Postcards From Myself

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To make room – both physical and mental – for the TR4

Posted via email from Carnellm’s Posterous

New magazine just came! Sad, but not much makes me happier than getting in a fresh issue of a car magazine from England. Guess what I will be doing this evening? I wish I could afford to get more of them or subscribe to a few, but they are extremely expensive on this side of the Atlantic.

And if you at all interested in cars like this, please check out my British car site at JustBritish.com. I also have sites dedicated to my 1973 MG Midget and 1962 Triumph TR4.

Posted via email from Carnellm’s Posterous

I can never be without a toy for long. And by toy I really mean a car. Without something to tinker with, I am just not happy. And ever since the age of about 19 that toy has really had to be British. Once you get British cars in your blood, they never come out. Kind of like stains. Maybe it comes from inhaling a combination of Castrol oil and brake fluid along with rust. Don’t know, but I have the sickness bad. And, beyond just being British, I am addicted to MGs. Yes, I have MG hats, shirts, belts, key rings, posters, book, glasses, toys, and much more. Even an official MG dart board. (Me making my wife take time out from our English vacation to visit Abingdon, the birthplace of MGS, and the Heritage Motor Museum is an entirely different story.)

Anyway, back to the task at hand. Because of this addiction and because no one had the foresight to ban me from searching Craigslist, I am now the owner of a 1973 MG Midget that is in need of a wee bit of restoration. Although according to my friend Pat Stuckart, “saying this car needs a bit of work is like saying the Titanic needed a bit of buoyancy.” Some friend he is!

I have posted one picture of the car here, but if you click on that picture you can go to the full site I have about the car. Yes, another odd addiction of mine is making websites for anything that I get my hands on. If you would like to see it directly, just go to my MG Midget Page.

So, now you know what I will be doing in my rare “off moments” for the next few months. Or maybe years. I am still convinced that it is not as bad as it looks. Which in and of itself is a really good thing! But also, while my wife and her friends adopt stray dogs and protect them from pounds and being put down, I do the same thing for ailing British cars. I just can’t stand to see a car with any chance of life be parted out, sent to the junkyard, or worse yet set to the crusher. It just kills me a bit somewhere inside. Of course, again, that could be the chemicals and rust having their way with me.

The big three automakers are in trouble and it is there own fault. Interestingly I have talked to friends both liberal and conservative, Democrat and Republican. We all agree that the government should not bail out GM, Chrysler or Ford because they got in the bind they are in by their own self-centered mismanagement. They all thought they could do whatever they liked and that the customers would follow them. Sorry, your customers aren’t sheep and to think they are is just conceited stupidity.

There used to be an old saying that “what is good for GM is good for the country.” That tells you exactly where the problem lies. As anyone who is in tune with the marketplace can tell you, it should have been “what is good for the country is good for GM.” Basically, if you concentrate on your customer your business will succeed.

If you do what is right for your customers you will succeed on two fronts. First, even in the unlikely event that you do fail financially, you will have done some good for the world. And secondly, if you are doing right by your customers they will support you and stand behind you. They will want you to succeed. And that alone is more than half the battle.

Truthfully, I am not sure if it is too late for the big auto makers. I am sure it is already too late for their executives though. The guys at the top are too selfish to do what is right by their customers, their companies, or their countries. They have proven that by their attitudes and action. The best thing they could do is step down, and if they won’t step down they should be removed.

The only way the big three can be fixed is if they, and the labor unions who work for them, quit focusing on themselves and turn their attention to giving the customers what is wanted. How in the world does flying a corporate jet aid the customer? It doesn’t. How does haggling at the dealership until utter frustration sets in help the customer? It doesn’t. How does making too large gas guzzling old technology help the customer? It doesn’t. See how simple the test is? Just cut out all the junk that isn’t good for the customer out. Focus on your customer and you can’t lose.

I have a real crisis of action and conscience on my hands. This will affect not only how I appear, but how I am perceived by other people. The question is this – how long do I leave the Obama bumper sticker on my car? Don’t laugh! This is serious. We have all seen the people with bumper stickers from an election two or three presidents ago, and it just makes those cars look ridiculous. Is the problem that the sticker won’t come off? Is the driver thinking there might be a recount? Was that the last time the car was washed? Or is the owner just living in either euphoria or denial?

I want to leave the Obama sticker on my car long enough for people to know who I supported for President and that I am happy that he won. But I don’t want to gloat either. That would be bad form and not at all in line with the bridge building we need to do. And the election is over – for the most part. Maybe I should leave the sticker on the bumper until the Electoral College does its thing. That would be the surest end, right? Or maybe I should just wait until the inauguration in January. That way during the end of the current administration my car would point to the next administration.

Or maybe I should just do it now. Get that sticker off the bumper, give the car a good wash, and move on with my life and my work. What do you thing? How long until you get tired of seeing all the election paraphernalia?