The cars that made America

[Darius]

I watched all three nights and was disappointed. The name of the show was "The Cars That Made America", but should have been called "The Men Who Made The Cars That Made America." They spent far more time on the executives behind the Big Three and their families and cohorts than they did on the cars.

The other thing that irritated me was they had about 15 minutes of show, then five minutes of commercials, then when they came back they would spend five minutes recapping all the stuff they just covered! That wasted a LOT of airtime.

I liked the history of the men behind the whole automobile industry. I already know about the cars...at least the ones most of you are complaining they did not talk about.
I have found that to maintain sanity while watching History or Discovery shows I MUST record them so I can fast forward through the commercials. A one hour show on Discovery has 18 minutes of commercials. It seems History Channel is slightly more. What I really hate is that they cannot sell enough advertising so the majority of the commercial time is dedicated to telling me 400 times about the shows that are coming up!!! I can also FF through the "re-hash", never did understand that. If I wanted to watch it over I would record it and watch it over. I can remember what I just got done watching.

 

[6PKRTSE]

I liked the history of the men behind the whole automobile industry. I already know about the cars...at least the ones most of you are complaining they did not talk about.
I have found that to maintain sanity while watching History or Discovery shows I MUST record them so I can fast forward through the commercials. A one hour show on Discovery has 18 minutes of commercials. It seems History Channel is slightly more. What I really hate is that they cannot sell enough advertising so the majority of the commercial time is dedicated to telling me 400 times about the shows that are coming up!!! I can also FF through the "re-hash", never did understand that. If I wanted to watch it over I would record it and watch it over. I can remember what I just got done watching.

I watched all 3. I was disappointed also but enjoyed it & learned a little about all of the big 3 but agree it was more about specific people rather than the cars. I would have rather seen much more about the cars of every era. 60's & 70's muscle more for sure.

 

[Riverdawg]

On the DVR, just need to find time to watch. fwi, my brother has an Edsel wagon that he's put in a small block for a customer. Original interior is in great shape.

 

[65-440]

I'm glad the show was about the men behind the cars. I found it very interesting, it's always good to know how things came to be. I was shocked to find out that the dodge bros and Walter P died so early into the brands development. I wonder what things would've been like had they had more influence in the company.

 

[Car Nut]

DVR'd,

 

[Steve009]

I watched all three nights and was disappointed. The name of the show was "The Cars That Made America", but should have been called "The Men Who Made The Cars That Made America." They spent far more time on the executives behind the Big Three and their families and cohorts than they did on the cars.

The other thing that irritated me was they had about 15 minutes of show, then five minutes of commercials, then when they came back they would spend five minutes recapping all the stuff they just covered! That wasted a LOT of airtime.

that recapping everything is typical history channel being annoying. I was really into "the curse of oak island" which did the same and that drove me crazy! had to tape it and fast forward

 

[Budnicks]

I DVR'd it actually, than watched & I liked it...

I'd like to seen even more on actual cars,
there was very little on the actual cars/designs etc.
I'd serve the story better than the life story of the Ford family mainly...

Henry Ford was a real paranoid asshole,
Edsel was too demure/weak, figurehead in name only,
Henry "Hank" Ford II was a crappy businessman, shrewed but
He was responsible or partially anyway for the
GT40, Cobras, Mustangs {barf} & Bringing in Carroll Shelby,
to kick Ferrari's asses, little to nothing about most all that stuff...

A little of the trials/tribulations/arrogance of John DeLorean,
or that DuPont that died broke, after building GM's empire...

Very little about racing, a liitle about bootlegging & Nascar...
The marketing & small segment on the GTO was ok...

Very little about the drag racing or Mopar's share,
very little about the RR or the 62-64 S/S & Ramchargers
Let alone all the hemi's domination...
Other than the late 40's & early 50's cars were ugly,
behind the times & firepower Hemi engines were great
3 times the power of the revered outdated V8 ford flatheads...
They did tell about Chrysler helping US to win the war &
made the most at that time doing so, under govt. contracts...

A little about the tri-5's era & the SBC, was OK...

But the stuff about the Ford family monopoly early on,
it is a big part of automotive history...

6 hrs 3 episodes;
IMO they could have done a little better on the cars...
BUT IMO all the Owners & CEO BS, could have ben covered
in 1 episode...

All in all it kept my attention for the most part...

There's something on tonight too
"Car County" @ 8:00pm PST

 

[oldbee]

Overall it was very interesting, of course I was looking for more Hemi and such; but what are you gonna do. We're the "bastards" in the whole scheme of things! The Buick turning into a GTO was laughable.

 

[OKDart]

It reminds me of those online articles on news websites about classic cars. They're obviously written by journalists with no clue about cars.

I'm sure there was some factual information in it, but I can't believe any of it until I fact check it.

 

[Bladecutter]

and to add insult..... after watching it, I have the urge to restore and hotrod an Edsel, I like em!

View attachment 501511

View attachment 501512

I love 1 OF 76. Homie has a 57 Edsel wagon.

 

[Bruzilla]

I have found that to maintain sanity while watching History or Discovery shows I MUST record them so I can fast forward through the commercials. A one hour show on Discovery has 18 minutes of commercials.

I can live with the commercials. It's the constant recapping that drove me nuts! I got so sick and tired of hearing that Henry and Edsel Ford didn't see eye to eye every time they came back from a break. I just wanted to scream "Yeah, I got that the first 30 times you mentioned it!"

 

[super-bee_ski]

I missed part 1
Got part 2 and part 3 recorded

 

[Car Nut]

Henry Ford was a prick!

 

[super-bee_ski]

Oh hell yes!
Gee, at the end they painted John Delorean in a bad way..