American made tractors?

[MossRoad]

Didn't Hummer move into one of the old Stude plants out your way?

Sort of. Studebaker went belly up in the 60's. They had a division called the General Products Division. That was bought by Kaiser Industries (JEEP) in '64. They had government contracts for military vehicles. AMC bought the Jeep division from Kaiser around 1970. They made postal vehicles like Jeeps, small vans, etc... as well as military Jeeps and trucks and buses. AMC spun off the GPD as a wholly owned subsidiary and called it AM General. AMC went belly up in 1982 and sold to Renault. However, Renault was owned by the government of France and U.S. govt. rules said no foreign owners of defense contractors. As usual, France surrendered and AM General was sold to LTV, a defense and aerospace contractor. In the late 70's they developed the Hummer. However, hummers were never built in South Bend. They started production in a plant in the next town over, Mishawaka, where they are still built today. The South Bend AM General plant was used for retrofit of hummers that needed special things like missle launchers, hospital cabs, etc... They also had a contract to refurb 2.5 ton and 5 ton trucks for the military. I had a job in the mid 80's driving vehicles out of the South Bend plant to rail spurs all over northern Indiana. We drove new postal vans, new hummers, refrubed duece and a halfs and 5 tons. Fun times. The South Bend plant shut down in the early 90s and remains a hulking building on the city's south side.

Attached is a zip file containing a google earth link. If it works, you can unzip it and save it to your computer. Double click on it and it should take you to an overview of the South Bend plant. Note the large test track to the west that is still used by AM General and the hummer owner club when they have national events in town.

 

[MessickFarmEqu]

But, what she was describing was an agreement with union workers when automation started penetrating the auto industry and a certain percentage of paid jobs were required for workers who had no function. .

Simular thing happened here in PA with turnpike toll workers when EZ-Pass came out. The turnpike commision was not allowed to fire any workers even though they where not needed any more. So now we have folks making $14/hr plus a pension and benifits to stand in a booth, and make change every once and awhile. Unbelievable.

 

[john_bud]

Simular thing happened here in PA with turnpike toll workers when EZ-Pass came out. The turnpike commision was not allowed to fire any workers even though they where not needed any more. So now we have folks making $14/hr plus a pension and benifits to stand in a booth, and make change every once and awhile. Unbelievable.

If they had any stones they would re-assign them to picking up trash along the pike.

They have the power, but lack the will.

jb

 

[downslope]

Went 4 pages into Google after search on "Job Banking" and all results point to jobs related to Banking. Any other name for this?

Big Three Bailout? Not So Fast, Declan McCullagh Says A Better Solution Is To Let The Automakers Declare Bankruptcy - CBS News

Jobs Bank - Google

 

[Farmwithjunk]

The major players in the AG tractor industry were producing equipment abroad for ages. In the post WWII era, the process started to take an upswing. Deere has had a strong presence in South America, Europe, and points beyond every since. IH was investing in plants in England, while "licensing" production of tractors in India long before that became taboo, then becoming the latest trend. IH had plants in England well before WWII. The industry has been "global" for quite a while. Ford was reaching out across the seas almost from their entry into the industry.

NO ONE builds 100% of any tractor exclusively in the US any longer. Even the big "Waterloo Deere's" have quite a few major components shipped in from overseas.

AND...If we are to give the title of "US OWNED" to Deere, give the SAME title to Massey Ferguson. That brand is the flagship brand of AGCO. They're based in Duluth Georgia. They also build the Challenger line of tractors sold by Caterpillar, very much so a US brand.

All things equal, when I go shopping for a new tractor, I'd rather have the BEST tractor my money can buy, even if that means buying one ASSEMBLED outside our borders.

 

[MossRoad]

My late 70's IH 2500b was made in England. The I in I.H. stands for INTERNATIONAL.

 

[N80]

My kids are teenagers now and I'm starting to think they were made in another............universe.

 

[greggh]

My kids are teenagers now and I'm starting to think they were made in another............universe.

I hear that...

 

[chh]

My kids are teenagers now and I'm starting to think they were made in another............universe.

Don't worry, I am sure they think the same about you. Still waiting for my youngest one to get back to this planet.

 

[putt_putt_green]

On Unions: Unions wouldn't exist if the workers were not mistreated in the 1st place. The problems is once the union is in place, the union can't be removed.

On US automakers: The consumers fluctuating demand for economy versus SUVs is a major reason why the automakers are having a hard time. The price of gasoline is now under $2 a gallon, which means everyone will want SUVs again. Which means the big 3 just wasted time and money engineering smaller cars. At under $2 gallon, Americans will not buy the economy cars that they demanded when gasoline was $4 gallon. This cycle happens all the time. Foreign automakers can ride this out better because there sales aren't as heavily based on US sales. Now is the perfect time for $1+ fuel tax to force the American consumer to prefer economy cars permanently.

 

[WilliamBos]

On Unions: Unions wouldn't exist if the workers were not mistreated in the 1st place. The problems is once the union is in place, the union can't be removed.

On US automakers: The consumers fluctuating demand for economy versus SUVs is a major reason why the automakers are having a hard time. The price of gasoline is now under $2 a gallon, which means everyone will want SUVs again. Which means the big 3 just wasted time and money engineering smaller cars. At under $2 gallon, Americans will not buy the economy cars that they demanded when gasoline was $4 gallon. This cycle happens all the time. Foreign automakers can ride this out better because there sales aren't as heavily based on US sales. Now is the perfect time for $1+ fuel tax to force the American consumer to prefer economy cars permanently.

Exactly. And since this is not the 1900's anymore, why do we have unions?? Look at the total wage GM workers get, with incentives, $71 an hour. Wonder why they are in trouble, and I cannot afford a nice truck, wel do not want to afford it. Greed of the unions. It should be easier to toss a union when they do not have your best interests in hand. Like greed over keeping jobs.

 

[N80]

On Unions: Unions wouldn't exist if the workers were not mistreated in the 1st place. The problems is once the union is in place, the union can't be removed.

Unions are virtually worthless now and exist pretty much for one reason, POWER, not the American worker. Their very exisitence is detrimental to the worker at large.

On US automakers: The consumers fluctuating demand for economy versus SUVs is a major reason why the automakers are having a hard time.

That's a total cop-out. The market is what it is. You play the market right, you win. You play it wrong, you lose. And if all three of the American automakers went away tomorrow, I could still buy a good car or truck the next day, the next month and the next year. Whining about the playing field and begging for MY money is just what we're hearing from their multi-millionaire CEOs right now. No one's buying it from them either.

Foreign automakers can ride this out better because there sales aren't as heavily based on US sales.

That makes no sense. Its a global market. And if marketing globally does provide some insulation ffrom the vagaries of gas prices and the American consumer then Ford and GM should have expanded THEIR overseas markets as well.

Now is the perfect time for $1+ fuel tax to force the American consumer to prefer economy cars permanently.

Oh yes THAT's the answer. More TAXES. That has always worked right? (Wrong, it has NEVER worked for anything.) For one, that buck per gallon stymies economic growth across the board and would only benefit the projected 40-50% of Americans expected to be on the government dole in the next 10 years. Great idea. You take money out of people's pockets and they quit buying stuff. Including cars. So sure, increase what we pay on gas in order to shove the US auto industry into trying to make cars for a market segment they have NEVER been able to compete in.

Brilliant. But keep it up, you might get elected president.

 

[RWolf]

Tell the farmer or rancher or construction company that they will have to pay an additional $1 on fuel and you'll see all products from groceries to housing to transportation go up in price....oh wait that's already happened....

 

[Renze]

Dont know what happens in America, but over here, tractors use low tax diesel which is dyed with a red colour to prevent misuse in highway vehicles.
There has been discussion about introducing a purple diesel as well, to compensate trucking companies, to reduce their cost which work their way through in the total manufacturing cost in our country. It turned out that it would be cheaper to do away with all fuel tax than to create infrastructure for yet another class of diesel.

Over here, the price is 1,08 euro per liter, for Diesel right now. It has been 1.45 past summer. Gas is 1.30 or something... Funny that diesel is cheaper in europe and gas is cheaper in the USA... maybe because of european tax ??

Deere hasnt really been present after the ww2, untill they bought Heinrich Lanz werke from Mannheim, Germany, in which they changed the traditional low speed one cylinder hotbulb engines to modern fast running 4 cylinders, in the early 60s. This gave them a costly learning curve, as Deere as well as Lanz had no experience with fast running multi cylinder engines at that time, and there were some flaws in the early designs which lead to breaking crankshafts and cavitation.... Today, they are producing engines in Saran, France, and are still using the former Lanz plant in Mannheim to build tractors.

 

[N80]

We have "off-road" diesel too. The price difference is not enough to matter for someone like me. I'm sure it adds up for farm operations though. The problem is, its price goes up and down with regular diesel. You add a dollar a gallon to regular diesel and I'd bet the off-road price would follow it. I know it doesn't make sense but that's kind of the way things go at the pump over here. The retailer is going to take advantage of the price differential.

 

[WilliamBos]

We have "off-road" diesel too. The price difference is not enough to matter for someone like me. I'm sure it adds up for farm operations though. The problem is, its price goes up and down with regular diesel. You add a dollar a gallon to regular diesel and I'd bet the off-road price would follow it. I know it doesn't make sense but that's kind of the way things go at the pump over here. The retailer is going to take advantage of the price differential.

Other than the slightly higher sulphur content, I agree. But some kleen-flo ULSD conditioner, and some ATF and we are good to go!!

 

[N80]

Gulp. Did you just mention fuel additives? You think the HST vs Gear and R1 vs R4 discussions are nuts......you just wait!

 

[WilliamBos]

Gulp. Did you just mention fuel additives? You think the HST vs Gear and R1 vs R4 discussions are nuts......you just wait!

I realized that after it was too late to edit. Sounds like another post count builder, I mean well educated civil discussion.

 

[Cyclone Jake]

Over here, the price is 1,08 euro per liter, for Diesel right now. It has been 1.45 past summer. Gas is 1.30 or something... Funny that diesel is cheaper in europe and gas is cheaper in the USA... maybe because of european tax ??

Diesel is cheaper in Europe because more of the European refineries are geared toward making diesel. My guess is that the relatively long history of higher fuel taxes caused that to happen because of the higher fuel economy with diesel. In the US, a majority of our refineries are geared toward making gasoline which makes it less expensive than diesel.

I read about this a few months ago in a car magazine when they were discussing whether more diesel autos should be produced and sold in the US. The main argument against was that the US oil infrastructure could not support a drastic move toward diesel.