11th Aug 2012, 11:15

Funny, I owned a 1971 Ford that rusted out so fast I would hear parts of the body fall off whenever I hit a bump (and that was with 23,000 miles on it). I owned a GM, that by the time it reached 12,000 miles, went through 2 rear-ends, a starter, a fly wheel & a fuel pump, just to name some of the major problems. My sister had the exact same model, that at 16,000 miles the camshaft went, and we took good care of our cars, as I was in the business. My dad had a 1974 Datsun truck that he owned for 13 years and was still going strong. A few years back, a friend lent me his Honda Accord for a few days when my car was broken down, and I was amazed to see 324,000 miles on the odometer.

Another friend of mine (my best friend actually) has a late model Ford product that has given her nothing but trouble, & she is afraid to drive it out of walking distance from her house. She spends more time at the shop on her days off than anywhere else.

You may continue to boast about the great GM & Ford products, but the fact is they are no better or worse than any other make, and there is nothing wrong with Toyotas & Hondas BTW.

With your attitude, I would hate to be a neighbor of yours who happened to own an import - which by the way, we all have the right to own if we so choose. I happen to own a Jeep (and are loyal to Jeeps), but all of this anti-import propaganda would not prevent me from buying any make I so desired to purchase.

If you happen to get a bad domestic, will you admit it? Deny it? Or somehow blame the Japanese automakers for your misfortune?

I was in automobile business for nearly 40 years. I dealt with mostly domestics, but there were times when I worked for dealers who also sold & serviced imports, and the imports were not inferior to the domestics. In fact, Toyota built, and continues to build some fine automobiles regardless of your assertions.

When I walk my dogs through my neighborhood, I see many driveways with both imports & domestics in them.

Any claim that those people are somehow disloyal to their country for driving an import is just plain wrong in my humble opinion.

I also find it really difficult to believe that you own NOTHING that was manufactured anywhere but in the USA. Unless you do not own a wristwatch, or your watch is over 40 years old, you needn't look further than your wrist to find something imported in your possession.

Also, you must have a really old TV, stereo etc. if you claim to own nothing imported. What about a VCR or DVD player? Do you not own either?

Finally, I won't even get into the amount of imported content of your vehicle.