So Long All - Moving On

[SeriousBlack]

Wow. I'm obviously not a Toyota hater (owned - and still own - my Yaris for six years). Prior to that I've also owned a Civic, Accord, Odyssey and Lexus. I can't believe the American car haters though. Seriously?

There are 2500 workers at the Oshawa ON plant that assemble the Camaro - jobs that I understand may soon move to Michigan. Does anyone really believe letting GM go bankrupt would have been good for the auto industry and competition generally? Frankly, Honda hasn't released an inspirational design with performance to match since the S2000, and Toyota seems to have rediscovered a pulse with the FRS, thanks in part to Subaru engineering. Most of their other vehicles in the past decade have resembled cookie cutter wedges with the visual appeal of Barbra Bush in a rain coat.

I suspect a number of posters on this forum have only lived during an era when American cars were unreliable, uninspired and undesirable. For that, I suppose you could be forgiven for dumping on the US manufacturer. Times have changed. Spare me the political commentary about the validity/logic behind the "bailouts". Ford, Toyota, BMW and Harley Davidson, among others, were also the recipients of bailouts. Interestingly, as of August 2012 it was Ford that still owed bailout money though it was not as publicized as the GM and Chrysler assistance:(http://www.forbes.com/sites/joannmul...-surprise-you/).

If anyone thinks a continental economy can survive without a vigorous, dynamic manufacturing sector, I have a broken three month old Toro weedwhacker made in China, purchased at Walmart, that I will sell to you.

I love driving - still love my Yaris but also love my Camaro for lots of different reasons, two of which are my daughters who love the convertible. My daughters hope to live in a North America that will still have a viable local economy 20 or 30 years from now. No apologies for trying to help that at all.