The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Will The Next Smitty Chariot Be A Ford?

Posted on | September 18, 2011 | 23 Comments

by Smitty (h/t Power and Control)

Before deploying, I went to CarMax and bid farewell to the ’02 PT Cruiser that, for all the 110K+ good miles, had taken on annoying habits, like snapping a timing belt while on I-64 just east of Lewisburg, WV.

Mrs. Other Smitty wants us to get another car. I’m pointing out that the lack of a car payment, property taxes, insurance, and maintenance costs is a Really Good Thing. The economy is likely to worsen further before improving.

However, if Ford can hang on until the country gives the current Administration in particular, and anti-capitalist ideology in general a big heave-ho, then something from Ford will be high on the list of possible rides.

How about a diesel Ford Escape with a manual transmission?

Over at Power Line, Scott Johnson notes that Ford is defying Chicago-upon-Potomac quite openly here:

So you have to wonder about the audacity of Ford in producing the Drive One ad featuring F-150 pickup truck buyer Chris. Hasn’t Ford got the memo? Steve Hayward comments on my post on the Drive One ad: “The really interesting thing to me is that Ford and/or its ad agency apparently have no fear of offending Obama or Washington, and no concern that it will alienate enough potential customers with this ad. Normally a consumer products company would never come within a country mile of this kind of ad. That alone makes this a significant indicator of where public opinion is trending.”

Category: humor

Comments

23 Responses to “Will The Next Smitty Chariot Be A Ford?”

  1. Russ Emerson
    September 18th, 2011 @ 6:51 pm

    My next will be a Ford, either the ‘stang or the Focus.

    Or rather, it will be unless I have enough cash to get into a Jaguar XK.

  2. Anonymous
    September 18th, 2011 @ 7:14 pm

    They don’t make the Escape with a Diesel, and the Hybrid only comes with a CVT. You can get a 5-speed with the 4-cylinder, but the Combined fuel economy is 25 mpg.

    I’m afraid you can’t have it like Burger King.

  3. Adjoran
    September 18th, 2011 @ 7:34 pm

    While Ford wisely avoided the clutches of Barack Obama, the greatest auto genius since Henry Ford himself, they are still primarily produced by and/or in conjunction with union thug labor.

    Always look for the union label – and if you find it, buy something else.  There are always products made without union criminality, or at least with less racketeer content.

    And always remember:  if you see two or more people headed toward you wearing purple shirts, the only safe course is to assume they mean you deadly harm and shoot first.  Don’t let them get close to you – even if you survive, the justice system in many states has been corrupted by these criminals already.

  4. Ran
    September 18th, 2011 @ 7:43 pm

    Smitty: There’s Jerod Shelby’s ‘SSC Ultimate Aero.’  At a mere 256 MPH, it’s barely more than half as quick as a Mustang. 

    (Um, P-51 Mustang, that is…)

  5. Joe
    September 18th, 2011 @ 8:12 pm

    I like the F-150, a fairly utilitarian and safe family car if you get a crew cab, steps for the wife and kids, and four wheel drive.   You still have the bed for trips to the hardware store, or a canopy if you want to use it for covered storage.  Fuel economy not great, and if you drive it urbanly, parking is a challenge–but with a decent nav system with back up camera (get it after market) it is a good vehicle. 

    The Tundra is great too.  Yeah, Japanese, but assembled in San Antonio, TX. 

  6. Joe
    September 18th, 2011 @ 8:12 pm

    I did like that commercial, pretty cool. 

  7. Anonymous
    September 18th, 2011 @ 8:14 pm

    I’d not hold the fact that Ford is still held hostage to the unions. I believe that contract negotiations between the UAW and all three auto companies. The usual process usually involves getting one of the three to give the most and the other two fall in line. I’m looking for Ford to break this trend, if they do they will survive.

    Your point about shooting first and asking questions later when approached by purple people beaters is dead on.

  8. Anonymous
    September 18th, 2011 @ 8:23 pm

    I’ve owned enough American cars to have stopped buying them.  All of our Toyotas racked up over 150K miles.  Our record-holder is an ’81 Tercel, which we bought used for $2000.  It got 40 mpg and survived 15 Midwestern winters, 15 years of 350-mile-weekly commutes, and two so-called “totaled” crashes.  Other than the two crash repairs and an alternator, we only had to do regular maintenance, most of which we could do ourselves.  It finally died of old age around 250K. 

    When an American car can deliver that kind of value, I’ll buy.

    Well, OK, one exception: If I had the dough, I’d buy a 1966 GTO in a New York minute.

  9. Bob Belvedere
    September 18th, 2011 @ 8:26 pm

    It’s so damn hard for me to stay a Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge guy, especially after seeing that great ad, but I just can’t get into Fords.

    Kudos to the company for having the testicular fortitude ALL the others lack.

  10. richard mcenroe
    September 18th, 2011 @ 9:00 pm

    To be fair, the Olds Cutlass Ciera I’m rolling in has over 150K on it and still going.

    Ford’s been have some QC issues recently, and of course, they are UAW.

    If you can’t get around that, Subarus are made in Indiana by Non-UAW American workers who make a good wage and a good car.

  11. Aarradin
    September 18th, 2011 @ 9:22 pm

    I’ll never consciously do anything that puts a dime in the pocket anyone at the UAW.  This rules out Ford as well as GM and Fiat/Chrysler.

  12. Ran
    September 18th, 2011 @ 9:37 pm

    Ya know, Tax, we had 240k on our old AMC Hornet 6cyl.  Did the valves/head around 150.  Kept the oil changed.  Dodge Darts used to pull similar numbers.  Ditto Impala 8’s. The only way to kill ’em was with a Mac truck or a rock wall.

    That  ’66 GTO – some of those puppies are still around.  Still burning rubber.

    These days I’m an Acura guy.  But I have my eye on a beastie with a 60’s vintage Ford mid-block V8…

    Cheers.

  13. JeffS
    September 18th, 2011 @ 10:49 pm

    “The really interesting thing to me is that Ford and/or its ad agency apparently have no fear of offending Obama or Washington…

    Why should they worry about Obama or Washington?  Obama and Washington already don’t like Ford for refusing to sell out.

  14. JeffS
    September 18th, 2011 @ 10:54 pm

    The Ford F150 is a good vehicle; I bought mine used in 2003, with 60,000 miles on it.  I’m up to 125,000 miles now.  I had to replace an alternator, but nothing else save normal maintenance. 

  15. Anonymous
    September 19th, 2011 @ 12:57 am

    Adobe, part of the bailout was to buy a few years of labor peace for GM and Chrysler. Ford, OTOH, has already been told that their contracts with the unions will expire on schedule, and they won’t get the same terms.

  16. Anonymous
    September 19th, 2011 @ 12:59 am

    I’m a Nissan fan and so is my family. The fact that they are built in TN doesn’t hurt, either. My current 2001 Nissan Frontier is still running well. Its odometer doesn’t roll over until 1,000,000 miles. I like the attitude.

  17. Anonymous
    September 19th, 2011 @ 1:19 am

    There were some aweseome American cars, indeed. My high school chums had some great cars. One had a Nova with a gigantic engine in it. Another had a Grand Prix–the front end was a mile long! My boyfriend had a ’72 Chevelle. My sister’s boyfriend had a ’67 Mustang.

    I drove a ’75 Chrysler Newport Custom. It got 8 mpg and was big as a tank. My sis got t-boned in it and walked away w/out a scratch. Friend of ours unbent the frame by chaining the car to a bridge abutment and hitting reverse. LOL! It would have been a great car if we didn’t have to fix the carb every 6 months.

    My dad had a ’66 goat. My mom called it his midlife-crisis car, as he bought it new when he turned 30 (yep, in the 60s, you were “middle-aged” at 30). It was awesome. I’ve seen restored ones, but they go for $30-$40K. Ouch!

  18. Anonymous
    September 19th, 2011 @ 1:22 am

    A lot of the Toyotas are made in the US. The Sienna van is made in Indiana, for example.

  19. Anonymous
    September 19th, 2011 @ 1:45 am

    That could be to Fords advantage I don’t know what the unions “gave up” at GM and Chrysler if any thing during the bailouts, but Ford certainly has no incentive give anything more than what the other two companies are giving. In the past when all three contracts ended the union would concentrate on the company that would give the most (are the big three allowed to develop a united strategy?) the one who would suffer the most from a strike and then use that contract as the new standard. I going to assume that Ford is the best managed of the three, this could be a good opportunity to get contract trends going the right direction.

  20. Anonymous
    September 19th, 2011 @ 1:55 am

    You have to give Ford credit–they like to do things their way.  It doesn’t always work well (examples:  Ford Fairmont,  Detroit Lions), but they leave no doubt who calls the shots.

  21. Bob Belvedere
    September 19th, 2011 @ 1:30 pm

    Tis true, but, man, I hate their dashboards.

  22. This Ford Commercial Kicks! “Owner” States that he Bought a Ford Because They Didn’t Take Government Bailout Money » Conservative Hideout 2.0
    September 19th, 2011 @ 12:02 pm

    […] this would be an effective advertisement.  It certainly is resonating here at the CH 2.0 Bunker, and Smitty is also considering a Ford in his future.   Visit Conservative Hideout RapidFire for all of your Conservative news, opinion, and blogging […]

  23. anonymous
    September 20th, 2011 @ 8:57 pm

    A diesel 5-spd Escape would be nice, but you can already buy a VW Golf TDI with manual transmission and it’ll get something like 45mpg.     My 27-year-old Mercedes turbo diesel is about to roll over the 250,000 mile mark and is running great!  Still putting 20,000/yr on it.