[Leica] un-believable - now off-topic and long-ish WITH LEICA CONTENT

[charlie at droolassicpark.com (Charlie Meyer)]

I have a Buick.  Other than stating in bold letters that I have an  
AARP card, it is safe, well built, reliable, and cost-effective to  
operate. It is a good car. That said, I also have a M3. It is rugged,  
precise, and has stood the test of more than five decades' time. The  
Leica is a masterpiece of German design, engineering, and quality. I  
do like my CV 1,4/40 lens, but as nice and fast as it is, there is a  
distinct difference in feel and quality of build  found in my Wetzlar  
glass.  The CV is made in Japan, a longtime First World nation with a  
reputation for engineering and quality.  As I stated earlier, it's  
very good, but not up to Leica standards.

One of the fallacies of the 'global economy' is the so-called ability  
to 'cut-and-paste' processes to Third World countries with dirt-cheap  
labor and still maintain First World quality. It isn't politically  
correct to admit, but NOBODY offshores for quality.  The two most  
populous Third World countries can be understood for wanting to  
improve their economies, but wishing for greatness doesn't make it so.  
Our own manufacturing base has been decimated by greed-driven  
offshoring. "Corporate citizenship?"

The Leica is a premier example of German engineering and quality.   
Would we be as enthusiastic about a Peking Porsche, or Cornish Clotted  
Cream from Chennai, no matter how cheap?  I do have a pal with a  
Indian-built knock-off of a 1948 Royal Enfield motorcycle.  A Chinese  
firm bought the MG marque.  I owned two Midgets.  Did the Chinese  
buyer get the rights to the secret process  to develop advanced rust  
and random short circuits at the factory, or was that restricted by  
the Official Secrets Act? :-)

The Third World economies need to make and fill their own niches well,  
and develop a Leica or Porsche like product of their own to tout to  
the world. Making something to exhibit as the best of the best. (Hmmm.  
Like a Leica.) These emerging Asian economies are developing at a  
rapid pace, but let's get real; they aren't there yet. Just because  
one has a billion too many citizens does not automatically make one a  
superpower.  Methinks some Third Worlders have been tossing back way  
too many shots of Hennessy with North Korea's Head Nutter Kim Jong Il.  
("There's a very thin line between Saturday Night and Sunday Morning."  
- Jimmy Buffett)

Tata Motors earlier this year announced a small People's Car with an  
air-cooled engine in the back....(I never tried to see if there was   
turban headroom in any of my several VW Beetles of decades past, but  
an Indian girlfriend from college fit just fine in the passenger  
seat.)  Will India complain about all the 1969 litter Neil Armstrong  
and his pals left on the moon nearly forty years ago?  How much did  
NASA spend on Space Age cinder blocks when they abandoned the lunar  
rover vehicle? There is a NASA facility on I-79 near Clarksburg, WV.  
I've seen it. Has NASA checked lately to see if astronauts from the  
Bronx stripped the rover for parts?

All kidding aside, Leica Ernst Leitz GMBH Wetzlar GERMANY reads the  
engraving on my camera.

Charlie



On Dec 21, 2008, at 12:46 PM, Slobodan Dimitrov wrote:

> In what manner, quality wise, or how they display one's lack of  
> wealth?
> sd
>
>
> On Dec 21, 2008, at 7:43 AM, Jayanand Govindaraj wrote:
>
>> GM bought Daewoo Motors - what we get in India are Opel from GM  
>> Europe, and
>> rebadged Daewoo as Chevrolet. Neither is particularly successful or
>> desirable.
>> Cheers
>> Jayanand
>>
>> On Sun, Dec 21, 2008 at 8:44 PM, Joseph Yao <joseph@yao.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Buick may be the best-selling foreign brand in China, but many of  
>>> them are
>>> not the real Buick you get in the US - they are merely rebadged  
>>> Korean
>>> cars.
>>> Check out the Excelle and GL8 series:
>>>
>>> http://www.buick.com.cn
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 12/21/08 10:36 PM, "Seth Rosner" <sethrosner@nycap.rr.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Correct, Gene; and Nathan, were you aware that in 2008 GM has  
>>>> sold more
>>> cars
>>>> in the United States than Toyota? Over a million more? And that  
>>>> Buick is
>>> the
>>>> biggest-selling foreign brand in China?
>>>>
>>>> Seth