Re: Japan v Germany

[zapcomix@silcom.com (ClaudeBatmanghelidj)]

        And who said we've seen the last of the Mad Yuppies!  I'm sorry to
tell you that you have not really experienced "kwality" untill you've owned
a 1990 Chevrolet Caprice Classic Police Package equipped with a 5.7 litre
engine, heavy duty sport suspension, vinyl (vomit proof) seats, and high
power search lights.  Mine, which has served me well as a Yellow Taxi, now
has 178,000 miles, and is going strong.  Yup, theres no subsitute for the
real thing!



>Well, Mr Love makes quite a few interesting points, but I dissent, strongly.
>
>I have owned a Honda;  I do drive a Volkswagen -- and I've owned five others
>before this.  I've also owned a slew of British cars and still own one of
>them.  I do prefer quality to, well, average mediocrity.  I acknowledge the
>Honda is the best of a maudlin lot, but it's, well, average.  (No, I've
>never owned an American car, though I did own, and love, a Renault along the
>way, though that was lost in a divorce -- the swap being to save my
>Volkswagen.)
>
>The Japanese have proven themselves experts in figuring market dynamics --
>they analyze the market, figure what is needed for maximum sales, and go for
>it.  This is the heart of free enterprise, and more power to them.  (Their
>corporate structuring, hidden tarriffs, and labour practices are another
>matter, entirely.)  But, by aiming at the average, they avoid the extremes
>of quality -- and I'm enough of a snob to want the greatest amount of
>quality I can afford.
>
>Japanese cameras are okay -- but they aim for the middle, and I want that
>extreme of quality.  I have a Swiss mechanical watch, American, German, and
>Russian telescopes, I smoke British pipe tobacco in an Irish pipe, I drink
>Scots whiskey and British beer.  I shoot pictures with Leica, Rollei, Zeiss
>Ikon, and Hassie cameras.  I confess I own a Canon EOS 10s, with a bunch of
>nifty auto-focus prime lenses -- and I may use it for five rolls of film a
>year.  Mediocrity, after a while, gets boring, though its low price may make
>it attractive to some.
>
>There's an old saw about the regret of poor quality surviving the thrill of
>a great price -- and THAT is one of my several objections to buying
>Japanese.  I simply want the best, and Japan rarely produces the best.  And,
>for that matter, when Japan DOES produce a truly competitive product, as
>they do with telescope optics, they will not sell these in this country, as
>they cost about 20% more than comparable European and domestic products.
>
>Marc
>
>
>
>Marc James Small  FAX:  +540/343-7315
>Thalla, a Bhallagair!