Chrysler's Bankruptcy

Last week, Chrysler began the process of declaring bankruptcy.  Or, should I say that President Obama declared bankruptcy for Chrysler.  How weird was that, I thought.  The President of the U.S. is declaring that a private company is going bankrupt.  Shouldn't the president be making statements about a company after the declaration is made in a court?  But such is where we find America today.  The May 7, 2009 edition of the Detroit News has an article which reinforces some of my points.

My then-fiance set us on the road to being a Chrysler family in April of 1985.  Her grandparents offered to buy her a  car for her college graduation.  After trying out various cars at the Hertz sales offices in Burlingame, she decided to buy the 1984 Red Plymouth Horizon.  A car that still is with us today.  The car served us well -- taking us cross-country numerous times.  It sits at 240,000 miles.  (Yes it mostly just sits these days.)  The Chrysler rebound from their 1979 bailout was remarkable.  Lee Iaccoca had transformed the image of the company.  In 1991, I had learned that a Carroll Shelby version of the Omni/Horizon had been produced in the mid-80's and that those cars were becoming collectors items.  So, I sought one out and bought a pristine one for about $3200.  Later, I found another one in more tattered condition for $300.  I soon felt buyers remorse for spending so much on the first Omni GLH Turbo, so I put an ad in the paper and sold it for the same price as I had paid for it a few months earlier.  I decided that it would be too hard to keep the pretty GLH in such good condition when we did not have a garage.  It felt like it would be a waste of money. So, we kept the $300 car and eventually got it running well.  

Since then, we have purchased two more Chrysler vehicles.  The sedan has been all right, but probably has had too many repairs to be considered a good value.  The van has been just about perfect for 6 plus years.  Since I do a lot of the maintenance and repairs of the vehicles, it does make sense to own similar makes.  

But this bankruptcy and especially the government involvement in the company makes it highly unlikely that this loyal Chrysler consumer will buy his next car from that company.  Admittedly, I have been a poor consumer by limiting my choices to one domestic automobile manufacturer.  It was bad enough when my 1983-1984 Democratic presidential primary experience had convinced me that I always needed to buy American.  Now I had limited myself to just one of those three companies.  Not very smart.

Hopefully, we are still a few years away from needing to buy a new car. But when we are, you can bet that all makes will contend for my dollar next time.