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Post by busaddict on Feb 10, 2020 0:32:29 GMT -8
Here's an interesting video from the seventies. It appears to be aimed at Chevrolet workers, I can't imagine this could serve as a promotional film. Funny, when they talk about making better cars they show a Vega! Plenty of VW eye candy, Beetles being swung off ships in a sling etc. The title is redundant "Chevrolet Presents the Bug and the Beetle" Enjoy!
"CHEVROLET AUTOMOBILES VS. FOREIGN CARS 1970s PROMOTIONAL FILM 43054" YouTube
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Post by magikbus on Feb 10, 2020 10:50:18 GMT -8
I love the part about the slide rule. I'd bet less than 1% of millennials even know what a slide rule is. Of course they went out of favour because you have to use your brain to make sense of the results, and anything that comes along that lets you use less of your brain is seen as a good thing.
I remember being told about the new VW Passat I think it was when we were looking for a new car. It has lane assist warnings that will warn you when you stray out of your lane. (side note here, aren't you supposed to be watching to see if you are driving in your lane at all times?) I asked if it would work on gravel roads. Nope. I asked if it would work on snow covered roads as that happens in the interior for a large part of the winter). Nope I asked if it would work on road segments under construction, Nope. I asked if it would warn you when it wasn't able to discern where the lane was. Nope. I said nope.
Stan
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Post by PICTUP on Feb 10, 2020 12:35:45 GMT -8
What a strange title. Perhaps they didn't know that the Beetle was the Bug? Or were they saying the Beetle was a 'Bug' of a problem? So many comments could be made during the dialogue of this video with hindsight in our rear view. Interesting snippet of history portrayed in this video Tom, thanks for posting.
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Post by Volktales on Feb 12, 2020 20:11:08 GMT -8
That was kind of weird. But did have lots of cool VW's and a sweet 240 or two. All the Chevrolets shown were from 1972, and the Vega was earning its poor reputation even then. I loved the lineup of '72 Chevy trucks, and would be the Chevy that I would have brought home. It seems the purpose of the video was to threaten the workers to get off their lazy arses, and work harder to build better products that the public would actually buy. If only they knew how worse it was going to get in 1973, when quality REALLY started to take a dump. And the forthcoming OPEC crisis would put a damper on the whole US economy. And that was also the era of major emission control systems which made most early '70's cars actually run much worse then the earlier models, and with significantly less power too. If you read any period road tests of that era, you will find stalling, poor idle, and poor performance and economy, were all too common back then... And you can't blame all that on the people that put them together...
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Post by magikbus on Feb 13, 2020 12:01:48 GMT -8
Few people realize how dull and boring the drudgery of working on an assembly line was/is. Alcoholism and drug abuse was rampant, workers deliberately sabotaging the line was an all too common occurrence so much so that the quality control staff had to be beefed up a lot just to catch the deliberate mistakes made by bored workers seeking any relief on the job. Things such as installing cosmetic pieces upside down was only solved by staggering the holes so that they could only be installed right side up, etc. There are many references in this video to the absenteeism which was a constant problem as workers who couldn't take it any more called in sick constantly.
Stan
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Post by PICTUP on Feb 13, 2020 18:58:32 GMT -8
I think the weirdest part was the narrator's undertone of urgency. Of course no Russian cars were mentioned, but at that point in the century, the cold war and America's "might" was high on minds of people. |
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Post by magikbus on Feb 13, 2020 19:37:02 GMT -8
That time was the turning point in the burgeoning rise of wealth inequality in the US. "Thomas Piketty", a French economist specializing in income inequality is quoted in an interesting article published on the CBC World news called " Bernie Sanders may be just what U.S. capitalism needs, says top economist: Don Pittis". It outlines exactly what has happened to the middle class in the US since the time shown in that video that has resulted in the US spiraling down into economic oblivion.
Stan
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Post by PICTUP on Feb 13, 2020 19:51:59 GMT -8
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