Greyhawk;

I second the text and sentiment of your post. On Guam they were "Guam Bombs." Rusty, beat up, but passed down until they fell apart, and they brought in the new vehicles from Japan.

I got commissioned and bought a Datsun B-210. Drove the wheels off that think...48K in two years of my intial schools/moves. Replaced the tires and one vaccum hose. Bought a Plymouth "K" car. At 25K (warranty to 24K) found out the poor engineering of the overhead cam was a "class" problem and too, bad, so sad...pay for your own major repairs to replace the camshaft. Bought a Dodge van. In 2000 miles, it had burned 4 qts of oil..."New materials are being used in the rings and it might take up to 10K miles to wear them in (warranty for 12K)". They were right...put lots of oil in it in a year...got rid of it soon afterwards. Had an 86 RX-7...no problems of note in 14 years and 153K miles - had to replace the clutch twice (wear and tear on clutch plate). 95 Pathfinder - 8 years, 148K. Speed pickup went on it at 48K. Why buy US made when I can buy that?

I'd like to thank the UAW for putting to rest any lingering guilt about not "buying American" when I purchase my next car.

Anyone near a UAW parking lot, I would never suggest "Bush Won" stickers with glue, and removing valve cores would not be nice.

OMG! Remembering Honda meannt motorcycle of the sort I wouldn't get on means I'm old? Hehehe. I'll stick with a real mode of transportation...a Hog...if only I could find someone big enough to drive it! Hehehe.

I'd like to thank the UAW for helping me make up my mind on the the purchase of a new car for the wife. It was between the Highlander and the Explorer, Toyota now gets my business, Note to UAW: next time you pick someone to mess with remember this, Marines take care of their own, Marines don't leave their dead. Marines, no better friend, no worse enemy!
Semper Fi
Dad

Hey... don't feel bad about buying foreign. Have you gone past the parking lot of a big 3 assembly plant? (Ford, GM or Chrysler) They don't buy American either.

I am a member of a union. No choice, my kids must eat. I also voted for Bush and managed to convince one of my co-workers he wouldn't go to hell if he did the same so he did. He told me thanks again the other day after the good stuff started in lebanon. This narrow minded crap is indicative of the union mindset. My union rep won't talk to me because he told me to vote for kerry and I told him I vote the way I want and if he said another word he would be discussing it with my lawyer and I'd get all my union dues back. I have a Bush sticker on my truck. Most of these pukes are in the union because their daady was and his daddy was too. The UAW is chock full of semi skilled and semi literate laborers making $30/hr+ bolting bumpers on cars. If it wasn't for the unions they would go hungry.
BTW It's faster to cut the valve stems with a sidecutter.

I remember when Honda meant a 50cc scooter! Full size motorcycles came slowly, starting with the 80cc and slowly on up. ;)

Monopolies always go rotten. And a union is a labor monopoly.

How many union members do you know got help from the strike fund they regularly paid into. Did you say zilch? How many union officials were paid while their members were on strike? I know, all usually!

How many cars assembled in the US have parts made over seas? These large auto companies are broke because they bled their companies dry.

I worked for a company with a union. I was always being warned by the union members and reps to not work too hard or the company would expect everyone to do the same. From one contract the next, the union was embroiled in issues for the nest contract.

Unions used to serve a useful purpose until they got too powerful and too greedy and refused to change to meet the needs of the day.

To be fair, I have always driven American cars--trucks, specifically. I have a 2000 F-250 V10 4x4 that has been a great vehicle. You won't find a foreign truck that can tow like that thing can. I also have a 70 Mach I (drag car), but about the only thing factory in it is the dash and (most of) the body. It has a lot to do with how you treat the cars. I happen to be a car freak, so I treat mine nicely (except for the stang) and when something breaks, I fix it myself.

On the flipside, I would have no qualms about buying a foreign car. American cars have not made America what it is, capitalism has. Inasmuch, I refuse to subscribe to protectionist crap. If you want to buy a forgien car, don't let anyone make you feel guilty about it.

Just lay off my truck while you're at it :-)

I would tell all Unions to Go Screw Yourself but it looks like you already DID!!

mrupe, my husband had to tell his union rep the exact same thing.

I'm not sure about this but I think UAW's make Hummv's. If we had another clinton, the military would have been pushing donkey carts by 2004. I got out of the Corps in 2001 and saw more pay raises in 9 months under Bush than all the years prior. Which was great because we would have to hold carwashes to make sure the PVT's who were married with kids had enough money for any emergencies.

I'm sure not all of the UAW workers feel the way the management there does. Maybe they should do their part and speak up. After all, our military fights for the rights of all Americans to have a voice, form unions and vote for whomever they choose.
Semper Fi!

As a lifelong (26 years) Teamster truck driver all I can say is that the leadership of that UAW local should be ashamed of themselves.Get your heads out guys!To everyone else out there please don't fall for THE ONE BIG LIE of union labor about all of us voting Democrat, it just ain't so. The place I work has 120 drivers and judging by the bumper stickers and tee-shirts at election time there was about 10 Dem. backers in the bunch. We also have a bunch of Support Our Troops stickers on cars and a lot of the guys always wear their yellow wristbands to work.
P.S. My sis-in-laws two boys are in the Army, oldest one was in Taji Iraq for a year and his brother just got there last month.

SB, I'm glad to hear you say that and I know the majority of union workers are hard working loyal Americans. But this incident says a lot about this organizations priorities.

It's important to separate the actions of the ignorant, reactionary, short-sighted, and vacuous UAW officials from the people they supposedly, and hopefully temporarily represent. We're all Americans. Some forget who insures the right to say who can park where... just like the press who forgets who furnishes their free press...

I recommend auto workers re-think their next union elections...

SB's got it right...this whole mess is more indicative of the attitudes of union leadership than it is of the union members.

The Chicago Trib had an article just the other day on how the AFL-CIO & the Teamsters have decided that it's much better to keep pumping $'s into political campaigns than it is to address declining membership and start dealing with work place-specific issues. I'm a (forced) member of AFSCME, but they can't make me pay dues, so I don't. These @$$-clowns are the ones that pumped hundreds of thousands of membership $'s into Al Gore's and Howard Dean's failed campaigns.

UAW..get your head out of your @$$. Apologize and set things straight with the Marines.

"I have a 2000 F-250 V10 4x4 that has been a great vehicle. You won't find a foreign truck that can tow like that thing can."

Used to be the only Japanese imports were small and budget-priced; now there are luxury cars and SUV's. Sooner or later they'll start building big powerful trucks. Will the UAW get wise and stop behaving like a parasite? I sure hope so. I'd really like to some day buy a car that was designed and built in America.

All major automobile/vehicle companies are international, which give us the choice of Fords made in Mexico and Hondas made in Ohio.
(Or Japanese motorcycles made in Japan and Harleys made using Japanese machine tooling and many Japanese parts. Showa, Kayaba, Keihin...)
Anyway, I'll have the pleasure of forwarding this little gem to all my Air Force buddies to show them how much the Communist UAW appreciates them.
Glad I live in a Right To Work state where employees routinely reject union slavery.

My dad, rest his soul, who worked at Copperweld Steel in Warren, Ohio, knew something was up when he traded in his Ford LTD for a Toyolla Corolla back in 1971.

I wonder if the UAW would have let me in their parking lot with a Ford Festiva, which was based on a South Korean car. I will give those who assembled it credit: that was a great car. 43 mpg for the nine years I had it.

Since when do union leaders "rate" this high? Not over Marines in my book. Those punksters need to rethink what bad publicity this has brought to them and how low they look in the eyes of the public! Its unions fault that all our jobs are being outsourced since their leaders just demand and keep on demanding MORE from the owners owners. They stink to Heaven today folks..

And I used to feel a little guilty about driving a foreign made car!