Packard Forum Index » ZIS, ZIL, and other Packard Cousins!

Guy, ask the man who owns one --> www.ladausa.net, a small website but its forum has almost as many registered members (3,595) as PackardInfo.com.

Quote:

BTW Thanks for the drift correction.



"Collection: Richards Studio Collection Series: D35550-53 (Unique: 8065) Date: 10-01-1948
Description: Governor Mon C. Wallgren gives a standing ovation to a baton twirler during a parade in Olympia. He is riding in a 1929 Packard convertible with other dignitaries as part of a parade given in his honor during his visit to the Olympia Eagles. The majorette has her two batons in rapid motion as she gives a huge smile. The parade had momentarily stopped in front of a Texaco gas station so the majorette could perform. Series ordered, but not used, by Life Magazine. ALBUM 10."

Thanks, Rocky, but I could've done that. I just wondered if there were any rumors in circulation about them, as this thread suggests there might be!

Like, are they as bad as I've heard Canadians say they are?

I noticed that Norway was conspicuously absent as an importer, although Sweden and Finland are on board. Of course, that might say something very positive about the Norwegians!

Quote:

Sadly I have to admit that even Norway had an importer for Lada untill mid 1990, when taxation made it impossible to sell.
Also Denmark had an importer.

Tom

Today the talk revolves around a very special rumor. Years ago we talked about a so-called nationalistic product support and market behavior in Europe and elsewhere ouside USA.

Weeks ago while driving overland in New Hampshire and Rhode Island I asked the chauffer:

What do you think, how many hours one has to wait on a German busy road to see an US-built car?

For a second he removed the hat to scratch his head and hesitantly replied: Hours? Do you mean how many US cars per hour? That would depend on the road ...

I told him that one would have to wait for a couple of months to spot a Cadillac - no matter what road, it takes weeks for a Buick or a Chevrolet, a Dodge and a Chrysler would pass every once in a while with a bit of luck.
Immediatly he started to talk about Hitler, punitive duties, he alleged an European conspiracy and culminated in a demand for an embargo on Mercedes imports.
When the first wave of attack faded away, I offered him a buck for every French car that would cross our way.


picture source: www.mauenvios.com

Attach file:

---

  (40.00 KB)

According to BBC News General Motors to withdraw Chevrolet brand from Europe on the grounds that Europe is a "saturated car market, coupled with a fragile economy" and so on without wasting any words on the fact that their products are miles away from European customers acceptance (that's my personal view) like small and economic four-cylinder Diesel engines or a car design, customized to the target market.


[picture source: www.teradatamagazine.com]

Attach file:

---

  (23.78 KB)

Well they do have Opel...such as it is, which is more in tune with tastes there, one would think, and not selling all that well either. I rode in one on the autobahn in 1976 that my friends in Villengen-Schveninngen had that had a 327 Chevy V8... an Opel Admiral or something? Typical GM assembly quality but would really go. They only drive BMWs now. My own experience owning BMs in the past is that they are fragile and expensive to maintain, but one of the best in driving dynamics. Not worth that trade off imo.

My wife is German descent - family names: Wolfel, Schull and Dietrich, from Stuttgart and Dresden. In my experience Germany is one of the most nationalistic car buying nations on earth... look at the top 20 on the registration list - only 2 or 3 of them are not home grown... (can you imagine that in the US nowadays?). Part of the "Not Invented Here" syndrome, one supposes. Even the Japanese will buy "Gaijin" autos at far a greater rate than the Germans will buy any "Auslander" cars... and the Japanese I
I've known consider Germans to be slackers when it comes to work ethic! (no offense, just saying!).. I mean, c'mon beer on the assembly lines? never happen in Japan! But that said, GM has never played to the Euro market properly... and look what they did to my beloved SAAB! (but coming back now, thanks to NEVS!!)

I think you mean an Opel senator?
Opel's topmodel in the late 90's was the opel omega. When you scratched off the opel logo you'd find the Cadillac logo.

You think Germans only buy domestically made cars? Go to French; its much worse. Its all Peugeot, Citroen & Renault!

I think you mean an Opel senator?
Opel's topmodel in the late 90's was the opel omega. When you scratched off the opel logo you'd find the Cadillac logo.

You think Germans only buy domestically made cars? Go to French; its much worse. Its all Peugeot, Citroen & Renault!

GM produces Opel's in Germany for more than 80 years. They are home away from home ... amidst beer drinking, nationalistic Germans, if I understand you correctly.

"The company designs, engineers, manufactures and distributes Opel-branded passenger vehicles, light commercial vehicles and vehicle parts for distribution in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America." acc. to wikipedia.

Now they've got into trouble ... because of the nationalistic Germans, that's clear.

"Opel designed and manufactured vehicles are also sold under the Buick brand in the United States, Canada, Mexico and China, the Holden brand in Australia and the Vauxhall brand in the United Kingdom."

... because of the nationalistic Germans, that's for sure.

"... General Motors assumed full control in 1931 and today Adam Opel AG is a wholly owned subsidiary of General Motors Company."

Yes, all this sounds very German and has nothing to do with free enterprise economy and much less with GM.

Look, the inner-European market consists of more than 500 million autonomous and self-paced buyers in 27 EU member countries plus Icland, Norway and Liechtenstein. Every single (reasonable) customer buys according to his own taste and wallet and floats national economy theories. Now add the above mentioned Africa, Asia, South America, the United States, Canada, Mexico and China and the result makes clear that either the whole world (except Coco Islands) conspires against GM or GM lost competitiveness.

[picture source: www.motor-klassik.de]

Attach file:

---

  (21.99 KB)

GM has blown it big time, believe me I'm no defender of them, and what they did to SAAB I won't forgive! I liked that Admiral in '76, and still think it's a handsome car, wish we'd had them here. So wondering if German's still consider Opel as home grown cars after GM control since the '20s?

I guess the point I was making is that based on sales figures Germans seem less disposed to buy cars from other countries than most others, but it's not hard to understand when they have some good ones of their own and local parts/service makes sense, though for US driving imo the Benz and BMWs I've owned seemed overly complex, finicky, and repair prone compared to rear drive V8 US cars, which, like Packard, are our classic type car, and engineered for our driving conditions over vast, sometimes very remote, distances, and not at all for efficiency, when gas was 30 cents/gallon... traditional big US cars were comparatively heavy and more crude in some respects, but they were more mechanically rugged and less needing of maintenance with their big lazy understressed iron V8s... kinda like big ZIL &c Chaika USSR cars, which took it to an even further extreme... (and I still want a UAZ 469!)

Around 1958 some of M-B's top engineers, Rudy Uhlenhaut among them, toured GM's engine machining plants and their vast transfer lines, and were astonished at the precision of the machine work to be found in the typical US car engine being produced in such huge numbers. The assembly quality fit and finish of the bodies was not up to Benz standards, but they were strong and durable. M-B (ZF?) even licensed the Turbo-HydraMatic 400 design for the S class's transmission in the 70/80s. It was when GM etc downsized and got away from the traditional type of US car and into small FWD cars that they got into real problems, it was not what their hearts were into. Many Americans drive big pickups and SUVs today mainly because they are the most like the big rear-drive V8 cars they were used to, pretty much extinct domestically.

As to beer consumption, I can guarantee that I personally do better than the 132 liter/yr of the Czechs... but prefer to not have my car assembled by someone who does!