Random thoughts brought up by this interesting thread:
I remember around 1971 or so, waiting in line for an hour to only be able to buy 3 gallons of gas at the greatly inflated prices caused by the oil embargo. I had a Ford with a 390 engine, and I remember everybody wishing they had a Datsun B210 with a manual transmission. Not because it was an awesome car, but because it got 40 mpg. Nothing made in America, or commonly made in America did at that time. In my circle of college friends, that, at least, made some people interested in the import cars. I always had the big cargo, HD towing vehicle for my job. But you can't deny that the Japanese vehicles are
refined and reliable. And many of the US ones are too, now. I'm positive that the worldwide competition has helped, as somebody above noted.
I travel around the world for work, and will always love coming home, where I can visit our beautiful country. But I've seen some glimpses inside the Japanese (and many other country's) culture that contributes to super high efficiency. I once saw a guy, in a perfectly creased uniform, with white gloves on, walking around a gas stop painting the rocks on the ground. Cab drivers with pristine white gloves also,wear uniforms and clean their vehicles between fares, putting new white headrests on the passenger seat if they're slightly soiled. Their assembly lines are sophisticated, and don't usually stop for renegotiations. They relentlessly test and refine everything that they make. Different cultures are bound to be good at different things.
Our culture is diverse, and the Japanese love those things that we do well, like the muscle cars, the Harleys, the pop music, movies, they even import sports stars to play in their own baseball teams. So, in celebration of one of the many things we still do well, I own an 8 1/2 foot wide RV with a 10 cylinder engine. I love it. But, wouldn't mind if there had been more details perfected on the house side of it.
I liked the comment that Airstream never changed for fashion, but only for improvement. You know, that could be a 'wind of change' for the US RV market, to demand quality above floor plans. But, on the other hand, the outer looks and floor plans are what got my wife to agree to get our motorhome.
That example of the slant six reliability brings back great memories. Same with the indestructible big V8's. You can't buy a dually truck to pull an RV from Japan, at least not yet, right? But I've heard great reports about the Titan, for a 1/2 ton.
I don't think there's anything at all unpatriotic about striving to make things better.
