Sour Grapes

[Guest YellowJacket894]

Was this what may have started GME's hostility to GMNA and the American market?

Edited January 22, 2008 by YellowJacket894

[Camino LS6]

Scary similarities to today.

Love the writing!

I actually had a great aunt that owned one of these: it was as awful as described.

[Intrepidation]

I see a `59 Buick there...poor thing.

[XP715]

I'd love to have that 1959 Buick in the background in the junkyard photos!

[Guest YellowJacket894]

Scary similarities to today.

My main motive for posting it. The line that says, "Someone realized what all this business about safety and smog control and crowded highways were going, and laid down his creativity and ingenuity in quiet, mindless surrender to the hungry, mendacious Washington Yahoos" eerily reflects what executives at GMNA are doing/have done. All it's missing is some mention of GME in addition to the already equipped talk of Congress and Washington D.C.

Love the writing!

Oh, yes. It definitely deserves a Pulitzer.

I actually had a great aunt that owned one of these: it was as awful as described.

I think we'll see more reviews of GM cars like this in the future once the full GME effect takes hold. The minute they f@#k Cadillac over after its recent renaissance with front-drive CTSs and four-cylinder DT7s will be the straw that breaks the camel's back. The press will really rip GM apart like they once did, due to GME's actions, and the public will revert to thinking that the reborn GM was nothing but a fluke. I think I can hand GME a big old "tick-tock geht der taktgeber." If they can prove they can sustain the new GMNA, then I can stop the countdown. But until then, I'm starting to believe they might have just bitten off a little more than they can chew.

P.S. In making the latter comments, I would like to say that don't hate GME, or any of their employees (hell, one of their cars sits out in my driveway, and you don't see me out there slamming my Sonoma's doors into it just because they built it). I just do not respect what they are doing to GM at all. It's more than seeing Zeta go down in flames, and losing out on some really great cars, it's potentially seeing GM go down in flames in the end of this. I don't want to see my favorite automaker, the one automaker that has made over eighty-five percent of the cars my family and extended family have bought and that I have grew up with, be sold to Chery.

Edited January 22, 2008 by YellowJacket894

[Intrepidation]

My main motive for posting it. The line that says, "Someone realized what all this business about safety and smog control and crowded highways were going, and laid down his creativity and ingenuity in quiet, mindless surrender to the hungry, mendacious Washington Yahoos" eerily reflects what executives at GMNA are doing/have done. All it's missing is some mention of GME in addition to the already equipped talk of Congress and Washington D.C.

Oh, yes. It definitely deserves a Pulitzer.

I think we'll see more reviews of GM cars like this in the future once the full GME effect takes hold.

The worst part is this all happens just as we were scheduled to receive excellent products from Zeta followed by Alpha. Then it's swept away from us.

[Guest YellowJacket894]

The worst part is this all happens just as we were scheduled to receive excellent products from Zeta followed by Alpha. Then it's swept away from us.

Alpha is still on, but it seems as if the way GME/GMNA will soon handle the project is not ideal.

It'll cost 'em, I'll tell ya that.

Edited January 22, 2008 by YellowJacket894

[Drew Dowdell]

OMG, I think a neighbor had one of those when I was growing up.

[76ChevyTrucker]

My father-in-law currently owns five Opel GTs. I particulary like the little cars, but I know what you're all getting at too.

[Guest YellowJacket894]

My father-in-law currently owns five Opel GTs. I particulary like the little cars, but I know what you're all getting at too.

Like I said, I like our Vect -- errmm, oops -- Aura. It's a nice car. But should every future GM model follow it's formula right down to the dotted i's and crossed t's? The answer is obviously no.

Edited January 22, 2008 by YellowJacket894

[ocnblu]

The story and photos were first published in 1968... meaning the Ford, Buick and '60 Pontiac were all less than 10 years old at the time and were already in the junkyard... my, how far we've come in automotive quality. Can you imagine seeing that many cars less than 10 years old in a junkyard today? I guess that's where the term "planned obsolescence" came from, along with yearly styling changes.

Kind of makes a person appreciate seeing a survivor '60 Pontiac even more.

[ZL-1]

Scary similarities to today.

:rotflmao:

[SuperSport623]

The story and photos were first published in 1968... meaning the Ford, Buick and '60 Pontiac were all less than 10 years old at the time and were already in the junkyard... my, how far we've come in automotive quality. Can you imagine seeing that many cars less than 10 years old in a junkyard today? I guess that's where the term "planned obsolescence" came from, along with yearly styling changes.

Kind of makes a person appreciate seeing a survivor '60 Pontiac even more.

wonder if back then they even thought we'd drool over those junk cars... one mans junk...

[Camino LS6]

:rotflmao:

And this is funny why?

[Guest YellowJacket894]

The story and photos were first published in 1968... meaning the Ford, Buick and '60 Pontiac were all less than 10 years old at the time and were already in the junkyard... my, how far we've come in automotive quality. Can you imagine seeing that many cars less than 10 years old in a junkyard today? I guess that's where the term "planned obsolescence" came from, along with yearly styling changes.

Kind of makes a person appreciate seeing a survivor '60 Pontiac even more.

The junkyard that is less than a mile from me has plenty of vehicles ten years old (or more) rotting away within it. They're there because they are more or less totaled, however, unlike the cars in the background of the Kadett photos.

Then I know you would appreciate a '54 Pontiac for sale not more than ten miles away from me. (I know I did. It was quite a car to study.) I would try to buy it, but they have a '67 Camaro (as well as a '67 Firebird) there alongside it that I want to lovingly restore (floorboards are like those in the Flintmobile) and park next to my '09 when I get it.

As a matter of fact, that whole lot is quite a heaven. I mean, when is the last time you saw a '67 Bonneville or a '67 Wildcat?

Edited January 22, 2008 by YellowJacket894

[ZL-1]

And this is funny why?

Because there's absolutely no comparison between the Opel on that article and Opels today.

[Camino LS6]

Because there's absolutely no comparison between the Opel on that article and Opels today.

of course not, but the situations are eerily similar.

[ZL-1]

of course not, but the situations are eerily similar.

Well... for people who love RWD it's worse today: that Opel was RWD, the Astra is FWD :AH-HA_wink:

Edited January 22, 2008 by ZL-1

[Camino LS6]

Well... for people who love RWD it's worse today: that Opel was RWD, the Astra is FWD :AH-HA_wink:

Just had to point that out , didn't you? :AH-HA_wink:

[daves87rs]

The story and photos were first published in 1968... meaning the Ford, Buick and '60 Pontiac were all less than 10 years old at the time and were already in the junkyard... my, how far we've come in automotive quality. Can you imagine seeing that many cars less than 10 years old in a junkyard today? I guess that's where the term "planned obsolescence" came from, along with yearly styling changes.

Kind of makes a person appreciate seeing a survivor '60 Pontiac even more.

[thegriffon]

The story and photos were first published in 1968... meaning the Ford, Buick and '60 Pontiac were all less than 10 years old at the time and were already in the junkyard... my, how far we've come in automotive quality. Can you imagine seeing that many cars less than 10 years old in a junkyard today? I guess that's where the term "planned obsolescence" came from, along with yearly styling changes.

Kind of makes a person appreciate seeing a survivor '60 Pontiac even more.

That has nothing to do with "planned obsolescence". Planned obsolescence is getting you to buy a new car every 2-5 years because the new one looks better, has a more powerful engine etc. etc., when the old one still works just fine. The old model becomes obsolete, not worn out. Yearly styling changes were all about planned obsolescence (just like last year's cell phone, iPod, laptop or wardrobe), not a lack of durability. Of course such frequent model changes really hammer the value of older models, until a perfectly good car is worth more as scrap than as a running vehicle (it still happens today).