Wow, I love my Ford truck not because it is a Ford but because it is the BEST truck. I work hard for my money and would never buy anything as expensive as a vehicle just to be patriotic. Buy it or don't buy based on it's merit. The reason our vehicles are so much better now, is from the competition from others. We either improve on our merits or we don't and lose business.

 

Did you know who owns part (or all) of Isuzu? (I do)


And while I'm being a smarta$$ (which is preferable to a dumba$$) the correct spelling is school's out (school + is = school's).



Everyone may find this article enlightening:

`Foreign' cars no longer quite so easy to identify
By ROYAL FORD
The Boston Globe

It is appalling to type these warped words, but here goes:

``I used to enjoy your writings and objective reviews of the various autos on the roads today. Lately, however, you seem to be obsessed with the (Japanese) junk coming into this country. It seems that this is all you can write about. So I will just cross you off my list of worthwhile reading material.''

I get more letters and e-mails along the same vein - there's a guy in Brookline who is obsessed, nasty and sick over Japanese and German cars - than most of you can imagine. I hope the dimwit drives a Cadillac Catera because I can tell him right here that that car is built in Germany.

The letter I'm quoting from came in the midst of a batch of reviews I did on new Honda products. (Can I help it if the company is introducing five new cars this year?)

First, skipping over the xenophobic claptrap, foreign cars are not junk. You can look it up in J.D. Powers or Consumer Reports. Second, what we have long considered to be ``foreign'' cars are not foreign anymore. ``Foreign'' companies are building record numbers of vehicles in plants in the United States. And part of the reason so many foreign cars are being built and sold in this country is that America's Big Three have concentrated in a big way on trucks and SUVs.

Consider: As of this month, there are 1,314 models of vehicles being offered for sale in the United States, according to Automotive News. Among those, GM offers 368, Ford 314, Daimler-Chrysler (we won't bring up the German connection here) 123; Toyota 65, Honda 40 and Nissan 52.

Yet of all those Big Three vehicles, only about a third are cars. The rest are trucks, SUVs and minvans. Transplants - cars built in the United States by foreign companies - and true imports make up the rest and account for more than half of all cars sold here.

Ford owns Jaguar, and Volvo and has a partnership with Ford; Saab is a General Motors affiliate and GM has a working partnership with Toyota.

Give yourself this quiz:

Which is the foreign car?

A) Mazda 626

B) Buick Rendezvous

C) Nissan Xterra

D) BMW Z3

Sharp readers will know that the correct answer is B, the Mexican-built Buick.

But does this make it a foreign car? Or is a BMW Z3 built in South Carolina a foreign car?

Mark J. Perry, an assistant professor of economics at the University of Michigan at Flint, wrote in The Detroit News that several Michigan congressman prohibit staffers from driving ``foreign'' cars. He pointed out that this meant that banned wheels included models of the Cadillac Catera, Buick Rendezvous, Ford Escort, Chevy Impala, Chrysler Concorde, Pontiac Firebird and Dodge Grand Caravan.

In 1982, 1.4 percent of the cars sold here were transplants. By 1990, that number had risen to 11.2 percent. Today, it's more than 25 percent. That means that fully half the cars you see on the highway and categorize as imports were, in fact, built in the United States using American labor.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: http://www.jrnl.net/news/02/Jul/jrn56260702.html
Original source verified through Bostonglobe.com

 

If you believe that load of BS, be my guest. Just don't come crying to me when you lose your job and are working at McDonalds.

 

This is the wife. I'll always have job security teaching children to read and think for themselves (not what I think, but THEIR decision).

I hope that no one on this board works at McDonald's or any other fast food business. It's hard work and a thankless task serving ungrateful, impatient yuppies who don't work half as hard. At least I can get a job there just about anywhere in the world - our culture seems to be spreading like a plague.

Rugby basically said "Survival of the fittest". But more and more Americans (did ya catch that - Americans) are buying "imports". Sounds like they are voting with their money - and nothing that we debate about here is going to change that.

I know! We should just keep all our exports, stop accepting imports, close the borders, and make inbreeding legal. We're so great, we can do it all! (Hey, while we're at it, we can kick out anyone that's not Native American)

Sorry that I don't have a two or three word phrase to end with to try and show that I had the last word - I'm not that naive.

 

Actually I agree with you Olefafl. My statement wasn't meant as survival of the fittest but, make the "better product" and you will always do well. You couldn't give me an "American" car during the 80's and early 90's. I only looked at Honda's and Toyota's. The Big Three finally woke up and started making better cars because of the competition. Like I said being patriotic is not about buying American. I will always spend my money where and on what I want, regardless of where it is made.
OK, one exception nothing French.

 

Please don't tell me you're boycotting French fries. LOL. [I'm just yankin' your chain!]

 

Nope, hahahaha
Besides I am smart enough to know French Fries aren't French.

 

Funny that you mention that. States are beginning to lay-off teachers as we speak because of the budget crunch. Job security is a thing of the past, thanks in part to imports. I'm not degrading people based on what they buy or have bought. The only vehicle that has ever left me stranded was a Nissan.

P.S. Ya is not proper English.

 

I will always be a teacher, no matter what job I am paid for.

And there is no "beginning" or "ending" for layoffs in any fields - it's all part of the cycle. There are many states that are hiring teachers in record numbers because they have decided that having educated citizens are a priority. (Our state is currently subsidizing failing corporations and failing football teams)

And there's no such thing as "proper English" (just like there's no single definition of ethnicity for an American) - words that are used frequently enough are adopted. I love it when kids find ain't in the dictionary. A curious piece of trivia - there is no official language of the United States. The early politicians voted on what language to use in official documents. English won - by one vote over German. It's a great story for the power of one vote.

 

did you know, that in Japan profits made from foreign companies must stay in Japan? did you know that any profits made in America after taxes can be sent anywhere in the world? shoot, osama makes money in our country.

Did you also know that the Honda that might be made in Podunk Mississippi is still a foreign car because a Japanese guy dreamed, developed, implimented, and supervised the production of that car all the way up to the assembly line?

You cant argue that buying a GM or Ford hurts american jobs, sure we assemble some in Mexico, and some of the part are made in Mexico, but where does the majority of that money come to in the end? Thats right! The good ole US of A.

So next time you get in your Issuzu remember this, that car was paid for by you, and the majority of the profits from that car went back to Japan where the multi-million dollar big money maker heads of Isuzu live.

Also, next time you see a "9/11 we will never forget" bumper sticker on a car (you prolly got one on your import lol) remember 12/7, I will never forget.

Just think, in 30 years your children will be deciding wether to buy a car from Afghanistan or USA.

I for one, will never forget.

I take great pride knowing that my truck was made in Mexico and the USA and that the profits went to buy some tortillas for a mexican family (thats what he got for working, food money) and then the people who assembled it in USA got paid and bought them some hot dogs, and then their managers in the USA, and 3 in mexico got paid, and now because of me Bill Ford can hold Dodgers season tickets and give millions a year to USA charities.

You, however, bought a car that someone in USA assembled, then the managers got paid, then the rest of the profits went to Japan, where the owner of the company can hold season tickets for the Japanese Sumo team and he can eat all the fried rice he pleases. This is the same Japanese man who's dad dropped a bomb on my grandfather in the cowardly act I call Pearl Harbor.

I WILL NEVER FORGET.

 

Wow! You've got the memory of an elephant! And something about you smells too...like ignorant prejudice (or at least that's how you come across using all those stereotypes). It's so nice of you to let the little folks have a little food money and let Ford give money to charity. You're a real Christian.

I hope that someday the people of Afghanistan will recover from their oppression and have the ability to sell me a car - which I will buy if I like it. It will be wonderful when we figure out a system where citizens of all countries are employed, fairly paid, have equal opportunities. (Heck, we haven't got that one figured out here yet either, have we?)

Pearl Harbor or Hiroshima/Nagasaki? "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent" - seems that no country has a monopoly on incompetence.

Actually, my car has a sign that says "Liberty and Justice for All" and shows people of many ethnicities and walks of life. I also have this quote:

In Germany they came first for the Communists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me--and by that time no one was left to speak up. Martin Niemöller

My apologies to anyone who is from Japan, Mexico or Mississippi on behalf of those of us who welcome all people and all opinions.

Does anyone have the list of what companies are owned by who and in what percentages?

This has been a lot of fun. I love the First Amendment - please continue to exercise your right to it! I'm going to exercise my right to go to sleep!

 

prejudice huh? tell that to the little chinese lady who I get my dinner from once a month, tell that to the asian girl i used to chase after in high school, or better yet, tell that to the indian family who recently moved here who i taught how to paint the walls of their house. what about the Arab family that owns the Exxon where I wash my car every winter (cant buy their gas, its crap, but their carwash rocks) you should tell them i am prejudice and see what they say.

liberty and freedom for all? damn right (unless your criminal)

buying from a US car company because it benifits americans more than Japanese? hell yea

I dont buy only US cars because I dislike japanese, I buy US cars because I like Americans more and if I had a choice (which I do) I would support MY country and not theirs.

Pearl Harbor was an example, a bad one, but an example.

Forget past historical events:

Who would you rather buy from, a guy who killed your aunt who has a cheaper product that lasts longer (or so they say) or a guy who has a product that is a little more expensive, and might not last as long, but he didnt kill you aunt.

Id buy from the guy who didnt wrong me and you would too! I dont hate the Japanese for bombing us, but I will do everything I can not to let the profits of my business go back to their country.

I am AMERICAN, America is what I stand for, America is what I support, America is what I believe in, nobody else. I am American, I will die as an American and I might die for America. With that in mind when given the choice I will only by American products, because American is what I am, and America is the only country I support.

US automakers have not had layoffs because of the "cycle" they have had layoffs because they are loosing their market share to Japanese auto makers. Sure, in economics there are cycles, there are cycles to almost every aspect of the economy, but if you look at the history of Automakers in the last say.......... 40 years, you will notice a steep decline in the market share that US automakers have, this isnt due to a cycle because cycles repeat themselves.

Good luck with the Isuzu.

Please take and economics class at your local college, you will learn alot about fluctuations in the economy, the different cycles, and the ways importing and exporting affects a country. You will also understand why gas prices are what they are, which contrary to popular belief, is dirt cheap.

BTW: I am not racist or prejudice, and I was born about 15 miles north of mississippi border and I am moving back in August, to be with my Mississippi friends and family.

 

I didn't think this would turn into a flame session but..... I buy american because i want american. If others choose not to, so be it, they are the bigger losers and many more americans will continue to lose their jobs because of imports. the money just does not stay here.


"I for one will never forget." you shouldn't either..



!!!!!!!! HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN!!!!!!!!

P.S.: HE DID BUY THE FORD, BECAUSE HE LISTENED TO REASON THEN HE DROVE IT!!!

 

lol i bought my first ford F150 because i liked it and it was a good ole american truck. i bought this F150 because i fell in love with the last. my next one will also be a 99-03 F150, and i hope the one after that.

im sure everyone agrees, these things kick ***

 

wow. I dont want to get a reputation around here as being an a**hole who goes off on anyone...because really and truly Im only here to gain information about the new truck Im buying....

That being said...the only person here who has made a comment anywhere close to sane was rugby. Anyone who spends 30-40k on a vehicle because its American has a loose grip on reality. I have a few American flags Id like to sell you....400 dollars a piece..but hey...at least its not a Japanese flag!

seriously tho, for the cost of a vehicle you should get what you pay for. It is my understanding that you DO when it comes to ford TRUCKS. thats why Im buying one. However, I currently drive a Honda Accord and Ive had it since 1992 and its never given me a SINGLE major problem and Ive never had to spend more than 400 dollars to get it serviced. Do you know how much I spent on servicing my wife's FORD/ Mercury cougar last MONTH? 1700 dollars. You couldnt PAY me to drive an american *car*. Theyre CRAP...and always have been. The one thing american motor companies know how to do well is trucks. Hence, they get my dollar. But for you guys to sit here and basically call anyone who buys a foreign car a communist because they want a reliable nice ride....Grow up.


One final thought: You guys who are patting yourself on the back for feeding the Ford Motor Company....trust me...theres very little difference between major corporations....no matter what country theyre based in. They all want one thing....your money. You guys sure care a lot more about Bill Ford than he cares about any of you. Just ask some of the people who've posted complaints about trying to get a fair shake from the Ford service department.


Rugby: thanks for interjecting some realism into this otherwise off-the-wall "Red Scare" thread