From: Edward Greeley (etgreeley@worldnet.att.net)
Date: Tue Aug 26 2003 - 22:15:17 PDT
Steve Grammont wrote:
> They sorta are doing that. How? By making the cars more expensive and
> less durable. In short, charging more for something that is not
> engineered to last very long.
That's a pretty broad statement, don't you think? I agree with the "more
expensive" part, but the expense is largely a result of the Ralph Naders
of the world (remember his "Unsafe At Any Speed"?) trying to make cars
SAFE At Any Speed, plus the environmental wackos/EPA/CPSC, etc, etc.
What I really disagree with is the "less durable" part. When I started
driving, 55 years ago (I had my very own used 1942 Chevy), it was the
norm for cars to need a "ring and valve job" at 60K to 80K miles. That
was a "minor overhaul". If the car had not been well cared for, and/or
driven hard, it might need a "major overhaul" - complete tear-down and
rebuild. It was rare indeed for a car to reach 100K miles before needing
major engine work. Today, however, it is the norm for a car to run 200K
to 300K miles, or even more, before needing major engine work if they
are taken reasonable care of. For example, my wife has a 1991 Ford F-150
4.9L with 201K miles on it. The engine has never been "into" and it's
still going strong. I have a 1995 Ford Aerostar 3.0L with 140K miles on
it, and the same comments apply. My eldest daughter has a Jap-crap
Nissan 4-banger that she drives approximately 90 miles daily to work and
back that has 245K miles on it and it has never had the engine opened
up; still going strong. I know many people with similar experiences with
modern cars and trucks. Brake repair? Sure. Clutch replacement?
Sometimes. Auto tranny failure? Perhaps I've just been lucky, but in 55
years, I've only had one tranny failure: a 1957 Chrysler whose tranny
failed at about 90K miles. I ran that sucker to about 170K miles and got
rid of it because the "tin termites" got to it so badly. The only time I
went into the engine was to replace the timing chain. So... less
durable? I think not. I would say more and more durable.
MV content: I had a 1965 Dodge W-200 "Power Wagon" 225CID, that had been
an Air Force field ambulance, that I bought from DRMO in Mainz-Kastel,
Germany, in 1972 when I was working over there. I converted it to a
camper and shipped it back stateside when I returned in late 1974. I
drove it for 10 years in upstate New York until it had something over
100K miles on it, and only got rid of it then because the "tin termites"
(New York salts the hell out of the roads in the winter) had eaten the
body completely up. The buyer cut the body off of it and used it to haul
firewood out of the woods.
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