Built like a Mercedes (?)

Actually, the reason the US is so tough on cars is the fact that most
people do not take care of their cars. They expect them to work all
the time, no matter how deficient their maintenance upkeep.

I have lived in and maintained cars in Arizona, Mississippi, Texas,
Wisconsin and Indiana. So, they have seen oppressive heat, humidity,
rain, snow, cold, ice, etc... None have let me down (Ford (US and
Korean), Chevy (US and Japanese) Mercedes. If all of us Americans took
care of our cars like folks in Europe, the automotive industry would be
in much better shape here.

Also, to Bob,

I have been overseas, and American drivers cause many more problems on
their roads, then do they on ours. I can only imagine what they say
about American Caucasians in the East when we try to drive in Tokyo
(especially if we bring our big, poorly maintained US cars there).

 

That's very odd. So if I add a couple of carriages to an empty train my
efficiency goes up?

Would you care to comment on my point about freight? After all, it is dream
of a number of politicians to get 'juggernauts' off the road.

DAS

For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling
---

[...]

 

But you'll feel great (and might have brown underpants)...

DAS

For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling

 

This nugget, BTW, was mentioned on BBC TV Top Gear a few months ago, with
some glee as you might imagine... Unfortunately they did not give details of
the report and who published it.

DAS

For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling
---

 

OK that's fair Budd -- some people in canada feel that way too -- just that
they have plants here too (we call them "domestic" vehicles) -- you are
right -- if they closed their plants here, canada would buy "domestic"
vehicles from the states. in many areas of canada you simply do not consider
imports (and jeep is still considered somewhat an import in a lot of these
area) because parts can take weeks to get, towing to a dealer might mean an
8 hour tow, and dealer support stinks, but for domestics, they have to give
reasonable service because in small towns word gets around fast
rach

so true

you lucky thing! 3 beautiful cars!
my SL6 1 bbl D150 gets great mileage (even better right now because it
doesn't run) but i love it anyway

no doubt!

mine has some environmental crap and yes, the other SL6 86 d150 is getting
metal, and an EFI upgrade (since we stole its carb and choke and the engine
is really solid) i expect to fall in love again ;-)

maybe it depends on whether you want your vehicle to fold around and protect
you from a blow, or you want your vehicle to fold around another car. i was
sitting stationary in a traffic jam in montreal in my 66 fairlane (late
hubby's nickname for it was Sherman as in tank) when i saw a minivan in my
rear view approaching fast as the driver was talking to his wife. no one was
hurt. the front end of the minivan wrapped around my hitch sticking out 8
inches and not even the bumper of my car was dented. the minivan drove off
the next ramp sounding really sick. i have always chosen a good solid truck
and own 7 trucks, 2 parts trucks, no cars (can't afford a babe like one of
your old 60-early 70's cars)

LOL!
actually i would love to see the mounties on donkeys (or asses <evil
grin>) -- no many police are pretty ok and some are downright sexy so no
offense anyone!
parking police are sort of like mortitians (attack defenseless victims)

i wish we could see reduced prices -- very interesting idea on currency

the K car's motor was still good but the salt they put on the roads in urban
ontario was so bad the rust had rotted the frame out -- car only needed a
new rad after 15 years when the decision came

yep -- totally unfair to the dakota -- i don't want to see this truck leave
the market -- it was small enough to be a great light duty work truck,
weekend warrior, all around fun toy

 

Exactly what I mean, as I pointed out in another post, in the sense that
your example is from the very few routes that are viable.
(The fact that we are getting new, fast services in Europe does not add
anything as they all connect large urban centres. However much I admire the
rail tunnel under the English Channel (and I use it sometimes) the fact is
that the cost of construction was huge and has seen no return. The
operating profit barely covers the interest due.)

How about Butte to Rochester, NY?

Try sending your consignment of a table and chairs by rail...

In Germany every factory had a railhead, what fantastic infrastructure, you
would think. And yet so many have fallen into disuse.

Dreams, dreams, dreams.

In short, rail has a place in the overall transport scheme of things, but
only a limited one.

DAS

For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling
---

[...]

[...]

 

yep, politicians make experiments like NAFTA without knowing the
consequences -- it wasn't good for canada, probably worse for us, just like
the EEC in europe was not good for great britain, or several other
countries, but really good for france and germany

rach

 

Yes, dear. As I think I suggested elsewhere, you must get out more...;-)

The legal measure of distance is the mile.

But the legal measure of weight is the kilogramme.

DAS

For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling
---

[...]

[...]

 

Yes, you are, but I wasn't going to comment about it first..

Budd

 

Buick Century. Chevy Cavalier.

 

While this may be true, they did it by buying you, not by war, pretty much
the same thing that is happening to us.

--
If at first you don't succeed, you're not cut out for skydiving

 

And there were we readers of these forums being misled into thinking US cars
had their oils changed every 3000 to 5000 miles while we Europeans serviced
our cars every 10000 to 15,000 miles.
LOL

Huw

 

I'm sorry, I wasn't talking about government services, I was talking
about union ripoffs of the consumer.

So was my step-dad.

What will you retire with, Roy? What would you share with those in need
out of it?

So did the automakers or they would still be on strike. What's your
point? Unions always accept when they get what they really wanted.

Ands what fairy tale book is that from? What does you leadership earn
per year compared to your income?

The problem? Dinosaur unions and socialists destroying free enterprise,
for starters.

Ya know, Roy, you're the one that brought the railroad into this, I was
talking about the unions.

And much of you job is more subsidized than you know. Do you haul bulk
US mail?

Had a few what in my checks?????? I get $911/ mo. S.S.I. Disability. It
doesn't cover my medicines. Thanks to unions I have no retirement other
than that. The only company that had a retirement in the contract got
it back due to a maverick strike the union called.

I'm sorry, do you think our government should not help those disabled
and with no retirtement to fall back on?

To tell you the Gospel truth, Roy, I'd rather have my health back and
be working my butt off somewhere.

Would you like to have eight heart attacks, a double bypass, polio,
arthritis and diabetes with nothing to fall back on?

Budd

 

People, working on the Automotive industry lines going HUngry? Are you
kidding??? The average pay for a UAW worker far exceeds the average
non UAW worker. They are well above poverty, and get better benefits
the most everyone else, especially the deals they get on cars they
build. The Unions have put quite a stranglehold on the industry, and
have created the problem in hte Automotive industry (at least in the
US). It is hard to fix a problem with the cars you produce if you are
not allowed to make personnel/mfg/location changes as necessary,
because the Union always steps in. YOu think they are looking out for
the little guy, but they are just political, they are looking out for
themselves only.

 

People, working on the Automotive industry lines going HUngry? Are you
kidding??? The average pay for a UAW worker far exceeds the average
non UAW worker. They are well above poverty, and get better benefits
the most everyone else, especially the deals they get on cars they
build. The Unions have put quite a stranglehold on the industry, and
have created the problem in hte Automotive industry (at least in the
US). It is hard to fix a problem with the cars you produce if you are
not allowed to make personnel/mfg/location changes as necessary,
because the Union always steps in. YOu think they are looking out for
the little guy, but they are just political, they are looking out for
themselves only.

 

budd, that is a terribly ignorant thing to say. period. even stupid.
unions have a ying and yang to them, like all things. for example,
like management. there is no silver bullet, no universal answer.
however, unions hae a very definate place in this country. all
workers deserve to have input into their salary and benefits. all
workers deserve to be guarenteed a fair discipline system that follows
the doctrine of due cause and due process. the laws of this country
however, do not always support those gaurentees, especially since big
business has had the influence with the law makers that they have over
the past 20 years. fair employement laws have been rewritten to very
intolerent levels. unless you are in a protected class (female,
black, sexual preference etc.), your ability to require your employer
to follow due process and due cause are very likely non existant.
what those changes have done is create an even larger opening for
unions, who step in and through a negotiated contract force a fair
system of discipline on the employer. but of course the unions don't
stop there. they try to get more and what you see sensationalized in
the media is the cases where the unions have too much discipline
impact and the hands of the employer become tied. who is to blame for
this? unions or the employer? i think the employer. and as far as
wages, unions represent the employees. rare employers will give up
more than what they have to. unions try to get as much as they can.
most of the time they reach a fair settlement. what has gathered the
attention here is if employees (and thus the unions that represent
them) should give back gains as the company loses revenue. good
question but much more complex than a single answer like yours can
give. employees probably didn't run the company into the ground.
employees see their managers continue to get ridiculous sums of money
and benefits, even when they are asked to give back. employees signed
a contract and then made life decisions on that contact. decisions
like planning and setting aside money for their kids education, for
their own retirement. pretty hard to give that up if you didn't muck
up the company and your boss, who did, is still getting his same
salary.

anyway budd, unions are not dinosaurs. they fill a need. they have
to or they would not exist. they also create problems and have
unintended outcomes. that is life. from my experience, after 34
years in government, a lot of it in management, all of it dealing
through or with unions, unions have a real place in protecting the
rights of the workers. i am not a union employee by the way. but the
abuse that i see on the part of governments around here is incredible
and frankly, as much as unions are a pain in my ass, i fully
understand why they exist.

 

Errr... I said third world, not Europe, though some parts of it do belong
there... but I am assuming you mean western Europe...

<tears hair out in frustration>

DAS

For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling
---

[...]

 

I did not get that, but never mind that now. Tomorrow morning I am
scheduled to go out of the country for a few days so won't have access to
NGs (and I am not that dedicated to look at Google Groups...)

(Although driveable, about 8 h via Channel Tunnel, I decided to use an
Airbus vehicle instead, especially in view of the cold weather and risk of
snow on the Continent. Living in southern England I don't, of course,
bother with winter tyres.)

DAS
--
For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling
---

 

If everyone took a pay cut, everything would cost less - yeah, right!!
But if an assembly line worker is making more than 60 grand a year,
how is the service worker making 28 going to survive???

If the UAW don't start taking a bit of responsibility, they won't
exist in 10 years. And that, my dear fellows, is a FACT. No union auto
assembly jobs - no union.

 

You 'gotta' hand it to 'em though, Bill. Took ages.

Is this a record?

DAS

For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling
---