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But many of those old cars just weren't very good. They didn't ride well, they were slow, they were thirsty, they didn't stop well, and they weren't safe.
But they were easy to work on. And that's a good thing because they needed service so often.
I drive a 1978 Mercury Grand marquis, a 4,700 pound car with 4 wheel disc brakes and hydroboost instead the usual brake booster which means this car stops really well. It also has sway bars front and back, a recirculating ball steering gear with a saginaw steering pump which makes for great steering and cornering. The electronic ignition system is a almost no maintenance factory duraspark setup which I recurved for better performance. The car is comfortable and safe to drive and very reliable with basically a truck drivetrain.
German craftsmanship so far satisfies my standards in cars. I would buy American , but the only American car I would buy is the corvette, nothing more nothing less.
As anyone who has read my post in the past, I was a big GM fan and defender. Not any more. Especially since, less than a year after my warranty expired, very expensive problems are popping up on my car. Problems that GM knew about for close to ten years before my car was built and never corrected and expect me to pay for the repairs out of my own pocket to correct their mistakes. My only mistake was trusting GM. Never again. Chrysler isn't much better. Ford has improved thanks to Volvo (Taurus) and Mazda (Fusion).
Frankly I would have a hard time trusting any of teh big htree to teh point that I use to. They bascailly caused their own problem in owner loyality by producing junk cars that many loss alot of money on. I'll stick to honda and toyota as long as they continue to give the reliabilty they have for me in the past.
Anyway, I converted the Dart's engine to electronic ignition. No points to change! Spark plugs lasted longer, too.
When it had points, they would last a couple of years. It was no big deal changing them... I could put in new ones and adjust them in about 30 minutes. Spark plugs lasted a few years. Again, no big deal. I could change those in 40 minutes without even rushing! I'd rather do that than try to do any kind of engine work on a new car!
Man ain't that the truth. Had to change plugs on my 'burban a few months back. Glad they lasted 100,000 mi because there were a couple of them that were nearly impossible to get to. It was an all-morning event to change the plugs and I even had help from my FIL! That job on an old car wouldn't have taken more than an hour tops!
I owned a 2008 New American made vehicle and it seemed to be a good vehicle. However, a few months of ownership the thing was in the dealer once a month because of repairs.
-Front seats were replaced because of leather stretching and tearing. The leather seats showed a smooth wear after 1 year after replacing them with new. -The plastic on the right side of the passenger seat cracked and fell off twice. -Upgraded minutes to OnStar and we could not use our 100 minutes because the entire system stopped working for 10 days. I made 3 scheduled trips to the dealer to get it fixed. Dealer and OnStar blamed each other for the problem... -Two tires would not hold air and would leak out within 2 months. -A/C clutch "banged" when engaged and my wife jumped and fell to the ground the first time it happened. -Dealer replaced the A/C clutch. A week later as two older women were entering our vehicle the clutch "banged" again the one woman got so scared she didn't want to ride home with us.
- Too many dealer excuses as to why we did not get a compass in the dash where it shows we should have.
I sold the vehicle with it's Black exterior and Tan leather interior after less than 2 years with 22,000 miles just last week and it was worth less than 45% of what we paid. A complete disgrace and I will never ever buy an American car again.
The Big 3 caused their own problems! PEROID! They knew what they were producing wouldn't last 10 yrs let alone 5. So to make money you build in flaws and refuse to cover it leaving a very bad taste in the consumers mouths while they pocket big money. But what happens when they start loosing customers.....Oh, were sorry, can we borrow billions of dollars from you nice tax paying consumers to bail our sorry azz' out and then we'll build better cars....
Yeah right! I'm an older german car guy, and before you throw any stones I do have a 68 Caddy also which will run forever. If the Big 3 want my business then they need to build them like they use to.
Chrysler seems to be going down the tubes faster than the other 2. Great looking cars but the reliability of those cars & trucks is awful not to mention the gas they guzzle but they sill want 40K for a Dodge Ram 5.7L Hemi V8 that gets 14MPG??? My '68 Caddy Cpe deVille which weighs 4200 lbs with a 472 V8 375 HP get better MPG than that!
Ford was rather quite when all 3 starting asking for bail outs. Stating they would take care of their own. Hats off to them for that. Their car line has improved with the Fusion series but sill falls short.
Seems none of them can get past the 60's era. Putting more into the Mustang, GM's Camero and Dodge's Challenger kind of cars instead of what we need. Economic cars & trucks for the times that will last for awhile and not brake a families bank in repairs and upkeep. Don't get me wrong, I'm a car nut and love the older muscle cars but times are changing and the US needs to make some big changes in order to stay in the front running.
GM.."The PIG" I could really care less if GM fails or suceeds. It would be a great to see them break up and go down the tubes. Making cars that blow engines, tranny, electrical faults.....Looking at car complaint dot com's web site its sickening to see all the stories about GM cars and trucks. The PIG has made it's bed, let them sleep in it..............Just saw the new Cadillac commerical for the CTS line???? Like we need 4 different versions of the SAME car? What a waste.
I buy the car and/or truck my heart desires no matter foreign or American.
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..You lost me there...(supports our way of life???? What way of life?) 
Heil!
