Back in "Olden Times"

Back in "olden times", in the late 80's and 90's I sold cars. I sold American cars -- Oldsmobile and Cadillac to be exact.

My father owned more Oldsmobiles than any other car -- he did have a 1951 Chrysler, a 64 Chevrolet and a 70 something Caddy (he wanted one before he died).

I sold Oldsmobiles and believed in them -- after all, we actually bought them.

When Olds was falling, I would joke that I'd tell my grandkids I once sold Oldsmobiles -- and they would look at me with pity.

When GM killed Olds it was the oldest continually operating marque in the world. I thought killing Olds was a very bad move -- especially because some of the new models were really nice cars. I was always of the opinion that GM would release new models -- with flaws -- then improve, improve, and improve -- until, just before they cancelled the model, it was near perfect -- but, that's just my opinion.

GM pioneered so many things -- auto trans, air conditioning, etc. They developed world class engines, solid, reliable vehicles. After all, it was the USA that turned the automobile from a plaything, or a rich man's status symbol, into an appliance. The Ford Model T was an appliance, a tool. Other manufacturers followed.

Today, we get into our cars or trucks, turn the key -- and drive off. No warmup. No pumping the gas pedal exactly 3.5 times, then sitting in the car, revving it, to make sure it's going. Now even if it's zero F. we start it up, put it in drive, and move off -- cursing if it even stalls once.

We do not realize how refined today's cars are -- all we can do is complain -- and, in spite of all the dealers closing shop -- we are STILL sure that salesman ripped us off.

I always thought otherwise sensible people parked their brains outside the dealership before walking in.

I hope everyone realizes Toyota, Honda, and Nissan will go through the exact same decline in the coming years. Replaced by who knows what from China, or India, Korea, Indonesia, etc., etc., etc. There will be the same sort of folks tsk-tsking about how Toyota lost its way, how we should let them fail, how they became "fat-cats" -- and, how we have to destroy any power the working men have -- because "it's all the fault of the union".

That's really a crock, when you stop to think about it.