Remind me again how good of a deal this is for the worker?

I wouldn't even treat a slave like that......

although sounds like pretty good incenitive to look busy and take longer to make double time as often as they can.

 

To answer the original poster's question, I am very happy with my truck and I have had no major problems with it. If the truck you bought has the 5.4 liter engine, watch out for the spark plugs, the new 3V heads on the trucks has a problem with plugs breaking off in heads when you try to remove them.

As far as Mattineer's union vs. non-union debate, well I"ve had both types of jobs over the years, and they both have their good points and bad points. Right now I have a union job and I see people at work that would not have a job if the union was not there to keep it for them. But as a side note, if you want to make a decent living in the manufacturing sector around Cleveland, then you need a union job, otherwise the most you will get is about 10 bucks an hour.

Mike
U.S.W.A. local 979

 

In my long almost 19 years here, my family has and currently does own at least one vehicle from the big top 3 auto manufacturers. Currently, we own a Buick Roadmaster (Impala SS basically), Jeep Grand Cherokee, a Ranger, and my F-150. The Buick (1995) has the least miles out of all of our cars by almost a third (45K), yet it has the most problems out of any. Our Jeep (1997) has 115K on it, always has alignment problems, is thirsty, and had tranny problems at about 40K. My dad's Ranger (1997) has 180K on the original clutch. Only thing it's required was new ball joints and an alternator. My F-150 (1999) has 115K problem free miles, although the previous owners did replace an upper ball joint. Also, the original brakes made it 110K.

 

I've seen mention here of older British cars and you are correct, they were rubbish. Not badly designed for their true market but shoddily built.
Guess what? All the plants were unionised. The workers could get away with whatever because the union protected them.
Of course, a lot of the union officials were political agitators intent on bucking the system.
Guess what again? Eventually those plants closed. The union leaders moved on to political jobs and screwed the workers.
Now, the only British car plants are the Japanese ones.
They actually build a better quality car than the Jap factories and export them back to Japan.
Another guess? Correct. These factories are non union.
You build more cars, meet targets and you get paid more. The workers are now better paid and have better benefits than in the union factories because they make a profit.


p.s. Very happy with my Ford

 

Hi Tom,
I currently have four vehicles.
1999 F150 98k
1998 BMW 113K
1998 Toyota 220k
1995 Windstar 155k

That's 586,000 miles.

Just the routine stuff done, tires, brakes, 117 oil changes, nothing catastrophic.
Don't plan on replacing any of them anytime soon.

My hats off to the Japanese, the Germans and Ford.

When I was young and poor I bought used and Mopar always seemed to be the cheapest on the lot so, I have mostly a Mopar history.

(I'll keep my hat on for those guys)

 

Hey, great response, hope nobodys feelings are hurt. As for unions and jobs, well I have seen them all, being a service rep for 32 years and visiting every type of business you can imagine. Union shops are by far the worst when I viewed work habits, next to Federal government workers and state workers ( whom happen to be union) The downside their always seemed to be a core 20% of workers and the rest seemed to be along for the ride. Just my two cents worth. As for the cars, well British cars taught me a skill that allowed me to never be cheated by a stealership, and the ability to tackle anything, I have rebuilt three engines, (British, german, and american) one automatic transmission a Ford ranger automatic, and by the way I constructed all the tools to set up the clutch packs and rebuild it. Something I have always admired in people is to at least attempt to do things on their cars, even if they mess up. That is how you learn. Looks like a lot of good folks on this site that love and hate their vehicles but are willing to learn from the input of others. You all have a great day and for you union folks remember to ask questions, when the union bosses are giving you a line you know is wrong. They are not always looking after your best interests and I personally would prefer a place that allows employee ownership and results payout over a hard line union tier system. The union reminds me of welfare, too many on the ride and no personal satisfaction from a job well done. Thank you all for your input.

 

If you figured out how to work on the positive ground electrical system with out being shocked, that is definatly nothing but a learning experince..... The hard way.

 

Yea, you just think negative or vise versus or gee am I getting old, which one is positive and which one is negative, or which way do the electrons flow from negative to positive or vice versus. And did you know electrons are blue? And vacuum tubes are called valves in England, taught to me by a professor at Berkeley on Treasure Island many decades ago. Boy has technology changed. Look at the cars, Lucas sure was a trip on those british cars. God help us all we survived Austins, MG's, Triumph, Jaguars, And Lotus.
Now all I have to do is survive my Ford with its ESP ending in 2010. Lordy, lordy, what a great Saturday night. You guys crack me up.

 

Then to though in more confusion, here, the street name for a vaccum tube is AKA sweeper tube, also AKA Kirby tubes.....

 

I've owned 22 cars in my life of those 22, 18 have been Fords. Mostly Mustangs, anyway the one sitting in my driveway will be my last.

 

You shouldn't think that way.
I don't care if you're 70 or even 80 (and you don't have to say) with modern medicine there could be many more vehicle purchases for you.
As long as you can pass the state licensing requirements, never give up.

 

My F150 is not very reliable, but I never expected it to be. I needed a truck and couldn't afford a full size Nissan/Toyota. I still like it, but I hate the fact that I am supporting unions and the socialization of the USA by buying them.

Next truck will be either a Nissan or Toyota. American labor, no communism, and better reliability. I really won't care if people think it has an ugly grill as long as I can go 15 miles without it misfiring again....or without the manifold rusting itself loose...or without the power windows going....or the power steering pump going...or leaking oil...

 

My '05 F-150 is the 3rd new Ford vehicle that I have owned since 1997. While my F-150 is probably not a fair vehicle to evaluate on a reliability basis since it only has 878 miles on it at this point, the other two ('97 Ford Ranger and '05 Ford Escape) have been flawless in their performance and easily the finest vehicles I have ever owned.

For comparison, I purchased a brand new Pontiac Sunfire around the same time I purchased my Ranger, and both vehicles received comparable levels of care and service. While the Ranger has been flawless in its performance, the Sunfire was an absolute nightmare! You've heard about being "nickeled and dimed" to death? Well, the Sunfire "five hundred dollared" me to death over the years that I owned it......

 

Ive owned
85 Fifth Avenue - First car rusty but fun with that modded 318
86 Capri - Damn fun car and only $250, but too much abuse and sold it
90 Ranger - Biggest problem was a burnt out headlight. Awesome little truck, fun off-roader, till I gave the keys to someone else
83 New Yorker - Mitsu POS 2.6, dont ask I was broke and in HS
85 Grand Marquis - Put in a carbed 351 and never gave me any trouble, destroyed by fire
90 Cougar - Best damn car ever, 370,000 on the odo and only spent 200 in repairs (too bad retards dont know a red means to stop)
93 Explorer - Bent a rod dodging a deer (took the ditch, got water up the intake), put in a new engine, another jackass decided he didnt want to wait for a red
89 F150 - Cant complain at all, so far just the 02 and TPS sensors. Well and tires, but cant blame Ford for that one.

I cant complain at all about the quality of the Fords Ive owned. A buddy of mine has over 400,000 on his '78 F150 and the thing still runs beautifully.

 

Hey Lariat, heres to you, thankyou for your feed back and hope all your vehicles go as well except for the accidents.