Author: Administrator

by Lloyd Frazier

After doing a lot of reading on the internet, magazines, newspapers, etc., it has become apparent that the measurement for what is or isn’t considered American made has been blurred. The globalization of manufacturing is widespread in many commodities. Automobiles probably are the most homogenized of all of them. Toyota has been closing the gap on the percentage of what is actually made in the US. GM and Ford is still edging Toyota out but only by a few percentage points. When you start to look at where all the money ends up however, all of Toyota’s profit goes back to Japan. That is what is significant. I read a very lengthy economic take on the global economy and many rebuttals to it. There are as many opinions on the economy as their are makes and models of automobiles. What struck me as odd was the fact that the world is making money off our debt load. Shouldn’t we be concerned about that? Shouldn’t American’s make their best effort to buy goods and services from American companies? You could state the case that General Motors is doing very well in Europe and China. They have a large stake abroad just like Toyota and a lot of other foreign automobile companies have a large stake in the US market. From the studies I have read regarding all of this, it looks like the companies that are staying strong are the ones that are spreading themselves around in the stable, emerging economies. So kudos to General Motors. We can be proud that they are really making a big comeback here and abroad. Now it is Ford’s turn to continue the hard fought battle, make the tough decisions and emerge strong. Chrysler is still being offered on the chopping block. There are a couple of large investment companies looking to sink their teeth into Chrysler. Daimler-Chrysler will probably be unloading it soon. I just hope there is some semblance of responsibility to make a great American moniker like Chrysler whole again and American owned. The buck needs to stop here in our own backyard. America needs to be the ingenuity leader in the automobile marketplace once again. There are some really great designs coming out of Detroit lately. We don’t want to lose that unique American flair in automotive design. Thats my story and I’m sticking to it.

Lloyd, signing out…

by Lloyd Frazier

My wife and I have been shopping for a new house for a few weeks and I was starting to get a little worn out in the process. I needed some stress relief. “I know”, I said, “I will build a Hi-Po Chevy small block this weekend.” And yes, I actually did. A 1/6th scale model of one that is. I wouldn’t have anything to drop a full size one into anyway. I guess I could drop it into my ’02 S-10. Man would that would be a screamer. I better let a professional handle that one. I knew I could handle 1/6 scale no sweat! I got the idea while we were shopping for some stuff we needed at home. I saw a hobby shop and told my wife I just had to drop in and check out their stuff. I was a big model car builder when I was a kid. My favorite was a blown ’57 chevy dragster that I really detailed out. I still have it in a drawer somewhere. As I was perusing the model car aisle, I spied boxes and boxes of scale model engines. Remember those working V-8 models where you can see all the moving parts through the translucent plastic. The crankshaft, pistons, valves, etc. all moved. I always wanted to do one of those. I know I didn’t really have time for that

big of a project, so I found a really cool hi performance Chevy small block. As you can see, it is very detailed. I really had a blast putting it together over the weekend. I was really surprised at how intricate the paint, chrome, and other fine details were applied in this kit. All I needed was a small phillips screw driver and some glue. And best of all, it was a heck of a lot cheaper than the real thing.

Lloyd, signing out…

by Lloyd Frazier

I found and interesting article about recycling CO2 waste to make biodiesel. New Belgium Brewery will be pumping 5000 metric tons of waste CO2 to Solix Biofuels on an annual basis. The waste will be pumped into a bioreactor to make algae. The algae will be processed into biodiesel. See the article here > Autoblog Green.

Now it would make sense to me that if this really works, we should create a new national campaign – National Beer Drinking Month. July would be a good month. We could kick it off by combining it with our annual Fourth of July celebrations all over the country. Heck, we are all drinking beer at picnics that day anyway. What is a few more six packs to save our environment. Cheers!

Lloyd…signing out