PLEASE BUY AMERICAN:idea2: or ALL our grandchildren will have careers at Mcdonalds ray:[/quote] Make sure it's made (or at least assembled) in America (the country, not North America in general). I almost crapped my pants at the auto show in Tampa last month when I looked at the Monroney on a $55k GMC Silverado and saw that it was assembled in Mexico. I don't recall Mexico pony'ing up it's citizens tax dollars to bail out GM.[/QUOTE] Your neighbors to the north put a lot cash in to the bail out as well. As long as it is made in Canada or the US I am good with it:TU:
You do have to be careful. Recently Toyota has been running ads around here that say that Toyota trucks have a higher domestic content then Ford trucks.
Yeah, and if you cant believe a companies commercial, what can you believe??o No: Thats not to say it is true or isnt, I cant prove either way, but I have a hard time basing any reality on paid advertising. Most big marketing campaigns are little more than bending truths to the point that due to some small legality they can claim it isnt an outright lie, hence why so much money is spent on said campaigns.
Not my quote, for sure."The bigger the lie...the more people will believe it.'' Gotta love free speech advertising>>>great to hide behind.
First of all, thanks for sharing Flint 67 GS. I have been watching these buildings come down over the course of the last year. It was very hard to look out over the field where the "Buick City" plant used to stand, but now that all the other parts are coming down its really hitting home. My dad worked at Buick City until '99 when they closed it, he retired out of plant 10. My grandfather worked at the old gear and axle plant....I want to say it was plant 31? I have had other family members work there too, like my uncle who retired out of plant 36. I hate to see all of it go because it has been a part of my family since as long as I can remember. My Buick was built in Flint and my 3800 engine in my Monte Carlo was from Flint as well. Very sad and hate to see it go.
I still have a Buick City '99 clock. Platinum award clock. "Best plant in the world" What a shame on us!!:moonu:
Don't know where these photos were taken.... description says a storage near a plant in Flint MI, 1971.....can watch them over and over again:
Very sad- What a terrible sight. Why is it whenever this subject comes up someone has to chime in and blame the unions ? Maybe you should check your knowledge of US history first . It's funny that in the 50's 60's and 70's Americans were buying American cars. ( union made ) the corporations were making money, the employees were making money , everyone was happy the system worked. In the 50's 8 out of every 10 cars on the planet was made in USA. It wasn,t until the mid 70's when Americans ( and I use that phrase loosely) turned thier back on thier country and made it hip to buy foriegn crap . That trend still stands today. Of course our government could have enacted HUGE tarriffs ( like every country does to our cars even to this day) But they didn"t and the troubles began. Today an entire generation still thinks his foriegn car ( no matter what brand ) is a better car, and is proud of thier anti-american stance. So you can blame the unions all you want, the bottom line is we did this to ourselves by not supporting our country. Just because someone working at a Hundyai plant in the US is making less money and benefits than someone working for the US companies doesn't make him right and them wrong. (apparantly the Hyundai worker doesn't feel he's worth as much ) Furthermore the average pay in Mexico is $4 an hour, in China $4 a week but I guess it must be the unions fault we can't compete with that. So why don't all you union haters help out our country and lower your pay to $4 an hour, or better yet grow some balls and get some pay and benefits of your own instead of being jelous of those who have. BE AMERICN-BUY AMERICAN while we still can. BOB proud member INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS the best electricians on the planet!
Bob I am sorry if I offended You. But I would like to point out that I have benefits and I make a good wage. I would continue on this subject but there are a lot of people enjoying this thread and I don't want to see it closed .I would like to mention if I cant buy Canadian I buy US made as I like to help My Friends. Mark in ont Canada
Yes, it is sad, I came to Flint, MI in 1979 to work for GM as a Salaried Employee, ENGINEER! Was told by my Dad who worked for IBM for 38 years, (no union, everyone was salaried) "Those Union folks, they know their jobs, treat them as the experts, asked them questions, about the job, etc" And you know what, of course, he was right! My brothers also relocated to Flint to work for GM, and there's some more stories. Management and the UAW are both to blame why Buick is gone, the Flint Truck Plant, where I started had some slightly better values in work ethics, not perfect either! When you look back at the way the world was, it's unbelievable that we have become a society that only looks for how can I get more for less, I'm sorry, but I like a deal too, but not working for what you want or need is just unrealistic in most of our minds, so making enough parts to fill the quota and then going home or to the bar, or your other job and getting paid for hours of work that you didn't have to do, well, what did you expect to happen? And that's what they let happen, in some cases, this wasn't the norm, but neither was punching out your friends or getting a doctor's excuse to skip work, but still get paid. Management let this happen, UAW condoned it, nobody still has the gonads to stop it, cause it's still happening, not as much, but look at the rest of the world, who is in charge? The folks that don't have a pot to piss in, and want the world to take care of them cause they can be derived of their freedom to go to work. WANT A JOB? Go help clean a school or church or gym, factory if there's one still around?:Smarty: :beers2:
WOW!!! I did not relize this was such a touchy subject.I have brothers who worked in these shops and confirm the Storys Roberta is telling is true and have seen it myself.I have worked 24 years tearing all these GM,Chrysler and Ford plants down and maintenance during operation of these plants as a outside contractor(UNION)in Mich.,Oh.,Ind. PA,Wis.,Ill. ect.... And working in these running plants in the beginning these shop workers would be making TRIPLE the wages I was making with full benefits.I really was in envy of them and hoped some day I could get a job in the SHOPS.I never did get into the SHOPS and I kept doing what I am doing.Last weeK I worked in Saginaw at Nexteer which use to be G.M. Saginaw steering gear.The plant was to be closed by G.M. but a company from CHINA bought it and made an agreement with U.A.W. to pay the workers $14 an hour (only 40% of what they use to make )with some bulls___t benefits.Talking to one of the workers last week I asked him what do they get for pension??? -he said they had a 401K plan but with these kind of wages I would think he has to use every penny of his paycheck just to buy the essentials???? and no money to put into the 401 K plan.I dont believe these people are the people who can afford to buy the new vehcles???With only 4 more years for me to go for my FULL retirement I relized I am now making more then double of these SHOP workers with full benefits and a wonderful pension(WHO WOULD HAVE THUNK???) I have GM blood in me and would NEVER EVER think about buying a foreign car even though I relize parts for American cars are not all made in USA. Since day 1 working at Buick City I have been trying to buy this original plant FIRE TRUCK that the demolition contractor now owns.It has 9,700 miles on it and is rust free (just dirty)has 366 Big Block Chevy in it and is like new in and out and would polish up nice.I will contine to bug the main man til he sells it to me :TU: -Here are some pictures :kodak: of it and some stuff I picked up from the plant along with a picknick table wth overhead canopy Mike L. P.S BRICKs could happen if enough were interested???
Being born and raised in Flint and then starting my career as an engineer at GM in Flint in the 90's I got to see the decline of Buick City firsthand. Even when they were winning accolades about the quality of the cars coming from the plant it was only a matter of time before they all went kaput. It was sad to watch. Soon after the first plant was demolished you could go on Google maps and scroll over the city of Flint and see the outline of the plant...the assembly line was (and still is) easily visible on the ground from the aerial photos. http://maps.google.com/?ll=43.04053,-83.686203&spn=0.001723,0.003892&t=h&z=19&vpsrc=6 Scroll out and pan around to see all the vacant land. It really sucks.
This large picture I have of the Buick City complex once hung in the admn. bldg.(now tore down)-the time I believe is just after 475 was built ????
As I said before I would definitely be interested in a Buick Brick or 2 for that matter :beers2: I know there would be a bunch of people that would want one:TU:
not sure what's american these days... On my 2010 Dodge Challenger, Motor and transmission was built in Mexico, and the car was assembled in Brampton, Ontario, then transported by Rail to America.
Board member Rob_Gray (what happened to him ?) posted this photo from the year 1913: Later I found this bigger photo, 4789 x 711 pixels: < Click thumbnail :Comp:
