Wasted Bailout Money: Chrysler Beyond Saving

Yep, just throw money away on a company that doesn't know how to sell cars in the 21st century...

The free market should be allowed to work...
Chrysler should close up shop, and another well deserved company will fill the void...

 

The auto bailout is what, about $15B. My question is where is the rest of the $750B we know about and the tens of billions we don't know about going? I just read that one of the monetary indices, M0, indicates that the banks are sitting on their government aid rather than using it to improve the economy. I can't believe we gave the FED all that money without any oversight.

 

Whaaaaaaaat ?

I guess you haven't been watching any college football.

 

GM should do an all-stock deal, buy Chrysler just for the Jeep brand, and call it a day.

 

Yup. But I wonder if upcoming CAFE-like standards will ruin that brand,as well.

 

Quite possibly. Already, the two Dodge Caliber-based Jeeps, the Compass and the Patriot, are pretty lame by traditional Jeep standards, even though on the surface, the Patriot looks very Cherokee like. BTW, I think they still build an updated Cherokee in China for that market. I'd love to get my hands on one.

 

To my mind, Chrysler hasn't had a decent motorcar since the 1965 Valiant, slant-six. Mine lasted over 400,000 miles and was still running. The body was starting to rust.

Cheers,

Jim

PS, I think Canada has Ford and GM on their papers, and not Chrysler.

 

So far the tax payers are not at risk. The car makers have until the end of march to prove they can be viable or they will have to give the money back. The tax payers are also first in line in the event of a bankruptcy. The worst that can happen is we prolonged the inevitable.

Chrysler had a good idea with those Ram trucks with the Hemi motors. I don't know why they didn't make that the center of their market since that 300, chopped top looking car is not very attractive to me. I rented one on a trip to San Antonio and you really have a lot of blind spots in that thing.

 

In the 70s I had a 1969 Fury that had a voracious appetite for transmissions.

I had a 1984 Chrysler New Yorker that was 3 years old when I bought it. It was up on the garage's lift so many times I considered putting in an altimeter.

In the 90s I bought a Dodge conversion van. I'd like to say it nickel and dimed me to death but the repair bills were of the $500-1500 variety.

On this side of the millennium I have learned my lesson. Let Chrysler join Packard, Hudson, Franklin, etc....

 

Gosh! I wish someone would buy the Jeep brand that knows what to do with it!!

I owe a 84 Jeep CJ7 and a 86 Jeep CJ7. I have owned Cherokee's for the last ten years, all of them older, well made machines.

How they could take a good AMC Jeep, and turn it into a "Compass" or a "Patriot" I will never know...

If this car company fails, I hope they have to sell off all their name brands and assets and then I hope someone buys the Jeep brand that has actually been on a trail of under their Jeep working on it!

Jamie

 

I love the old AMC products. Ford parts are interchangeable at times. It would be nice if someone could make a similar product comparable to the AMC

 

Oh my...I had one of those with a standard 3 speed shifter on the floor.... It was the most balanced car I ever had on our back woods roads, where I loved to slide around. Door latches quit latching and I had to keep jury rigging them till I finally ponied up for new latches.....I had over 300K on mine, but had to sell it for a larger family car as we grew.... Other than that it was as reliable as a rock... Fond of its memory...

 

I had three Dodge Dart Swingers, in my early 20's thru about mid 30's. Loved the curved back window, and I could sit in the motor well, and replace anything on those slant 6 engines. I really enjoyed all three of those cars.

 

Oh, the Mopars I have owned and that have been in my family

I have owned

a '64 Dodge Pickup with a slant six and three on the tree

a '66 Plymouth Satellite with 383 and 335 HP--8 MPG in the city and 10 on the highway

a '68 Imperial


As a kid, my father & grandfather owned

'65 Dodge Coronet 440

70 Chrysler Newport

72 Newport

74 Dodge Coronet

74 Dart, Duster, and Valiant


Chryslers had great engineering behind them in the 50s and 60s, but they lost this from the 70s on. The cars they build today are either using old technology that is not efficient or engineering done by other firms.

Sorry to say, but it is time to let the company die.

 

BTW, Chrysler still has 11% of the US market, so there is some value in the company, just not as much as Cerberus wants. I think the company will go bankrupt and in bankruptcy court, some major manuafacturers will be happy to buy the minivan business, Jeep, and Dodge trucks at a great discount.

 

Maybe we could bring the "K Car" back ?

 

I have an O5 quad cab Dakota. So far I've been pleased.

 

I rented a Chrysler Pacifica in California and it was very nice. I also have rented a PT Cruiser, and while it is a cute little car, the front tends to be so low as to scrape a lot.