The Buy American Thread

[Sandy G]

What about Colt ? A goodly portion of Berettas are made in Maryland...Then there's Thompson/Center, FNH/South Carolina, & there's Barrett over in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, not TOO far away from me. A few years ago, guess what was the 2nd largest US export after Boeings ? Tobacco products....US cigarettes, love 'em or hate 'em, sell VERY well overseas. We printed the home sweet hell outta "export" labels...Buicks, Cadillacs, & Chevys sold pretty well in China-Buicks especially. There were a couple models that were "China only"-had no counterparts here. I don't know if that's still going on since the troubles GM's been having-But China was a bright spot on an otherwise very bleak picture for GM.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

What about Colt ? A goodly portion of Berettas are made in Maryland...Then there's Thompson/Center, FNH/South Carolina, & there's Barrett over in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, not TOO far away from me. A few years ago, guess what was the 2nd largest US export after Boeings ? Tobacco products....US cigarettes, love 'em or hate 'em, sell VERY well overseas. We printed the home sweet hell outta "export" labels...Buicks, Cadillacs, & Chevys sold pretty well in China-Buicks especially. There were a couple models that were "China only"-had no counterparts here. I don't know if that's still going on since the troubles GM's been having-But China was a bright spot on an otherwise very bleak picture for GM.

my beloved Colt's. Sad thing is, Colt doesn't make much of anything anymore, think the .45 and the AR are about it. I did forget Thompson Center...1st class firearms. And Barrett, didn't he move his operations to Tennessee after California outlawed .50's for civilians?

Always was a Buick fan myself. Always figgered folks who bought them Cattleracks were just puttin' on a little too much of the dog. 'Sides, some of 'em was ugly as hammered shit.

Favorite all time car was a '65 Buick Skylark two door hardtop w a 355 Wildcat...which was really a HP 300 CID mill, 11-1 compression, 240 HP, 360 FT...ran like a striped assed ape for such a little motor. Hardly a day went by that I didn't have the speedometer pegged at 120, which is plenty fast for these crooked little Ozark back roads.

Then the do gooders lowered the speed limit to 55...

Chas

[Twodogs]

I collected Buick muscle for years, and got out about 4 years ago. Coolest one I ever had was a 64 Riviera with factory dual 4s on a 425 Wildcat. Man what a ride, FM radio, posi, the works.

[Combwork]

Regretably this is also the case in the U.K. I used to buy special order steel pins for re-pinning musical box cylinders from a company in Bradford called Pinco. Made in the U.K., sold in the U.K. Then some bean counter had the bright idea of selling all their production equipment (highly modified grinders, impossible to replace) to India. Labor costs were much lower; the idea was to buy back the finished products which even after delivery and customs charges would have been cheaper than making them here. Problem was that having got the equipment the Indian company went bust. Scratch Pinco; the last remaining pin manufacturer left in Britain. Now I have to buy pins made in Germany.

Question. Are there any TV's still made in the U.S.A? A few years back I visited a friend in Muncie, Indiana. She had two TV's; one a huge Magnivox in a beutifull wood case, the other a Sony. When it was working, the Magnivox produced a lousy picture and smelt hot. The Sony? Reliable and watchable. Guess which one we used?

Sorry about the lousy spelling, I've had to switch to Firefox and although it has all the bells and whistles imaginable, one thing I can't find is a spellchecker.

[painter]

http://www.americansworking.com/

[Twodogs]

Originally Posted by painter

http://www.americansworking.com/

Outstanding! Anyone else notice that these brands we have mentioned are all the best quality stuff available. I still put up Americans against any worker in the world. If only the government would get out of their way.

[Sandy G]

Originally Posted by Twodogs

Outstanding! Anyone else notice that these brands we have mentioned are all the best quality stuff available. I still put up Americans against any worker in the world. If only the government would get out of their way.

Hehehehehe...In the late '70s thru '92, my company belonged to Dennison Mfg. Co, an "Office Products" supplier out of Framingham, Mass. They were into EVERYTHING, pens, Carter's Ink, but one thing they made that EVERYBODY knows about are the little tiny re-inforcements that kids put around the holes in notebook paper...The also had Therimage, a heat-setting decalcomania that went on soft bottles, like French's Mustard & a LOT of hair-care & related products. They bought us because WE printed labels, too, & they thought they could utilise our capacity. Didn't really work out that way, our presses were 36" web width, & Therimage works best on narrow-web presses, no more than 20" wide tops. Their pressmen & engineers never could get Therimage to run faster than 2-300 feet a minute, which is dreadfully slow. They put up a narrow-web press at our place, & us dumb ol' hillbillies who didn't know Jack Schitt about printing-so THEY thought, anyhow, soon had it running along at 4-500 feet a minute...With better register, less ink spots, etc to boot...I always kinda liked that...Stickin' it to a bunch of arrogant New England Yankees...Mbwahahahaha...

[OvenMaster]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

.I always kinda liked that...Stickin' it to a bunch of arrogant New England Yankees...Mbwahahahaha...

I like you too, Sandy. I just wish I could find that grinning middle finger smiley. LOLOL

[Sandy G]

Originally Posted by OvenMaster

I like you too, Sandy. I just wish I could find that grinning middle finger smiley. LOLOL

Present company excepted, of course, Tom...There WAS a lot of friendly-and SOMETIMES-a bit "testy" rivalry between the Framingham bunch & the Rogersville crew...The biggest problems we had were w/some of the manager types they sent down...Some of them WERE very antagonistic, & thought we were all a bunch of "Deliverance" types. We WERE, but once they got down here, & found out we didn't really bite-Too hard, anyway-things got better. I had to go up there a few times, & they couldn't have been nicer to me, though. Once I went up there in January, landed at Logan, by the time we got to F'ingham there was 22" of snow on the ground...I told 'em I appreciated the honor & all, but they coulda saved it for someone else...Damstuff wasn't even good snow-Very dry & dusty, you couldn't make a decent snowball outta it...Bigest thing I hated was I NEVER really got to see Boston- Typically, we'd land at Logan, haul @ss out to F'ingham, spend 2 or 3 days holed up in a hotel or at 300 Howard Street, which was where Dennison's headquarters was & then back to Logan & home. Once, I DID get the gal driving the limo to go thru town, she showed me Faneul Hall, The Constitution, the stadium, & where The Big Dig was. I was in their Purchasing Group, & once I hosted our group's meeting, I REALLY tried to "put on the Dog" for them-We have a "colonial" hotel-Actually, a "Jacksonian" era hotel, it was built in 1824, & I rented out the whole thing-all 10 rooms, & told the chef there to do his damndest. I think they were impressed...(grin)

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

Hehehehehe...In the late '70s thru '92, my company belonged to Dennison Mfg. Co, an "Office Products" supplier out of Framingham, Mass. They were into EVERYTHING, pens, Carter's Ink, but one thing they made that EVERYBODY knows about are the little tiny re-inforcements that kids put around the holes in notebook paper...The also had Therimage, a heat-setting decalcomania that went on soft bottles, like French's Mustard & a LOT of hair-care & related products. They bought us because WE printed labels, too, & they thought they could utilise our capacity. Didn't really work out that way, our presses were 36" web width, & Therimage works best on narrow-web presses, no more than 20" wide tops. Their pressmen & engineers never could get Therimage to run faster than 2-300 feet a minute, which is dreadfully slow. They put up a narrow-web press at our place, & us dumb ol' hillbillies who didn't know Jack Schitt about printing-so THEY thought, anyhow, soon had it running along at 4-500 feet a minute...With better register, less ink spots, etc to boot...I always kinda liked that...Stickin' it to a bunch of arrogant New England Yankees...Mbwahahahaha...

Ya know Sandy, th' war's been over fer 150 years. Even I quit runnin' people with Kansas plates offa the road.

Never did figger out why they thought honkin' that damn horn was gonna do 'em any good.

Chas