American Truck??

[flagmanruss]

I dunno where we'll go to buy an American truck... How about a Cummins in a Fiat? I feel bad for the dealers being arbitrarily forced to close. The local Jeep dealer... the same dealer also has a Chrysler Dodge franchise some distance away... sold 400 Jeeps last year. Some dealers responded to Chrysler's call to buy up added inventory and now have their franchises pulled. WTF?A parrallel... wife drives a Subaru bought locally. Five Star dealer lost franchise arbitrarily a couple of years ago. This year, a new dealer opens up a couple of towns away. Why? There was nothing wrong with the local one. We keep getting solicitations from out of town Subaru dealers.IMHO, closing these dealers... guarentees that people will not buy their vehicles. I will NOT drive an hour just to window shop for a maybe? a new vehicle. Just my thoughts... Russ

[Mopar1973Man]

There is also a lot of double speak that is upsetting... Like GM is talking on how is going to close down most dealer here in America. But how the foreign dealers are doing wonderful in China and other places. They will remain open.. WTF!?!? My dad (Rest his soul - pasted away in 2004) was a 30 year retiree from Van Nuys, Ca. Plant... You can should see how the moved everything to China and going to kepp moving to save there Arse! :mad

[flagmanruss]

Yes, double speak is being polite. 400 Jeeps in this econimy is not "underperforming". My guess is the dealer franchaise fees are going to skyrocket, so they can get big bucks for them when they increase them again. My late father was an engineer & exec in electronics... fought against higher ups not to export TV technology to Japan. See what that bought us.

[cummins2k]

Well unfortunately there isn't much left that truly is American. Pull apart a Ford for instance, "Hecho en Mexico" is stamped on a lot of engine parts. The electronics are typically made in Asian countries. I mean whats really American anymore? It really burns me how everything, even customer service is out sourced. Buy a brand new computer and call the customer service line and you will most likely get someone in the middle east that can barely understand you, and can't resolve your problem. I want to buy an American car that is made in America, not assembled in America. There are enough families here with mouths to feed, let them make the parts. Let them assemble them, and let them buy them. That way the money stays in this country and helps our economy, not China's. :mad

[ISX]

From what I heard, Subaru is doing very well for the times. They make good products so the customers keep coming back. They have no desire to become a leader in automaking, they have the plants they have now, and thats all they want. This proves to be a very smart plan. They make X amount of cars and thats all they are going to make, unlike other places that build a ton of vehicles then have no place for them in the market. I think they were also the only automaker in recent times to make any profit. They got dealerships where needed and that's also IT. It's not like mcdonalds that has to have a share of every single cities profits, no matter how small. But yes, all the outsourcing is ridiculous, and it seems like everyone's solution is to just get money from the goverment over and over. What ticks me off is the fact that there are nothing but 40-50mpg diesels in Europe in every single vehicle. Why they haven't brought this to America is beyond me. You KNOW a 30mpg f150 would sell like hot cakes. I don't know about other places but diesel is $2.09 here compared to $2.44 for gas. So now would be the time to introduce diesel vehicles to America's market. :smart

[Mopar1973Man]

Well part of this has to do with the American public having a need for speed. If the Gov't would return the speed limit nation wide to 55 MPH we would see a fuel saving and a huge rise in MPG's. Since I good friends with the local police and state police... First off 90% of Idaho speed limits are 55-65 MPH period! Now the local police are still giving ticket out for 70-75 and even a few close to 80 MPH! This is completely sad! I've done a lot of study of getting high MPG's and a bunch of it has to do with you right foot! The technology is here all ready but no one uses it...Now for kickers I just went out today to help out with Branding and Fencing up a friends ranch. Well I drove the whole way at 55 MPH on the highway and I NEVER even had a single vehicle come up behind me or pass me in 25 miles of highway travel (US 95). Then turned off the highway and headed 7 miles up a dirt road. Did my work... On my way back down to the highway I tried to coast the whole way to the bottom. Then once on the highway I drove back home at 55 MPH again. The only person that passed me was my buddy in his 1992 Dodge Cummins... He took lead and set his cruise also for 55 MPH... When I returned home I still pulled a 20.6 MPG for the day. Not bad... Do mine you I got my ATV load in the back of the truck.It's truely sad to see the American vehicle having to outsource to pull the price down to compete with world markets. I wish that American public would man up and relize we CAN and WILL alway make quality products but it will COST you in the long haul. Yes you can send things to China or Japan to be assembled cheaper but thats just like days of slavery. We are there again just using the Middle East for our slavery...Oh the price of diesel and gasoline are $2.869... I'm heading for $3.00 a gallon quickly... :mad DISCLAIMER: I know I might of hit a few nerves but I'm just trying to speak my mind honesty... If this is a bit much I will EDIT or DELETE it...

[cummins2k]

Well part of this has to do with the American public having a need for speed. If the Gov't would return the speed limit nation wide to 55 MPH we would see a fuel saving and a huge rise in MPG's. Since I good friends with the local police and state police... First off 90% of Idaho speed limits are 55-65 MPH period! Now the local police are still giving ticket out for 70-75 and even a few close to 80 MPH! This is completely sad! I've done a lot of study of getting high MPG's and a bunch of it has to do with you right foot! The technology is here all ready but no one uses it... Now for kickers I just went out today to help out with Branding and Fencing up a friends ranch. Well I drove the whole way at 55 MPH on the highway and I NEVER even had a single vehicle come up behind me or pass me in 25 miles of highway travel (US 95). Then turned off the highway and headed 7 miles up a dirt road. Did my work... On my way back down to the highway I tried to coast the whole way to the bottom. Then once on the highway I drove back home at 55 MPH again. The only person that passed me was my buddy in his 1992 Dodge Cummins... He took lead and set his cruise also for 55 MPH... When I returned home I still pulled a 20.6 MPG for the day. Not bad... Do mine you I got my ATV load in the back of the truck. It's truely sad to see the American vehicle having to outsource to pull the price down to compete with world markets. I wish that American public would man up and relize we CAN and WILL alway make quality products but it will COST you in the long haul. Yes you can send things to China or Japan to be assembled cheaper but thats just like days of slavery. We are there again just using the Middle East for our slavery... Oh the price of diesel and gasoline are $2.869... I'm heading for $3.00 a gallon quickly... :mad DISCLAIMER: I know I might of hit a few nerves but I'm just trying to speak my mind honesty... If this is a bit much I will EDIT or DELETE it...

I absolutely agree with you. Yeah a quality built ALL American car will cost more in the long run, but thats a price I am willing to pay if I know it put food on another American's table or a roof over another American's head. We should be ashamed of buying Chinese products anyway with the way they treat their workers. I hear cases of Silicosis are all too common in China where the government doesn't regulate factories to prevent it. If you don't know what that is, its basically a type of black lung disease that is caused by sand blasting. In America this has happened but know that we know about it we prevent it by regulating companies to provide the proper respiratory equipment. I can only imagine the other things that slip through the cracks in that country. They probably expose their workers to tons of hazards everyday with no second thoughts as long as the production costs are kept low. If you use America to find the American dream, then return the favor to the country that made it possible. Keep the business here, keep the jobs here, and keep the money here.

[ISX]

$2.869 :wow I can run you up some of my $2.09 fuel LOL Seems to be only one Philips 66 selling it that cheap and I am trying to set a mileage record on this tank. I go 33 miles to work and I have set the cruise at 64mph (1850RPM :thumbsup ) the entire time. I am not going to do ANY town driving. There is a lot of construction going on but I feather it through there to keep it up. As for the American public's need for speed.., yes it's one thing to do 80 on I70 (70mph speed limit) but thats only if you are in a corvette or something like it. Not trying to say they are special and should be speeding but if you are going to speed then thats the only thing that you should ever see speeding. Semi trucks doing 80mph is complete BS. The part of I70 that closes in on St Louis, I have seen people doing 95 on, including a "U.S. Gov." licensed 300M, not to mention all the minivans doing it too 8| . I get my best mileage at 60-65, so even on I70 I set the cruise there the majority of the time. If only people knew that I rarely have to turn the cruise off for traffic reasons, since all cars just zoom by and there isn't really anyone going slower than you. It's pretty nice actually.

[Mopar1973Man]

Another thought on the American made idea...Like myself since the time I got involved with cummins powered trucks I've produced a few products that would repair or modify the stock truck like my crancase vent mod and my high idle mod. Now here is the kicker... For me to produce any of these products and sell them to the public I need to sell them for over $100 buck at least. This is just so I make a profit on the product. Between buying the materials, design & assembly, and shipping costs I'm left with a very small margin of profit. Most people think the prices are high and I think I'm working way too hard and making to little profit so I gave up. There is other factors like driving around trying to hunt down sources for parts and materials to make these products. I might be lucky and make $20 bucks per item that took me 2-3 days to build... Now looking at that on a per hour basis I fell like I'm the slave now... ` I've had many people tell me that I should sell my knowledge to the general public. Well the problem with that is if I put a price tag on what's in my head and try to sell it to everyone I'm sure this web site would become extremely quiet and I wouldn't make much of a profit. ` But there is a few people now that have been extremely generous and sent me donation and wonderful hand wrote thank you letters. Hate to say it but its something that will not change with the American Public everyone wants something for nothing (or at least cheap as possible).

[ISX]

You could make a book on 2-stroke oil.. :thumbsup Actually, make one of the little known facts about diesels. Talk about the early ford's cavitation problem, the VP44 issues. Seems like any book you get isn't specific at all, and since there are a lot of issues with just one engine, they don't bother covering it. I can see it now:1. How a diesel is SUPPOSED to work2. Common issues that are not model specific3. Ford Engines; specs and problems with them A. The 6.9l B. The 7.3 IDI C. The Unsung 7.3 IDI Turbo D. The 1st gen "Powerstroke" 7.3 E. The last gen "Powerstroke" 7.3 F. The problematic Powerstroke 6.0 G. The cuurent Powerstroke 6.44. Dodge Engines; specs and problems with them A. The 1st gen 5.9 B. The 2nd gen 5.9 C. The 3rd gen 5.9 D. The 6.7 E. The Jeep 3.7 5. Chevy Engines; specs and problems with them A. The 6.2 B. The 6.5 C. The 1st gen duramax D. The 2nd gen duramax E. The 3rd gen duramax6. Transmissions; specs and problems with them A. NV4500.....Damn I would buy that book already LOL