A year without "Made in China"

[mpholland]

Originally Posted by Rex E.

Problem here are Levi's are only "assembled" here from denim and buttons from out of country.

My 501's aren't even assembled here. The two pair I just looked at are made in Nicaragua and Colombia.

I have always tried to buy USA as much as I can afford, but there are just some things that I don't use enough to spend the extra cash on...tools being the big one. If the price difference isn't too substantial I almost always buy domestic.

[HarmanKardon]

Originally Posted by Rex E.

Owning the German cars is about status and appearance here for the most part.

The original reason folks went the Japanese route in the 70's/80's was reliability and fuel economy. Something Detroit could not really offer until a bit later when they partnered with the Japanese companies.

Fuel costs more than eight dollars a gallon in Germany. I cannot understand that fuel economy is an issue over there, gas is almost as cheap as water in the USA, from the European point of view.

So the Detroit bosses were just too arrogant to change the basic concepts of the cars, or they were too stupid, or both. Unemployment, poverty, crime, despair was their seed. Congratulations Ford et al.

[merrylander]

Our two Chevys were really made in Oshawa Ontario but that's fine by me. What a lot of people seem not to realize is just how long it takes to implement a new car design. AFAIK it is a matter of several years so it took the Bif Three a while to get it done. Remember when a muffler would burn out in 20,000 miles? So when was the last time you replaced a muffler? Our two Chevy Impalas are 13 years old, so far all we have replaced is tires and batteries.

[HarmanKardon]

Originally Posted by merrylander

Our two Chevys were really made in Oshawa Ontario but that's fine by me. What a lot of people seem not to realize is just how long it takes to implement a new car design. AFAIK it is a matter of several years so it took the Bif Three a while to get it done. Remember when a muffler would burn out in 20,000 miles? So when was the last time you replaced a muffler? Our two Chevy Impalas are 13 years old, so far all we have replaced is tires and batteries.

Well, my Audi is 35 years old and has 300000 kilometers know, and needs all 50000 kilometers a new muffler. My Volkswagen is ten years old and has 90000 kilometers now and nothing has been replaced apart from tires, oil, brake fluid (and Bremsbeläge, don't know the English term for that) and batteries.

"AFAIK it is a matter of several years so it took the Bif Three a while to get it done" is absolutely not comprehensive to me. It is an US insider sentence. But no biggie.

It is not the American customers job to design, to build reasonable and rational cars. This is the job of the car engineers. The American customer's job is to buy such American cars - if available.

[icenine]

a rule of economics is that once an item drops to a certain price it usually never goes up again, with gas being a notable exception. Study the price of Chicken McNuggets.

[JJIII]

Originally Posted by HarmanKardon

"AFAIK it is a matter of several years so it took the Bif Three a while to get it done" is absolutely not comprehensive to me. It is an US insider sentence. But no biggie.

May I help? AFAIK (As Far As I Know) it is a matter of several years (to implement a new car design) so it took the Big Three (Ford, Chevy, and Chrysler) to get it done. Rob will correct me if I'm wrong.

[merrylander]

Originally Posted by JJIII

May I help? AFAIK (As Far As I Know) it is a matter of several years (to implement a new car design) so it took the Big Three (Ford, Chevy, and Chrysler) to get it done. Rob will correct me if I'm wrong.

Quite right, oh and Bremsbeläge is brake lining or brake pads.

[piece-itpete]

America car manufacturers got lazy. That is all changed now.

I just spoke to someone who had been in many countries, he said Americans are the only folks who don't care where stuff is made, that in other countries the folks do care.

I only buy UAW/CAW built cars. For tools, garage sales and ebay is my friend

Pete

[bobabode]

I care where it's made and by who. Union made, whenever and whereever possible. Big fan of co ops, too.

[piece-itpete]

Hey anyone know where I can get an old style 'shield' Made by the UAW sticker? I can't find them anywhere.

Pete