Ford * Lincoln * GM

Not Just The Cars, But The Men [Edsel * Gerald * Abe]

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Saturday, September 23, 2006

Edsel Again

I have not written about Edsel Ford in a while. This man is a hero to me; one of the top two, the other is A. Lincoln.

The amount of stress Edsel endured while coming out with the most beautifully designed cars in the world is nothing short of amazing. And all the time he was really running the show in the 1930's and early 1940's, at Ford Motor.

Very little is known about Edsel, but what little is known, would make him everyone's hero. Many
do not even know Edsel and immediately think of the car, but he had nothing to do with that car. It came out years after his early death. A most decent human, anguished by the environment he worked in, killed him. Not before he did incredible feats of design, administration, showing humanity in the face of inhumanity, and many other things. This is why he is a hero to me.

If we had Edsel around today, I think that the automotive industry just might be in better shape.

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Verve

I am GM's Most Loyal Customer. And I would say the same for Ford. I care very much about their success. But I have run out of ideas for now, not that I won't come back, I will, but I have lost my passion for defending them. Not that I think they don't make good cars, I do. But so many, many in this nation just blithly overlook GM and Ford and go and buy Japanese cars. This gets very discouraging.

Americans can be so unforgiving of themselves, that they do not see themselves hurting other Americans. I am not saying I agree with everything the American auto industry has done, I don't. But overlooking the American car like it does not exist is hurtful, for this time they are trying their guts out. For someone who does not drive a car more than five years, it would be silly not to consider American. They cost less, give more, and are usually more sizeable to their Japanese counterpart. Not only that, it is a myth Japanese cars get better gas mileage. Pound for pound, size for size, the American car gets better m.p.g. than a Japanese car.

I could go on and on, but I have to shore up my defense, and then I'll be back with more; much more.