Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site alice.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!harpo!eagle!alice!wookie From: wookie@alice.UUCP Newsgroups: net.auto Subject: Re: Car problems... Message-ID: <2083@alice.UUCP> Date: Fri, 29-Jul-83 13:03:13 EDT Article-I.D.: alice.2083 Posted: Fri Jul 29 13:03:13 1983 Date-Received: Sun, 31-Jul-83 20:41:13 EDT References: <1239@tektronix.UUCP> Organization: Bell Labs, Murray Hill Lines: 37 Since I am involved with cars a great deal and have been an instructor for auto maintenance and repair courses I get an awful lot of people passing by my office for solutions to their car problems. On the whole I would have to say I have had more questions concerning foreign cars than domestic varieties. It seems that most of the American cars I have run across will keep operating despite gross abuse and/or neglect by the owners. The foreign cars never seemed able to do that and so the ones that are carefully maintained do keep running fine. So I guess that is another observation; if you want to buy and run a car for three years with absolutly no maintenance (not even oil changes!) I think the American cars have been able to do that. Another observation I have made is that people who own foreign cars seem to expect they will have to perform maintenance while owners of American cars aren't sure what maintenance means. The majority of the problems with the foreign cars seems to be that they are not built to operate in all climates they encounter while the American cars seem able to cope with the cold of Alaska or Canada or the heat of Death Valley. It seems odd to me that English cars with Lucas ignitions won't run in damp weather, and people with Volvos are always asking me why their car won't start when it's cold outside. In defense of the foreign cars I have to say they are getting better while the American cars of the 70's certainly seemed to be going downhill. I hope that the Japanese have scared Detroit back into building quality cars that perform well. I think this has been happening recently and so my interest in American cars is rising back to old levels. Note that I leave exotic foreign cars out of this discussion as they are typically low production, very expensive and therefore bound to have some odd and expensive problems. That doesn't mean I wouldn't want a Ferrari because I am sure if I could afford one then I would enjoy tinkering with it to keep it going!! Sorry for the long ramble. Let us know your side! Keith Bauer White Tiger Racing