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GeNeRaL MaYHeM...
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So, now we know who that Mayhem guy in the Allstate Commercials reports to; General Mayhem.
I think they have earned the name Graveyard Motors.
Ah, Nader and the old Corvair - wasn't it?
GM's attempt at copying the VW Bug that failed - asphyxiated passengers, and lopped off heads in a collision if I remember right.
My Dad had one but said it didn't hold a candle to his '63 Bug.
He kept giving GM chances, trying to buy American and all that, and GM let him down every time.
He went back to VW; his 1980 Wolfsburg Rabbit Diesel got 50 MPG highway; what a car.
I had a Corvair for a couple of years and learned a lot about repairing cars because of that. I got all the bugs worked out of it except for the oil seal problem. There was a group of Corvair enthusiasts around Columbia South Carolina and a lot of them worked at the DuPont May plant in Lugoff, SC. They solved the oil seal problem with DuPont Viton seals and never had a leak again. One of them had a Corvair Corsa with the 180HP turbo engine. Man, that thing would fly and ate normally aspirated Porsches for breakfast. The second generation Corvairs had a fully independent suspension that handled very similarly to a Porsche. Like a Porsche, you had to avoid letting off the throttle in a sharp turn at speed. Ralph Nader was lying about the Corvair's handling and ever since I've never taken the asshole seriously about anything. That's what I think.
Hot Rodded a '63 with new steering arm, about 1.7 turns lock to lock, lower speed pully for about 8 more horses, headers and exhaust picked up another 12, and a couple of wooden dowels cut to hold the cooling doors open - alcohol-filled bellows never worked properly. And to wax a Porsche (or a 283 'vette) one could totally remove the fan belt - good for one flat out drag race only.
The vehicle was designed to not overheat in the Mojave desert - the engine was way over-cooled in northern states at a cost of almost 20 horses at cruise. The Corsa could be bumped up to about 230 hp from the original 180 hp engine, mostly with parts from the JC Whitney catalog.
Sigh ...
In '66, I was driving my dad's '65 Catalina up and around a curve in the countryside of E Tennessee. My bud was chasing after in his early '60's Corvair. As I watched in the rearview mirror, Charlie left the road in the curve, did a complete roll mid-air and landed in the pasture. I hit the brakes and came back around to see him driving out the other side of the (very hilly) field to the road on the opposite side. We hooked up later and he said "it was a helluva ride!" We had some PBR's and laughed the night away. It was good to be young - and lucky.
+1 My 2001 Hyundai Accent is pretty awesome. Mrs. M calls it a "motorcycle with four wheels". There is not much to the car but I love it. Everything in the car is so basic. It's all I need and I have gotten up 42 MPG with it.
I love cars because I am stupid that way. One day I want one of these just to piss off Mrs. M.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_Bpj23TKqg
Shut up woman and get in the back seat. One more child? I will get punched in the face for that suggestion. I will take the car though.
Beautiful car. That 1970's orange really brings back memories!
And, Obama says, 'SHOW ME WHAT YOU CAN DO.'
Sorry, wrong company and aquisition. Cerberus got Chrysler.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jG5wWl--zw
Years ago i went to the locksmith to get a worn GM key replaced. I asked if he knew why it was so worn. He said my keyring was on the heavy side. As I drove, the keys swung and wore em out. In GM's quest to save $0.00001 on each part, they reached the limit on the ignition assembly. It was so cheap it didnt need a heavy keyring to swing for years. This happened on cars only a few years old. How many keys does a teen girl have on her ring?
I guess that two keys were one too many.
Siting in a lot all day
everything is rotting away
Insurance is too high to pay
Stuffed in the channel they say
feeling bad
How heavy is your keychain? Goodness gracious!
Onstar of David.
Tracking you wherever you go, and listening in on your conversations.
Last time I checked, dead people don't generally buy new cars....
"Last time I checked, dead people don't generally buy new cars...."
Well, through the magic of community organizers, they can vote. Why shouldn't they also buy cars? I am sure that they can get some special financing just to prove that the loan makers are "not racists".
Osama's dead & GM's alive ;-)
I had a 1980 Rabbit Convertable that had the same "heavy keys breaking the ignition switch" problem. I wonder if GM found that poor design and desided to use it -- or did they re-invent a new steering wheel assembly? I heard this morning on FBN that GM added another 1.5m vehicles to their 1.8m vehicle recall list, and are adding new manuf lines just to make the sub-assemblies for replacement parts.
A friend kept having problems with the ignition switch on his Chevy Tahoe. Then I noticed he had a keyring with about 25 keys on it and a flashlight. He also had a Volvo wagon which didn't seem to mind supporting a ridiculously heavy keychain. His Volvo was turquoise and he liked to say that there was something about an aqua Volvo man.
My Keyring weighs over ONE POUND. I have a plethora of keys and mini-tools along with my Jeweler's Loupe and Flashlight. (It doubles as a hand held weapon.)
I own a Nissan. I have never had trouble with the Ignition Switch in any Car that I have driven...especially for extended lengths of time.
I will never buy a GM Product after reading about this.
A measly dollar part. There is no shame.
We're in trouble deep.
Nader's book is too good & how they tried to sully him is beyond comprehension.
EVIL.
this still isn't anything like the Toyota (ongoing) scandal. the real recall should be the government who propped up GM after 2008. i am pretty sure most of all of the electronic features in present day autos could be fixed with a patch (much as windows does updates, which are really downgrades, they close off features which have vulnerabilities) this is must be good foar american, putting americans to work on the disassembly line
Ha! The Disassembly Line, invented by a Mr. Drof, no doubt.
Then again, disassemble or:
dis·sem·ble[dih-sem-buhl] verb (used with object), dis·sem·bled, dis·sem·bling. 1. to give a false or misleading appearance to; conceal the truth or real nature of: to dissemble one's incompetence in business.
nevermind
if you had a idea how many cars are manufactured for every licensed driver in this country, you would get a picture of how this works. compare that number to say 1980. now there are millions of cars on rental lots, and on lease from dealers. the trick from their perspective is how to maximize the number of cars you use, by minimizing your use. my cousin for instance had to rent a car to drive to my house for a visit, because his lease car was near its mileage limit, and his own second car is too big and gets poor gas mileage. if GM keeps channel stuffing, where the hell do all those cars go? as a second thought they would like to pull this trick with housing, but when the bubble burst a lot of second homes went on the market or in foreclosure. the net net of that is that a few people have more than one home, and many people live in crowded apartments or condos.
"my cousin for instance had to rent a car to drive to my house for a visit, because his lease car was near its mileage limit, and his own second car is too big and gets poor gas mileage."
OK, I'm no math whiz, but I just cannot wrap my head around the equation that makes it cheaper to rent a car and not drive something that maybe gets 75% the mileage of a rental vehicle. Do you live 5,000 miles apart? Economy of scale is the only way I can get that to work. Jeff Bezos taught me that with a book called "Amazon Math for Dummies".
And, how much are overage miles for a leased vehicle? Does the mileage exceeded rate actually end up being more than the daily rate for a rental car?
my thought exactly
When GM artificially inflate sales by loading Dealer inventory, they book the sales at full value. Then the dealers heavily discount the cars to get them off the lot. Question, are those dscounts passed back to GM and, if so, where/how are they booked? If not, why would the dealers continue to buy more cars that they know they will not be able to sell and will be forced to discount and absorb the losses?