Often a comment sparks an entire blog entry. Nothing gets me going more than a discussion about US auto makers, especially if I can lay out my thoughts about “what’s happened to (insert brand here)”.
In a comment to my Auto Factoids for the Week of Aug 19, 2012 (http://wp.me/pKHNM-1fG) Bill wrote:
“If I were in charge of GM, I would not have left Oldsmobile for death. I liked the idea of ‘Saturn-izing’ Olds into a Lexus level car. There might have been only one, or two models under the Olds badge, but I would not have left the world’s oldest car company for dead.
Oldsmobile was GM’s ‘experimental’ division both in terms of engineering and product marketing. Many automotive firsts such as automatic transmission (Hydramatic), OHV V8s, and even the ‘self winding’ car clock……….Which brings me to the time I find myself saying in many of my comments in your BLOG:
“What happend to GM????””
I’ve mentioned this before, it never really made any sense to me why you would have so many divisions in a car company as GM did. Some say, it was to offer different levels of options that were affordable on up to expensive. But lets take the Chevrolet for instance. At one time they had the Biscayne, Belair, Impala and Caprice (and I think that was the correct order from lowest optioned to the highest) as option levels and pricing to reach everyone. This doesn’t seem too bad. But now add in the other divisions with Chevy being the lowest, then there’s Pontiac, Buick, Olds, and Caddy and I think that would be the correct order for options and pricing as well. A further break down in what as suppose to be different classes of automobile for different classes of society was the norm for those divisions as well. For example the Tempest and La Mans, GTO were basically the same car with different options.
I understand brand/model loyalty, especially at the initial merging/acquisition of a brand, but at some point that stopped being the only valid reason for keeping them separate. By the time the ’70s and ’80s rolled around they all started looking the same. For example take the Chevy Monte Carlo for 1978 and compare with the Buick and Olds of the same year:
78 Buick Regal
78 Chevy Monte Carlo
1978 Olds Cutlass
Minus the big tires on the Olds, tell me why I should purchase one over the other or purchase one at all (beside the fact they were fairly ugly)?
Frankly, I would have kept Pontiac over Olds any day but then again the difference between a Camaro and a Firebird in 2000 wasn’t much -but they are both gone now.
2000 Firebird
2000 Camaro
There just wasn’t much different. They diluted the brand and it became impossible to find any major differences – unless you were a gear head and most consumers were not.
The necessity to cut cost and share parts made it nearly mandatory to have them all made from the same cookie cutter.
Now don’t get me started on the purchase of oversea brands and becoming a finance/mortgage company to defray cost. (Did you know that at one time GM did more business in home/real estate loans then they did with their core car brands?
My car came with the standard AM radio, but around here, there aren’t any music stations on AM, just talk shows, so I needed to upgrade.
I wanted a 70s look and feel, so I bought a working 8-track AM/FM from another Mustang II owner. I also bought a new antenna off eBay because the one I had was all rusty.
My dad and brother weren’t available to help on this project and back then I wasn’t confident enough to attempt it myself, so I took everything to Best Buy and asked if they could do it. You can imagine their reaction when I showed up with a 77 Mustang and an 8-track player and one in-dash speaker! But they were up to the challenge (and promised to be careful) and they did an awesome job. Looking back, I can’t believe I want to BEST BUY, but it all turned out OK. Whew!
Eventually I was able to track down on eBay a sealed Ford demo 8-track from 1977 that came with the new models for that year that showed people how 8-tracks worked. It’s a neat piece to have with the radio.
Update: The one speaker in the dash has started to go out on me, so I’m hoping to replace it this summer (2010). I’ll try this project myself, so if you have any tips for me, let me know!
I have an acquaintance in the great state of Texas and contacted me and wants to sell his 1949 Merc Coupe. So I’m going to list here and you can contact me directly for any more information.
I think this car is a beauty.
1949 Merc Custom For Sale
Some spec:
1972 GTO Frame, Front end, Drive train and rear end.
Bagged suspension that rises and lowers – on board compressor and tank
Power steering and Title Iddit steering column and custom steering wheel.
Rebuild 350 GTO engine with Tri-Power 3 Duce Carbs) and Lunati street/strip cam.
Rebuild 350 Automatic Trans w/2600 stall converter – column shift with oil cooler
Custom PPG Black Hot Rod flat paint with flames and pin striping.
Full set of gauges
AC
and a lot lot more!!! (see the image below).
Great looking coupe!!!
Art Work
Rear Art
Very Unique details!!!
Ok…..hold your breath for this next pic!!!!
OH….YES!!!! That’s Tri-POWER!!!!! Art on the hood and art under the hood!!!!
Custom Interior – On comfy Lincoln Seats – Diamond Tuck Upholstery
Here is the entire list of EXTRAS!!!
Many details here like Dual Electric Antenna, Dual exhaust w/Flo Masters mufflers, Lake pipes – still need the Y to connect up to the exhaust….read on!!!
You can contact me directly at timsweet@cox.net. (I’m filtering out the ‘crazies’ before I pass them on.)
This is another from YouTube.
As watchmaker in a past career I can really appreciated the skills it takes to make this engine. Having it run when it’s completed is priceless.
I decided the time had come to get the front clip taken off the Wagon. I wanted to get the front frame cleaned up, and do the front end by the end of summer. I am shocked at how few bolts actually hold the whole front clip onto the ’58. 11 bolts, disconnect some wiring, and you can lift the whole front Clip (Dog house) off in one piece. It’s taken me longer to change the oil on a car than to remove the front clip on this car!
First I had to remove the front bumper with brackets attached. That was fine, except for the one chrome bumper bolt on each end of the bumper. They fought back pretty good. I had to sawzall them off.
I was without any help to lift the front clip off, so I had to tilt the front forward onto some large Foam cushions I had saved out of an old travel trailer I had gotten rid of years ago. They are a perfect for laying under vehicles to work on, and for cushioning large loads like this.
Next I will be removing the wiring from the front clip and saving it for future use. This front clip needs work. The front fender bottoms are rusty, and the hood is so badly rusted it is of no use. So either I will sell this old clip to someone who has nothing, or dismantle it, save parts and scrap it.
Back by popular demand (Ok, not really, I just like doing them.)
But I’m going to add a give-away on the end of each one.
On Aug 14 in 1877, Nicholas Otto gets a patented for his 4 cycle combustion engine.
From the ZweiRad Museum Otto’s 4 cycle engine.
On the same day Paris, France creates the first every license plate in 1893. Or was it? Sources agree that it in fact Paris, France but the date isn’t clear as some sources say it was Leon Serpollet of Paris, France, who obtained the first license plate in 1889.
A sad note on the very next day (Aug 15) in 1956 an early car manufacture ceased production. Packard closed its doors.
It was a Packard Caribbean
In 1984 on Aug 16, John DeLorean was acquitted of cocaine charges stemming from an alleged deal to help raise funds for the car company. He worked at Chrysler, Packard, GM (responsible for the GTO) and then his company producing the now famous Delorean DMC-12.
Back to the Future.The company still exist – original parts were purchased and now lives in Humble, Tx. Find them here on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/deloreanmotorcompany
Finally, in 1905 on Aug 18, Cadillac got it’s crest trademarked.
Caddy Crest Chart from http://www.cartype.com/pages/1051/cadillac
GIVE-AWAY:
Add a relevant comment to this Auto Factoid and you be entered in the monthly Auto Factoid Give Away.
This month:
1/32 scale 1969 Dodge Coronet Super Bee (new in the box)
