Made not in USA

Probably things have changed since I worked at the plastic factory, but we used to make connector sleeves and send them to Mexico for them to make wiring harnesses.

 

the cleveland, nc plant still makes the same trucks for usa customers. some companies request usa trucks only

 

You picked up on that.

 

Well I think people buy Freightliner because the real Mack is gone forever.

I'm not knocking anyone with a with a Volvo truck, but Volvo trucks are like girly man trucks compared to the real tough Mack Trucks of yesteryear.

 

That's why I hate anything electronic. You take a beautiful mechanical engine that needs nothing and throw a bunch of electronic junk on it so that you have all kinds of problems.

I thank God everyday for the big cam Cummins.

 

30yrs ago i was getting 30+mpg out of a 1980 Ford 2.3 engine in a 2700# car. Now I have a 2015 2.0 engine in a 2800# car that brags it *can* get 38mpg. You'd think all of their 'advancements' would have netted better than 6mpg. Yes, I know that's roughly a 20% increase in fuel mileage, you'd just think it would be more.

 

The labor costs of making electronic components isn't as big of a factor as it once was. Our biggest problem is the EPA, which depending on how you look at it can be a good or bad thing. We once made more electronics in the US than any other country in the world. But manufacturing electronics is a dirty business. The EPA began forcing the manufacturers to make all kinds of very expensive environmental upgrades to decrease pollution. China and other countries could care less about pollution, and it shows. We know more ways to make electronics cleaner today, but it won't happen anytime soon. Where I live just north of San Francisco, there are still large vacant tracts of land where electronic factories once stood. The ground is contaminated with heavy metals and various other toxins, and nobody is willing to clean it up including the state.

 

The funniest part of all of this is the way back in the sixties maybe even in the 50s someone created a 100 mile per gallon carburetor.

The oil companies bought him out because they wanted to make sure that we had cars that only got 10 15 20 miles to the gallon.

So if they would have improved on that technology from all those years ago, we would have mechanical gasoline engines that would be getting maybe a hundred and fifty miles to the gallon with no computer or electronic nonsense whatsoever.

It's hard to imagine emissions being a problem if your car gets that kind of mileage.

Greed destroys so much that is good.

 

I've often wondered the same thing. My first new car in California was a 77 Honda CVCC. It got 40 mpg and there aren't many today that can match it.

 

My columbia was built in Ohio.
Even has a built with pride by the UAW sticker on the window.