Re: Where did all the old Japs car go?

Well possibly, but what point is there to this anyway? You were originally claiming that this had something to do with vehicle longevity, not who had made the most museum pieces.

It certainly is a question of longevity. If the Japs cars have always been so much better than American cars, as some would have us believe, why are there few if any Jap car left from 50 or evn 40 years ago? There are plenty of American cars around and running, even many other foreign cars sold in the US from around the world . The evidence says Jap cars are apparently not as superior as the Jap car buyer would like us to believe.

mike

In girls Mike's condition would be known as "penis envy".

because in 1950 or even 1960 Japan wasn't importing cars to the US in any appreciable numbers because they were still rebuilding their domestic infrastructure. Geez, you're a flaming dumbass sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a big Japanese car fan, but to simply run them down all the time is just ignorant. Japanese cars are and have been a viable alternative to American cars (and sometimes a better one) for the last 30 years; unless the American mfgrs. really start competing, they're here to stay.

nate

Imports of Japanese cars into the US prior to 1970 were almost zero. Not that many were being sold domestically either. And it does nothing to do with longevity. Do you thing that Ming vases are more durable than Mikasa china because there are more Ming vases in museums?

I don't see many 40 or 50 year old cars from any manufacturer doing daily duty. the only ones are the collectibles brought out on fair Sundays and getting driven to the tune of a few hundred miles a year, at most. This has nothing to do with longevity.

What do you mean running them down? I simply asked a question, where are the old Jap cars if they are so superior? I have been saying for a long time that every manufacture is building good stuff today, both domestic and import brands. The only real difference among them is style and price. One need not pay a premium price to get a reliable vehicle today

You perception is not correct. There were as many or more Japanese cars sold in the US in the sixties than there were cars from Europe, I owned a few myself.

I have owned many Japanese cars. Where I part company with the import buyers, who love to come into domestic NGs and say there cars are all junk, and have us believe Jap cars are superior to domestics, of the same class and price range. From what I have seen in my years in the business is that is more myth than fact.

Why else would Honda and Toyota buyers be posting in a GM NG, to say nice things? LOL

mike hunt

You have got to be joking. Did you ever hear of the VW Beetle? They had sold 5 million of those in the US by 1970. Add in sales of Fiat, Peugeot, Renault, Volvo, MG, Triumph, Saab, BMW, Mercedes and it must add up to 7+ million European cars sold in the US in the 1960s.

Datsun didn't reach 1 million total sales until 1973. Toyota might have been a little ahead of them. Honda sold virtually no cars in the US prior to 1973. I don't think any other Japanese manufacturer sold any cars in the US prior to 1970 except for Malcolm Briklin selling a bunch of $600 Subarus in 1969.

Looking at the 1960s, I would estimate that European cars outsold Japanese in the US by at least 5 to 1, maybe 10 to 1. Of course, all imports combined rarely cracked 10% of the total market in that decade.

Face it, Mike. All this talk about museum pieces is just a duck, dodge and hide maneuver to avoid talking about the fact that Toyota outsold Ford in July. Better get used to it. With Prudhoe Bay shut down, those Explorers and Expeditions are looking mighty stupid.

Those Explorers and Expeditions looked pretty stupid before gas prices increased.....

Death traps on wheels....