Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 27, 1992 TAG: 9202270467
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOHN KINNEY JR.
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
LOOK TO THE 12-YEAR-OLDS A FORMULA TO RESTORE OUR AUTO INDUSTRY
ON FEB. 16, one of the nation's largest spectator sporting events took place: the Daytona 500. From the time of the early 1950s to the present day, one tradition has never changed: Every car that has started in the Daytona 500 has been American made.Today, our all-American car is in deep trouble. Many Americans just do not want them in their driveway; they are not the "in" thing. How did we get to this point? I know there are thousands of opinions; here is mine:
Back in 1964, I was 12 years old and everyone my age was on a bicycle looking at what the older guys were driving on the streets and roads. We would brag to each other what we would be driving in a few years. This was our dream at the time. I will never forget having the chance to attend my first racing event at the old Starkey drag strip near Roanoke, in the fall of '64.
There in the race-pit area that day was a brand new Pontiac convertible that everyone was looking at. The name plate on the side of the car had three letters: GTO. At my age, I thought this was the best-looking car since the '57 Chevy. I even asked another person to take a What the U.S. automakers must do now is to get that 12-year-old of today interested in one of our cars. They will be the next generation of car buyers. picture of me beside the car with a camera I'd brought along. I thought to myself, "Someday, I'll buy one of these to drive." A big dream for a 12-year-old with no money.
Eventually, I did buy a GTO, and still have it to this day. Kids my age around this country had the same idea. From the mid-'60s to the early '70s, Mustangs, GTOs, Roadrunners, Chevelles, Camaros and other American classics sold like wildfire. Detroit could not build enough of some of these models to fill all their orders.
Then, several things happened in the mid-'70s, which I think dealt the American classic car blows from which it's never recovered: high insurance rates, the oil embargo, gasoline prices that were on a roller-coaster ride. The average American V-8 powered car that we had known for years was stopped in its tracks.
Lee Iacocca's autobiography, published in 1984, explains clearly why U.S. auto sales are in a mess. With all the confusion in the foreign-oil situation, the American automakers in the late '70s had no plan for the future. As Iacocca states, "If our own government had no idea about what was going on over there, how should I have known?"
I have never been an auto worker but, being a machinist for 20 years, I know it would be no easy thing to retool just one assembly line at an auto plant. Retooling is very expensive, and a company would really have to predict what would sell for years to come.
Adding to the confusing situation in the '70s was the federal government's new regulations on automobile front and rear bumpers. The government said the ones we had were not tough enough. Detroit tried their best to style the cars with the new "tough" bumpers, but it didn't work. Many cars of the '70s looked like battle tanks instead of the classics they had once been, with the "battle-hardened" bumpers sticking out like sore thumbs. Quality eventually fell to zero. We all knew it.
So back to Main Street U.S.A. of the mid-'70s. What were the 12-year-olds on bicycles telling each other that they would be driving a few years later? The Datsun Z-type sports cars were the talk of the day. And I don't blame anybody for wanting one. It was a sharp-looking machine, the kind of car a young person wanted to be seen in. The Japanese knew this all along.
Folks, this is where we lost it. Some will say high prices are a cause. But I will always say if young persons want a car that looks good, runs good, and it makes them feel proud to drive it around with their friends, a way will be found to buy that car. What the U.S. automakers must do now is to get that 12-year-old of today interested in one of our cars. They will be the next generation of car buyers.
CBS Sports always calls the Daytona 500 the "Great American Race," and it is. It will be a sad day indeed if, in the future, there are no Fords, Chevrolets, Pontiacs and other U.S. makes on the starting line when the call is given - "Gentlemen, start your engines."
Whether the American cars survive the next five years is up to us.