August 29th, 2008:You may like to have a look at the progress on Caddie Trunk #3,... This is the first one having all new lumber. The hardware is what just naturally transformed into being a part of it. The legs are made from
an old weight lifting bench I found in a scrap pile. The Rustolum gloss blue sure produced a shinny finish on the legs and side rail hardware. I'm going to put a coat of stain to the old side boards I made out of some scrape several years ago. We'll call it fowe finish, but hey they do the job.
I think it's pretty neat. Like a portable pick up I can roll about in my one car garage.
If you do decide to buy a new automobile, I hope it's a decision that you have thought about for a while. Just as you may want to think about how short amount of time a few months would be to custom order it direct from the factory. For one thing, you'll save around $1,000.oo alone for not paying the advertising fees,
a car
on the car lot will have attached to it.
Those advertising dollars are why to don't see me or my truck on TV.
And - Oprah never gave way 250 cars;
General Motors did.
Those Pesky Germans
July 14, 2008
My Advice to the Big Three Auto manufactures.
December 4th, 2008:
Auto makers skip out on Detroit Auto Show.
November 25th, 2008:
Oct. 21,'08: I found this thread over at CR4, a place where engineers hang out. I have to say I agree with these guys for the most part. The interesting thing about it is that it clears up a lot of mis-conceptions about the Hydrogen Car. They know of the problems associated with it. Like one thing I didn't realize is the thay tend to leak out
the hysrogen. So the storage tank may not stay as full as you left it for one thing. And another thing is that the energy needed to make the hydrogen, can end up polluting more than a car driven on Natural Gas.
There is a post mentioning the percentage factors of the different pollutants that are emitted from Gas, Diesel, -verses- Natural gas.
Check it out
Where Are Al@ CR4 Globalspecl the HydroGen Cars
By the way, I read today Oct. 21 in the WSJ that people in Thailand are scarffing up car that run on natural gas. (Brazil and Pakistan are right behind.) Funny thing about all this is even though Honda offers a natural gas Civic in the US, they only manage to sell a few thousand of then each year.
Get this natural gas prices on the stock market are 47% below their July peak.
And what is it with this: Barrels of oil where up to about $140 per barrel at one point and I saw the price of diesel at $5.30 per gallon. But now that a barrel of oil is running about $70.00 I only see Diesel at $4.69 per gallon. Gee I would think it would drop to around the $2.50-$3.00 rang wouldn't you.
But no way; OPEC is just going to cut production to make it go back up.
See more about this:
@ BBC Oil at 16 month low.
And for those who think we should become independent upon oil from other counties. You don't know what you are talking about, because I did the math. If the US used only US oil, the US would run out of oil in less than three years. So I say buy it up from other countries, as much as we can get at no matter what the price, because in a long run, who ever has oil in the end wins. We
shouldn't even be burning petroleum in are vehicles and we should be saving the oil for plastics and rubber.
What gets me is: Australia doesn't have any oil, however they have natural gas, yet they pay a premium for gas and diesel. But the real troubling thing about it is that they are building ships with big tanks to ship natural gas to other countries. I gotta tell you that there is something wrong with that.
Another thing that is happening, is that Officials from Russia, Iran and Quatar are meeting to discuss establishing an OPEC-style cartel for natural gas. The US as well as energy importing nations in Europe are a little nervous about that idea because the three counties own about 60% of the natural gas reserves. The EU depends heavily on Russian natural gas. Critics on the proposal say "energy supplies have to be sold in a free market."
Smells like trouble to me.
Hybrid tax credit shock
@ Money.CNN.com
March 2008: Get this: Ford's own internal research shows its approval rating at just 44%, GM's Chevrolet brand at 49% and Toyota is at 74%
Funny how these auto manufactures claim that they are loosing money. While Ford's stock price is running at about half as it was a year ago, they just awarded CEO Mulally and other executives a total of 2 million stock units valued at nearly $15 million along with 6 million
in stock options.
And what do you think we get from all this?
A new add campain. " Drive one." Yeah drive one into a hole in the ground. Or drive one crazy hearing it all the time.
Ford and Roush are being sued over rarity of Mustangs. Basicly the two companies came up with the idea of selling a customized version of the Mustang. They told the buyers that they were only going to build 100 of the Roush Stage 3 BlackJack editions when they put them on sale in 2007 for $58,846.25; but then they turned
around and built another 100 to sell in 2008. A buyers such as Drew Connor of Bardonia NY who bought the one with the #2 identity plate, have filed a class action suit against the two companies claiming the second hundred that Roush modified and Ford sold at their dealerships, drasticly reduced the value of the first 100 sold.
I say stick it to them guys.
I found this bit in the WSJ on 8/6-08
RollOffCamper.com
HookLiftTruck.com
Its only Junk
Have you bought a
Lemon?
The truth be told, they can sell you a lemon and treat it as if they leased it to you for $.25 per mile and they will drag the whole process out until the last few days before it goes to a court, (at which they would have to label it as a lemon unless they take it to a state where there is no lemon law.)
And when they finally buy it back (before the court hearing,) they won't even have to label it as a lemon when they put it back on the same car lot you bought it from.
I guess I should post another segment from my book about how that game plays out.
It's as if the auto makers had their hands in on the legislation written into the lemon laws.
Still, the $15.00 it cost to register the van for the lemon law was the best $15.00 I ever spent.
My bit on Belinda Stronach and the Magna International Inc.
heher father Frank Stronach
(from Austria) founded in Canada.
(April 11, 2007)
The Other Systems Available
HookLiftTruck.com
January 4, 2008: I rans across some stuff on Yahoo/Forbes: which
I think is a bunch of hog wash. It's about the five most over priced cars. All it talks about is inscentives, and to me, it feels like a ploy just to get a person to go out there thinking they have some advantge car shopping from reading it.
If you want to waste you time reading something drop by the Yahoo/Forbes.com site. (I just had to laugh.)
Funny how a company that builds Tonka Toys can pull ahead of GM. Even when Bush helps GM by creating a demand for Hum V's by blowing them up.
You may be wondering what I think of all this. Well I never thought Daimler should have been buying Chrysler in the first place. Chrysler was a company which had more employees that Daimler and Chrysler was making more profit per employee.
Therefore Chrysler was the bigger of the two and some how the CEO sold out the company (with $700 million in severance pay.) And any change in the auto industry can only be considered good, because what it has been, is bad.
Back to Home
RollOffCamper.com
HookLiftTruck.com
Synchro-Link.com
Blog.Synchro-Link.com
Its only Junk
RollOffCamper.com
HookLiftTruck.com
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Car Guys
December 12th, 2008:
South to detroit: Drop Dead.
There has been a lot of hog wash going on in the news about how
devastating it would be if any of the Big Three crashed and burned.
Well I think the politicians and the industry leaders are just trying
to convince the public that it would be the end of the world.
But face it, the Big Three only employ directly about the same amount as what filed for unemployment this month alone.
Then
they say anywhere between 3 -5 million indirectly. (I happen to think
that is fare fetched.) But the thing to consider, with a poor economy
and millions out of work in all sectors; their isn't going to be near
as many people with enough money to even consider buying a new car no
matter how good of mileage they get.
The suppliers are going to slow down and have to lay off people anyway. Regardless.
What
this administration as well as the next administration needs to think
about is not trying to save jobs that are not needed, but to create new
jobs that are needed now. We need the jobs that don't depend on people
with money to buy the product. Or better yet, you better come up with a
product that someone else doesn't already supply. Now am I the only one
smart enough to understand that statement?
Read it again to make sure you understand it.
We need the jobs that don't depend on people with money to buy the
product, OR you better come up with a product that someone else doesn't
already supply.
Taking about suppliers of products.
This link is to a web-page at
Forbes.com- South To Detroit: Drop Dead
December 4th, 2008:
My Advice to the Big Three Auto manufactures.
Today is actually more important to me than the presidential election.
Being that the Big three are at capital hill begging for money.
What gets me is they say they only want $34 billion and if they don't, that they will go under within a month or two.
The
deal is, if you look at the money they claimed that they have lost over
the last six months, you will realize that $34 billion couldn't
possibly keep them afloat over all the overhead they have to cover.
Since
it takes about 14 months to put a new vehicle on the market, the chance
of them making it to the day when they roll out the new higher mileage
vehicles the money is suppose to be allocated for just isn't going to
happen because they would burn up the money just paying the bills in
the months before hand.
They need money to operate on, let alone the money to retool for the new vehicles.
Common
sense tells me that they would have to come back begging for more money
within the next 4 to 6 months; that is unless they are just lying about
being broke in the first place.
My advice to the auto
manufactures: is to liquidate, sell factories, tooling and anything you
can. File bankruptcy. Sell every car and truck you've got stockpiled.
Learn
from Donald Trump and stiff your suppliers so that you can afford to
pay cash up front to the supplier that used to be your rival's supplier
- for the parts you need.
With a new name on the sign on your building, you could dump the union contracts that broke your back in the first place.
Sure you would be starting out small and starting all over, but at least you wouldn't have such a monkey on you back.
Consensuses say, (all the e-mails from people to their congressmen,) the general public doesn't want to help you.
November 25th, 2008:
Auto makers skip out on Detroit Auto Show.
Looks to me that there are a few auto makers out there wanting to distance themselves from Detroit. There was a time when the Detroit Auto Show was considered the biggest, but now I think priorities have moved out west to Los Angeles. The reason I mention this, is that Nissan, Mitsubishi and Porsche have decided to skip out on Detroit this year. A second year in a row for Porsche. Nissan's Chief Executive Carlos Ghosen claims that the auto maker is trying to conserve cash to withstand the dramatic
drop in auto sales.
Well at least they have a game plan and they aren't in DC asking for a hand out.
My advice to the Big Three auto makers: is that you better learn how to line the pockets of the politicians before the next round of your whining.
The truth of the matter, is even though they are considered an important economic indicator, they have been loosing support from the politicians who decide whether or not they should be considered for any of the economic enhancement funds. Reason being, the Democrats who have been known to support them with their political strength has shifted a bit. They are now more Westernized and are more likely support green causes. And being more from the West Coast States, they are more likely to drive
a Prius made by Toyota; which happens to be built in the southern states which are supported by the Republicans.
As for the Republicans, they realized their territories in the south are pumping out vehicles made by foreign-owned factories. So the idea of the rust belt falling on hard times can only means good times for the jobs created by Nissan, Toyota, Kia, Mitsubishi, BMW and Daimler AG.
The fact of the matter is, while foreign companies from Germany, Japan and South Korea have been tooling up in the states, along without the help of the Unions bogging them down, the Big Three have been building plants in other countries where labor is cheaper. Basically the big Three are guilty of shipping jobs out of the country anyway. And get this: because of the absentee rules brought on by their UAW Union, many of their factories are overstaff by 25%.
Gee, would that mean an employee who is working for the Big Three is more likely to call in sick four times a month instead of maybe once a month? Hell, I'd trim the fat and find someone who actually wants to work.
November 1st, 2008:
Kinna funny how Cerberus Capital Management ended up being the owner of 51% of GMAC: to GM's 49%.
Now there has been talks about a merger. however I look at it as a stack swap. Kinna funny how an investment firm be partners with GM can buy up a competing company and then decides to get out of the auto manufacturing business so soon. Kinna makes you wonder if eliminating the competition was part of the plan all along. (Kinna like Microsoft if you ask me.) isn't there anti-trust laws that should come into play?
Anyway, If the deal goes through, we can expect to watch the Chrysler brand shake off 19 of the 27 models.
June 3, 2008:GM announced the closing of four truck plants and the interest of spinning off the Hummer brand; and to build more small cars. The folks in Canada are not going to let it happen as fast as GM wants to (by 2010) because they just negotiated last month on a
three
year deal.
The interesting thing about this news is that more than four plants are going to be shut down. Namely: Oshawa, Ontario, Moraine, Ohio, Janeiville, Wisconsin, Tolucia, Mexico.
Did I ever mention how much fuel I save when I drop my box off my truck? Well I'm doing my part to conserve fuel, but many of you don't have the option. Hah.....
However, the smartest thing GM has come up with is the plan of building a plug-in electric car through the Chevrolet brand called the Volt. It has a small engine and a generator on board for travels that will go over 40 miles. I happen to wonder what kind of batteries they plan to use. I happen to thing staying with gel-cell is the better option than
lith-ion.
We'll see.
For more on this
May 17, 2008: Negotiators for the UAW and American Axle & Negotiators for the UAW and American Axle & Manufacturing Inc. have come to a tenitive agreement by an 84% vote, that would end a strike that began Feb. 26th and I guess GM won.
(The only reason I cover this s___ is because the Canadians are affected by it, and I noticed quite a few visits to this page because of it.)
I guess GM claims they lost $800 Million because of the cut back in production because of the strike.
More on this at:
Bloomberg.com
Associated Press.com
March 8, 2008: Negotiators for the UAW and American Axle & Negotiators for the UAW and American Axle & Manufacturing Inc. expect to continue talks today, as the two sides try to reach a contract that would end a strike, now nearly two weeks old, at the Detroit-based auto
supplier.
The strike at American Axle, which counts General Motors Corp. as its largest customer, has forced the automaker to shut down seven assembly plants. By Monday, the strike is expected to impact, through production cuts or shut downs, as many as 29 GM factories, including engine plants in Romulus and Flint.
The UAW brought 3,650 of its members at American Axle on strike early Feb. 26, after negotiations collapsed and the contract between the UAW and the supplier expired. At the time, the two sides were far apart on issues including wages, buyouts and pensions. The company had proposed cutting the wage of production workers by about half to $14.50 an hour, saying that it needs the
savings to compete with companies that already have cut their labor costs. The union has said that American Axle hasn't proven that it needs cuts as steep as it had proposed.
For the latist information on this story as of
April 19'08 check out this link @ Forbes.com
More on this @ Freep.com
Febuary 4, 2008: DETROIT (AP) -- For all the good in GM's 2007 results -- the near-record worldwide sales, the reduction in labor costs and in retiree health obligations -- there is no getting around the $38.7 billion in red ink.
The largest annual loss in the history of the auto industry signals that even with a garage full of hot vehicles and a historic new labor contract, GM has little hope of making a profit again before 2010 as the weak U.S. economy and competition eat away at its gains.
GM reported the record-setting loss on Tuesday and promptly offered a new round of buyouts to 74,000 U.S. hourly workers in hopes of replacing some of them with lower-paid berry pickers.
Boy, nothing has made me feel better in a long time.
Oct. 29,'07: Funny how Ford can claim that they are losing $5.000.00 per vehicle and others say they are losing $1,000.00 - $1,500.00 per vehicle in the US.
I guess they are doing something wrong. All they'd have to do is loose the middle guys and they could sell the cars to the consumers for less. But hay, who really cares if the nickel and dime the things to death. They're not going to be built here anyway.
My old 75 Ford F-250 had a 360 V-8 which was a good boat anchor because the 390's at least had a four barrel that actually got better mileage and had a lot more torque. The 4 speed got old real quick. The twin I-beam front suspension was great if you were a farmer and you need to off road the thing, but the tracked like hell down the paved road.
However, 75 was that last year they built heavy duty trucks. In 76 they went with plastic inner fender wells instead of just galvanized steel. And they thinned the glass to save weight then you say hello rock chips.
Another thing I should mention: My buddy who installs windshields for a living told me, that for the first two years of a model, they have to buy the windshields from the dealers who mark them up an arm and a leg. I'm sure the insurance companies know that and it's probably another good reason to buy used. Plus a new auto depreciates 24% the first week you
own
it. Kinna screws you right there.
June 28, 2007: General Motors announced earlier this morning that it has agreed to sell Allison Transmission to two private equity firms. The Carlyle Group and Onex Corp. will purchase both the commercial and military ends of Allison, all for the bargain price of $5.6 billion.
The plan is to sell of the firm's seven manufacturing centers throughout Indianapolis, along with the company's sale offices and a worldwide distribution complex. However, GM plans to retain its Baltimore plant to produce both regular and hybrid two-mode transmissions for it's trucks and SUVs.
Naturally, the regulators and the unions will want to have their say first, so don't expect anything solid until later in the third quarter of 2007.
April 11th, '07: Ford put together a commercial promoting their F-450. Stating that they made the springs 8 inches longer so that it could handle more weight. Then the lower something that looks heavy into the tin can on back. They make a clicking noise to make it sound like something giggled the truck. The funny thing is the truck doesn't sit any lower afterward.
Like who's fooling who? Hell they even build the F-550 with coil spring front suspensions now days. Give them three years and the bushings inside the links will loosen up and there goes the handling. The steering geometry will change when you put the brakes on. You should see how the front axial twists under my truck when hold the brakes and go from forward to reverse. It's junk folks.
Feb.'07: The the cake was in my yahoo and on TV, but the funny part about it is that it looks like pie in the face to me. (Update: Funny how they pulled that one real fast.)
Jan 5th '07: At Blacks Beach I saw a guy sitting outside his polished-up new Lexus crossover vehical.
It sure looked gay.
I think the whole design thing is about making a car uggly as possible, so that people will notice it when everyone hasn't gotten one yet. Between the ones on the street and the hundreds of times we are forced to look at them on our TV set. The public grows tired of them fast and just wants to look at something new. It doesn't matter if it's ugly or not,
just as long as it's something they haven't seen a zillion times.
Can you image that you are about to witness $100,000,000.00 launch of the new Toyota Tundra. We're going to have their dam commercials coming out of our ears.
I'd say throw it back in the lake, but even the Locness has more class than a Toyota.
I can't believe those trucks will even sell, they look like they have a big crome frown on the front of them. They're butt ugly.
And gee, did you see the three piece frame they came up with for it? It's like stamped out wish bone meets cast-iron just hope things keep tight.
I get
a kick out of that commercial of the two idiots driving one of the ugly
Avalanches down a dirt road. They think that switching the piece of rattle box
junk to an open truck is a good idea. But they don’t show all the dust that
swirls around the back and into the cab as they drive off at the end of the
commercial.
I bet the insurance companies hate those
Tinker Toy Avalanches. I wouldn’t doubt a guy could lie down in the back of the
bed and kick-in the dam rear fold away wall and help themselves to the TV set.
I had to laugh when Ford came out with SUV
commercial where the little girl asks her mother if the piece of junk goes
potty. Boy, how stupid do they think we are?
Its only Junk
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