…and from the "Build a Better Mousetrap Category"

@El:

Well……yeah! I’ve got a friend I see about once a year who has worked in 4 or 5 different embassies in South and Central America as well as Cuba. He has shown me photos(he’s a camera buff) of hundreds of autos older than I am in top shape. He says they know how to care for cars better than we do. He also states they have junkers in these countries that run better than most of our cars today!

We are truly “the throwaway society” here in the good ol’ Newnited Stakes. Somewhere once I read a list of the “life expectancy” of various vehicles, appliances, etc. in the U.S. vs. typical third-world countries such as Mexico, India, etc. Like a Chevy that we Hamericans would junk in a decade or so would definitely be gliding along for 50 years in Encinada or Juarez. A refrigerator better go 100 years, a TV like 20 or 30. And a bicycle: can you dig like 300 years!!

There is a simple reason: they have to make do! We have so much ample supply and sophisticated distribution of new stuff, and such torrents of ready cash and credit here it is mindboggling compared to any prior phase in human history. No wonder our junk heaps could sustain whole civilizations for millennia – and likely will, so long as their citizens are robustly tolerant of radioactives, dioxin and oddly mutated organisms.

@guest:

Ah, so that’s why there are so many old VW Beetles in Mexico!

No more no beetles !!!
muha :(

the last beetle was/is built in Pueblo (today or tomorrow something).

That’s nearly 70 years of beetle production.
Just think of that: … 70 years …Anyone of you has grandparents that age???

That’s the last beetle from South / Central American production – they are still being manufactured in Europe as far as I know.

Nope, it’s definitely the last.
Production is Europe ceased before that in South and Central AmMerica.
(It is quite a headline over here)

There is another reason american cars used to have such a short life expectancy (they still have a relatively short life expectancy, but not as much) is because of planned obsolescense. Car makers would make cars so that they would break down after a certain amount of time, and they would have to buy a new car

@El:

F___, My mama is 79 years old!!! She remembers WWII and the US Depression.

sheesh… how old are you then?

Car manufacturers stopped planned obscelescense (totally spelled that wrong) because they realized people were just buying the cheaper, much higher quality, better made japanese cars. with american cars breaking down all the time, they got a reputation as inferior to japanese cars, a seemingly unforseen side effect to the planned obscelesence. afterwards, american car makers started making quality cars, but they still dont have as much of the market as they should, because there is still a feeling in the market that japanese cars are better. Im not positive which two brands, but there is a factory where mitsubishis and chevrolets (again, i could be wrong about the brands) role of the same assembly lines. in fact, most of the cars made for each company are the same cars, with a different name and look. they are made by the same people from the same parts, but the japanese car will sell for more, because people think it is better. just goes to show you, while some american products are in fact inferior, cars arent among them, they just got screwed out of their place by greedy car manufacturers back in the day

F___, My mama is 79 years old!!! She remembers WWII and the US Depression.

Damn! My grandfather is 70!

My father is 47, but here is the unusual thing I am 31 :o

I should mention my Son is 4 :D