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READ ABOUT IT:
This site was originally set up to tell the story of how unscrupulous
people kept my car for a year and simply wrecked it.
All this happened in Katherine, NT.
I put the car in to a bush garage for a rego check.
One
YEAR later I got it back - took it back - no longer roadworthy,
no longer driveable.
And they had the hide to charge me $750 for it and
I had to pay for a car transporter.
This is how I tell the story:
The Old XY
Once
upon a time there was an old XY Ford living in a back yard in
Canberra.
This car
had been a loyal and faithful servant for many years, rolling up and
down the hills around Canberra, over hill, over dale, through
the valleys, by the streams, carrying its owners on journeys both
business and pleasure.
Chugging
here and chugging there, zooming here and zooming there, rolling
through rural Australia, prowling through metropolitan Australia,
cruising the highways and the byways.
Tirelessly
it rolled on and on, once round the clock, twice round the clock, the
years came and went, the XY Ford cruised on.
All around
it the world changed. Things got faster and faster. People got cleverer
and cleverer at making profits, shave a little off here, shave a little
off there and we'll make more money.
They got
better and better at 'planned obsolescence'. They got better
at judging just how long something would last and began to make things
that would certainly last only just so long.
Things became 'consumer items', 'expendable', 'replaceable' rather than
repairable.
The whole world became noisier, quicker, brighter.
New things appeared that would do things quicker. Would do things that
had never been done before. That would do old things better.
New cars came that went quicker, that looked sleeker, that rode
quieter, that had air conditioning and power steering and a lovely new
car smell.
The old XY got sold. It got traded in and its owners proudly drove away
in their new car, enjoying the air conditioning, the power steering,
the disk brakes, the quietness, the smoothness and above all, the
wonderful new car smell. They were so proud and so happy.
The
Story Continued....
Pics
of What They Did to The Car
Leave
some feedback of your own.
Sign the guestbook, leave
a smart remark.
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Ford
Motor Company Doesn't Care
(about Ford cars) |
Here's an interesting fact: The Ford Motor Company
is losing money. Has been for a long time.
Look at this article:
In May, Ford sold an impressive 20,000 Focus
compacts. Unfortunately, it lost
$4,000 to
$5,000 on each unit it sold, reports BusinessWeek.
The report attributes the loss to "high labor costs and tired product
design." The report indicates that Ford will rectify the problem by
offering a new Focus in 2008. Instead of building it in the United
States, it will be built in Mexico. (On June 1, Leftlane
brought you exclusive
spy shots
of the much-praised European Ford Focus in testing in Mexico). Ford
should have brought a new Mexico-built Euro Focus to America when it
had the chance in 2004, says BW. "Ford clearly
thought
Americans were too dumb to realize they were getting an old car," the
magazine said. The article also reiterates reports that Ford's 2008
lineup will include
the Bronco subcompact.
"....thought Americans were too dumb..."
Rings a bell with me.
When I first started trying to fix my XY myself I needed help sourcing
parts and I wanted technical information. I thought of turning to Ford
for the answers.
First place I tried was Ford.com. Found an email address
there or
somesuch and I contacted them and asked for help with the XY.
No help. Go ask Ford Australia they said. Didn't ask Ford
Australia themselves, didn't give me a contact in Ford Australia,
didn't apologise or explain or say hello or express any interest
whatever. Just said, go away, ask someone else.
So I asked Ford Australia. They said go away, ask a car club.
Name one, I said. No, they said, find one yourself.
So there you have it. Ford's interest in (1) Their own past
products and (2) Their loyal customers.
That amounts to throwing money away, to my mind. Throwing away
goodwill. Throwing away an asset.
What's wrong with them? I think it is simple. They are not in
the
car business. They are in the money-making business and they find
easier ways to make money.
$3000 NEW
CAR
And here's another interesting fact: a new car for
$3000 !
In India. Nissan and Renault are planning to
cooperate on
building a car in India that will sell for $3000. Even given the low
labour rates (in a non-labour intensive industry) and (maybe?) material
costs (doesn't steel cost the same everywhere?) what does that say
about our present auto industry and prices?
And what's going to keep that car in India? Tariffs?
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