Toyota Named Official Car of NHRA

[boostedf22c]

Originally Posted by Harry 6674

Get real? Not a chance Bozo. If you think their cars are better then ours maybe you should move there.

Their cars were better for quite some time. Nowadays, not so much.

[goinbroke2]

Originally Posted by Ed Fernandez

It's like the old cliche,if the American cars were the best most Americans would have bought them.

Unfortunately, your right. American cars were not the "best" because they didn't have to be.
The criteria was biggest, fastest, flashiest. When people are buying new cars every year or two, who cares how long they last? From the 50's to the 70's there was only competition in those area's. When the imports came here in the early 70's (some in the 60's) they were JUNK! They were not fast, or good ride, or flashy, or big...they were what people who couldn't afford a real car drove.
Enter the 70's gas crunch and guess what? They were good at something the big three weren't..MILAGE. Then when detroit woke up and started getting more efficient, where did the jap cars go to? The only other thing the big three weren't doing, RELIABILITY.

That is why they succeded, they had higher quality and better milage. Detroit was kind of confused, what is this "quality" thing you speak of? LOL!

Now we have quality,milage, power, etc and it's an AMERICAN company. (well ford and gm are anyway)

[Mark Ugrich]

This pretty much sums it up.

[Rose Racing]

Originally Posted by Mark Ugrich

This pretty much sums it up.

This is my thinking and ya know what I DONT OWN A CAR THAT IS MADE TODAY! I drive a 100% MADE IN USA DETROIT STEEL 1978 DODGE MONACO with a 318 and a 2 barrel awesome in winter fits 5 or 6 comfortably still reaaaaaallly kooool ALLLLL AMERICAN and gets 20 mpg if you drive it right! THATS BETTER THAN ANY TOYOTY JAP SOAPBOX ANY DAY!!!!!!

[Billy Nees]

Originally Posted by Mark Ugrich

This pretty much sums it up.

and now because of auction houses like B-J, unaffordable to mere mortals.
Real racers would race a wheelbarrow full of rocks if that's what they had to race.
Government Motors probably can't, Fiat didn't, Ford got what they wanted and doesn't have to. Toyota stepped up.

[Mark Ugrich]

The gas shortage back in the mid seventies opened the door for foreign car makers.I was a Subaru tech for a few years back then and I can tell you their cars were cheap and poorly constructed.However cheap and good fuel economy were excellent selling points.They did work at correcting the manufacturing deficiencies, but moreover they worked at changing the perception of their product just like Toyota and all the other foreign makers.It forever changed the way the American public buys automobiles and the vehicle choices we see today.I'd like to see more cars built along the lines of a Challenger, Mustang or Camaro, but I don't think the market would support it.

[Ed Fernandez]

Originally Posted by goinbroke2

Unfortunately, your right. American cars were not the "best" because they didn't have to be.
The criteria was biggest, fastest, flashiest. When people are buying new cars every year or two, who cares how long they last? From the 50's to the 70's there was only competition in those area's. When the imports came here in the early 70's (some in the 60's) they were JUNK! They were not fast, or good ride, or flashy, or big...they were what people who couldn't afford a real car drove.
Enter the 70's gas crunch and guess what? They were good at something the big three weren't..MILAGE. Then when detroit woke up and started getting more efficient, where did the jap cars go to? The only other thing the big three weren't doing, RELIABILITY.

That is why they succeded, they had higher quality and better milage. Detroit was kind of confused, what is this "quality" thing you speak of? LOL!

Now we have quality,milage, power, etc and it's an AMERICAN company. (well ford and gm are anyway)

Tell that to the guy who called me Bozo.
So Harry,who peed in your oatmeal today?

[HandOverFist]

My stepfather bought my mother a Datsun 510 in 1970 while he drove a new SS Nova. I remember him commenting on how straight and perfect the body panels/seams were on the Datsun...he was not one to heap praise on anything without merit.

[Greg Hill]

These threads kind of travel in large circles. The car business is a global business for all the big companies. GM makes more cars in China for the Chinese market than they do in the US. The Ford Fusion is built in Mexico. The Toyota Camry is built in Kentucky, the Honda Accord in Ohio and all the companies source parts from all over the world. All the companies are building good cars now, but that hasn't always been the case. The only way the Japanese could sell the amount of cars they do now is because in the 80's and 90's they were building much better products than their US competitors and their market share grew tremendously. Over the years I have owned German, Japanese and American cars and I can truthfully say that my Ford Flex is the best car I have ever owned.