I saw the “push a Ford” thing on a Ford pickup the other day, and it got me thinking. I know Ford and Chevy are competitors, and I know a certain contingent of brand-loyal drivers is happy to bash the competition. I’ve seen Calvin peeing on both logos, I’ve seen other hostile bumper stickers, etc.
I’m not really a car guy, though, and I don’t really get the source of the hostility. Is it really just a brand thing – “we’ve always driven Fords, therefore Chevrolet sucks”? Is there a real practical or philosophical difference between the brands that I’m not aware of, like Apple vs. Microsoft (historically)?
Is the Ford/Chevy rivalry on the wane, what with all of the other auto brands available in the country, or is it about as entrenched as always?
Gimme the skinny on the Ford vs. Chevy history, from the driver’s standpoint.
I’ve never understood it myself, but then again, I don’t understand how people can get in fistfights over football teams, either.
The sociologist in me thinks that it has something to do with humans’ deep-rooted urge to belong to a “tirbe”, or an exclusive group that seperates them from others and gives them status (even if only in their own minds.)
I grew up in a “Ford” family, so I tend to feel like I understand the strengths and weaknesses of Fords to some extent. My husband hates GM, but I honestly don’t know why.
I think the rivalry is dying out, at least somewhat.
(I drive a Jeep, by the way. My husband, though, drives an old Mustang.)
At least while Henry I was still with us, Ford was the car choice of many folks who appreciated his values: anti-unionist, anti-Catholic, anti-Semitic, and until WWII clouds started gathering at least, not-entirely-anti-Nazi. There may be a certain redneck appeal left over from those days.
Huh. That’s kind of amusing from my POV, since I like Fords, but I’m a Catholic of Jewish ancestry.
I like fords pretty much because I love Mustangs (almost as much as I love Mustangs being driven by cute girls, but that’s beside the point). I drive a Pontiac Grand Am.
While I’m certainly not a rabid GM supporter or Ford detractor, I’ve always preferred GM vehicles. I think that, for me, it’s simply based on the styling of each manufacturer’s products. When I was old enough to start getting interested in cars, it was the late 1970s - early '80s, and during that period I just thought GM cars looked “cooler” than Fords. Hey, GM had the Corvette, the Camaro, the Trans Am, the Monte Carlo, etc. Ford had the Mustang. It seemed that most Fords at that time were extremely boxy (even the Thunderbird of that era looked like a land yacht), while the GM cars were [mostly] more streamlined. To my eye, anyway.
All three of the cars I’ve owned have been GMs, though that’s been more due to circumstance than anything else. My first car was my grandmother’s 1975 Buick Apollo; the only car I actually bought for myself was a 1973 Oldsmobile Toronado. Then I lost my license (DUI, 1992) and didn’t drive again until recently, when somebody gave me a 1986 Chevrolet Cavalier. The first and third cars could easily have been just about anything else, and I would have gladly accepted them. I bought the Toro because I was in love with Cadillac Eldorado’s at the time, and the Toro was the next best thing
My dad only bought two new cars when I was a kid: a 1970 Plymouth Duster, and when we kids got too big for the back seat, the Duster was replaced with a Plymouth Volare station wagon. Why did my dad buy Plymouths? They were cheap. My dad, in all of his purchases, always went with the cheapest solution that would get the job done.
Looking around at the current offerings, all of the manufacturers seem to have pretty good offerings.
Heh, thanks. I’ll not post the pictures of my Dodge pulling a Ford out of the sand earlier this month.
But seriously, it’s only something that I’ve noticed among the pickup truck crowd. We as a group don’t really care what kind of car you drive, since they’re just cars and therefore not really important any way. And them little foreign trucks are basically beneath contempt too, although I gather that the owners of said trucks seem to like them. You don’t see a lot of Calvin stickers peeing on Hyundais or what have you. It may be in the NASCAR crowd too, as those tend to overlap.
A fair amount of it is tongue in cheek. I’m not really all that brand loyal beyond sticking to the big three American-made brands. I owned a Ford three trucks ago, and I liked it a lot. I’d have bought one this time if I’d run across the same sort of deal as I did with my Dodge. I just wouldn’t yet buy a diesel Chevy, as I’m of the opinion that those motors don’t have all of the glitches sorted out of them (corroborated by a Chevy mechanic I briefly dated.) The gas-powered ones are fine; a little cushy.
I personally prefer Japanese cars, but that just seems to inspire contempt in everyone who doesn’t also drive a Japanese car so I guess I don’t have much say in the matter. The chevy v. ford thing is like rival football teams. They would be the best of friends if it weren’t for the stupid logo on their car/letterman jacket.
Here in Australia, the tradition mirrors America. It was always Ford versus Holden (GM), and when I went to school kids were from a Ford family or a Holden one.
Fast forward twenty years, and whilst the Australian-built Fords and Holdens have lifted their game, they’re still pieces of crap compared to the relatively bullet-proof Japanese cars, and many, many people have defected to Toyota, Mitsubishi, Honda, etc.
My next car will be another Toyota. So will the one after that. And the one after that. Get in, turn the key, go. No unpleasant surprises.
That’s interesting. I never came across that at school. If asked I’d have been hard pressed to say what type of car we had. But then I’m not and never have been a car person. I can’t even say what brands the members of my family currently have even though I travel in them reasonably frequently.
Grandpa was a Ford guy, dad bought Chevy (well, he had a company car) he also bought Dodge and Chrysler.
Chevrolet pickups at least had an astounding commonality of parts that made them desirable from the DIY’er perspective, you can literally find parts that will fit on the side of the road, or available cheap. I once talked to a machinist fwiw, who claimed that Chevies made better engines, but Fords are actually better trucks.
I grew up in a heavily redneck town and this was one of the three or four questions that weighed on people’s minds much of the time. I have seen more than a few screaming matched result from it and a couple of fist-fights. The question was based on pickup trucks and muscle cars and people had a lot invested in it either through their blue-collar work or their hobbies racing and restoring cars. It wasn’t really about what type of sedan someones mother drove.
Blue-collar Americannes, trucking and racing are absolutely the keys here. You don’t see people saying “I’m a Buick guy” or “I’m a Lincoln guy.” And nobody, upscale jerk or not, squares off and starts throwing punches over the question of Benzes vs. Bimmers.
There’s certainly still a subset of Australians who passionately love Ford or Holden (GM) and hate the other. My brother is now a Holden man and proudly sports their logo on his stubby holder, his shirts, his hats, etc. My uncles are dedicated Ford men and celebrate their love with those tasteful pictures painted on mirrors hanging in their lounge rooms (closest I could find is this), along with banners of Fords and model Fords that they’ve assembled themselves. Pretty sure I’ve seen a Ford t-shirt or two floating around at their places.
Ten years ago, it wasn’t uncommon for me to meet a guy and be asked “Which (football) team do you barrack for? Holden or Ford?”. (Being married, these days it’s uncommon for me to meet guys, but the question may still be asked for all that I know).
In other words, the car tribe you belong to is still a matter of bogan pride in certain backwaters, like the one I live in. The Loaded Dog is right that there has been a lot of defection to Japanese cars and the Ford or Holden culture isn’t as all-pervasive as it was 20 years ago, but there are some who will never let it go.
Long before I bought my first truck, I could see the actual cost of ownership/maintenance among the vehicles in our region’s fleet. Ford trucks cost more up front, but were cheaper to run over the life of the vehicle. Don’t holler “cite” as I no longer work for that company and have no access to said data, but that’s what I recall when preparing P&L reports for the four state region.
The chevy v. ford thing is like rival football teams. They would be the best of friends if it weren’t for the stupid logo on their car/letterman jacket.