GM and Chrylser to merge?!

Hahaha... Yes, we'd soon be driving "Toylets".

 

LOL
Already had those.
Remember the joint venture between the two? Built a Nova, sort of, in the old Freemont, Ca plant in the late 70s or early 80s.

 

Or Ford and Mazda. oh wait...

 

I blame Wal Mart! OldWolf

 

hahaha

 

I'm sorry but i would like to see some of these pussies who say car assembly is an easy job go do some work on the line for a day and then say that those guys don't earn their money. Yes there are easy jobs in the plant but all of them are high senority jobs. Most people are on the line for about 12 years before you get the easier jobs. Just to give you an idea of how fast the work is we average 75 cars an hour through body shop and the most I have personally worked is 110 cars an hour!!! you try hanging that many fenders with 3 screws 3 bolts and an alignment tool all while being checked by the computer that torque spec is right while wearing thick kevlar gloves and sleeves. Rant Over

 

might be better off buying a bicycle, no wait, they are all made in china too.

 

You folks just don't get it do ya'?


Global warming is the cause.

 

I'm on trades and have been for most of my career, Thank God. When I first started I had to do deep knee bends 480 times per day assembling the front facia to rt fenders on Olds 88s and 98s plus a whole bunch more. After my first couple of nights I wasn't hungry enough to climb the stairs to hit the Cafe' at lunch. My legs hurt so damn much! Took a couple of weeks to work in. Of course then it was time for a new job to break in. Yippie! To the pit to drive body bolts! Holy $hit, I thought I was going to die. I was just 22 years old. Still hurt like hell. Oh ya. The guy I replaced in the pit was carried out cause the gun got away from him and went across his forehead and laid him open. They carried him out as I was going in completely covered in blood. Line never stopped either.

 

lol, car assembly, try fixing these loads after they are sold while fighting the flat rate clock, and that's on everything that makes a 'car'.

NOTE: no disrespect intended, but when assembling, you get used to assembling one thing, i gotta deal with all aspects, usually while the owner waits for the 'cure'.

 

I don't see how it would work, there are too many conflicting carlines between the two companies. If they merge, then they have to pick and choose what to keep and it means a lot of wasted money in the last few years to develop various cars that it no longer makes sense to continue building and competing with yourself.

Now if they could push each make into a specific market niche, then it would make some sense, but even then how do you reconcile having Chevy, GMC, and Dodge trucks?

If it's a marriage of convenience to keep them both afloat a little longer, that might work, but to truly merge the two just doesn't make a lot of sense otherwise.

 

Non taken but there's no reasoning with a line that doesn't stop Oh and as a relief person I have to learn a minimum of 96 different jobs just in body shop alone. Then they are always sending you to trim and chassis or paint if they are short there.

 

Your supposed to drop a large bolt between the links of the drive chain when you need to stop the line for a break! OldWolf

 

What do you mean in Body shop we work 2 breaks out of 3 to keep paint with cars. No lie

 

Im not saying they didnt do any thing wrong... just that the "walmart way" is just the biggest part of the problem and was allowed to run by the general public for too long..... and now every one tries to place the blame on someone else.... AMERICA did this not the UAW or any other union for that matter..... YOU and ME and EVERYONE ELSE did this..... not the slugs sitting on there asses bitching about more money. Go the opposite extreme with no unions where would you be?????? united we stand divided we fall. the unions help non union wages as well. look at the labor force if the nonunion doesnt pay enough. they would go to a union shop. the nonunion would not hvae anybody to hire. hence they have to pay more. its a vicious cycle. its the American people that allowed outscourcing that did this not the unions..... the unions did not help but they did not cause this.

 

Been there too. Worked for a British Leyland dealer in Ft. Worth, TX. Back in 79 Flat rate wasn't a problem and we made good money. 55% of flat rate. These damn dealers now don't pay what they should to the mechanic.
Think you might miss the point though. It's the repetition and boredom that is real bad on an assmbly line. Your busy and I mean busy 55 seconds out of a minute. Not much time to recover when you cross thread the bolt or drop one on the way to the car or the hose clamp breaks or.................
I loved my job at the dealership but I worked for a good one. What I see now at Dealers pisses me off. They have a couple of good techs and the rest fill in the blanks.

 

Damnit. according to the guy on the phone, the warranty on my new Truck is about to run out. I am pretty sure that it was made in the u.s.a., but if it is gonna run out, do I take it to the dodge dealership, or Chevy?

and even then, what country of origin are my parts gonna come from?

sheesh. mabey I should just sell this new fangled 73 G.M.C., and buy an older model.

 

A guy where I work (GM- GrandBlanc WTC) was fired because he had a Maxum magazine on his toolbox with his name on it. (he was a subscriber) Management concidered it "soft porn" Union got him back in because GM advertises in Maxum. Don't tell me they have out lived they usefulness.

 

They have been sleeping together for years. Remember the 80's chevy nova?

 

re: "I would sincerely like to buy a GM or a Ford product, . . . It really pisses me off 'cause they have the technology, experience and skill to build the best car in the world.... I'm sorry to say this, but GM and Ford have brought the problems on themselves. . ."
I agree! After driving new Fords for nearly 30 years I didn't abandon them - they abondoned ME. 30 years of loyalty got me a condescending service writer and a Ford Service rep who basically told me that the vibrations in my BRAND NEW F150 was "normal", after several unsuccessful attempts to fix it. Fix WHAT? I asked. After several more attempts to resolve, I traded it for a Tundra, took it over to the Ford guys and told 'em "Vibration fixed." It's not the product that pissed me off, but their attitude. And it's not the only time I've heard similar issues with the domestics. I'll never go back for that reason. Had Ford offered to take it back (yeah I know about the lemon law), or just SOMETHING to make it right, I'd still be driving Fords. Who left who?

 

there are toyota cavailiers in japan

 

My 2000 Ranger has had issues as well. Ball joints in the front end started letting go at 40K? or so.

Carla got a newer Chevy Venture AWD van that her folks had, 2 sensors in the hubs have already been replaced and the AWD light came on telling us that another let loose in a vehicle under 5 years old. I watch pals put 200K on Toyotas and Subarus and abusing them the whole way with nary an issue.

Lets put this all back into old car perspective. A Model T got over 25mpg. Albeit at slower speeds and less comfort but still.......

 

They'll pay someone like Goldman-Sachs (Paulson's company - that insures the merger will pass the "no monopoly" test) $50 million for "advice" on how to merge.

Then they merge, and get the wonderful "economies of scale", where they keep every single vice president, manager, consultant, and empty suit - and fire 30,000 guys off the factory floor, beginning with the ones who can't retire yet.

Then they find they're still broke, and pay Goldman-Sachs another $100 million for advice on how to divest (no, this really happens - you buy advice from the same idiot who ruined you).

This doesn't work, either.

Then Paulson allows them to charge off all their bad debts to... the guys they fired, charge Paulson $100 million as administrators of the bail-out fund for the advice to pay themselves, pay themselves $100 million each as severance, and kill their stockholders.

Don't believe me? It's what they're doing right now. Bet you $1.

 

Now Don, be nice...........

 

Daimler took a MAJOR financial bath when they divested themselves of Chrysler. I cannot recall the figures, but the loss was in the billions.

Had the US automakers been paying attention when VW and Honda and Toyota and a few other larger import automakers only had one or two "trim lines" and sold cars that way, ie: LS, DL, or XL for example - rather than Four kinds of fairlanes, three kinds of Falcons - an option list that would choke Linda Lovelace and all those nonsensical accessories....perhaps they wouldn't be where they are now. GM, Ford and Chrysler just have way too many cars in their holster. It's about time for them to pare down what they offer, and build cars that don't have a two-year shelf life. There are other problems also, but this just isn't the venue for airing it out.

"water is composed of two gins....Oxygin and hydrogin - oxygin is pure gin and hydrogin is water and gin" - HS seniors' answer to a physics question.

dj

 

I can sum up the thinking that got American auto companys where they are today in one word...HUMMER. Now the new Fords have parental control settings for radio volume and top speed so junior has to mind his manners behind the wheel. What ever happened to crank down windows, no cup holders, no ghetto blasters, and manual steering? I guess thats why we build hot rods.

 

Apparently you didn't read my ENTIRE post. My head is out of my ass and I'm not listening to any brainwashing propaganda, as I have seen those practices with MY OWN 2 EYES. This was not isolated to any particular manufacturer. I have been to more auto plants than you can shake a stick at, and they are ALL the same. There are very few exceptions to this, but I can count them on 2 hands. This has actually trickled down to 2nd and 3rd tier suppliers too. Does Delphi and Visteon ring a bell? Hmmmmmm...

No one is asking you to work for $5.00 an hour without benefits, but they are asking you to WORK, period! What's your union going to be worth when these companies fold? Enjoy it while you can.

I go out of my way to buy American made products, and it's getting more and more difficult to find anything thats made here. Do you use your hard earned union money to support the American economy? I bet not....

 

Uh the Jeeps assembeld in ROC were for the CHINEESE and Asian markets, they were never exported to the US, as a matter of fact, engines transmissions, and axles were built HERE in the US of A and shipped to China. The Jeeps built for the US of A at that time were still made in Toledo.

 

Why are you pissed off at someone making $20 an hour but not working hard-enough in your eyes? Dude, I guarantee you didn't work as hard as my Dad did in a mill til he was 62, making less than you I'm sure. He'd be the last person in the world bitching about you driving around in your nice car listening to satellite radio and judging other people sitting on their butts during your "visits".
It's all relative, and it's also not why the companies are failing.

 

I have a 1999 Dodge Ram V-10 that has over 150K miles on without EVER going back to the dealership for service, and needing NOTHING more than Plugs, fluids, 2 sets of tires 2 sets of front pads and 1 set of front rotors. It still has the original rear brake pads! I have kept pretty accurate records on the truck, and over 110K miles have been towing. The only big problem with the truck is the Doors are rusting.

I have a company work truck 2003 Chevy 3500 with 287,000 miles, never had any engine, trans, are drivetrain problems. A few electrical bugs, rear taillight wiring problems, and Instrument cluster problems, but the AC still blows cold, and the 6.0 will still smoke the tires loaded with ~ 1500 Lbs of tools, and equipment in back.

We have a 1992 Ford F-350 dually that carries 3000 Lbs in test weights continuously, the truck was bought used with 100K miles on it and was used for towing before we got it ( had a brake controller insalled) It now has 380K miles on it, it has had many brake issues, and the trans has been rebuilt 3 times, but the original 460 has still never had any issues.

The big 3 still builds good vehicles IMHO.