BLACKFIVE: Liberty and Patriots on the 4th of July

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Liberty and Patriots on the 4th of July

Posted By Mr Wolf

Uh, nope. This won't be an entry like you're thinking about from the title above.

This one is about...cars.

Like my bio in the right-hand column states, I'm an avowed gearhead. Motorhead. Bleed Signal-orange 10-weight Valvoline. Permanent grease under the fingernails. It's the one diversion I have that doesn't involve semi-legal activity (depending on where you live, of course). I can shop for cars the way women can shop shoes or clothes. ALL DAY LONG. Debating value or cost of a car purchase with a salesman is as much fun to me as an economic debate can be at Harvard or Yale. Scrounging thru pick-n-pull yards is a true sport- I can spot and determine the car I need to pull parts from just by glimpsing a roof-line or part of a tail light. Drag racing for years (until moving to the altitude in Colorado) and a bit of street racing in my stupid days.

So what's all this got to do with the 4th? Plenty. As someone who grew up with the 'buy American' mantra due to all the troubles of the '70's and FIRST Chrysler melt-down in the '80's, I'm finding it harder and harder to determine just WHAT IS 'buy American' nowadays?

As Jimbo can attest, my driveway can sometimes look like a used car lot. I have a multitude of vehicles, ranging from a '68 Datsun roadster under restoration to a Range Rover. With a Crown Vic Police Interceptor, Mustang Convert, and a Honda or two or three thrown in for good measure. And that's not counting the cycles. In total, I've owned about 80 vehicles over the years (my first was a '65 Corvair Monza 140; my faves have been Gen 1 VW GTI's with 4). So I've had a mix of every type of car/truck/conveyance you can imagine. Right now I'm helping a nephew thru his first car buy (college student) and we're leaning towards a Gen II Toyota Supra. We'd looked at Datsun 240's and Jeep Cherokees, but he needs something a bit more 'daily' in mind.

I've been perusing articles lately that have been covering the 'carpocalypse' (h/t Jalopnik) and what this is going to mean to the American car industry, long one of the cornerstones of our industrial might and a baseline of our economy.

My nephew has no real concern over whether the car he's getting is 'American' or not- since he's buying well-used, it won't make much of a difference; he leans heavily towards the 'old school' cars that I prefer (he hates the egg-shaped glob crap they all seem to turn out lately) but is heavily influenced by his parents to 'buy smart'. In their terminology, that's Toyota or Honda.

If I gave you 3 vehicles to choose from, which do you think would have the highest American content?
1. Toyota Sienna
2. Saab 9-7x
3. Corvette

If you picked the Saab, you'd be right (according to USA Today and NHTSA). The Saab has 86% US content, while the Corvette and the Toyo both have 85%. See what I mean? Of all cars in the good-'ol US of A, the Bowling Green, KY sourced 'Vette has less US content than a Saab? Ok, both are/were GM owned (until recently, when GM dumped Saab onto a Euro-based company) that's still pretty remarkable.

I can't stand what has happened to some of the nameplates I've grown up with- Malibu, GTO, Camaro, Challenger, Monte Carlo. Bloated, over-weight, designed-by-legal fiat cars that while fun in TODAY's world, they will never have the cache' they garnered in the past. MAYBE, if the companies offered a strip-down, hold-the-leather, cut the electro-crap interior versions we could have a serious contender for 'most fun' but not before. My daily driver, a '91 Crown Vic interceptor that's a dead ringer for the Men In Black car, fits this description. No carpet. No interior gizmos. All tire, motor, and seats. And with 170,000 miles on the clock, still runs perfectly. What's to break??? And it weighs hundreds of pounds less than newer ones. I can pull 22 mpg out of it if I put bricks behind the go-pedal (hey, they're not called 'Interceptors' for nothing). And I sure as hell can find it in a full parking lot.

I'm not dissing the 'car as appliance' folks out there- sometimes, that's all you can do. But since you and I as taxpayers are dumping tons and tons and tons of cash into these ventures, can we at least be assured that US sourced content will go up? Or is it too late to rectify our manufacturing base? Manufacturing = jobs = strong economy. Been that way since cavemen paid other cavemen to move rocks.

Ford seems to have the highest overall US-based content, at least according to the chart cited above. Seeing as how Ford isn't taking any 'help' yet, does that leave them the most vulnerable? Personally, I don't think so. I think that when the economy DOES turn, they'll be in the best place to really pick up.

Speaking of pick up, what do you think the top US-content vehicle is? Well, that would be the F-150. Which for decades has been the top selling vehicle in the US. Coincidence? I think not.

So while you're celebrating this weekend (hopefully, having one of those WLF-assisting barbecues!) and watching parades and all, think about that next car purchase. Where will we be getting our cars from in 10 years?

Mr Wolf

Top 'most patriotic' cars as listed by Cars.com:

Ford F-Series

Chevy Silverado
Toyota Camry
Camry Solara
Ford E-Series
Chevy Cobalt
Ford Explorer
Chevy Malibu
Malibu Maxx
Toyota Sienna
Chevy TrailBlazer
Dodge Caravan-Grand Caravan