I drove an old KW one night near midnight the wipers did just that; 1/2 way across and they stuck. Well I did the best I could with what I had. I tied a 1/2 inch rope to the drivers side wiper arm ran it outside the mirror bracket back into the cab and held it in my left hand. Then when the arm quit I guv it a jerk with the rope and it would come all the way left--back to the right--then 1/2 way again. Several hours. There is more to truck driving than grabbing gears. Next morning I rolled into the shop and axt em if they could improve it. They replaced the big rope with an nice lanyard and a T-handle. Regular fellows they were. :-)

Nick Smith, I am looking for an electric car with a decent range that is not huge. The American market doesn't offer anything in this class. If you look you may find that what you think of as American or Foreign cars are not what you believe them to be. "American" cars made elsewhere or of imported components and "Import" cars made here in the States. I now drive a Toyota and must say its the highest quality auto I have ever owned. Wish we could build them like that. Maybe someday.....

I bought a 1995 Acura Legend in 1998 with 32,000 miles on it. It was a 36-month lease turn-in and was literally in PERFECT condition. It sat unsold on the Acura dealerâs used lot because it was the least expensive model, the L 4-door, with cloth interior and 5-speed manual transmission. But it was exactly what I wanted, White with Taupe interior, Bose stereo, Power seats with memory and (the best part) the sweetest 200hp 3.2L V6 Iâve ever experienced! I paid $26,000 out-the-door, which felt like a fortune at the time (I was 23). I drove it 40-50k miles per year until I was t-boned by a commercial truck in August 2005. It had just turned 329,000 miles at the time and didnât burn a drop of oil (synthetic), the clutch had only been replaced once and the transmission shifted like new. Other than scheduled maintenance, the only thing I ever had to replace was the A/C compressor and two ABS sensors. The impact was so hard the passenger-side door panel ended up breaking my right hand and forearm (it was in the middle of the car). The rearview mirror broke loose during the crash and hit me in the head just above my right ear. It left most of the glass mirror fragments in my head and took 38 staples to close the wound! I also had damage to two discs in my cervical spine that required a 3-level c-spine fusion the following year. But I was able to recover from all of those injuries, which was pretty amazing considering how bad my poor Legend looked. I bought a 2006 Mazda3 Hatchback to replace it in December 2005. Eight years later, Iâm just past 190,000 miles and going strong!

If labor and management continue to think that only management has brains, then, yes, the American economy and standard of living will go down the toilet. The keys are working in collaboration and being flexible. You no doubt have ideas about how your job can be done more effectively or how your company could offer new products or services. Smart management listens; dumb management insists that only the folks in offices know anything. That's an old habit of management. Employees also need to get out of some old habits. People cannot expect careers like their parents had 30-40 years at the same company, doing the same thing. Companies do not have the loyalty to employees like they used to. Those of us in Generations X and Y have learned that our careers are up to us. If we donÂt like the deal at our current employer, we go elsewhere. Or find another line of work. Or work for ourselves. Or move. Obviously, some jobs and some personal situations lend themselves to that better than others. I think people are far more likely to have multiple careers in the future. IÂm on my second career after 20 years in the workforce. Most of the folks I work with did something quite different before they got here. I fully expect I will have at least a third career. IÂm not sure what it is yet. I just know that the odds are high against my retiring as a computer geek with my current company. Too many years and too much can happen between now and then. There also is a danger to being the "low-cost producer" -- and smart management knows it. Maybe the Chinese and Indians are providing skilled labor for less right now, but someday soon, it may be the Vietnamese and Afghanis. Or Liberians and Sudanese. "Made in Japan" used to be a joke. Korean cars used to be a joke. Companies will have to be more nimble. If a product becomes a commodity, where only price is the differentiator, then theyÂll have to change businesses frequently. If they can add services to the product or sell a better version of it, they can continue to make money. To try to get this discussion back on topic, look at ChryslerÂs PT Cruiser. ItÂs a Neon with a different body. It is different (but in a useful, friendly way), decently built (not great, but no major failures), sells well (at one point people waited in line to buy one), has inspired competition (ChevyÂs HHR), and has enabled Chrysler to charge (and get) way more than anyone would have paid for a Neon. ItÂs not that the PT is such a great vehicle. But it was appealing enough to make Chrysler some money with a car that, frankly, was nowhere near the front of the pack -- or the cheapest box out there. Now the 300C is the hot seller. In a couple of years, theyÂd better hope theyÂve got something else in the wings. To think they can make PTs and 300Cs and money for the rest of company history is crazy. ThereÂs a time to move on. Here it is.