Damage control is not fun but it has to be done – assuming you want to control the damage that’s been done.
The first thing that had to be done to get the damage that’s been done under control was to get rid of Carlos Tavares, the now-ex CEO of Stellantis. For the same reason that voters gave the heave-ho to old Joe and his awkwardly inserted, last-minute replacement. The damage done to Stellantis’ American holdings – Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram trucks – is congruent with the damage done to America by old Joe and Willie Brown’s mistress.
Much of it has been done to further the same agenda – to get people into devices as a way to get them out of cars. Tavares, according to leaks that have become rivulets of disclosure, was the man who force-retired the Dodge Charger and Challenger (as well as the related Chrysler 300) as well as the Hemi V8 engines that powered these as well as many Jeep/Ram vehicles, without which these brands were shorn of the thing that made them different – and desirable – vs. other brands.
The good news is a man who understands how damaging this has been to those brands has been re-hired by Carlos’ replacement, John Elkann – who is acting as interim chairman of Stellantis.
The man who’s back is the man – Tim Kuniskis.
He’s the man who deserves much of the credit for building the Dodge brand into what it was when it was still selling Hemi-powered Chargers and Challengers. He retired about a year ago, when the decision was made by higher-ups to try to sell devices instead. Kuniskis tried to put lipstick on the electric pig by starring in a cringy commercial that tried to acclimate the public to a future of devices that looked like Dodges – and that ginned-up fake and gay noises to cover up the fact they lacked the engines that make the sounds people who love Dodges loved to hear.
It worked about as well as the Dylan Mulvanye ad campaign did for Bud Light.
Kuniskis will not return to lead Dodge, however. Instead, he has been tapped to head up Ram trucks. This is understandable as Ram is critical to the survival of everything else. Ram had been going gangbusters – in part because it had been doing politically incorrect things such as offering the old model Ram Classic alongside the redesigned Ram. This gave buyers the choice – oh, the humanity! – of a newer iteration or the older one that was still available in configurations (such as regular cab/long bed) that the new iteration no longer was.
And both were available – through the 2024 model year – with the Hemi V8 that was perhaps the main reason why people bought Rams of either iteration. But the Ram Classic was yanked off the market, leaving only the new iteration – which no longer offered the Hemi V8. Instead, it came standard with a new inline (and turbocharged) six cylinder engine. This engine produces more horsepower than the Hemi and it uses less gas. But it is nonetheless fundamentally a compliance engine.
Meaning, it replaced the Hemi V8 not because it was what buyers wanted but rather because government made it necessary. The V8 “emitted” too much of the gas that plants crave – CO2 – that is processed by them to make the gas humans need to breath (O2). The much smaller – just 3.0 liters – inline six has less cylinder volume and so does not move as much air (and fuel, which becomes gasses when burned) when it is not under boost and it is by this artifice that compliance is achieved. But many buyers of Ram trucks want the V8 and don’t like the price hike that came along for the engine-downsizing ride.
And it doubtful many – if any – of them are interested in a device that looks like a Ram truck.
Will Kuniskis be able to bring the Hemi back – and thereby, Ram – back? And maybe Dodge and Jeep, too?
It ought to be possible because – thank the Motor Gods – the Hemi is still being produced eve though it is only available in one remaining Dodge model, the 2025 Durango. But it is still being produced and that means it could be reintroduced by the man who understands that compliance means nonexistence for brands such as Ram and Dodge and Chrysler and Jeep.
He may have the backing of the new North American chief of operations for all of Stellantis’ American-brand properties, Antonio Filosa. According to Kevin Farrish, who is the head of Stellantis’ dealer council, Filosa will “have the authority to respond to market conditions.” Translation: He will have the support of the higher-ups to offer dealers what buyers want.
Imagine that.
“It meant a great deal to us,” Farrish said about Filosa’s appointment. “We have a ton of opportunities to fix what Mr. Tavares harmed.”
Indeed. And time is short.
But it can be done. All it will take is the willingness to do what has to be done. Starting with giving the finger to compliance.
And Kuniskis is exactly the right man for the job.
. . .
If you like what you’ve found here please consider supporting EPautos.
We depend on you to keep the wheels turning!
Our donate button is here. We also accept crypto (see below).
If you prefer not to use PayPal, our mailing address is:
EPautos
721 Hummingbird Lane SE
Copper Hill, VA 24079
PS: Get an EPautos magnet or sticker or coaster in return for a $20 or more one-time donation or a $10 or more monthly recurring donation. (Please be sure to tell us you want a magnet or sticker or coaster – and also, provide an address, so we know where to mail the thing!)
If you like items like the Baaaaaa! baseball cap pictured below, you can find that and more at the EPautos store!
If you don’t want to overpay to a manufacturer…or you don’t want all the electronic crap in their new cars…..what do you do?…check out the kit car world….
Some owners of both real and replica Ford GT’s and Cobra’s….say the replica handles better….
Jayemm on cars…James Mason….does something almost no other car journalist will do…he test drives kit cars….
Lamborghini Murcielago…replica…Steel tube frame chassis…same as a real one…
V12 stick shift….no electronic self driving and surveillance crap…no airbag, etc….
The owner does his own work on it….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd0FuJUPEa0
Unless you live in a horrible, lefty state like Massachusetts. I built a Factory Five Racing 427 Cobra replica back in 2000. The commies here made it very difficult to legally register them. They didn’t even care that the kit company was based in Massachusetts either. Now you have to do a “cash for clunkers” method to legally register in Massachusetts. You have to find a pre-emission, currently registered and inspected in Massachusetts car with an engine within 50 cubic inches of the engine you plan on using. You then have to drive that car to the “crony” scrap yards for destruction. So you can imagine now what any old car that fits that description costs now. Liberal Aholes ruin everything….
The zero emission vehicle mandate is killing the UK car industry…..
They are about 60,000 sales short in 2024….the fine is 15,000 pounds per vehicle….$19,000
https://www.youtube.com/@Evcarnage/videos
A little hard work never killed anybody.
My good old friend Joe the Mechanic could take apart anything on a vehicle and put it all back together, all repaired, fixed, ready to go and then some.
Spray Coupes had VW engines, so farmers would drop the Spray Coupe off to get it running again.
Any make or model, it can be fixed. Gas or diesel, didn’t matter.
Removed and repaired hundreds of GM transmissions to make GM trucks great again. The dealership depended upon his skills.
Owned a gas station in Chicago, worked on the Kaczynski family cars, yes it’s true.
Was held up at gunpoint one day at the job, thought he was going to die too soon.
Made plenty of dough with a tow truck.
I don’t want to be an engineer driving a freight train for 350 miles a trip and then a return trip.
I do know how to use a pneumatic hardwood floor nail gun, the conductor of the train was not able to hone the skill.
Division of labor and all of the nonchalant jazz.
Like Land Phil says in the movie Beerfest, the brewery bottles 10,000 beers a day, I drink 45 of them and I’m the asshole?
Hilarious movie.
The EV push….
EV charging similar to a “FIREWORKS FACTORY”, say fire experts …..EV’s shouldn’t be charged in a closed space…..
City councils and fire departments are clueless?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCzMGSp9uSE
Off topic:
Just a theory about the recent UFOs/drones sightings — maybe the UFOs intercepted a nuclear/other missile, and the military drones were trying to shoo the UFOs away and/or investigate.
My guess is: west coast tidal wave was an intercepted missile, that they moved to the bottom of the ocean to detonate it there, and I bet it was headed for a port, and that was a false flag to be blamed on Russia. And east coast / NJ was Russia and/or ETs trying to prevent a missile hitting a port around there, also a false flag.
The usual suspects are trying to hurt us people as usual. UGH
You may be on to something harry, the demented Biden administration is doing everything it can to start a hot war with Russia before they get evicted, January 20th is still a ways off. Inauguration Day should be no more than 30 days after election day so there’s less time for the outgoing criminals to cause mischief.
Yeah — I think inauguration day should be one DAY after the election.
Another guess is that an AI system running off a server at a military base took control of drones and is out of control. And for some reason they could not simply unplug the server — somehow it was able to self defend itself — with the drones and maybe other stuff.
The Fonz was on a pair of water skis, he was behind the wake and jumped the shark.
The car builders are committing suicide. Shark jumping they do every second of the day, what else is there to do?
Who wants to spend 75,000 dollars for a new vehicle and all of the other setup fees? What happens is you discover that the thing is not what you want at all.
I wrote Santa a letter and requested a new private jet for Christmas. Santa refuses to deliver lumps of coal to those who shout and pout.
Cars crawl along the surface of the earth at a measly 80 mph, a jet can go places fast.
I sent Bibi a lump of coal, one to Bidet too. Two grown babies that need some kind of special treatment. All they ever do is shout and pout, just listen to the two stupid idiots. Right there in front of you, you never hear the end of it.
When you get burned by
peopledemons like that, you gotta do something.It’s Mardi Gras up in the clouds
I’m up so high, I may never come down…
I’m gettin’ drunk on a plane – Dierks Bentley, Drunk on a Plane
I know we all want to believe otherwise, but the EV transition will continue unabated.
https://www.automotivedive.com/news/blueoval-sk-closes-doe-loan-9billion-ev-battery-joint-venture/735657/
I was just reading that Jeep is making the six available with an auto again for the Wrangler in 2025. 2024 sales apparently dropped a bunch.
it’s fun to doom and gloom all the time, but I think we’re seeing a pretty interesting grass roots push back in many areas. Gut some of the regs and let’s see what the smart people in the industry can do,
Here is to the return of the light, in so many ways.
Ave Saturnus.
Io Saturnalia!
Another “lesser of evil” the board chooses to take care of the problems. Just the American way. They vote a incompetent slug in then get angry when he doesn’t perform as they hoped. This hopium has been America’s problem since the war between the States. Each President selected sets up the next President so he could continue the destruction. Trump has been setup to take out Iran. At one trillion fedbux every three months what kind of moron would expect inflation to improve? There is talk now of the savior devaluing the dollar even more in a new monetary agreement.
The Federal Reserve which was supposed to end the busts is happily assisting in every way possible. And who cares if V8s are still available if one cannot afford it! $80,000 to$120,000 for a new car! Who’s kidding who. Just because you can handle the payments today doesn’t mean you can afford it tomorrow.
Look what has been running the Treasury,,, an old woman that cannot finish a sentence much like El Presidente. Cross dressers, furries and other assorted depraved idiots are running (ruining) the country…. into the ground.
Can anyone imagine running a business having to contend with the circus in Washington? The CEO’s have no control and could care less. With the millions they pocket every year they’re set for life which means the scams and high costs will continue.
‘having to contend with the circus in Washington’ — ken
This very day, 435 spineless midgets in the House of Ill Repute are struggling to excrete a Continuing Resolution, to paper over their 2-1/2 month tardiness in passing appropriations bills (try doing that with your taxes).
Given the House’s rule requiring 72 hours between bill introduction and vote, the timing of the continuing resolution’s release is starting to push up against Friday’s government shutdown deadline, says The Hill.
Burn it down … starve a clown.
Does anyone honestly believe they’ll shut government down and stop spending!?
Does a leach ever stop sucking blood?
C’mon folks 🙂
Being that the rhinos are gutless traitors and the Dim-tards are thieving Bolsheviks, I’d say the outcome is certain. People were just beginning to wake up. Every single politician and media personality are mortal enemies of the country, it was becoming a thing. But alas, Orange Kool-Aid has a strong hypnotic effect.
“The CEO’s have no control and could care less. With the millions they pocket every year they’re set for life which means the scams and high costs will continue.”
Exactly
We now have a situation where folks are incentivized to do and say whatever it takes to get a lucrative position and the golden parachute. To hell with everyone else. ‘I gots to get mine’
Leads to widespread destruction of Government, the economy, and previously viable corporations.
Kuniskis going to Ram instead of back to Dodge certainly appears to be exactly what you said Eric. The Ram gained mega market share with their new ’19. IMO it up’d the truck game and caught the others sleeping a little.
Since the hemi started going away in ’23 (they added a partial hybrid system-only for ’23 that no one wanted) their market share started to slip. Their new Hurricane sales in the 25 are abysmal. They have to turn this around to stay alive, and IMO the only way is to put the Hemi back in ASAP.
There are rumors the hemi and some of it’s variants are going into the new Charger too, ASAP.
I needed a new vehicle in our western place did NOT want a new truck with all these modern crap engines. So I got lucky and found one of the last hemi’s in a new Grand Cherokee L (’24 wow, rare).
I am no fanboy of the hemi’s, don’t care, but what I do like about it is it does not have all this modern crap in it (direct injection, etc….). It does have the e-lifters is is about it. I’ve heard rumors that an non-e-lifter version will be coming, yay!
US auto production is down to 3 percent while China is up to 39 percent globally.
Most advertising of vehicles in recent years features many kinds of people EXCEPT masculine white males – who make up more than half of the market for vehicles (not devices.) When white males are seen in ads, they are castrated wimps and baby sitting simps.
If the US auto industry wants to succeed they must fire the feminist women and simps who are destroying their products and branding. They must expose the lying D.C. politicians as the thieving parasites that they are and start making products that the largest market they have will buy, use, and enjoy.
The cultural and social “rot” that demonizes straight white males has been going on for decades, if not generations…
All one has to do is look how white males are portrayed on television sitcoms for the last fifty-years or so.
The white male is always portrayed as a bumbling idiot, dominated by his all-knowing condescending wife and smart-assed children. He is relegated to being a buffoon, not worthy of respect.
It has gotten worse, today. The nuclear white family is NEVER shown, instead a black husband and white wife is the norm, as well as homosexual and transgender “couples” being the present-day “norm”.
In most entertainment programming, the smartest individual is almost always portrayed as a black man, telling his lesser-abled (dumber) white subordinates what to do.
Homosexuality, transsexuality and pedophilia are now looked upon as merely “lifestyles” by the media elites. We are expected to not only “tolerate”, but embrace and celebrate such behavior. In fact, pedophilia is about to be “legalized” by calling pedophiles “minor-attracted adults”.
We have been on a downward slide to hell for a long time.
Despite being the only race that has uplifted all of humanity to levels not even imagined, us white males are still the “whipping boys” and blamed for every societal ill that are perpetrated solely by “people of color”.
The start of our modern-day slide to perversity and cultural destruction began with the enactment of so-called “civil-rights” laws, which outlawed true “freedom of association” (but unconstitutional laws and statutes directed and solely enacted against whites) and replaced it with government-backed and enforced “public accommodation”.
When the elites saw that whites would “knuckle-under” and capitulate to armed federalized troops enforcing unconstitutional “civil-rights” edicts, the stage was set for our eventual dispossession.
Hollywood (jews) types have been at the forefront of racial brainwashing, pushing the false mantra of “racial equality”. While in the 1920s and 1930s, Hollywood portrayal of blacks in film bordered on valid stereotypes, (which still DO have a large semblance of TRUTH), blacks were not seen as “equals” but being of a different race, showing a lack of cultural and social maturity, and best, left to their own to “figure out” how to exist in the white-dominated society of the day.
That all changed in the 1950s where miscegenation became the rule, rather than the exception in Hollywood films. The apex of the miscegenation movement, and the idea that “blacks were just as capable as whites, if not more so” came to fruition with race-mixing movies such as “To Sir, With Love” and the seminal miscegenation film, “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner”, the prime example being actor Sidney Poitier, who was always portrayed as a soft-spoken, highly intelligent, supremely intellectual negro while his white charges were almost always portrayed as intolerant “ne-er-do-wells” and even as savages.
The rest is history. Miscegenation and the false notion of “black superiority” is now not only ingrained in Hollywood movies but in the rest of popular culture as well.
In movies, whites almost always report to a black superior, although in real-life, that is almost never the case. Blacks are seen as socially and intellectually superior, while whites are portrayed as “pasty-white” ignorant “bumpkins”.
The “mainstream media” has also become complicit in the “brainwashing” of white society, always making excuses for black criminality and misbehavior, calling young black criminals “teens”, and many times not mentioning race, although it is well known, when the “mainstream media” talks about “teens”, they are actually talking about “blacks”.
Behind this cultural rot and the demonization of straight white males is the bolshevik jews…it’s always the jews.
Hi anarchyst,
Apparently, you have never watched Yellowstone, because Rip Wheeler is awesome. Actually, anything that Taylor Sheridan creates has strong male characters. I even like his new one, Landman, with Billy Bob Thornton and Jon Hamm, also 1923. Unfortunately, good programming/series haven’t been seen on the major networks of NBC/ABC/FOX/CBS for a decade, but I don’t watch those channels anyway.
I watch very little, if any talmudvision.
It’s just not worth it. I have better things to do with my life.
Here is my take on “bread and circuses” which are still used to control the masses:
I’ve been criticizing grown men for supporting professional “sports” for more than a few decades. I never watched that garbage…
Not only the “National Felon League” and the “National Basketball Association” but even that bastion of truly professional skills, NASCAR has been infected with “woke” ideology. When (((they))) banned the “Stars and Bars” flag, a part of their history, NASCAR sealed its fate, along with the promotion of substandard “affirmative action” black driver “bubba” wallace complaining about “racist” garage door pulls, triggering a full-blown FBI investigation, NASCARs fate was set. To add insult to injury, recently “bubba” wallace’s violent tendencies were on full display.
Let’s not forget the billions spent by grown male “sports fans” on sports ball jerseys, caps and other “trinkets”, overpriced game tickets and taxpayer-subsidized stadiums (playpens), all to benefit the (((owners))) of the criminal, steroid-addled costumed players who are paid millions of dollars to play children’s games.
“Bread and circuses” which are provided to “quell the masses” are just as successful now as they were in ancient times…
It is disgusting to see grown men spout off useless and meaningless sports statistics and the adulation that they give these costumed players (actors) while not giving a damn about the direction this country is taking.
It is just sickening to see grown men debase themselves with that mind-numbing garbage.
I realize that sports ball is “entertainment for the masses” and do look down derisively on grown men who sport their favorite sports ball players clothing or other accouterments.
I think to myself: “don’t you have anything better to do?”
There are much better things for grown men to do than watch sports ball sports.
Build something…repair something…study philosophy or technical journals on something that interests you, make something better, improve yourself and your standard of living and devices…use your wisdom and knowledge to get your fellow men to THINK for themselves, not what to think, but HOW to think and to not just accept the pablum, lies and falsehoods of the mainstream media and useless professional sports.
Message to grown men: Get away from the sports ball. You are much better than that…
My 44 year old daughter – Beth with better manners, we nicknamed her “The Barracuda” when she was 4. During her horse showing days the banner in her bedroom “Second Place is the First Loser”.
Future son in law in 2005 “why do you call her Barracuda?”
“Oh buddy, if you don’t know you soon will!”
Hi Sparkey,
LOL. We have one in our family. We nicknamed her Spicy Shrimp. Right now she is eight years old. We all expect her to be President one day. 🙂
“EXCEPT masculine white males”
Very true. It’s one of those “obvious, in your face” psyops that no one seems to care about. My wife scoffs at me when we are watching TV, a commercial comes on and I say, “We interrupt this program to bring you some fags and brown people.”
Killing cash cows for compliance’s sake is never the answer. Part of the reason why Uncle thought he could continuously ratchet up CAFE was because most manufacturers came up with some tiny-car that was so far ahead of everything else it raised the average for the whole company. Like the poindexter who always blew up the curve, a car like the Prius pushed the company fleet into compliance. When Uncle went too far the manufactures had to start dragging the other vehicles down. No one ever prospers making things worse.
FCA tried to turn existing vehicles into EVs. A strategy that was doomed from the start, mostly because the actual shape of cars like the Charger is based on putting a big lump of cast iron over the front wheels. Get rid of the engine block and you don’t need all that metal either. Why did they go this route? Was the marketing department too incompetent to introduce a new design? That’s what Ford did with the EV “Mustang” and although it probably hasn’t met sales expectations at least they didn’t destroy their flagship vehicle… just tarnished its name. Of course Ford screwed up the F-150 EV by making it look like a ICE F-150, another waste of effort. And they kept the same basic shape for the F-150 hybrid too. Why didn’t they introduce a new line of pickups called, oh, I don’t know… maybe the E-150? Ev-150? E-110? E-220, E-221, whatever it takes, right fellas?
As the Prius shows, it’s better to design from the ground up instead of trying to shove an EV into a body designed for internal combustion. And you don’t cause a catastrophe when no one wants your Doctor Moreau like chimera either.
Many people my age (X-er) believe that there has long existed a magic carburetor design which would give a typical family saloon an average of 60-70 MPG but kept off the market for many decades through a conspiracy of the major auto manufacturers and the oil companies.
EVs, particularly truck-style devices, were an easy sell for my generation who, like Fox Muldur on the “X-Files”, want to believe.
FCA tried to turn existing vehicles into EVs. A strategy that was doomed from the start
Well, manufacturers like Tesla make vehicles that were designed as EVs from the very beginning, and the results have still been disastrous and outright laughable. In a world that made sense, Tesla would have gone bankrupt a decade ago for their pathetic attempts at trying to revive a type of vehicle that the market correctly deemed obsolete a century ago.
Tesla the company and Tesla cars are different animals. Their business practices aside, they did design and build cars that were blank slate EV designs. They do follow tradition in styling but that’s about it. The front of their vehicles is much lower and shorter than cars with engines under the bonnet. The F-150 Lightning could easily fit an inline 6 under the hood easily just because that’s what F-150s look like.
[Tesla] do follow tradition in styling but that’s about it.
They also follow the questionable century-old tradition of designing cars that store energy using unfit-for-purpose battery technology, which is a bad idea today just as it was in the previous century. Tesla’s cars being blank slate EVs doesn’t really help compensate for that asinine design decision.
The Lightning was always intended as a stop gap to counter Elon’s Cybertruck and protect the dominance of the F150.
The follow up truck-like device has the someone ominous development name of T3.
Trust The Truck.
I’m old enough that I can’t help but think of “The Terminator”.
Hasta la vista Ford.
Being out of touch with the memes of TeeVee, having renounced it in sixth grade, I can’t tell whether the purported commercials posted above are real or fake; serious or self-parody.
Doesn’t really matter, except that this sort of deranged goofing around would seriously dampen my enthusiasm for plunking down eighty thousand Biden bucks on a chip-encrusted new Nannymobile.
‘“This vehicle is designed by clowns, who in turn are supervised by monkeys,” as was said about a failing manufacturer of winged piglets.
Orange Anticipation has produced a monster Bubble in asset prices — the largest in the history of human civilization. Behold the Euphoriameter:
https://ibb.co/hL1TYpy
You just know ‘they’ are gonna pull the plug and slime the Golden Golem of Greatness as Hoover II. He’ll slash capital gains tax to zero in a desperate attempt to stop the deepening slump. But it won’t work. And innocent auto makers will DIE.
Out of the blue and into the black
They give you this, but you paid for that
And once you’re gone you can never come back
When you’re out of the blue and into the black
— Neil Young, My My, Hey Hey (1979)
Hi Jim,
I don’t know if I am exhausted, idealistic, or just apathetic, but I am done with gloom and doom. Will something bad happen? Yes. Something bad happens everyday somewhere on this planet. Someone is hurt, dies, gets sick, is fired, goes through a breakup, loses their savings, etc. It happens. Sometimes, it happens to us.
I have been living the last five years of life waiting for the next lockdown. I have lived the last sixteen years waiting for the next bubble. I have lived the last thirty waiting for the fall of civilization and my country. Why? Because, we are constantly reminded that the shoe is going to drop. It keeps us in despair, on edge, angry, and scared. Peter Schiff and Nouriel Roubini have made millions off of it. When do we fish or cut bait?
I don’t expect everyday to be sunshine, lollops, and rainbows (to quote Leslie Gore), but dammit sometimes I want sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows (the real rainbows, not the one’s on the flag).
Does anybody have any good news to report? Anything? Babies? Marriages? Raises? New puppy?
Hi RG,
I don’t get men who don’t want to/don’t know how to fix things. It’s emasculating to have to depend on other men for that. I’m about to dig into the replacement of the heater core in my truck that just sprung a leak; the part is $60. If I had to pay a shop to do the install, it’d probably be $1,000! (I admit I don’t know how to deal with computers – but everyone has their weak areas, I ‘spose!)
Hi Eric,
No one is going to know everything and I cannot speak for men, but IMHO pride is a big part in it, but also independence. Men (and women) with skills have the ability to survive. In wasn’t that many decades ago (and still in some areas of the country) there wasn’t a store, supplies, or servicemen less than a half day’s drive. People learned to fix what they had or they starved. Also, labor is expensive…on everything. It usually makes up about 1/3-2/3 of the total costs depending on what is being completed.
I am not a fan of this push away from men getting their hands dirty. I just sent my son down for a weekend “boot camp” at his grandfather’s house. What did he do over those two days? Put up fence in cold ass weather. He came back and he was so excited, because he felt he had accomplished something (and he had). He now looks forward to going down each weekend to make a little extra money and a have a feeling of achievement. Men (especially young men) need this. It would do so much for their confidence and pride in themselves. Also, who doesn’t need an extra life skill?
Hi, RG,
>I am not a fan of this push away from men getting their hands dirty.
That has been going on a long time, thanks to the ignorance and (IMO, phony) “elitism” of HS “guidance counselors,” who regard competence at a skilled trade as “second best” to university education. But, what do they know?
You and I (and your husband) know better of course, and so did many of my co-workers, long ago, who had a university education, generally in mathematics or a scientific or engineering field, as well as journeyman level qualification in at least one construction trade.
We were all earning our living using our trade skills, for two main reasons;
1. It paid better, especially for those with initiative. Carpe diem definitely applies. Get it while you can, because tomorrow there may not be any.
2. There was much more freedom, although sometimes that was “freedom to starve.” Old saying in construction industry (which maybe you know), “I was looking for a job when I found this one.”
Points:
1. It is not an “either/or” situation, but rather “both/and.”
2. When you think about it, “trades” work means you have skills which take some sustained effort and intelligence to acquire. In days gone by, this practical knowledge was respected.
Here, for example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWm7nX_73mo&t=9041s
I do not believe there were any “engineering degrees” in the Middle Ages. The master craftsmen (“trades” workers) directed the show.
Personally, I do believe that respect for craftsmanship is making a comeback, as my Dad, a true master craftsman, predicted it would.
About the HS guidance counselors: can confirm.
When I was in high school, they wouldn’t allow me to take auto mechanics. I knew I was going to go to college for engineering and wanted to take both the auto shop and math & science track, but they kicked me out of auto shop.
Ah, so you “get it.” Mens et manus (mind and hands).
Good friend of mine taught HS for 10 years, but eventually quit because he was tired of “watching his back.” His classes in “industrial technology” attracted a wide variety of students, from those with a “full ride” scholarship to U of California to those one step from juvenile hall. They all worked and learned together, and completed some interesting and innovative projects, particularly in alternative energy.
Since they used their brains in “unauthorized” ways, that made them all “dangerous,” as far as the school administrators were concerned. 🙁
Hi Adi,
I agree with you about the guidance counselors. Growing up and attending junior high and high school in the early 1990s to mid 1990s in Central Virginia the schools that we attended had a ton of classes that were for real day situations. Hubby took architecture and auto maintenance in high school. I think he also took shop/woodworking in junior high. There were music classes (yours truly played the clarinet for four years), art classes, home ec, etc. It was a pretty well rounded education.
During my senior year in high school the local community college offered a combo of high school/college courses to gain college credits toward our future degrees. My mother attended similar classes in the late 1960s and told me to sign up at the college. I had to get permission from the HS to allow me to miss classes to attend the college courses.
The guidance counselor (at HS) refused to sign off on the notice for allowing me to take the off campus courses. He told me they needed to know where I was….this was in 1995. My mother went ballistic when I told her the school would not agree.
The next morning she and I walked into the guidance counselor’s office (no appointment). My mother showed up in her tailored business suit and four inch heels which put her close to 6′ tall. She worked for top management in a Fortune 500 company back then and she was not going to have some counselor making decisions on behalf of her children. It took Mr. Gordon (the GC) about five minutes to change his mind. I don’t recall the actual conversation, but Mr. Gordon did not get a word in and my mother handed me the signed paper from him that he now agreed with us.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t the first time she had to fight for my sisters and I throughout our public school education. The school system refused to look outside the box and most parents would buckle if the school poo-pooed an idea or situation. My mother wasn’t one of them.
Positives from yesterday & today: An 1/8th inch drill bit just snapped in half flush inside some work I was doing – it was ok to just leave it there – And I had a spare so I didn’t have to stop & go to town for another.
I sold a 3yr. old hen to a couple from The City so their pet hen had some company. They were eager to learn, so I taught them a bit more about chickens, made 6 Bucks, And didn’t have to freeze my fingers butchering it.
A younger broody hen is ecstatic because I decided to stop taking her eggs & see if she can hatch chicks in Winter.
I heard that a group of hot-flashing women laughed at a new way to let others know not to turn up the thermostat again, by saying to the thermostat adjusters, “You’re cooking me!”.
RG “Does anybody have any good news to report?” – Not really…
To wit:
“Just think — America was once a society in which there was no income tax or IRS. Americans were free to keep everything they earned — 100 percent — and there was nothing the federal government could do about it; there was no Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, welfare, farm subsidies, education grants, or other coercive welfare-state programs; virtually no economic regulations, including minimum-wage laws and occupational-licensure laws; no drug laws; no national-security state; no Pentagon, CIA, NSA, FBI, or vast, permanent, and ever-growing military-industrial complex; no warfare state, foreign military bases, invasions, occupations, coups, torture, state-sponsored assassinations, and indefinite detention; no involvement in European or Asian wars; almost no controls on immigration; virtually no public (i.e., government) schooling systems; no gun-control laws; no passports or other travel restrictions; and no Federal Reserve System or paper money.”
http://www.fff.org
Sooo, is this good news, or bad?:
‘All Three Pillars Holding Up the Economy Have Cracked’
… “All three of these pillars propping up the economy are self-liquidating systems, and they’re all buckling.” …
https://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2024/12/all-three-pillars-holding-up-economy.html
Or, is that just more of the same ole same reminding us all, “that the shoe is going to drop”? Idk.
Well-said, Liberty!
Heck, many of us can remember a time when no one was coerced to buy health insurance and people were free not to. When you could smoke at a bar. Or even on an airplane. When – if you got stopped by a cop for “speeding”- you could get out of your vehicle, walk over to the cop’s car and not get shot or ordered to get o the ground, now! When high school kids were free to come and go and there were no metal detectors of “school resource officers” in elementary and middle schools. When it wasn’t against the law to not wear a seatbelt or “sleep it off” in the backseat of your car. How about not having to show ID to buy cough syrup? How about your bank not narcing you out the feds? I could go on… and this is just a small sampling of what’s gone on in my lifetime alone.
“Does anybody have any good news to report? Anything? Babies? Marriages? Raises? New puppy?”
My son turned 15 and started expressing interest in joining me at the gym. After a couple of months of 3-4 days per week, he and I are both showing massive gains. Good father/son time. We push each other and don’t let each other quit. He was a scrawny computer geek, now he is becoming a strong young man right before my eyes.
Other guys at the gym come up to me and congratulate me for teaching my son to work out. We all agree we wish our dads would have done that for us.
That’s cool, Philo!
I’d like to have a protege to work out with, too. I never had that, either. I now have the experiential knowledge that might be helpful to a protege just starting out. I’ve also been hitting the weights hard over the past couple of years and am stronger now on bench than I have ever been. It helps to think about “maskers.”
Maskers… haha whatever helps get you motivated! It does make a huge difference to have a partner to work out with, especially if you find it hard to self motivate.
I pulled something in my left shoulder, so I have had to lay off the bench press for a while until it heals, opting for more isolation type movements. At my age, I have to work around injuries a lot! Two of the best exercises a person can do, bench press and squats, I can no longer do until I heal. Haven’t done a squat in probably a year.
Hi Philo,
Yup! One of the great lessons I learned over the years is the importance of stretching/flexibility and form. I also injured my shoulder and have been redneck rehabbing it for the past two-plus years. Iy is much better now, though I don’t have the range of motion entirely back yet. Weirdly, I went “heavy” on the bench for the past five weeks and my shoulder feels better.
That’s great, Philo! The father/son time is so important for young men. He will remember these times will you for the rest of his life.
Thank you for passing on some good news. 😁
I said all along this isn’t merely about compliance it’s about image too. The hurricane gets almost identical power and mpg to the ancient hemis it replaced. The French owners instinctively hate anything Americana so I think this is the real reason the v8 was cancelled and no new version was developed.
“And Kuniskis is exactly the right man for the job.”
Always optimistic . . . That’s cute.
Kuntiskis is as fake and gay as the electric charger. This tool did what he was told and intentionally destroyed the Challenger and Charger for a paycheck.
And now we’re expected to believe he is going to “save” the Ram brand. That is hilarious.
ROTFL
Maybe, Burn it Down –
I met him a few years back; seemed to be a good dude who genuinely loves cars. But maybe I’m being naive…
Look at his Bio on Stellantis site.
This is a guy that has no deep understanding of the design and engineering of automobiles.
This is a guy that was essentially unknown within Chrysler/DaimlerChrysler/FCA dealer operations until he hitched up on someone’s coat tails and around 2009 and began a meteoric rise. This is a career of job hopping every two years.
I’ve witnessed these guys from the inside.
They job hop every couple years leaving a wake of destruction behind them.
When they arrive – they largely inherit a working organization. They spend their time talking up what a bad hand they were dealt and how they are going to “fix” it. They spend their time politicking and reorganizing for appearances. This looks good to the upper management. Promotion ensues. By the time SHTF from their bad decisions, they are on to the next big thing while someone else cleans up the mess. Often they are two promotions down the road before SHTF from their decisions. Perfect lack of accountability.
This is a guy who thinks compliance with Uncle’s diktats = success.
Aerospace the same drill. Boeing brought in some “wunderkind” female finance “expert” years ago. Laid waste to the existing accounting systems implementing what turned into square peg/round hole system that failed spectacularly. Of course by the time the damage is done and reality coming to light they’re on to greener pastures.
See also “it’s building stuff, no different than any other manufacturing place, any manager can manage this!” Uhh huh. The 787 fiasco a great example of NOT.
[See also “it’s building stuff, no different than any other manufacturing place, any manager can manage this!” ]
What is amazing to me is how few people in this country can actually build anything. I’m talking about “men” that can’t even build a bird house.
Even amongst this great forum that is EP Autos:
How many have ever rebuilt an engine?
How many can weld?
How many can operate Machine Tools?
How many can even change a tire? I’m not talking about installing a spare (which still may be a challenge for some), I mean dismount and mount a tire (auto, motorcycle, bicycle)?
In Merica’ the ability to build and work with one’s hands is looked down upon.
And we wonder why there’s a lack of prosperity?
Back in the day (early 70s) you fixed it or walked. Of course then a part time job after school netted enough to buy gas and the occasional repair part. Also there were wrecking yards all over the county to shag a replacement part for cheap.
No one ever helped with my car expenses including buying the car and insurance. At 17 I went to the local State Farm office to see about insuring my 63 Alfa liability only. “How many cylinders in that rig Sparkey? Four? Hell, I’ll rate that as an economy car not a sports car!” Saved me lotsa dollars.
“How many have ever rebuilt an engine? How many can weld? How many can operate Machine Tools? How many can even change a tire?”
Every single man in my family. My husband. My father. My uncle. My nephew. My paternal grandfather (before he passed). Okay, my BILs can’t, but I am not technically related to them. I was raised blue collar and chose to marry blue collar. I could never bring home a guy who couldn’t do what the guys in my family are capable of doing.
I don’t understand women who aren’t attracted to tradesmen. There is nothing sexier than my husband grabbing his tool bag and changing out of the kitchen lighting over the the weekend, or nailing down hardwood floors, or changing the evaporator coil in the HVAC unit, or putting up a greenhouse, or changing the oil in my car. He saves us money…a lot of it.
If I had a choice between a lawyer and an electrician. I will always choose the electrician. I realize that makes me strange, but I view men that can fix things as gods.
RG – impeccable!
And I think Tavares, considering his racing and test track background, loved cars too. The problem is all these guys have to kiss ass to shareholders and big gubmint. Or they feel like they have to. It would be nice if just one industry head gave the ole double barrel middle finger to the watermelons and letter agencies and just produced the cars people actually want.
Of course we all know that plan would be shot down by the board of directions, principle shareholders and anyone one else with a voice in the company.
Here he is as a guest on Jay Leno’s Garage showing off the 170:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vjxv-8tTZ7I
He seems to be genuinely enthusiastic about this car.
Obama was genuinely enthusiastic about Obamacare
I believe you are wrong Burn it Down. It certainly appears he quit over the canceling of the Charger(s) and Hemi’s and the EV direction that Tavares demanded. Yes he may have done that commercial trying to promote the EV, but my guess is he held his nose but then couldn’t stomach it anymore and left.
We’ll see
We’ll see indeed
But let’s look at his history:
2009, Director – Chrysler Brand Marketing
Chrysler is now a failed brand with only the Pacifica as its only product.
2015, Head of Passenger Car Brands – Dodge, SRT, Chrysler and FIAT, FCA -North America.
2021 – May 2024, Dodge Brand Chief Executive Officer – Stellantis
Remind me . . . what is Dodge’s current line-up? Oh yeah . . . the Durango (ancient) and the Hornet.
2018, Head of Jeep Brand, FCA – North America
“Jeep sales have been declining in recent years, and the brand is facing several challenges:
Market share: Jeep’s market share in the US has dropped from 12.66% in 2019 to 8.80% in 2023.
Sales volume: Jeep’s US sales have dropped from over 973,000 in 2018 to less than 643,000 in 2023. “
Little Timmy sure has been doing a bang up job! I’m sure he’ll do better with RAM.
Compliance to unconstitutional diktats aside, the extraordinary cost of cars & trucks is simply more than most can bear. It’s hard to accept a new truck is more expensive than my first house. I’m safe in assuming most here in Eric’s world understand the federal reserve debasing the currency. So, I get that $100,000 in Bidenbucks is what $39,000 was in 1989. Still the brain inside my bald head says “WTF?!?”
Those who don’t understand the monster from Jekyll Island see jump in price of everything from eggs to autos.
Unless Stellantis and the dealer cabal figure out that we aren’t paying the astronomical price for their products, then they will continue to falter.
Devaluation of the dollar is only half the problem. Sure $100k isn’t what it used to be.
The problem is wages haven’t increased as rapidly as consumer costs.
When the Per capita income in past 12 months (in 2023 dollars), 2019-2023 is $43,289 and the median household income is about $80k (could be two working adults) a $60k-$100k automotive purchase isn’t in the cards without going into significant debt. And that assumes the household is even credit worthy (many aren’t).
This is a recipe for the death of the auto industry.
Die bitchez! It hurts me to say that but they have it coming. The forced “transition” (Trans-ing?) to devices and the elimination of economy cars has assured the demise of the industry.
Back at the end of the 1980s all the pundits said that the US was going to be a service economy. Never mind that services aren’t cash cows the way products are. Now the products that are produced in the US are only high margin high skill or don’t require many people. So the US still leads in aerospace (mostly), media production (except for India) and software development. Aerospace is run through the military and tight regulations, so it’s pretty untouchable. Media and software though, those are one of those industries where one or two people can produce work that billions of people will pay for. Problem is, you’re always swinging for the fences. For every Windows 95, there are dozens of Windows ME (or Windows Mobiles). Being productive working on a Hollywood dud shouldn’t count as productive work, but people are great at justifying their work as useful, even if it isn’t helping.
Bringing factory work back to the US will likely be a failure. The reason being is because we’ve become pretty adept at designing products that can be built by robots. The fuelselage of the 787 comes to mind. Instead of dozens of men with rivet guns, a big robot and a few people watching to make sure it doesn’t jam up or something. That’s US manufacturing. The robots just need to get cheaper.
The problem with a service economy in most cases is that you’re always working to provide the service. It’s always a job, you can never get ahead. To make real money you need to sell a product, and to do that you need capital. A barber makes good money, but he always has to cut hair.
Our society has consolidated the capital to the point that freedom, independence, and innovation are stopped. A small startup will usually fail after spending the capital to get their product to market, the few that succeed will be bought out or forced off the market by a big well capitalized business.
The problem with capitalism is you end up with very few capitalists.
Especially when successful capitalists can buy favorable governments and make it impossible for new capitalists to spawn and grow.