On Wed, 1 Sep 2004 13:44:39 -0400, George george@least wrote:
I can remember the "ka-ching" of my Datsun minitruck door closing, versus
the solid "thunk" of my wife's Pinto door. US made was demonstrably
different in other ways as well in those days.

Yup, it sure was. I drove a Pinto back in "the day", 2.3 liter engine
that couldn't get the POS out of it's own way. Today I'm driving a
Saab with a 2.3 Litre engine and 3 times as much horsepower. And better
mileage. And astonishingly better safety and reliability.

US firms invested more in their people than the Japanese, and were working
in older factories to begin with.

There was also a culture in the US carmakers in the 70's and 80's that
they could get by with substandard crap, and they got passed up. As much
as I hate to see Milwaukee Tools being sold to a company not in the US,
well, if it's a case of being done elsewhere or being done poorly, I'll
take elsewhere. Not saying Milwaukee Tools are made poorly, I've been
buying 'em for years, but lately I'm buying more Makita than Milwaukee
anyway.

Where it's made only goes so far in selection of a product. When the
quality and feature differences overcome that, then I'll buy the right
product regardless of where it's built. I worked for GE for about a
dozen years, and I figured the GE meatball on an appliance would make it
worth about 50 bucks more; more difference than that, and I'd buy another
brand. Only counted for so much.

Dave Hinz