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10/23/2009
One day I walk into my local Home Depot looking to find
some thumb screws or something similar for my
American-made Jeep. Turns out that the size needed was
M8- 1.25(8 metric). I look around for any kind of
metric hardware only to find one drawer with some
metric odds and ends, all of which I had no interest
in. I think to myself, “out of this entire store and
walls, and walls full of standard hardware (made in
china, ironically) of every shape and size, this is the
only metric hardware that they have”. I try three other
hardware places with no luck. After two days of driving
around I became quite frustrated looking for metric
hardware for my American-made vehicle.
America is the only place that has not converted to
metric. Why? Because Americans are retarded and do not
like change. Furthermore, Americans are okay with
rounded up decimals and imprecise conversion factors
which ultimately leave them with imprecise numbers, not
to mention a lot more work to acquire those imprecise
numbers (If you have ever done dimensional analysis in
a chemistry class, you will know exactly what I am
talking about). Also, Americans likes to frustrate you
while you look for metric hardware for your
American-made vehicle.
This really got me to think. If America hardware stores
only carry standard hardware (from Taiwan and China)
and are obviously impervious to the idea of the metric
system, then why do American cars have metric parts.
One good example is our 2004 Harley Sportster. All the
components on the carburetor were metric and needed
metric tools. However, the bolts for the pipes were
standard and required standard tools. So now we have
both standard and metric components on an American-made
vehicle.....
The Conclusion:....
According to www.cars.com, the American Automobile
Labeling Act, enacted in 1994, requires every new car
to show the percentage, in cost, of originated parts
from both America and Canada. This percentage is known
as the domestic-parts content rating. It turns out that
most American cars have less than a 75 percent
domestic-parts content rating. What does this mean? It
means that 35 percent of your 2008 Ford Focus was made
in foreign countries and assembled in America. (Lol. I
see these broken down on the side of the road all the
time, BMWs are second).
Cars.com states, “The Ford Escape, meanwhile, saw the
steepest domestic-parts content drop of all, from 90
percent for the 2007 model to just 65 percent for the
restyled '08 ”(www.cars.com, 2007). Why are these
numbers dropping? American cars that are 100 percent
American-made do not sell well, due to the increase of
labor and material costs that drive up the cost of the
car. The average American does not want to drop $40,000
on a car. This also means Americans are willing to
sacrifice quality and an American-made name to save a
pretty penny. Cars.com also commented, “We had high
hopes for the Ohio-built Jeep Wrangler, but the '08
model has considerably less domestic content than the
previous version” (www.cars.com, 2007). Ouch! Jeep,
Chrysler and Dodge were not on their top American-made
index which means that they all had less than a 75
percent domestic-part content rating.
It now goes from “American-made” to
“American-assembled” vehicle, if even that. The
Chrysler 300 is built in Canada and both the Chevy HHR
and the PT Cruiser are made in Mexico. Now it is hard
to even say “American-assembled” seeing that some
American cars aren’t assembled in America, yet still
carry an American name.
So where does all this confusion leave me? I’ve had to
settle on plain old metric hex bolts (from Taiwan) for
my half metric, half standard, half-assed
“American-assembled” vehicle....
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