I presume you mean you’d rather pay the extra $10,000 up front (as part of the new car price) to be free of the recurring maintenance chore. Is there any price discount that would cause you to re-think? Theoretically speaking, presuming such a choice was actually available.
$1,000,000.00
Ok, now we’re getting somewhere. By the comments here, the price compromise is somewhere between $10,000 and $1M . We now know more than we did before! … lol …
hmmm … I might accept the extra maintenance for $5k …
The question is moot.
Because the save is NOT $10K, it isn’t even $5K, I doubt it saves a dime.
A maintenance visit once each month? Vehicle owners wait 6 months to have air added to their tires. Expect to pay $50 for each chassis lube visit, a lifetime sealed ball joint upgrade would cost the manufacture less than $10 each.
George, we all doubt there would be any price savings making a high-maintenance car. Why do you think there would be? Explain, please!
And let’s not forget greasing those zerks wasn’t always that easy
Some zerks were hardly accessible, would get broken off, woudn’t take grease, etc.
No, I only tuned my cars yearly, in the fall I drove about 10,000 miles back in the 50s every fall I would replace points and condenser, plugs, check dwell and set timing, check the cap and rotor, change fuel filuer and adjusted carb. Charged oil every 3000, and greased every second oil change U renenber when Chrysler recommended changing the filter every second oil change but I never did that
We did remove,clean and regap plucs at 5000 miles. We charged 25 cents a plug for that when I worked at a fas station. New pluds were $1.
I posted this in the other thread- this topic is like a cancer
I think it’s safe to say, based on experience in engineering and manufacturing products, that labor is the primary driving force in cost of goods sold. Anything that adds labor will almost, without exception, cost more in the end. For example, a sealed bearing might cost a dollar more than a traditional tapered bearing set but it requires significantly more labor time to assemble those individual components and grease them on the production line. That labor time, the cost of stocking ,multiple parts and moving them around the factory, costs a lot more than a sealed bearing pressed into a hub. On top of that, I can specify a contract manufacturer in a low cost country to do that labor and receive the part already assembled ready for my production line to install. Hardly a new concept…
So as a customer even if I have to accept a slight increase in price (unlikely) for improved materials and that results in less maintenance labor- throughout the life of the vehicle, that is money well spent. Not to mention my own time spent coordinating and waiting on service to be performed. Forgetabboutit…
All great points.
The labor hours to build a car in 2024 are 1/3rd to 1/4 required in 1965 for a much more complicated car.
What fantasy vehicle have you seen that had the 1,000 mile requirement to grease the car? As I’ve said…1,000 has NEVER EVER been a requirement for any vehicle that people alive today ever owned. A more realistic question would be 5,000 miles. 1,000 miles is absurd.
Actually this thread by George is absurb and pointless like many of his ideas.
As I already proved by posting a lube chart for Fords of the '40s, most of the parts that needed to be lubed needed to have it done every 1,000 miles. I’ve never owned anything that old, but some people in the forum might have.
+1
In addition to his false premise that the cars would cost less to build, he seems to think that mechanics’ shops would gladly provide all of that lube service free of charge. Most people drive at least 10k miles per year, so just imagine the cost (in terms of both dollars and inconvenience) of having your car on a lube rack 10 times each year.
And if you owned a vehicle in the 40’s you’d be near 100 today.
Somebody could have owned a '40s era Ford in the '50s. In fact, my late Aunt’s daily driver for a few years (circa 1957-58) was a '46 Ford.
Her nextdoor neighbor was the head mechanic for the Nassau County P.D. and he kept it running nicely. If not for a drunk driver, who crashed into it while it was parked, she probably could have driven it for a few more years.
A guy right down the street from me has 3-4 Ford Model A’s that are all mint, I think he restores them or something, I think he is in his 70’s still… He also has 3 modern vehicles and mows his own yard, so not too old… lol
I see him out driving them every now and then…
He has kept a few A’s as long as I can remember and I grew up here…
My BIL had a 1940 ford about 1960. I don’t know about greasing but seemed like h3 was doing rod bearings about every 1000 miles. I guess he wasn’t my bil yet. The 54 desoto was quite an upgrade but I liked that ford. Some of us living through that time are happy with the new improvements. My dad carried an oil can to oil the lifters on the 57 ford… my fav car but glad they figured oil the oil hole issue. Too late for us. Already moved to GM.
What was the point of this discussion again?
Doesn’t mater, wasn’t inportant anyway…
If a particular new car’s price was less than a competitor’s car, everything else being equal, would that price difference cause car buyers to purchase the car, if the lower price came w/the compromise of needing more frequent maintenance?