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We need to remember that "planned obsolence" was a
fact of life of the American auto industry in the 50's and 60's. The average new
car buyer kept his car for 3 years and perhaps put 30,000 to 50,000 miles on it
before trading it on Detroits latest. The next buyer, either a lower income
individual or more frugal person then purchased it for less than half the
original price and drove it another 30,000 to 50,000 miles before trading it on
another 3 year old car. At that point it generally ended up on a "beater lot"
for $50.00-$300.00 for a 16 year old kid to pick up . I know because of the 3 58
Plymouths I owned in the 1963-64 time period the most expensive was my 58 Fury
purchased for $295.00 at a corner Gas Station.My point is they were built to
look and perform well for 3 years, provide reasonably reliable transportation
for 6 or 7 years and hit the boneyard before their 10th birthday and they were
designed and built accordingly. Dick
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, February 10, 2007 12:46
PM
Subject: Re: [FWDLK] Transmission Colors
and MORE
All:
It
seems to me that after the US rebuilding countries after WWII they had the
shiny new plants and we had the same old stuff that won the war. In some
cases, there have been accusations of these same governments subsidizing
industries that were competeing with our products, namely automobiles.
I
remember the rust buckets of the mid-sixties and I am sure that it was a
direct result of the bean counters dictating how cars were designed and
built. Of course, I will admit our execs didn't want to bend with
changing forces in the industry.
Just
my thoughts, maybe not too PC for some...
Dave
Moore
Wallingford,
CT
-----
Original Message ---- From: Joe Savard <JLSAVARD@xxxxxxx> To:
L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Saturday, February 10, 2007 12:10:51
AM Subject: Re: [FWDLK] Transmission Colors and MORE
In a message dated 2/9/2007 10:48:31 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,
wgraefen@xxxxxxx writes:
There are always time line considerations to these things
too. If the way they did it for years got analyzed and they said "we
could get by" without painting this or that, eventually the accountants got
their way.
Very well put, Wayne. I can remember the struggles to take 10-15
cents out of a carburetor and wondering what difference a dime would make in
the great scheme of things. It was pointed out to me that if we took 10
cents out of the carburetor and multiplied it out by however many cars were
built, it added up. Furthermore, all the other components were under the
same pressure to cut costs, so these things were always factored in, too.
Joe Savard
Lake Orion,
Michigan *************************************************************
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