The Big Three That Once Was a.k.a. Dreaming of Cadillacs

I've written about cars in previous posts, but it seems timely to write more about my experience with American cars now that the Big Three American car companies, Ford, Chrysler, and GM, are on the brink of collapse and begging for the U.S. government to keep them afloat.

My wife and I, like most Americans, have been driving since we were 17 or so. Getting one's license and driving is truly a rite of passage in the U.S.

(Digression: What counterparts do HK teenagers have to look forward to as they creep towards adulthood? What such rite of passage do they get? Most don't even get to go away to university and many live at home until well into their 20s and 30s...Poor kids. I hope they get to at least smoke or drink a bit.)

Since I was a kid, I was a believer of American cars. I don't know what made me this way. But if I have to pinpoint something, it probably was a belief that was handed down from my parents, who have always bought and still only buy American cars. When I was a kid, the best and most impressive car that anyone we knew drove was a Cadillac. Back then, especially among my parents' friends and their circle of Korean immigrants, a Cadillac was a crucial component of the American Dream.

My parents never really got that Cadillac, but the view that American cars were top-notch was instilled in me firmly.

Anyway, after university, in our first years of grown-up life, So Jene and I schlepped around in a used Plymouth Laser that was handed down to her. It was a small hatchback with its share of dings and dents. Still, it suited us fine for a while until the transmission gave out at just around 70,000 miles and we were forced to ditch the car.

After that, we bought a new Saturn and drove that around for six years and a little more than 100,000 miles. During that time, so many things went wrong with it that shouldn't have that it undid my programming and preference for American cars.

What's more, every mechanic I took it to, said the same thing: "American cars are junk. They're the only cars we work on nowadays."

Even the Saturn mechanic shared this sentiment.

Sure these guys could have been exaggerating. And sure my experience could have been an anomaly, and sure there are lots of other possibilities and explanations... (After all, they could all have been on the Toyota payroll!!!)

But, the experience soured me on American cars.

So, when it came time to buy the next car, I bought a cheap little almost-20-year-old Toyota Corolla for $700 cash. It was a drastic move. But at that time, I was the only one using the car, and I figured all I needed was basic transportation.

This little Toyota, which didn't look like much--but then, neither had the Saturn-- ran better than the Saturn, which had the absolute worst turning radius, and was overall, a better car.

Ditto for the used 20-year-old Volvo and the 25-year-old Mercedes that followed. These used cars, which cost very little, were built and designed so much better than the GM Saturn. And they were far far more durable.

In fact, the Mercedes, which was the last car we had in the U.S. before we moved to Hong Kong, had 280,000 miles and was still running strong.

If an American car lasts 100,000 miles, you've had a good run.

Having said all that, I'm not saying whether the Big Three should be bailed out or not. That's a different question.

All I'm saying is cars made by these companies have proven themselves to be junk, and these companies have burned American consumers for a long long time now.

So, if a bailout is granted, it'll be for the now distant memory of the once grand American automobile industy, and absolutely not for any love that anyone has for the cheap inferior cars that these companies have been dumping on consumers for far too long.

I end this rather serious and depressing post with a completely unrelated random photo of yours truly outside the main Sumo center in Tokyo. Enjoy!

Not Driving for Free in Hong Kong

This is along the same lines of the sentiment expressed in the HONG KONG LAUNDRY video.

I know lots of people still have cars here despite how tiny the place is, but we do not have a car. I know if we really wanted to, I could alway go and buy a used car, but there really is no use for it. And I know that not driving is better for the environment, but I still can't help it. A part of me really misses driving.



Believe it or not, even though we lived in NYC, we used our car a lot and depended on it to get around. I had a reverse commute that would have taken 1.5 hours each way on public transportation but was 30 minutes by car. And on wknds, we'd drive to Philly or to see my folks in upstate NY. Sure we could have taken public transportation but that would have turned a 2 hour trip to 5 hours (door-to-door) and a 1.5 hour trip to 3 hours (door-to-door).

Here, our trips within HK are usually at most a little over an hour. There just aren't that many places to go. And there's no real possibility of doing a long-haul road trip like the ones So Jene and I used to do back in the U.S. (NY to Key West, NY to Savannah, CA to NY).

Anyway, I'm not a gearhead, and I'm not even that into cars (new flashy cars that you see so many well-to-do HK people in), but I do miss driving, especially in our last car, a 1984 Mercedes 300D, a diesel car that I personally rigged (by changing the plumbing and installing a second fuel tank in the trunk (a converted ice box)) to run on recycled vegetable oil that I used to go pick up from the CROWN FRIED CHICKEN establishment at the corner.

Yes, folks! I was one of those people who ran their cars on recycled vegetable oil. It's a lot of work, and it's cumbersome, but it works. I drove that Mercedes on vegetable oil for around 7000 miles and then sold it right before we moved. So Jene used to hate how the exhaust would smell like fried food and did not at all appreciate how I had to keep a large barrel of recycled vegetable oil in the corner of our kitchen--what can I say? She's put up with a lot and is a saint. But she did like the leather seats, which were in good condition considering how old the car was.

That said, people who do the vegetable oil conversion on old diesel Mercedes usually tend to live out in the burbs or way out in the country. I was one of only a dozen or so nutjobs who insisted on doing it in NYC of all places. Still, it was a blast, knowing that I was beating the oil companies and driving for free on my own effort--I also got to meet some cool guys who worked at the fried chicken place. (They couldn't believe the car would run on the old fry oil!!)

The entire conversion cost me around $250 U.S. in parts and lots of my own labor. They sell kits for around $1000, U.S. but I managed to do fine without the kit. I didn't get the kit because it was more expensive than the car.

I looked into doing something similar here in Hong Kong. The tropical climate here would make it very easy to run diesel cars on vegetable oil as the main difficulty of doing so is cold weather. And I always see tons of those metal cubes of used vegetable oil piled up in backs of HK restaurants.

But sadly, there are no diesel private cars here for whatever reason. Does anyone know??

Anyway, the photos here are of that car--I wish I had better photos but I took them only to post ads when I needed to sell.



The car was an old jalopy that looked good only from about 50 feet away. I bought it from this old guy up in Scarsdale for $850 specifically to convert it to run on vegetable oil. The Mercedes Benz symbol hood ornament was so old that the inside had fallen off and was just a hoop. I hope this car is still on the road and still running strong on recycled vegetable oil.

My one regret with this car is that I didn't get to put it in a movie. I should have. It was interesting. And I got to meet many cool people while collecting recycled vegetable oil from fried chicken establishments, but that's another story...