Posted on 12/08/2008 5:36:33 PM PST by Jet Jaguar
I have a Ford, a Chrysler and a Harley, so, yeah, I feel about the same.
Are they still on the road?
Well, they didn’t sell many as that was one of their first cars. Many of them *are* still around.
The 60s Honda motorcycles, though - they are FAR more highly prized than even your Mustang and most of them are still with us.
So now the Financial Sector and the Auto Industry will be run like the House Bank and the Post Office? Genius!
In my youth, the Honda motorcycle was the “thing” to have (or a Triumph). I'm not sure I can identify an older model cycle, but I may start looking. Of course, today, the Harley is the motorcycle of choice.
I can only say this, I have knocks on my door regularly wanting to buy the Mustang. When I take it out..it never fails, I have buyers.
But I will start looking for the Hondas.
You won’t see one. They made less than 14000 of them over three years and sold most of them in Europe.
American car manufactures made (and still make) lots of nice, durable vehicles.
In keeping with the original intent of this thread...I will hate to buy foreign if the government takes over these companies.
Good evening..and stay safe.
You won’t see many Ford Quadricycles, either - and that’s just what the Honda S600s were - their second ever car.
As for durable vehicles? No, most peoples’ experience with them is otherwise. Why do you think people keep buying imports despite the higher prices?
Wooden stakes I presume!!!
Wooden stakes belong in the hearts of all blooksucking CEOs.
Honda, Toyota, etc. make an excellent product. But, I have seen recalls on them, just as with any other auto maker.
I think the Big 3 got a rotten reputation in the 1970’s/mid 1980’s. I drove those lemons, too. But for the last 20 years or so, the quality of the US vehicle has vastly improved. It had to in order to compete. And if maintained like the manufacturer recommends (much like the maintenance schedule of foreign auto makers) it is very easy to get 250k to 300k for the life of the vehicle. My last three have.
Not sure where you are, but I have noticed that in the high end urban areas, the imports seem to be more in evidence (it's chic). In the rural areas...more GM and Ford products.
It really doesn't matter at this point, since I am pretty aggravated with the Big 3, the unions and the government.
Hopefully, I'll get another 150K miles out of my current Chevy truck..and I won’t have to face the dilemma of what kind of replacement to drive. Maybe by that time I'll be retired and the ‘66 Mustang will be my primary source of transportation. ;)
Simple: The comparison is that both were their respective makers’ second attempts at cars and you shouldn’t really expect to see either still running around on the roads - you wouldn’t expect to see a Quadricycle still running around in 1936, would you? (They weren’t.)
Next point, recalls. I have never seen any makers fight recalls like the Big Three and especially Ford. The Pinto debacle, the Ford 4.6L manifold disasters, the Ford Truck fires (still the only postwar trucks to ever burn down houses on a regular basis), the GM “Cold Spark Knock” BS, the ongoing headgasket/Dexcool issues with GM’s smaller V6s.... I can go on and on.
The quality of the typical Big Three vehicle has improved over the past twenty years, sure. But so have the imports. And the Big Three just have not kept pace... especially when you sit down and compare something like a loaded Chevy Impala SS to a Hyundai Genesis. The Hyundai costs about the same, is about as fast, but has outstanding interior and exterior design and quality. The Impala looks like something someone put together with Legos inside, the plastics are from a wheelbarrow or trash can, and the seats are lifted straight from your local transit bus.
Trust me, it’s not “chic” that’s selling the imports. Not when I’m seeing Nissan Titans with clear signs of hard use wandering around in the rural Texas countryside with “FARM TRUCK” plates. Chic doesn’t sell farm trucks. Having the “bought it new from the Ford dealership” replacement burst into flames after install will sell trucks... just not *Ford* or UAW trucks.
Your last three domestic cars may have - but an awful lot of people have had recent domestics go belly up by 100K. Or less. Many of them are here on FR.
“It will last 250K” - that’s nice. 250K shouldn’t be an end point. It should be mid-life for a good car. Hell, my old Jaguar has got 250K on it. You’re saying that current domestic cars are just *now* as good as a Lucas-era Jaguar from 21 years ago? My Nissan Pathfinder, which replaced my terrible Jeep (went through three engines in 130K) has ~245K on it right now. I expect to get at least another 245K on it, if I don’t get bored with it first. I used to own a 1985 Nissan 300ZX Turbo. I sold it several years ago with about 260K on the clock. I saw that car four months ago; it now has 350K and the current owner reports no problems. That is the sort of longevity that import owners have gotten used to and that the domestic product still doesn’t provide.
And then there’s the customer service of the B3 dealers. Which pretty much is crap or non-existent. If you have a problem, they try to tell you “they all do that” or “that’s normal.” Meanwhile, over at Hyundai, if there’s a serious problem and the car isn’t making you happy - they’ll give you another one. No questions asked.
My Accord is 16 years old with roughly 263,000 miles on it. NO major anything done.
I saw a 90 Honda Accord last year that had 625,000 miles on the clock. Owner said that he’d had to replace the clutch a few times but it had otherwise had needed nothing.
I replaced the front right axle drive and the rear right brake caliper. My blower recently quit but it comes back when I hit a bump. The auto-cool fan makes a ruckus now but still works. I have a mechanic who will come to work, pick it up, fix it all and charge me 350.00 bucks.
I think I’m going to buy an 09’ F-150, It will be my first new purchase in many years. (I’ll find that ground problem on the blower myself). :^)
Well since I have no experience with Hyundai..I won't challenge that. But it makes me want to buy one just to check it out, :).
As far as the Quadiclcle running around in 1936..I can't say. But there are a good deal of Fords and GMs still on the road from the 60’s. Rebuilt, perhaps, but still desirable cars. (same period of time) Even though there was a limited number of Honda S600 built, why are they not more sought after? I did a search..only a couple of hundred survive.
My dream car would be a Jag. But the insurance and upkeep are above my pay grade. Although, from what I have read Ford started building their motors in the 1980’s.
You are obviously more informed on recalls than I. I have never had any problem with a recall notice. Perhaps that is resultant from living in a small town where the dealership relies primarily on service rather that high volume sales. So I may not really have had the full “experience” of dealing with what you have, or seem to know about.
Now, I must say, you have intrigued me. I will start, tomorrow looking at the Nissan “FARM TRUCKS” vs the FORD and GM and DODGE “FARM TRUCKS”. Not that I doubt the toughness of the Nissan, but usually the dealerships are few in a rural area. I'll take a poll and let you know.
Good evening and stay safe.
The 09 is going to be all new. You might be well advised to wait until the ‘10 models come out (Rule #1 of car buying - never get the first year of an all new model).
They made literally *millions* of Fords and Chevies in the 60s. Honda made under 20,000 S600s over the course of three years; GM made 20,000 Impalas in a couple of months.
Of course the more numerous cars are going to be more common today! Also, the S600 wasn’t really imported to the US so we don’t see them.
Your information is incorrect. The first Ford-built engine was the S-Type 3.0 V6 in 1999. It was actually worse than any of the Jaguar engines in the prior twenty years. And then when they came out with the 2.5L V6 in the X-Type, oh God... they *still* randomly blow off coolant hoses for no reason.
The insurance and upkeep of, say, a 95 XJ6 is very low. The 95 XJ6 was actually one of the most reliable cars in the world in the short, medium, and long term studies.
It’s not the recall service that’s the big problem - it is the reluctance to recall products for clear defects. Quite often the Big Three have to be ordered to recall products by the government; the imports are usually out in front of recall issues and start recalls long before the Feds consider there to be a problem.
Nissan is quite competitive in the 1/2 ton class, which is most farm trucks that I’ve seen. They have nothing in the 3/4 or 1 ton classes... yet.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.