Red Blooded American Boy

Archive for the ‘American Cars’ Category

If the recent exposure of manufactured climate change data is not enough to convince you that “Going Green” is an insult to humanity, consider a common sense test.  In the scenarios below, we have on the left a modern day concept car that is a green car.  The car on the right, is an older model car made in the early part of the 20th Century.

First of all, both virtually look the same.  Both run on very thin tires, have very little protection for passengers and use very little fuel.  The crafts are matchboxes with wheels and not very far from a being considered a pimped-out go-kart.

Liberals who fly in private jets (Al Gore, et. al) consider the car on the left, the Eclectic,  a step forward in science.  But, when you view the physical similarities it is hard to consider this an advancement.  Rather, it is easy to see that the car on the left represents a step backwards when it is no more mechanically inspiring than an old Model T. 

What then, is advancement?

Realizing that people around the world do not have to drive cars like this because the excuse for doing so is based upon a lie.  It also defies common sense.  Of course, this is why Liberals and Democrats own evil gas guzzlers and would never be caught in an Eclectic.

In January I told the story of how my Saturn began to break down long before it was paid off. The roof leaked, the engine seals leaked and it sopped up oil like bread dipped in olive oil. The car puffed out oil smoke that we gave it a nickname, Ole Smokey.This pretty much sealed my promise to never buy American-Brand cars again. Since then, I have invested in Hondas. Never will I buy a Saturn, or go back to a GM product. The cars I had before the Saturn were all GM. None of them made it to the loan payoff day. They all had severe defects and needed chronic repairs. At least it kept us in a new car every few years.

Well, it seems GM has the same feelings about Saturns as I do. They have been looking to sell their fleet of disposable cars to some willing buyer. So, even if I was dumb enough to want a Saturn again, they may become another another page in car history. Unfortunately, the shapely cars in the photos will be obscured by the cloud of thick oil smoke bellowing out from its underside. Saturns were famous for oil leak problems. I was another spoke in the wheel of fate. Now hopefully less people will suffer like I did behind the wheel of a Saturn.

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In the fourth year of car loan payments for my 1995 Saturn SC2, I was adding a quart of oil a week to keep “old smokey” running.  That car, like many Saturns in those model years were infamous for leaking oil due to an engine design flaw that Saturn never admitted was a problem.  That leaking oil gave me a signature ride that made me a circus attraction at any prolonged stop. 
 
Before the Saturn, I kept a Chevrolet Corsica alive for several years.  The Corsica was a replacement for my fading Chevrolet S-10 that was losing life as it neared the loan payoff date.  Even before that, my Chevrolet Monza was the original “old smokey.”  The Monza made the Saturn look like a cigar smoker.

I am a good red-blooded Southern American that loves American cars.  But, I just can not own any more of them.  At a minimum, I want my car to last until it is paid off.

So, the big American car makers led by GM went before congress and begged like mud-eating pigs for “bailout” money because they are losing money.  I don’t recall anyone offering to bail me out of owning those GM vehicles?  In fact, I had to bail myself out — by buying only Japanese cars for the last several years.   

Judging by the quality of the GM cars I owned, there has been more focus on feeding the unions than building cars.  This is evident more than ever since the CEOs beg for money instead of cutting the appetite of the unions.

Eventually the union power will burn up in smoke just like my GM cars did.  After all they have years of experience making “old smokies.”