Why My Next Car Will Be A Chevy

“Baby blue, Dude! A Baby blue convertible! Dude, that car was it, all of it, nothing lacking—totally awesome!” Remembering my family’s 1975 Chevy Caprice Classic Convertible to an old high school friend. At the age of sixteen, I navigated that stylin’ boat through the locks and channels of teenage status. My friends loved that car. Once, my best friend Chris and I drove that thing around our hometown of Milwaukee in the refreshing 30 degree November air with the top down and the heater blasted—just to show off. We had yet to learn to reduce our carbon output. I am concerned about global warming these days, but in the frigid temps of Wisco, at the age of 16, global warming was only an argument in a debate round. Cruisin’ around in 1983 in a boat powered by a 454 V8, we threw so much carbon into the atmosphere we should have sent our own delegation to Kyoto and Copenhagen.

I never wanted to part with that car. We did eventually have to sell it—we needed to move to St. Louis (so my Dad could manage a Chevy store) and had come to the conclusion that we couldn’t afford the upkeep of a classic car. I tried to convince my parents to sell it to Chris, but before he could make a bid, another buyer snatched it up. We hadn’t even put an ad in the paper! I almost cried. The good news was that we didn’t need to replace the Classic Convertible. As the General Manager of a Chevy store in the St. Louis region, my Dad would be driving demos. He would bring home Camaro Z28s, the new Caprice Classics, and every once in a while, a Corvette convertible. Yes, from time to time, he would let me drive the Vette (not a decision I will make regarding my own future teen drivers—I acted like I was in a Star Wars movie zooming around asteroids and Imperial fighters. That I am alive today is testimony to God’s grace).

Not all my Chevy experiences were Star Wars experiences. Some were just good ole’ baseball, hotdogs, and apple pie: my first car ride was in a Chevy. I grew up in Chevrolets. I drove my wife to our honeymoon in my Chevy Corsica and I drove my first child home in a Chevy Malibu. One of the major reasons that I preferred Chevrolets was that they were an ergonomically superior car. I slipped a disc between L4 and L5 nineteen years ago and for a good time, Japanese cars were just automotive torture chambers for me. In the Corsica and especially in the Malibu, I had better posture and the disc stayed off the nerve. If I drove in the passenger side of my friend’s Honda Civic, I would have sciatica for a good hour.

It might then seem surprising that I eventually did buy a Japanese car. I didn’t get emotional about it, but it did hurt a lot. I had sworn to my friends that I would buy Chevrolets until the day I died. I tried to keep that promise, but that same wonderful Malibu that drove Luisa home from the hospital started leaking anti-freeze into the engine oil and nearly wrecked the engine. The car was just 3,000 miles over warranty. It hurt contemplating buying an import so I bought an import that still wore the Chevy bowtie—a 2002 Chevy Prizm (a Toyota in American clothing).

We have since bought a second car. Since we were moving to the Ohio snow belt, I wanted All Wheel Drive. The only passenger cars I knew of that had AWD were Subarus. We opted for a Forrester. When our third child was born, we needed a little more room, so we traded in the Forrester for an AWD Toyota Sienna, which has been a good car. When the time comes, we will replace the Sienna with another Sienna, but what comes after the Prizm? This time a Chevy, that is, a real Chevy, not an import with Chevrolet clothing. This time I am buying a Chevy because of its reliability. Nine years after my anti-freeze debacle, GM has improved its quality. The recent news about quality problems and recalls at Toyota further strengthens my conviction that General Motors is now producing vehicles that are as reliable and in some cases more reliable than imports.

One particular model that interests me is the Chevy Equinox which has received universally positive reviews. According to Warren Brown of the Washington Post, “The new Equinox has more standard equipment for the money [than its rivals], including the OnStar emergency telecommunications system, which could be a lifesaver in a crash. In my book, that also means the new Equinox has the best overall safety in the compact crossover utility segment.” He also notes that the Equinox looks better than its rivals, has the best fuel economy, and handles as well as most of the other crossover SUVs. Jean Jennings, editor in chief of Automobile Magazine, notes that the engineers and workers at Chevy exhibited incredible attention to detail in building the Equinox. She also emphasizes its exceptional fit and finish, the thoughtful engineering and design, and the exceptional fuel economy and range. Finally, Consumer Digest rates the Equinox and the Chevy Malibu as Best Buys.

I am happy that GM is once again producing quality vehicles like the Equinox, but there are other reasons I want to buy a GM product: my concern for the workers of the Lake Erie region. In the global economy, the Lake Erie region has lost jobs: first steel jobs, then tire jobs, now automotive jobs. People are leaving Ohio for opportunities elsewhere. If this continues, the economic condition of Ohio and Michigan could spiral further downward. As people leave, congressional representation will drop. Ohio will have less clout in Washington, more people leave, we will have less power, less clout, more poverty, and the cycle continues.

I am not a protectionist. I am an advocate of free and fair trade, but I am also aware that lightning quick economic upheavals disrupt communities. We are not just laborers who sell their labor in a market economy. We are creative beings who live in a network of relationships. Globalization has helped generate economic well-being around the world, but certain aspects of it have disrupted the lives of American and other workers. There are non-protectionist ways to support local labor. In this case, it requires just reading the newspaper and learning that GM is back in the quality business. Protectionism, creating barriers to free trade, will hurt American workers. I do not and will not support protectionist measures, but out of concern for my local community, I will support local workers.

Finally, I plan to be a loyal constructive critic of GM. As a GM costumer, I will demand improvements in hybrid technology and fuel efficiency because I am always concerned about how we treat God’s creation. I know that I will have more clout as a loyal customer of GM than if I were to remain outside of the GM community. I loved riding in that convertible when I was a teenager because it allowed us to ride free and feel God’s creation. Now, Chevrolet is making cars that actually take care of that creation. For this reason, they will have my business again.