI since there's lots of capital on the ground there (both sunk dollar cost and political capital).
Dunno about profit sharing - you sure ask hard questions.
Here's Michelle Krebs' take on it - basically "ongoing discussions." Future of GM-Toyota NUMMI Plant Uncertain with GM Bankruptcy
Oh, the fun thread about all the old GM cars everyone drove has been moved over to the Memories Of The Old GM discussion that I linked in post 14977.
My computer is made in Fletcher, Ohio, within 50 miles of me.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Mine was put together in Orlando Florida.........by us geeks here.
Buy a car because you like it - not because you want to make some kind of political statement.
That's where it was assembled. I build my own computers, & I can assure you that most of the components came from Asia. It's possible that the CPU was made here (Intel has chip plants in the U.S.); if you bought a high-end gaming machine, the video card might have been made in Canada. Everything else in your machine came from Taiwan (case, motherboard), Malaysia (hard drive) or Korea (optical drive, although that might have come from China).
My Grandpop was a WWII vet and as long as I knew him, he drove big Chevrolets. In fact, there's a picture from my parents' wedding album showing my mother in her wedding gown coming out of the back seat of my Grandpop's brand-new black 1964 Chevrolet Biscayne sedan as Grandpop holds the door open.
I had a great time in my 48 Cadillac. It did use a 2.5 gallon can of Raylube to every tank of gas. She was a smoker for sure. What do you expect for $25 from the wrecking yard? Traded back to my boss for a banged up 53 Mercury two door hardtop. I painted it metallic green after hammering out the dents a little. It had some ripples down one side. At least it did not use a lot of oil. All built with pride by the UAW that was proud to build the cars we drive. I think they lost that in the late 1970s, when the D3 went into the toilet.
An article today said the 'new' wave of green manufacturing jobs will pay $12 an hour. If take home $10 an hour, that is 5 weeks net pay to cover the sales and excise tax on a basic new car. Gotta love globalization and GW.
That was exceptionally high pay for a blue-collar job back then. My wife & I both worked full time at "professional" jobs that required 4-year college degrees; together, we earned less than $38K & considered ourselves to be well off.
Most skilled blue-collar jobs paid in the mid to high teens in the late 1970s. Your father was earning close to twice that. He must have had friends in high places.
Yeah, I'll say. Adjusted for inflation, that's about $95-96K per year today! Heck, I'd take it!
For comparison, my grandfather retired from the railroad in 1974, at the age of 60. He went out making $6.00 per hour. And he considered that to be decent money. They raised three kids, although Grandmom did work. And I think Granddad did pull a lot of overtime.
Trouble is, the economy was in lousy shape that year - Carter was President, after all - & that would have cut into the availability of OT. That spring & early summer, gasoline shortages that were partly caused by idiotic Federal regulations led to long lines at the pumps. Before the year was over, gas prices had doubled.
I don't think that too many people would prefer 1979 to 2009. I'm certainly in better shape now than I was then.
Dad was doing pretty well around that time. I recall he bought a new red and white Ford Granada coupe in 1978 and we went on our first real vacation in six years.
Not much difference at all anymore.
Let's look at what Gandhi did to free his own people. Against the orders of the British, he stood up to the false authorities. He marched his followers on to the famous march to the sea so that they could mine their own salt. He led them to harvest their own green tea, and then, to begin to spin their own clothes -rather than import these below market value, for which then tainted the currency and economy that drove wages below a living wage Hartmann, in radio broadcast, 2008 and in the Documentary Movie Gandhi.
I recall back in 1975, as I was entering the workforce, toolmakers and jigbore operators earned $12 and hour. So therefore, they could certainly get 25K without OT. This is also non-union and Texas. The price of a good home was also about 25K and a camaro was 6K. Can you buy a home with a years wages today?
I also recall the Nixon wage and price controls which anyone, with basic economics, knows will lead to surplus/shortage condition.
I certainly can't recall any gas shortage during Carter.
Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.