THE UAW/BIG 3 COALITION AGAINST THE AMERICAN PUBLIC

If any reader cares, I’m currently in process of determining which car to purchase or lease in February. That’s when my lease on a 2006 Honda Accord expires and despite incentives being offered by the Honda dealership, and by a competing Toyota dealer, I was seriously considering an American car.

Back in ‘06, I had narrowed my choices down to a Camry, an Accord, and a Chevy Impala. The Chevy salesman helped me cut my picks down to the two Japanese makes when he invited me to give an Impala a test drive. This particular model had more bells and whistles than I would ever use or ever learn how to use.

Nevertheless, even though I’m generally more a meat and pototoes than glitz and glamour car guy, I decided to give it a shot.

The salesman, Mr. X, was very upfront as I slid behind the wheel on a heated leather seat. “Someone already bought this car,” he said with a wink and some amusement, “but I’m sure he wouldn’t mind your giving it a test drive.”

His chances of making a deal went flying out the tinted windows with that candid confession. Unbeknownst to the new owner of the car, this salesman was willing to turn a new vehicle into a demo simply because it was available on the lot. I thanked him for the offer but passed on a test drive and told him why and he was visibly shocked.

Now, I’m well aware that Mr. X was not a member of the UAW but it struck me then that his blase’ attitude toward a buyer who had paid him a handsome commission was symptomatic of the domestic auto industry three years ago.

Frankly, John Q. Public, they didn’t give a damn.

It’s all very patriotic to buy American and keep our bucks stateside rather than sending them to Japan or Germany or Sweden or (soon) to China and I’ve more than done my bit in that regard.

I’ve purchased new American vehicles– a 1971 Mercury Cougar, a 1977 Dodge Aspen wagon, a 1983 Oldsmobile Omega, and a 1986 Ford Country Squire. With the exception of the Cougar, my last pre-K (pre-kids) car, every one of them was a pig to one degree or another.

The Aspen was the sister to the Plymouth Volare which Lee Iaccoca called the worst car Chrysler ever built, which had to have been an understatement. The misnomered Omega was GM’s version of its worst car and featured rack and pinion steering which literally fell apart. The Ford had starting issues and when it did start it raced and refused to bow to the braking system.

As they might say, thrice burnt, once shy so I’ve refused to buy an American car for a generation even though Detroit finally wised up and now turns out products which are fairly competitive in quality to those of foreign manufacturers.

With the economy in the doldrums and the Big 3 automakers on the verge of bankruptcy, I figured this time around I’d allow a Ford, GM, or Chrysler product another chance. That is, until I read some figures and heard stories about the Motor City and its employees. They convinced me that Mr. X’s attitude still prevailed and was still the order of the day with Detroit’s rank and file.

The recent, disgraceful bailout of the Big 3 which, along with the other excursions into profligate socialism, the bailouts of AIG, Wall Street, and the American banking system, are said to be imbalanced and unfair efforts to help the elite to the detriment of the little guys, which is largely true.

However, one huge group of little guys, the membership of the United Auto Workers, seems to be doing pretty damned well. Uncle Sam’s generosity simply cemented in stone their outlandish work rules and perks.

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