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Quote of the Day: Eternal Springs Edition
by
Robert Farago
(IC: employee)
Published: July 28th, 2009
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From WIFR, on the occasion of the reopening of Chrysler’s Belvidere (Illinois) factory. Belvidere is the birthplace of the Dodge Caliber, Jeep Patriot and Jeep Compass—all winners of TTAC’s Ten Worst award.
“The whole economy’s gonna pick up, once everybody’s back to work and starts making money they’ll be spending money and they’re talking about some overtime and stuff like that so they’re talking about good things ahead. So everybody’s optomistic [sic] and looking forward to the future,” says Belvidere Chrysler worker Ray Battistini.
Robert Farago
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Published July 28th, 2009 4:54 PM
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I saw a sparkling new Caliber the other day, drove near it on the highway for a couple of miles, and I am convinced of one thing. Years from now, when people don't remember exactly when they were built, you'll have a hard time convincing people that the Caliber was the replacement for the Neon and not vice versa.
And people think the new Sebring styling is bad. The Dodge & Chrysler minivans have the same back end bumper styling as the Caliber. Too blocky with squared edges look. Also their website is kinda slow to respond to selecting menu stuff. When I finally got to photos, surprise!, 1t&C, 0caliber pictures of their Fugly back ends.
Sad in a way. So 1700 workers for plants that could have I dunno 10,000 workers. Last drove by the Belvedere plants in May 2008, looked deserted. Several big lots were empty. Before that I remember going by there in the late 90's, only 1 lot being used then, with maybe 300 Neons in it.
I wish this guy were right ... then maybe I could count on recovering my capital investments for components in this car ... but personally, my mood and outlook jive with that of OhSnapBack...