Word: vegas
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...inroads of the imports, Detroit's two largest automakers last week put their much remarked mini-car models on sale. Both General Motors and Ford waited until the last minute to set sticker prices for the new lines. The biggest surprise was the price of Chevrolet's Vega 2300, which turned out to be about $150 higher than that of a comparable Ford Pinto and about $190 higher than that of the cheapest Volkswagen...
...less belligerent than Roche's tough words would indicate. At the Norwood, Ohio, Chevrolet assembly plant, workers staged a nine-day go-slow without audible protest from General Motors. Last week a jurisdictional strike halted work at the Lordstown plant, the home of G.M.'s subcompact, the Vega 2300. Normally, says Woodcock, the company would be "kicking and screaming and disciplining right and left. Now they're just taking it. This is unheard...
...adjusted easily by the ordinary driver. The trend began with the introduction of two small, easily fixable models-Ford's Maverick and American Motors' Gremlin. As the automakers bring out new small cars, it is continuing. On Sept. 10, General Motors will introduce its subcompact, the Vega, and executives are boasting about how easy it is to repair. Says one: "Just five screws hold Vega's grille in place. It can be removed in less than ten minutes without taking off the bumper. All that's necessary to remove the bumper is to loosen six bolts...
Swing to Simplicity. By making such simple, basic machines, the automakers have decided to try to beat Volkswagen, Toyota and Fiat at their own game. The Vega has only 1,231 parts, the Pinto 1,600. By comparison, a standard two-door Impala has 3,500 parts and a Lincoln Continental 9,000. Partly because big U.S. cars are so full of complicated tubes, wiring and equipment, which mechanics call "plumbing and spaghetti," even easy repair jobs can cost great amounts of money. Mechanics' hourly pay has increased from about $3.78 in 1966 to $5 today. This autumn Ford...
...Ford is also offering buyers a simple, key-shaped tool that it claims serves 27 purposes, from measuring the gap between electrodes on a spark plug to stripping wire and turning regular and Phillips screws. Not to be outdone, G.M. suggests that, with its illustrated and simplified manual, the Vega owner will need only a few tools: wrench, screwdriver, coat hanger, garden hose and-to replace transmission and rear-axle fluids-a turkey baster...