Ep. 20 The Malaise Era Part I: The Downfall of the American Automotive Industry
Ep. 20 The Malaise Era Part I: The Downfall of the American Automotive Industry
A classic car connaisseur explains what caused the downfall of the American Auto Industry in the first half of the 70’s, better known as the Malaise Era!
Hold onto your butts, because this is only part one of a three-part episode!
Link to the second part ‘The The Darkest Hour’:
Link to the third part ‘The Revival’:
Link to the fourth part ‘The Aftermath’:
Link to the documentary ‘The Bug and the Beetle’:
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Enjoy!
= also = to HELL with " SHELL Oil Company " !
Just came upon these vids today, and I’m hooked already. (That doesn’t usually happen, trust me.) I’ll be checking out the rest of them. Well done presentations, Ed!
One would’ve thought this would spell the end of car-centric America and bring back public transportation all over the place like before. Nope, instead of being logical, the US decided to double down on their failing industry and lobby the hell out of the government to make it harder for imports to enter and they pushed for more and more interstates and car-centric city designs. America as a whole would’ve been better had it just chose to let American car companies crumble and go back to allowing more forms of transport in towns and cities.
DUDE !!! Most American cars would NOT FIT on HALF the surface streets (I didn’t say Highways) in European Cities. They were based on Ox Carts. Towns & Villages, you can Fo-Get-A-Bout-It. THEN AGAIN: We had thee only surviving Economy after WWII. We saved Thee World & Rewarded Ourselves.
Graduated high School and Mechanic trade school 1973 and went right into this era of crappy cars … I can tell you some of the problems and which cars were "OK" …
God bless you, this is exacty I was looking for. You saved me hours and hours of research. Yes, I’ve suscribed. Thanks, pal.
In the 1970s, if you were in Germany, you went to a car manufacturer. If you were in Japan, you went to a car manufacturer. In the US, you work for the US Government building jet fighters, spaceships, and tanks. One of the ur-problems of the US automobile is that Germany and Japan fielded their "A" team against the "C" team of the US. We had an empire to build and space to explore.
I’ll say this I love the Vega I think they look amazing
Pinto: $10.00 Fiberglass or thick Plastic BAFFLE to prevent differential bolts from ramming gas tank on impact. Less costly than rubber lined tank. That also meant Labor Cost to retrofit existing customer fleet even IF you fixed production line design. Everybody at Ford’s buried their head in the sand.
The Ford Falcon was a great platform point itself & for future models. It really was an intermediate IN THOSE DAYS. Ford begrudgingly went for the 2nd car, grocery hauler. As for the Big 3, they really (a) did NOT want a complete, small car solution; or (b) They treated them as Red Headed Stepchildren (budget, development time, & advertising); (c) I AM SURE THERE WERE WITCH HUNTS WHEN THE MAJOR FLAWS CAME OUT. Also SOME of those captured import models were not really welcome at the dealership or had to go to the Mitsubishi dealership, etc.
AMC was not independent. This company was created to make something like GM by merging independent American car makers. Nash, Jeep and Hudson became American Motors.
It always baffles me that how these people put these programs on about the Auto industry which they Don’t know Jack schitt about the internals of what happened to American motors when they were annihilated by the French Renault that came in and destroyed American orders every Auto industry that has been lost in this country has been lost because of other Auto industries from Europe they have came into this country and they have bought into the United States Auto industry and they’ve eliminated all the Auto industry companies that can remember at one time and one point in time we had 45 different Auto industries in this country. And Europe had none none compared to what we had but yet they’re Auto industry grew because Americans kept buying their cars their overpriced cars they were shipping overseas and yet American companies allowed foreign companies to come in and buy into their companies and destroy their company and eliminate them once and for all American motors was was eliminated because of French Renault. So don’t tell me a bull s*** a story about. I work for them I know what the internals were.AMC was doing fine look at everybody right now they want AMC cars right now which they didn’t want when they were out because they didn’t understand the Auto industry at the time those were very very well-made cars very cheaply built cars and very reliable cars and now everybody want one because. The body styles were unique they were futuristic-looking and nobody would fall into line with them but yet they would drive around with some stupid looking foreign car and it’s country instead of drying driving around with American motors just look at all the American workers they put out of business all of the dealerships they put out of business look what Americans do to Americans when they really think that their products are not being made well which they are being made while cuz they’re being made by their family members that work at these companies but yet they want to go by foreign cars and put America’s out of work and they bring those foreign companies into this country and they destroyed American motors. They tried to destroy America American motors Jeep the Jeep brand. They went into the Jeep ran and they stole technology because they thought they were going to steal the four-wheel-drive industry away from Jeep and they didn’t. When Chrysler came in Chrysler came in and revamp Chrysler Chrysler was saved by jeep jeep save Chrysler and the Dodge name and then they they continued on and then you got Cerberus it came in they tried to destroy Jeep you gotFiat they came in and tried to destroy Jeep and now you got still lantus that’s out there trying to destroy Jeep and Dodge and Chrysler. These are foreign companies that should not be invested in the United States at all we need are businesses we need our company’s we need our people in this country to work in these factories we don’t need s*** being made overseas. It’s only a matter of time before we put down our truck back in the office we start kicking these companies out of the United States especially China. China should not be investing anywhere in the US anywhere in the US we shouldn’t be sponsored China to do anything in this country because every time that China makes off the u.s.a. turn it around into the military and they are out to kill every American in this country and all you can see is it being happening right front of your eyes with fentanyl coming over the border made in China.. if you can’t smell the roses you better smell the roast and because China is out to kill America kill American workers jobs and their youth with fentanyl.
When AMC started designing the Pacer they wanted to make it with a Wankel rotary engine which was expected to soon become the engine of the future, like the NSU Rotary engine cars the engine was way smaller than a piston engine so they made the passenger compartment very large and the engine compartment quite small.
As soon as Wankel engine cars were available in the U.S. the energy crisis happened gas prices went way up and the wankel’s lower fuel mileage made it un marketable. The industry gave up on rotary engines.
The only thing that would fit under the Pacer’s hood was a 4 cylinder that lacked the power needed to move it.
GM had German Opel. Ford & GM did business in Australia. Ford in Great Britain. They still COULD NOT SEE OR POSSESS a U.S. domestic small car. D’oh ??
You normally can take a SMALL initial loss & slowly cost reduce & increase price. Even the Ford Capri (Europe) did not stick around long.
You left out that the American companies also had much higher labor costs. Making a quality affordable car was a new concept in the 70s, they weren’t ready for competition
Our family bought a 1975 Green Toyota CORONA. Options were Automatic & AC. Came with Clock & AM/FM Radio. Seating for 4 EASY + 1 maybe. Big Trunk. A Mover not a Zoomer with the 20R, 2.0L engine. It was quality, reliable, economical PRODUCT.
The one decade that somethings were smaller in Texas.
American automobiles didn’t die out in Europe, they evolved and adapted, such as the Ford Escort Cortina
American corporations care about short term profits and massive greed. Thus the fruit is rotten.
17:19 [Insert sound of screaming eagle]
The Japanese took over quality in the car market because they concentrate on quality while the american car company on quantity and a quick buck . Worked in the car business for decades and I would never buy a domestic car ever. Bought a mustang in my younger days with only 18k miles and it was the biggest POS ever. Buy Toyotas
For my graduation, I got cash for college from my grandparents and I used it for a Down payment on a car. I was eyeballing the Chevrolet Camaro Z28 with the V8 and 5 speed.I talked to my neighbor. who is an older gentleman and a car guy.He Recommended the Honda Civic CRX. Boy, am I glad he did. compare to my parents 1986 Ford escort. It was a difference between night and day. that car was built right.performance reliability, gas mileage,Price. can’t be a Japanese vehicle.
10:30 Koot en Bie hahahaha
During the crisis, I was born, both my mother and father as well as my uncle drove a Grey, Blue and Orange Gremlin respectively and grandparents drove a White VW Beetle. The grandparents also had an old 40s Plymouth they stored in a storage unit (a drive in one), and the Great-Grandparents had a 60s 4-Door Thunderbird. REAL CHERRY. My great-grandparents never drove the damn car unless we came over. It was considered a Sunday Outing Luxury to ride in it. Back to the story, my family all drove these small cars through the years but over time my mother moved to bigger cars. Pontiac in particular, TransAms, Firebirds and Tempests and GTOs. Also Ford Gran Torinos. Things I guess she wanted in the 70s but couldn’t have due to the gas prices and oil issues. My father on the other hand continued to drive things like VW Rabbit, Mercury Capri, Hyundai Excel. I personally am a mix between the two. I love a nice cherry classic car but I also prefer smaller more economical vehicles if I was going to drive one. Smaller is easier.
1 thing thats cracks me up is the big 3 did not learn from the past and now that they are thinking we will buy EV’s and pride trucks they are going down again, WHY IS IT SO HARD FOR AN AMERICAN CAR COMPANY TO MAKE A SMALL DIESEL ENGINE? if any of them where to make a diesel that rivals 1 of the baby volkswagen 1.9’s, audi’s or Mercedes I mean who wouldn’t love to have a car the gets around 100mpg WITHOUT the headaches of EV and Hybrid BS and all these usless assist functions.
Several years ago I read in a Canadian business article that whenever a company "wraps itself around the flag", it’s time to sell the stock… because if its sales pitch is just an appeal to people’s patriotism, it means it really has nothing of value to offer…
During the ‘70s, I drove a Plymouth Fury I, (best, but v8 made it a gas guzzler), Dodge Dart, (slight odd steering when cold), Ford Pinto, (burned oil, carburetor touchy, exhaust gassed out neighbors every morning), Chevy Chevette, (lacked pick-up, but a nice little workhorse, especially with four studded snows or tire chains, circulating engine block heater).
Edward your Ford Pinto research sucks. The video with pinto catching fire was staged and the FORD received a large settlement. Respectfully truth works
Excellent.
I just cant believe how ugly tbose 70s cars were
That GM video was from 1972- The Bug and The Beetle that was mentioned at the 15 minute mark. The film itself is a classic replete with bongo drums and very dramatic narration. Basically it blames the workers, they don’t show up everyday and they’re not doing a good enough job when they are there. Some of that may be true but when there were problems they go to the management and nothing would get solved. It was the opposite of what the Japanese were doing. They would stop the line anytime there was an issue. Their muse was a guy named Edward Denning who taught proper procedures for maintaining factory quality
I loved my 1955 DeSoto firedome
I like that your videos are showing automotive history, but you are really making political evaluations of the American car companies. You should not be turning them into bad guys or making them stupid. That was a part of history.
"Consistent uploading schedule" 😅🤣😂
I still love a lot of the 70s and 80s GM cars especially the b bodies and g bodies… but yeah I’d have to swap the swtock engine out if I get something 73 or 74 and up… have a 86 caprice atm and took the 305 right out and put in a decent rebuilt 350 and some new headers and mufflers
cars were such crap then. rotted out, burned and leaked oil, and if you got 100k out of it you were on borrowed time. hence the 5 digit odo
The US auto industry shot off its own toes one by one, by CHOICE. Only pickup trucks saved it because they were expected to be tools (but GM sheet metal would rust to dust if you looked at it funny, I’ve had several but don’t live in the Rust Belt). The 500 Caddy is a terrific engine and makes a great truck transplant. All the smog era V8s were easy do cure (carb, intake, cam, exhaust) so we did.
The torque was glorious. HP is nice but torque makes driving fun.
Oddly the Gremlin was the best of the Pinto (boom!) Vega (instant engine seizure because chrome bores badly done) and AMC offerings because it had solid reliable drivetrains. They weren’t interesting (unless you stuffed a 360 into one!) but they’re really a solid piece.
The Vega engine really deserves its own video because had GM used ordinary cast iron sleeves it would have been fine. Bore plating was simply not up to snuff and the idiot or idiots who signed off on it should have been fed to a wood chipper while still alive. It was that bad and cost many innocent customers their hard-earned money.
Lol
well what do you know, history repeated itself. the gas prices nowadays will cost you a hundred bucks for a couple of trips
7:30, There is somthing about ford and rear-end explosions that they really just didnt let go of until they stopped selling the crown Vic
After the sixties the design and quality of construction went to sh@t.
In the fabulous 50s, gas was less than 30 cents / gallon, & cars sold for about a dollar a pound. WHAT YOU GONNA DO, HOMER ?? !! ??
I’m a Detroiter & I’m the first male on my fathers side that hasn’t worked in the auto industry since my great grandfather immigrated to the US. Corporate culture definitely sucked, my family were all Ford people so it’s my insight but we have friends who worked at the other big 2. There is a nuanced argument to be made about Cold War economic policies visa vi Japan where the open U.S. consumer market was open & without protectionism & currency manipulation. But that’s not a get out of jail free card for poor corporate choices it may have cut down on breathing room but quality & fuel efficiency were the future. My dad had a Pinto he started his career during college on the plant floor, he knew an easy at home fix for the gas tank. There was a long bolt coming out of the bumper which he cut with a saw which was close to if not quite a 100% fix. His experience as a highly educated engineer getting into his middle age at Ford was a constant battle to prove himself by going above and beyond as not to be replaced by younger workers. Lack of seniority meant lower wages, less benefits needed to be paid out & some of the best & brightest just left for greener pastures in industry or tech related industry on the west coast. Allen Mullally saved not only Ford but the US auto industry by changing corporate culture for the better and investing into quality products and leveraging all its assets. He got his revenge on Boeing by being a leader in turning around the poster child for dysfunctional American manufacturing by throwing out the model cost cutting via quality slashing. The 737 supermax story that the McDonald Douglass board lead Boeing to embodies all the bad practices and arrogance that lead the auto industry to its long decline.
In the 1970s Consumer Reports did surveys on the cars their readers drove. They were always telling us that if you bought an American car , you would have to take it into the shop significantly more often than a Japanese car.
Buy foreign, put another American out of work!
excellent ! love the vibe
I had a Vega back in the day. My running joke (back when there were service station attendants) was "Fill it up with oil and check the gas."
A Pacer with Dutch license plates!
Width not length on the Pacer
Perception is reality. Teslas have actually caused more “fire fatalities” than Ford Pintos.