My Plan for GM and the Cadillac Sixteen

[Eugene]

General Motors (Ford & Chrysler too) should spin-off each motor division as a separately traded stock with its own engineering department.  The spun-off units, including Cadillac, would then be free to design and manufacturer their cars as they chose to, including bringing in German and Japanese engineers to elevate their cars above and beyond BMW, Mercedes, Lexus and Infiniti.

The historic General Motors, Chrysler, or Ford would be the contract manufacturers that each division could contract to build their motor cars to their  STRICT SPECIFICATIONS.  Part and parcel with this proposal, the Union workers would have to become more flexible in order to keep their jobs from being outsourced to India and China.  This Country is going to Hell in a handbag quickly!  The Rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer and the MIDDLE CLASS is getting ROYALLY SCREWED!

My humble opinion for making America a dominant manufacturing behemoth again!

Looking forward to the Cadillac Sixteen!

Happy Easter!


Eugene

[Porter 21919]

Eugene,

That is an interesting thought. Seems to fly in the face of the modern day practice of mergers and acquisitions. Then again, since the heyday of that corporate phase or business philosphy we have seen corporate spin offs of divisions,all of which were for the benefit of filling executives pockets with money.

At any rate nothing is carved in stone and auto manufacturing is global now with very little nationalism or brand loyalty.

We dont manufacture TVs or toasters anymore, when push comes to shove auto manufacturing is no sacred cow either. We really only have Ford and GM as the last domestic manufacturers, they may well end up merging with a foreign brand like Chrysler did, who knows. The bottom line is profitability.

Perhaps all we will have someday are domestic defense contractors, that would be a matter of national security. Then again, they buy all the circuit boards and electronics from overseas if I am not mistaken.

Porters 2 cents FWIW

[Robert Koch 21150]

Actually we make a LOT of televisions and toasters in this country. The really cheap ones are from China but the expensive stuff is made here. By Japanese companies using American machines, not Americans. Of course Americans own huge stakes in all things Japanese (we own WAY more of Japan than they own of us) and Japanese cars are built MOSTLY in America.
American military equipment is also made here by us. It uses American chips from Intel and National Semiconductor, although those two companies also make cheap chips overseas on American made machines for consumer products. We still build an amazing array of products.
So what is American and what is foreign? Darned if I know! But for any given object I can use Google (American) to find out more or less. Hey, so long as Americans have good paying jobs, assembling Japanese, Korean, Canadian or American parts, I dont much care. I like a good product at a good price.
BTW, governments will never put an end to war. But there is a small chance commerce will. Not that Im holding my breath.

[Eugene]

(we own WAY more of Japan than they own of us)


Not TRUE Japan owns most of the USAs National Debt, a/k/a Treasury Bills.  Once Japan stops refinancing our debt, our economy will go under and the full faith and credit of the US Government will mean SQUAT!

[Jeff Maltby 4194]

1. Current National debt is a staggering $7,788,362,356 with $2 billon added each day; $46 trillion in federal obligations.

2. By 2010 the national debt will grow to $10.8 trillion

3.The recently passed precription drug benifit will add $8.1 trillion in debt in one generation.

4. We spent $660 billion more on foreign goods then they spent with us last year. This imbalance has driven the dollar to its lowest value in over 40 years. Meanwhile, foreign goverments hold $2.5 trillion in U.S treaury bonds. As the dollar dives, so does the value of the bonds-removing incentive to buy more and adding incentive to sell the ones the goverments hold.

5. The presidents 2006 budget will add at least $425 billion to the debit bill.

6. The goverment spends 19.8percent of the nations annual gross national product, slightly above the average of the past 40 years. The goverment takes in 16.3percent of the GDP- the lowest in 40 years.

7.In 2004, the Bush administration borrowed $155 billion from the Social Security Fund.

8. The known costs of Medicare-Social Security, veteran benifits,etc.,will create a federal obligation of $46 trillion over the next 75 years. Interest payments already cost $310 billion a year-nearly 4 times what the federal goverment  spends on education.

The numbers are almost too huge to comprend, but if youre among those whom have a full time job, your current share is $350,000 and climbing.

[Robt.Vonheck -via SunDiego Calif.]

Jeffo:  - thanks for your interesting post info., this section of the CLC-forum seems fine for such posting, as it relates to Cadillacs future in the way that i have been trying to inform as well, although am getting silly "anti-semetic" barbs thrown at me (am not that at all, -having nothing against Arabs, except maybe the price of petrol, --and apparently thats largely a supply & demand thing resulting from communist-Chinas creating a huge new demand)....  
~Bob vH

[Nate]

are you jewish or non jewish, cant tell

[JIM CLC # 15000]

03-29-05
NATE, what difference would it make?
He/she could be MOHAWK for all I care, he/she will be paying off the debt same as all the rest of us.(if he/she/us lives long enough.
Good Luck, Jim

[Porter 21919]

Jeff,

You are a troublemaker, the best we can do is enjoy our Cadillacs until the game of musical chairs is over, the smart money has their own chair, the rest of the "sheeple" will have one provided for them by the government, fabricated out of cardboard.

Porter

[Porter 21919]

Who is kidding who ? With GMs current financial woes it will never happen. How many cylinders are required anyway for an engine, is eight not enough ? Is sixteen better than eight ? Guess it depends on how much money you have and how many cylinders you want. The sixteen does require a long hood, classy, just like the good old days, roaring 20s.

At any rate,

Porter

[Rusty Shepherd CLC 6397]

Porter,
I think, given GMs financial situation, that you are absolutely correct in believing that the new Sixteen will never happen. And you are also right about V-16 engines being overkill, but that thinking could certainly also have been applied in late 1929 when the OHV V-16 was introduced and even more so in late 1937 when the 135percent flathead Sixteen was introduced. A few years ago, "Collectible Automobiles" did an article on the sixteen-cylinder Cadillacs and it began with a statement to the effect that, in retrospect, there seems to be no rational need for sixteen-cylinder cars, but that there is also really no rational need for Corvettes and Ferraris, either. I saw a print ad today for the new twin-turbo twelve-cylinder Bentley sedan with a top speed of 195 MPH; now there is a car for which there is absolutely no rational need. In Houston-area traffic, I seem to spend as much time stopped or creeping along at 5-10 MPH as I do going 60 and outside of the Bonneville Salt Flats or a race track, I cant think of a place on earth where one could drive 195 miles an hour (and I dont want to be in a car going that speed even there). Still, all these cars are great dream machines and Im glad Cadillac went over the top in the 30s even if we never see the likes of them again.

[Art #22010]

Jeff, hi. I got to look at one of those photos and we lost the rest, as I have been struggling with a trogan virus. we had to delete a lot of stuff. Pleas send again at your convenience, as I wish to see those photos. Thanks Art

[Ed Dougher]

Oy vey, Ethel!  These loser leftists are so crazy with Bush hate theyve even taken to ranting and raving on car sites with that same old scare stuff they said about Reagan!

[greg]

                 DITTO !!!!!!!!!!

[JIM CLC # 15000]

03-31-05
I ditto the DITTO!!!!
(Does that make us DITTO HEADS???
Good Luck, Jim

[Porter 21919]

Rusty,

I am in 100 percent agreement with you, GM achieved all its glory and profits building cars that no one (other than the wealthy)really needed but the competition couldnt build. The Cord and Duesenburg cars are legendary, they didnt have the GM mass produced cars that make the real profits to sustain their existence, but look at what cars achieve the legendary status in the history books, including our rare Cadillac V 16s from the roaring 20s, 49 Fastbacks, Broughams, etc.

When they ceased to build these types of cars look at what happened to GM, a bean counter like Roger B. Smith drove the corporation into massive red ink and a bleak future (all of which transpired after he utilized his golden parachute). No surprise that Harley Earl, Charles Kettering, Zora Duntov, Bill Mitchell and John Delorean were long since gone, I apologize for whoever individuals I excluded.

Porter

[Porter 21919]

In some recent discussions this was the point that Robert Vonheck was moreso attempting to make, IMO.

"The average American in the year 2005 lives a fragile existence, in a struggle for survival that can be ended by missing a few paychecks. The carrot at the end of the stick which was formerly known as "the American dream" has been replaced by a whip that can best be described as the American nightmare of homelessness, and slow, early death. You no longer work to achieve a better life for yourselves and your children. You work to keep a roof over your head, and you pray that you dont lose it. You became a slave when fear replaced incentive as your motivation to work, but I still suggest that you work while you can, because if the company you work for cant send your job overseas, the U.S. government is allowing 2000 people per day to enter this country illegally, because theyre willing to do your job for less."

http://www.rense.com/general63/newam.htm TARGET=_blank>http://www.rense.com/general63/newam.htm

You can throw stones at me too, no problem.

What does this have to do with Cadillac and GM ? Everything, it is all relative and on the General Discussion Forum I think acceptable, has nothing to do with racism.

Porter

[Robt.Vonheck -via SunDiego Calif.]

Porter:  -as usual, youve come across here with the stunning truth;  --and the CLC-admin. delight in censoring(deleting) my commentary, so find them to un-American for my further participation....   ~Bob vH  

[Peter Liberti CLC 19666]

Hi All!

Today, I received the newest issue of Motor Trend. May 2005, pages 22 & 23.
"World Exclusive" GM has built a full size clay model of a coupe that takes strong design cues from the Sixteen.

Theyre not sure if the $120,000 car is a go yet, but Bob Lutz is pushing for it.

Would use a stretched form of the Sigma platform or more likely, the new Zeta platform.

engine would be all aluminum 7.5 liter Northstar XV12. 750 horsepower.

The potential is exciting!

Peter

59 & 72 CDVs

[Steve Crum 20999]

The sad part of this is "The General aint making these for the masses"!  And like the Bentleys and the Duesenburgs which also were not, will likely flounder. A middle ground is needed, we have concept cars nobody CAN touch, and production cars nobody WILL touch. Concept cars are a neat conversation piece but if less than 1/10th of 1percent of the driving public can afford the production model, let alone be inspired to buy one, whats the sense? IMHO the last truely practical "hot" car Detroit put out was the Eldorado. Now theyve dropped that in favor of a four door family truckster.
Considering whats coming out of Detroit these days, the crack epidemic must be worse than anybody imagined.