Well, let me make a pitch for GM.
In 1974, I bought my first brand new truck, a 1974 GMC pickup. This would later prove to be the worst possible choice, even in the GM line up.
I wanted 4WD and a 455, and was told I couldn't have both. The dealer actually said there wasn't enough room in the engine compartment for 4WD and the 455 both. Actually, you could hold a good sized party in there, as some of you know. Total BS.
Who wouldn't want 455 with 4WD? Why did GM leave that option out?
You win...take 2 aspirins and don't call in the morning
Well, I bought the truck with every other option you could get on it except the chrome package.
Two miles away from the dealer, the plug fell out of the water pump, spraying antifreeze all over the road. Towed it back to the dealers.
In driving the truck, it became apparent that the 350 didn't have the power to pull it out of a mud puddle. This was 1974, the height of emission mania. Off road was a serious issue, accordingly. I think it had 160 hp, with about 11 mpg. It did pump pollution really well, though.
Inside of 5000 miles, the transmission went out. Got that fixed.
Then, the first year, it started to rust. Serious rust. It spread like cancer.
One feature of the truck was the defroster vent openings. It had a dash that slanted toward the windshield, a handy place to put shells and sundries. BUT, the defroster vent opening had no screen on it, so the bullets and other junk just went down the pipe and blocked up the airflow. (Hey, where's the '06 shells? There's a deer standing in the open!)
Well, I had to tear the dash off anyway, since this was apparently the first year of the printed circuit board and my dash lights started to go out almost immediately after I got the truck. The board was in reality a flexible plastic film that just fit over the plastic back frame with circuits on it, so the fix was to unscrew the bulb holder, take an eraser to the corrosion, and then replace the bulb holder. That worked for a time - I don't know why it corroded that fast, but every couple of months this had to be repeated. I cut a couple of pieces of ordinary window screen to fit over the defroster vent holes anyway, so that problem was corrected.
Scattered electrical problems.
Next the engine went. After much wrangling, I got a new one. Not from Chevy, though. Ever try to deal with them? They believed in Original Sin - like buying their products! I got a buddy to build a 300 horse motor, damn the pollution pump and full speed ahead. Headers and dual exhaust.
Transmission then went out again, no warranty, so got one from a junkyard. 4WD, though, much more expensive. This one went out almost immediately. We found gravel in it, always a problem in transmissions..........
So, I learned how to rebuild 350 transmissions. This first one took 14 hours, later down to less than 2.
So now, I had a heroic determination to keep the truck, when any sane person would have dumped it for a Ford long ago. At least I had a good engine and transmission, right?
The doors were now rusted so bad that the bottoms were flapping, there were holes in the fenders and quarters, and the bed was a mass of rust. Later there would even be rust on the top of the cab.
The electrical system was now warming up for its act. Wires would break, at least the insulation coating on them. The plastic, being 'accountant-spec', was getting brittle and breaking. The wires would short if they came in contact with each other or the frame, which of course happened. At one time, the whole bed measured 12 volts anywhere; figure that one out. After the insulation broke, the some of the wires would 'work' with movement and break apart. It really needed a new wiring harness, but because of the plastic plugs and jacks, the only option was a new stock one - the same quality, of course.
There were now substantial size holes in the floor; the ammo hazard shifted from the defroster to the floor holes; you could lose a box at a time now. The doors were rusted junk up to the windows, fenders too. The bed was now a structural concern.
I want to make it clear: we had some good times - replacing a starter solenoid in 4" of ice slush, towing it out of a woods road when it quit, always a special prayer for the GM accountants that made it all possible.
One incident that occurred around 1977 or so, on the way to deer camp; about 20 of us were CB'ing along the interstate, when someone asked what each of us did for a job. One guy said he was a quality control inspector for the GM plant at Janesville. The radios went silent. Finally someone slowly asked, "Which truck are you driving?" We never heard from the inspector again. The collective pain and agonies from the Chev truck owners was evident, like his realization of what went out of the plant at that time.
It didn't help that my buddy sent me an article from the front page of the Wall Street Journal in which that President of GM was being interviewed about their declining sales. The $4.5 million a year (at that time, one of the top) executive actually said that if sales didn't go up, they were considering raising the quality of their products. Fortunately, that didn't need to happen. Whew!
I finally pulled the plug on it, and drove it to the crusher. Parted out the drive train.
I now drive a Toyota Tundra. I have 87,000 on it with no problems whatsoever. No rust, lots of power, no issues. It just runs.
had to operate carb cable at the carb while shifting and clutching (in heavy traffic)
. Also could never figure out why brake lights would come on after I was done driving for the day, I changed master cylinder, completely rebuilt all wiring harnesses, added 12 more grounds to the frame. I paid 200.00 for this vehicle and sold it for 1200.00 to a guy about 3 blocks down on my street and his neighbors called him late at night to tell him that his brake lights were always on. BTW, Chrysler had no idea what was going on either (besides the lights).......NGE
