1967 k member upgrades (idler)

I agree poor welds at the factory, but they did what they needed to do which was get the vehicle out of the warranty period. Back then this stuff was assembled by low wage earners on the assembly line. Not a whole lotta care went into building this stuff back then. Good enough was good enough. Average vehicle lifespan back then was 10 - 12 years and 100K-150k max. Chrysler had a 5-50 warranty, and most people traded em in at that mark, and on to the used lot they went. If they didnt get totalled in a wreck, or blown up street racing, the salt on the roads ate em up. The undercoating and rust proofing was non existant till ziebart and rusty jones hit the scene.

Lots of guys working on this stuff now take tight body tolerances and perfect fitting pieces on new cars for granted. There was a time when it wasnt so. Begrudgingly we really owe the Japanese a debt of gratitude for almost sinking the american auto industry. Say what you want, but at the time tokyo tonkas started rolling into our ports, American made cars were junk. I mean it took the japenese about 15 years to get the rust proofing down because their early stuff rusted out just as bad. But fit and finish at the time was overall better on a new one, they didnt break, and ran like a swiss watch. The disparity in quality was evident. Before this time the attitude from americas auto industry was if you wanted a car, you bought from us or you walked.

The reason we have decent cars and trucks made by the big 3 now is because they had to step up their game in a very big way, or die. Thats the beauty of the free market. It dictates the winners and losers. Survival of the fittest.

Japanese cars and trucks were at first a curiosity in the 70s, in the 80s they begrudgingly got respect, and in the 90s as they competed against luxury marques they then became objects of desire for people. This is happening with Korean cars now too. I joked about the hyundai excel when it came here in 1986. The V8 RWD genesis luxury sedan is actually very nice.

Now i'm not a lover of jap cars n trucks. Actually i cant stand em, but without em forcing the American industry to wake up or die, imagine the rolling piles of crap we would have to drive today.

Off soapbox now
The good thing however is i think Chrysler knowing the assembly line is a bit slipshod in workmanship at this time tended to overengineer stuff just in case. This is why their stuff tended to last a bit longer and be a bit more robust. It gave us a good platform in which to improve upon.