- #1770 of 1788
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Re: meanwhile, back at the ranch [fezo]
by nippononly
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Mar 02, 2009 (8:51 am)
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Replying to: fezo (Mar 02, 2009 8:09 am)
Didn't Buick make Oldsmobile 100% redundant at the time? I am sure they just flipped a coin and Oldsmobile called 'tails'. Would htey have been better off planning in the late 90s to kill off Buick and keep Olds? Buick sure isn't setting the world on fire, would Oldsmobile have done so?
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- #1771 of 1788
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Re: meanwhile, back at the ranch [nippononly]
by fezo
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Mar 02, 2009 (9:03 am)
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Replying to: nippononly (Mar 02, 2009 8:51 am)
Yeah, it was probably a coin flip and they thought Buick could make a better go of it.
Heck, I would have thought that Buick had more staying power ti it than has actually been the case.
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- #1772 of 1788
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Re: meanwhile, back at the ranch [fezo]
by Mr_Shiftright HOST
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Mar 02, 2009 (9:08 am)
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Replying to: fezo (Mar 02, 2009 8:09 am)
I drove an MGA with snow tires in New York City for YEARS! Some good luck, some skill, some common sense---I got by just fine. (it was cold inside though).
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- #1773 of 1788
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Re: meanwhile, back at the ranch [nippononly]
by xrunner2
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Mar 02, 2009 (9:08 am)
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Replying to: nippononly (Mar 02, 2009 8:51 am)
Wasn't it a combo of bad quality from Olds, declining sales and a lack of investement by GM to have up-to-date Olds models? Another part of the problem was the name, Oldsmobile. In new-age 90's, 2000, that name was a loser. No potential for getting youth to buy an old man's car that even told you it was old - Olds.
Buick is somewhat beter in not sounding old fashioned, but still sounds strange when uttered, kind of like a burp.
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- #1774 of 1788
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Re: meanwhile, back at the ranch [xrunner2]
by Mr_Shiftright HOST
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Mar 02, 2009 (9:13 am)
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Replying to: xrunner2 (Mar 02, 2009 9:08 am)
Of course these cars were named after their creators, before there was even the concept of "marketing". Car ads when Mr. Buick and Mr. Olds were in their prime were very straightforward. They said things like "It'll get you there" and "easy to drive, even for women"----things like that. We are talking WW I era.
Buick and Olds were created in a different world. It's amazing they lasted as long as they did. Some say "Benz" is the oldest survivor, but actually Mercedes-Benz only dates from 1927.
Contrary to Mr. Obama, America did not "invent" the car, but we certainly invented how to make a lot of them efficiently.
An art we have apparently lost 
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- #1775 of 1788
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Re: meanwhile, back at the ranch [Mr_Shiftright]
by bpizzuti
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Mar 02, 2009 (9:23 am)
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Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Mar 02, 2009 9:13 am)
Contrary to Mr. Obama, America did not "invent" the car, but we certainly invented how to make a lot of them efficiently.
An art we have apparently lost
Oh, we can still make them more efficiently than anyone else. We just can't sell them at a profit. 
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- #1776 of 1788
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Re: meanwhile, back at the ranch [bpizzuti]
by nippononly
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Mar 02, 2009 (9:42 am)
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Replying to: bpizzuti (Mar 02, 2009 9:23 am)
We make them so efficiently now that there are millions of unsold ones sitting around all the time, that have to be rebated to the hilt or gifted to the rental fleets just so we don't burst at the seams!
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- #1777 of 1788
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Re: meanwhile, back at the ranch [bpizzuti]
by Mr_Shiftright HOST
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Mar 02, 2009 (9:51 am)
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Replying to: bpizzuti (Mar 02, 2009 9:23 am)
Well you have a point there. Making them and making them profitably and making them well are all different things.
Best car in world but priced too high = bankrupt
Just ask Pierce Arrow, Packard, Duesenberg, Auburn, Cord, Horch, Maybach, et al.
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- #1778 of 1788
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Re: meanwhile, back at the ranch [fezo]
by kdhspyder
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Mar 02, 2009 (11:37 am)
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Replying to: fezo (Mar 02, 2009 8:09 am)
I grew up in the hills in NW Jersey and learned to drive on old, traditional RWD American cars - like a 67 Pontiac Tempest and 66 Biscayne (both nice looking cars BTW). We lived on the middle part of an s curve heading downhill and I was fine. Never had a mishap. The only people who ever did have a problem on that hill were cases of opps rather than weather - like the mailman who forgot to set his brake and ended up with a Jeep in the woods
When I lived in the hills of NW Jersey for 20 yrs I'd shock people by saying that between my house and Cleveland the only things there were bears, golf courses and ski runs. 
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- #1779 of 1788
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Re: meanwhile, back at the ranch [kdhspyder]
by fezo
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Mar 02, 2009 (12:28 pm)
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Replying to: kdhspyder (Mar 02, 2009 11:37 am)
That's about right!
Where were you?
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