Mechanics tell me the 2 best vehicle makers are Honda and Toyota. Recently, a cabinetmaker told me that his (name withheld) American pickup had to have $2500 worth of warranty work before it reached 30K miles! One of the problems was a FWB that went out before 30K. On the other hand, I have nearly 160K on my Dodge Caravan and I have had to do absolutely NOTHING to it other than replace tires, brakes, a battery and, oh, yes, a cracked belt-tightener support. So, the US maker CAN do it, but it looks like maybe it's a lottery. I was on the lucky roll of the dice. The Japanese, with their nitpicky attention to detail, probably check everything that comes in, including wheel bearings(to get an idea of how you can make a really pretty sight out of something that usually looks like a rat's nest of hoses, pipes and wires, look under the hood of a Subaru--if ya like "pretty" machinery, there it is). I recently rented a Mercury Milan and was VERY impressed with a lot of things about it--tight steering, good handling, nice ride, good power, AND, as best I could tell, a quality build. I'm about to write to all three of these Big Guys and tell 'em that they CAN come back--they've got good engineers--but the accountants have to let them invest in the future. I'm of "that age"--I got my first license on my father's '41 Chev, and I drove lots of other cars and trucks made in the 30s, 40s and 50s--all made in the U.S.A. (there really weren't many other choices, except maybe a few imports available in NYC--absolutely NO dealer networks, so you were pretty much on your own if you had one more than 50 miles from NY). The old American cars weren't very interesting, usually (but the '41 Buick Roadmaster had DUAL CARBS, and I thought that was REALLY, REALLY exciting; not that I could afford to own one). But...I think pretty much all American cars were well made until they started ramping up production in the late 50s and thereafter. Rumors get around, and I don't remember hearing, as I was growing up, that this or that car was a "piece of junk." Even the Model T, with all its quirks, was not a piece of junk (I read an opinion on the net by a guy who had probably never been within a mile of a Ford T that the car was the "Yugo" of its day). It's true you had to understand a few things about it to keep it working well, but it really was made of good materials and was carefully put together. They were one generation before my time, so I am going on having seen a number of them and on stories told me by people of my father's generation (he knew the T--broke his arm cranking one, as a matter of fact).
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Today's Featured Article - Third Brush Generators - by Chris Pratt. While I love straightening sheet metal, cleaning, and painting old tractors, I use every excuse to avoid working on the on the electrics. I find the whole process sheer mystery. I have picked up and attempted to read every auto and farm electrics book with no improvement in the situation. They all seem to start with a chapter entitled "Theory of Electricity". After a few paragraphs I usually close the book and go back to banging out dents. A good friend and I were recently discussing our tractor electrical systems when he stated "I figure it all comes back to applying Ohms Law". At this point
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