The American Automobile: What happened to "Buying American?

Growing up in the 60s my family, grandparents, and as a matter of fact EVERYONE owned an American car. Check out the Video below for those who have never seen a vintage American Auto ad, or if you haven’t seen one in a while. I lived in a small town back east and all you saw on the roads were American cars, flags on houses and everyone knew their neighbors.

As GM and Chrysler make their way back to Capitol Hill, what do those execs see? Do they see that America only buys American now? I think not. That in itself should be a huge wake up call for them and us as consumers.

American car companies need to not only build good cars, (and they do build good cars) they now need to look at going green also. Go American and green! What a concept. Our auto companies need to create a way for Americans to identify with their new vehicles.

G.M. in the 60s and 70s did this with the advertising slogan “Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and Chevrolet.” Ford did it with “Quality is Job One.” And Dodge with “Big, solid, built to command”

We as Americans should get back to the “buy American” mindset. Easier said than done, just ask anyone under the age of 35 if they would buy an American car, most would opt for a hybrid or a Japanese vehicle because of the green factor and fuel economy. A lot of American’s have believed all the press written about how Japanese cars are better than American and get better fuel economy; just not so. Check out this consumer report article from December 2008.

So Ford has led the pack with it’s refocusing of it brand and is not taking any bailout money. Look for Ford to do a lot more than the other two. GM talks about change but you don’t see too much of that on their site. Chrysler has said they are going to eliminate at least 3 models probably more, and both GM and Chrysler are asking for more bailout money.

I for one hold out hope that we get back to the “Buy American” for America. Long gone is the muscle car age of the 60s and 70s, but what about the green car era of this age? It would be great to see the streets filled with American cars again and the flags on the houses would be a nice touch.

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