hey guys. sorry i havent been on here in a while, just got kinda bummed out got to posting quite a bit and got my pictures going around more and more and no mention for motm, then everything on here started goning haywire, chris being stalked the pollitical crap and just general bashing. heck even space seemed bummed out and he was the one when i came here that welcomed me in with open arms and made me feel comftorable. i know my monte may only be a 3.4 ls but she is one of few monte's around here at all. then everything fell through the floor and i am currently sidelined from a debalitating knee injury suffered at work. i can move it but cannot straighten it out completely. thank god it's not broke and they do not want to do surgery at this point but it has been a struggle, i am back at work because i believe if i can wake up in the morning and am able to function without lifethreatning issues i should be at work and from former employment know how much it costs a company to have someone on the dl list. but also i love my job, yes i work for the competition... sorry (toyota) ( if i didnt work there i would nothave gotten my monte)calm down some on the toyota issue, i am not here ringing their bell or nothing. the reason im talking about this subject is beacuse of this
the big two (not even counting mopar) forgot about quality and customer satisfaction. come on am i right. ford shut down the norfolk va f-series plant (about a hour and a half down the road) so most of their trucks are now built in canada (no offense at all to our brothers and sisters up north) i know how tight tensions are here now i have been reading alot. gm from what i understand had a plant in south texas producing their trucks and the goverment here was nice for a short period of time with tax breaks and incentives but they cut the plug on that (not gms fault) so they packed it up and moved just across the border into mexico. i dont care where dodge is built i will never own nor drive/ride on another one of their crackerjack boxes again. the tundra is built in either illinois or on san antonio tx. the quality is there. but enuff on that like i say im not tootng nobody's horn but it's our fault that we are running our manufactuers products and plants to other countries because we want this and that and we deserve this for this. the guy that was telling me about gm was a former chairman and told me why so many cars are produced in canada was because in the us after pensions, retirement,401k and stock, insurance and all other fees that it tacks about 9grand into the vechicle before it's even assembled not counting the cost of materials, and in canada its about 400 per vechicle, why would they not build it there it saves them money.just things that have been said lately here and all the bashing and additudes being given had made me second guess being here and sharing in this forum. we need to keep going the way we seem to be haeding now to turn this site back around and care about others thoughts here before we say/post something dumb. when i joined it was a helpfull site with nice friendly people that banded around one another, yeah everyonce in a while a comment or two negative were brought out but c'mon guys get it back to where the new people that stop in can see how great a group of people joined together by an awesome car (monte carlo of course) and make them want to stay around like i did when i first came in i felt at home. thanks for listening i know i have probably said to much to make someone in here mad but o-well it needed to be said.

 

it was getting pretty rowdy for awhile.... i think its back under control now though. some of it was completly out of our control, like a couple of unsculporous individuals who stalked one of our members and gave mymonte a bad name. it was rought for awhile.. it must have been a full moon i guess.

btw, that finken guy wrecked his monte carlo. rear-ended another car.

 

Haha good for him, I hope he totaled his car. he deserved it, really.

 

[align=center]Hi `Jason,[/align][align=center]Great to see you online & posting.[/align][align=center][/align][align=center]The MCF, or as I call it the Monte Carlo Family[/align][align=center]is to me a lot like life. Some good days, & some bad days.[/align][align=center]I think our membership represents our World.[/align][align=center]There are good guys, and bad guys.[/align][align=center]I don't think the bad guys are winning on the MCF or[/align][align=center]in life.[/align][align=center]Sorry to also read about your misfortune, and I hope that[/align][align=center]times heals all yourwounds.[/align][align=center]I know that I look @ life like my glass is half full, and[/align][align=center]not empty, but every time that I'm feeling down[/align][align=center]I just have to watch the World news, and know that I [/align][align=center]have it better then the majority in our world.[/align][align=center]I give thanks for that.[/align][align=center][/align][align=center]I give thanks to our Super Moderators for taking care[/align][align=center]of the problems of the past. I hope that we see more of[/align][align=center]you online. Welcome back to the Family : )[/align][align=center]Jason, wish you peace & happiness,[/align][align=center]I share some of my grandfather's favoritesquotes[/align][align=center]Aristotle:
[blockquote]
Happiness belongs to the self-sufficient

[/align][/blockquote]Benjamin Disraeli:
[blockquote]
Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action.

[/align][/blockquote]Bertrand Russell:
[blockquote]
The happiness that is genuinely satisfying is accompanied by the fullest exercise of our faculties and the fullest realization of the world in which we live.
My favorite one
[:-]

[/align][/blockquote][URL=http://www.wisdomquotes.com/002865.html][u][font="times new r

 

Welcome back. We all need to take a break every now n then.

I try not to let other people control my life. Afterall, it's MY life. Not their's. If they have nothing better to do then try to run other's lives for them, well they need to get a hobby. Monte Carlos are nice hobbies by the way.

But welcome back. Please stay a while.

 

Sorry to hear about the knee, Jason. Hope it gets better soon. Just curious, do they make you guys do exercises and sing songs before work, like over in Japan? I always wondered about that....

Have to take issue with you about quality and cost savings,though. Sorry, when I see bull****, I call bullsh**.

The last 3 new vehicles I bought were a Plymouth Neon, a Ford F-150 (built in Norfolk), and my 2006 Monte. I can say I was very happy with the initial quality of all three, and also that any warranty issues the dealers have bent over backwards to fix. (They even replaced the hood on the Neon after the factory warranty was up.) So, sorry, can't agree with you on that one.

2nd, that bit about the cost to build in the U.S.A. If that was true, they would build vehicles at nearly 100% profit in Mexico, right? Why would they (or Toyota, or Honda, or BMW, or Hyundai or Nissan or Mitsubishi, etc, etc) make ANY vehicles here? Also, if they save 9 G's per vehicle building them elsewhere, why wouldn't they pass it on to the consumer, so they could sell more cars? I personally would jump at a new Chevy 4x4 for 13 or 14 grand. I'd also get a 2007 Monte, if they took 9 grand off it. Also say they made 1 million cars here in the states. 9,000 X 1,000,000 = 9 BILLION dollars a year. Sounds fishy to me. Also if that was true, are they selling the lower priced models at a loss? I highly doubt that. Sounds like the "former chairman" was blowing smoke up your a**, as he merrily made his way to the bank to cash his multimillion dollar bonus for underperformance. Remember, NO union members decide which vehicles they build, THAT is a management decision, and they have really poor managers.

The basic problem with U.S. car companies is they make vehicles people don't want to buy, (like the Ford 500) and then, when they DO make a vehicle someone is willing to buy, (like the new Camaro), they jack up the prices for the first few years, instead of making a reasonable profit and selling more vehicles. Their second problem is the length of time it takes to bring out new models. How many years have we been reading about the new Camaro? You still can't find one at a local dealer. The other makers seem to bring out cars within 1-2 years of putting the concepts at the car shows, and they don't jack an extra 5 or 10 grand (or allow the dealers to)onto their new models, either.

Also, keep in mind why Henry Ford paid his workers so well to begin with. It was so the workers could afford to buy his cars! Can't speak for you or anyone else that works for the foreign car co's, but I'll bet not too many assembly line workers at BMW in South Carolina are driving new Z-4's.

These are a couple of links to GM sales and history, including some info on their health care and pension plans that is pretty revealing. Really kind of debunks the bad info you were given. Something else to consider, the foreign companies don't give bonuses for poor performance (they fire the person), and they don't give theperson they fired for poor performance a golden parachute, either.

http://www.savannahnow.com/node/436313
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors

 

Welcome back Jason. Sorry to hear about the knee. Hope your better soon.

January 2008 is a month I'd like to forget. But I'm not going to re-open old wounds.

It used to make financial sense for the big three (since Chrysler is once again a North American owned company) to produce in Canada. Our dollar used to vary between 50 cents and 75 centsU.S., so it was cheaper. But this is not the case anymore. Now that our two dollars are pretty much trading at par, our higher cost of living and taxes are driving plants out of Canada also. Here in Windsor we recently lost a Ford plant that had been open since the days of Henry Ford himself. It is now in the process of being torn down. GM used to have three plants here, now we have one plant making transmissions for the 4 cylinder engines (including the new 4 cylinder Malibu). Chrysler used to have three plants here, now only have the one that makes the minivan. This has also caused all the little feeder plants, tool and die shops, etc., to close their doors.

The Canadian government has been having to offer the big three lots of money to keep from having more plants closed up and moved to places like Mexico, Korea, China, and a few others. Inorder for the Ford plant to stay open in Oakville, Ontario, they had to make the plant capable of assembling multiple models on the same assembly line. For example, one car may be a Crown Vic, the next one a Fusion or a Taurus. Just using those models as an example though. If this was not done, Ford was closing the plant completely.

So it's not all rosey here either. I'm not arguing with you or anything. I agree with a lot of what you're saying. I'm justpointing outthat right now Canada and the US are pretty much in the same boat when it comes to the big three. Given my proximity to Detroit, MI, I see everyday on the news how bad Michigan is doing. And it's pretty much the same story in Ontario, Canada. We as Americans and Canadians are losing out to other countries that offer cheaper labor, and less taxes and restrictions.

We both need to do something to bring jobs back to the US and Canada. If it means having a bunch of Toyota and Honda plants open up, then so be it. I prefer to buy a vehicle that was made here, and so far I've been lucky enough to do that. Both my Cavalier's ('85 & '91 models) were built in the US. My Grand Am was built in Michigan. My Monte was built in Oshawa, Ontario. The tranny's for both my Cavalier's and my Grand Am were built here in Windsor. If the future means buying a Toyota built in Ohio or some other state, that's an option I'll have to look at. But I prefer GM.

 

Also, if they save 9 G's per vehicle building them elsewhere, why wouldn't they pass it on to the consumer, so they could sell more cars?

Sorry but I can not agree with htis. Why? Mainly because the auto makers or ANY company that manufactures part or all of their products overseas where the workers average $50/week do not pass any savings to the consumer. They keep their prices high here in the U.S. because they feel we're all rich.

How else do you explain a car that sells for let's say $18k here is sold for $10 - $11k in other countries and even lower in countries where the median income is lower. The auto maker is passing along higher costs to us (you and I) so they can have higher profits.

You will get 200 different stories as to why this car sells cheaper overseas but to me if they can sell it for $10k over there, they can sell it for 10k here.

I know the company my g/f works does this evey thing with their products. And they originate in the town she lives in. If anything where she lives should get the cheapest price on these products versus anywhere else. But now this company manufactures pieces in both Mexico and China.

 

I hear you, RJ, and Taz.I know why they don't drop the price, and there really is only one way to change that. Quit buying the foreign products. And it DOES work.

The only problem is all the people out there are buying all these foreign cars, because they are convinced that somehow they are better than the big 3's cars, which is just a bunch of bull. But when GM had 50% of the market, they weren't charging 50% more than the car was truly worth. They also relied on volume, where the more you sell the more you make, kind of like McDonald's.

The foreign makers saw that they could charge the same price for a similar vehicle, so they DID, which is just good business, really. Can't blame them for paying half what the UAW pays and charging the same price for a car, which costs them half of what it supposedly costs the Big 3 to make,either. If people are suckers and buy their cars at the same price levelor higher,as a GM, Ford or Chrysler,who do you blame, the company, or the suckers?

The problem comes, and we'll be seeing more and more of this, when NOBODY can afford any of their cars. What do they do then? This is what we'll be seeing more and more of in Canada and the U.S.

 

RJ and mad717, you guys hit the nail on the head. It comes down to greed. They simply won't lower the prices until something happens that forces them to.

This happened recently here in Canada. For decades Canadians paid more for the same car as the US. A LOT more. Like 10 grand more. Even when the value of the Canadian dollar reached par with the US dollar, the prices didn't change. Logic would tell you that the prices should have been par with the US also. But the manufacturers gave all kinds of bull trying to defend their practices. It wasn't until the media and politicians made a big deal about it, that GM and Chrysler lowered their prices. Now they advertise "special Canadian pricing" like they're doing us a favor.

Thepoint being, they could lower their prices (in the US) and still make a profit by selling more cars. But they don't because of greed. Plain and simple.