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...as this article in the NY Times explains...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/03/business/03auto.html?hp

Interesting, isn't it, that 50 years later the companies that helped put Packard out of business are now in the same boat?

Another irony is that more than likely, the government is going to do SOMETHING to help bail out the car biz, after refusing to help Packard back then.

(And yes, I confess I stole the title of the other post and twisted it a bit....

screw them.....bring back Packard!! ;0) and not those lame ass remakes from the eighties either....real modern Packards....with modern grilles. not slapping a 37 grille on a riviera either!

plus we totally passed the day when a car cost about 20k...now it is 30-40....they got greedy..so they did it to themselves. not everyone can afford a car that much. make them reasonable and maybe the sales wouldn't suck so bad, DUH!!

i remember when an f150 was about 12-15k and ranger about 10 or so...no look at them...geesh! no wonder! i know i don't want a payment anywhere near that! i buy used all day and drive the crap out of it.

Son-in-law just bought a new F150 with automatic, A/C, etc for 13K. They are dealing!

sure...NOW they are...when they HAVE too, but when they didn't they jacked the crap out of the prices.

sure i could get the single cab for about 13 around these parts maybe less. but a supercrew like i need will still be super expensive, at least to me. i paid 10k for my 2001 supercrew with all the options except leather.....including 5.4 ltr. 100k miles, but when was the last time you saw a f150 that didn't go more than 100k miles, plus the parts are at autozone.....easy and cheap....wheel bearings were 5 bucks each....whooooo break the bank. i also paid cash, so no payment. ;0) plus i don't really like the 09 style as much. i like the heritage style, it is classy.

dream would be a FX4 or king ranch 2008, 2009 if i saw it in person and liked it enough.

my ultimate dream would be a TRD off road Tundra...now THAT is a truck! looks like a mean ass bulldog!

I am inclined to agree with HH56. I MIGHT buy a new truck if I could find one to use for a truck; you know, throw a cord of firewood or two or three greasy engine blocks in the back and not have to worry about ruining the upholstery when I got into the cab - but I digress because they don't make those kinds of trucks anymore. Just as they don't make full-sized cars any more. The last, I guess, were the Crown Vics, Marquis and Towncars, although they really weren't full-sized. People just thought they were because, evidently, everyone who remembers full-sized cars has either died or doesn't count in the modern scheme of things. I suppose that if one were really determined to buy a new, full-sized car he'd have to go with a Roller, Bentley or a Maybach. A trifle pricey for me, don't you know (where are Nash and Hudson when you really need them)?

That's one reason that I'm driving the Packard. You can fit six people in it, comfortably, and go anywhere that you need to go and it would take three and a half (of my) normal trips to the grocery store to fill up the boot. It suits my needs better than anything that I could buy today and, being as it's paid for and I can afford to buy parts for it, it's cheaper than the alternative, pretty damned dependable now that I've got most of the mechanics, electrics and hydraulics sorted out and I LIKE IT. It looks like a car and you have to be conscious to drive it and maintain it - a trait that I find to be noticeably lacking on about 75% of the highways and byways around the country, today.

That was one of the reasons I waited so long before I ended up buying my used 2007 Chevy Colorado Crew cab. It had to work in a couple scenarios. It had to be my primary vehicle (76 mile round trip commute everyday). Fit the entire family (hence the Crew Cab), and not kill me on gas. The I-5 motor (which is the same motor used on the H-3 Hummers) is not too bad on gas and gets about the same gas mileage as my 2006 V6 Ford Taurus did. While it only has a 5 foot bed, that is more than enough all I need around the house, and for my Packard projects. Plus it has a 30,000/100,000 mile warranty on it. I'm a big guy, so its comfortable to drive, and it keeps me from using my wifes small SUV as the shop truck.

The truck is small enough not be a behemoth, but large enough to get the job done for what I need it for.

I was looking at trying to buy an old truck, but the gas would have been the deal killer there due to my commute, and we don't have the space for an additional vehicle at our house. So buying an old truck and keeping the Taurus was out.

Y'know, Kev, last year in Hemmings Classic Car a guy was mentioned who's taking otherwise-junk early 50's Packards and turning them into El Packaminos or Packarcheros.....now THERE'S a truck for ya!

I find it interesting that senators and congressman from the southern states are taking an especially hard line on government assistance to the domestic Big 3 auto makers. Could it be that if these companies fail or are diminished their states would benefit because of the transplants operating in their states? Just a thought.

JW wrote: "I find it interesting that senators and congressman from the southern states are taking an especially hard line on government assistance to the domestic Big 3 auto makers. Could it be that if these companies fail or are diminished their states would benefit because of the transplants operating in their states? Just a thought."

Could be. That would be in keeping with their job description. Or, they could just not be able to envision any long-term benefits in using taxpayers' money to bail out businesses that, for whatever reasons, cannot build products that the public will buy.

I find it interesting that all the people who tell me how bad American cars are made have not owned or driven one since the late 70s.Maybe we should let them go belly up.That way we can give up the last vestige of American Manufacturing and we can become the Third World "has been" that we have been striving to become since about 1980.