Destruction of the US Auto Industry - Mandatory Reading

[blacksheep-1]

There have been a few comments on here about the fall of the US auto industry. And although not mustang specific, this book covers much of that in detail. It should be required reading for anyone that did not live through this period.
For sure, American automakers were far from perfect, but the destruction of the industry is something we are still struggling with today.

 

[xr7]

As long as you are reading here is some reviews and other angles on this story.
For my part, I worked for the General, 1978 thru 1986. Laid off when GM sold the heavy truck division to Volvo. John Rock was appointed head of the GMC Truck division in 1982. he ran it thru the sale at the end of 1986. He reappears in 1992 at Oldsmobile, Olds fold in 2004. Trend? GM drove the bus into the ditch all on there own.

The Non-Book Review: Why I Won't Be Buying "The Sack Of Detroit - General Motors and the End of American Enterprise"" - Curbside Classic

When I saw the headline of an article “The Big Question: Who Wrecked the US Auto Industry”, at Bloomberg, I was obviously interested, although the subtitle: “A Q&A with author […]

www.curbsideclassic.com

The Last Battle Over Big Business

Ralph Nader, General Motors, and what we get wrong about regulation.

www.newyorker.com

 

[blacksheep-1]

and this statement from the review demonstrates the bias first hand, is why you need to read the book

"Me: Aha! It was a left-wing conspiracy to destroy GM and American business. The fact that GM and other car manufacturers (and many other businesses) felt free to build flagrantly unsafe and grossly polluting products of all sorts until the government regulated those aspects of their products is of course irrelevant. And why weren’t high-flying IBM and so many other companies targeted that weren’t creating negative impacts on health and the environment?"

I was around then, and even though in my early teens (I'm a voracious reader) I read Nader's "Unsafe at Any Speed" where he vilified the Corvair, there was also another book, where specific cars were cherry picked as not having factory support for parts and other items, you may find some of those cars interesting, they were the dodge Daytona, Superbird, Mercury Cyclone Spoiler and the Torino Talladega, if those sound familiar, it's because they were all limited production cars built for NASCAR and are worth a fortune today. The pointed Superbird noses were of course , horribly unsafe for pedestrians and provided poor visibility as well.. really? who knew. They also throw in Mustangs, Barracudas and other "muscle cars"

Here's the Wiki on Nader's book "unsafe at any speed" read through it, because of people like Nader, and not soon after the Clean Air Act (which will soon outlaw dual use cars like yours) along with OPEC shutting off the oil, Detroit was taken down in about 5 years, and the door kicked open for the foreign car market. Today you see the results of that, Detroit is about to abandon cars completely, the events of 1969 to 1975 are still having an effect.

Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[blacksheep-1]

John Rock did not do GM any favors, selling their heavy truck division to
Volvo was a huge mistake, so was selling Mack to (i think) Peugeot.
The only reason Buick survived is because Buick were the first cars to arrive in China and GM is looking at that market. I think the Chinese will screw them over first, in fact they already did. The GM/Daewoo designed "Chery" was stolen and backwards engineered in China. The parts even interchange. It was to be GM's car for China and got stolen right from under them

GM charges Chery for alleged mini car piracy

 

[302BOB]

Detroit had the U.S. auto market for many yrs, but when other countries entered into the competition in the 70's, things started to change, and not in favor of Detroit.Things have evolved over the yrs and I can't say if we're on an even playing field with everyone else, but We've narrowed the gap quite a bit.If you sleep while others don't...the result won't be pleasant..........................right now I see the auto industry as being wide open...............with no end in sight.....just seeing how EV's play a part in the near future.........Hate to see gas Mustangs will disappear...................I'll keep my mine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[302BOB]

One last note.....AMC gone, Pontiac gone, Oldsmobile gone, Plymouth gone, Mercury gone...I'm sure I'm forgetting somebody else....My Boss ain't going anywhere!!!

 

[blacksheep-1]

Well the current admin just bent Boeing Aircraft over, they were in direct competition with France Airbus, and now they've taken off the tariffs, this means that Airbus, which is partially state owned, now has a huge advantage over the domestic company.

also.. found this

 

[o-man]

Is this the same Rock that had something to do with Corvette museum HPDE before the track opened?