I’ve been out of town for a few days and now I’m trying to catch up, especially on this thread. As an engineer heavily involved with manufacturing, I can see both sides of this. First and foremost, all companies are or should be making sound business decisions aimed at making a profit. But I also watch the tube and every other commercial is based on ‘50s – ‘80s nostalgia. Face it, we’re a nostalgia-oriented people and it’s a big moneymaker. I doubt if Ford is making the “new” GT at $50K+ a pop with the intention of losing money. Every major carmaker has a ‘50s – ‘80s look-a-like and obviously for a reason. On the flip side with respect to old tooling sitting on a shelf somewhere, it isn’t or at least soon won’t be. The current “Lean Thinking” management with “5S+1” (with the mantra “if in doubt, pitch it out”) will mandate that there soon will be no retro tooling anywhere. I have seen literally many $10K's worth of unused materials, fixtures, and electronic test equipment hit the dumpster. When employees asked permission to keep some or even pay for some, the answer was always “NO!”, the reason given was always “LIABILITY ISSUES!”. After growing up (professionally) in one of the oldest continuously-operated bike shops in the US (J.M Hearn, Asheville, NC) where NOTHING was ever thrown away and somebody probably made a fortune on eBay, it sort of breaks one’s heart!
John Wilson
Greensburg, PA
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