Tom Geiger

We have ME TV in Philly! I only noticed it on Channel 2 recently, but have taped random shows of different old series. I've enjoyed watching old episodes of the Twilight Zone, Adam 12 and The FBI. I've DVRed them so I can watch them quickly without dealing with commercials. You have to laugh at how simple shows were back then. On an Adam 12 episode I watched this week, a couple of 'bad boys' (who looked like the Brady Bunch boys) went from skipping school to pitch pennies, to robbing a liquor store and shooting the owner within a half hour episode. Of course the same two cops were there from busting the kids chops for pitching pennies in an alley, all the way through the ending shoot out where they had to shoot and kill poor "Benjie". Aside from the corny story lines, it's fun to watch them drive that '68 Plymouth patrol car and all the cars they pass in LA. Interesting street scenes for sure.

Thank you Steve. This is my very point. We indeed don't have enough information to know what happened at all. The very fact that the engineer bought his son a car with that switch in it, tells you that he had no idea it would be a major problem. And it comes down to your illustration of your work in the auto parts store. In the old days, you'd tell the guy "don't do that!" and he'd have to pay for a new switch. In today's environment, an auto maker is supposed to cover any possible situation, no matter how stupid a human would need to be to cause the occurance. We know the number of accidents / injuries / deaths from that combination of a huge heavy key ring, followed by an inexperienced or drunk driver who couldn't handle a car without power brakes or steering. We've all been in that situation when a car stalls out, or otherwise stopped running. And we all worked it out. But how many million cars and billions of miles are we talking here. Again, we don't have the knowledge to pass judgement. Just enough to spout off through our ignorance. This all reminds me of a radio station, NJ101 Talk Radio that I listen to on my daily commute. They have the best traffic reports every 15 minutes. Their format is somewhat like this board. A topic is presented and then callers comment and rant about it. The hosts are usually clueless and the callers are worse. One recent topic was teachers salaries. One caller commented that $50,000 was too much money, that teachers had mansions and yachts! I don't know how little this guy had, but the hosts egged him on. For the record $50,000 isn't a lot of money to support a family on in high cost New Jersey! That's about where we are here.

I want a leg!

Brookfield has been gone a long time. Best source is eBay, there's a lot of their product still out there.

Harry, I'm not making excuses for GM. Something bad happened. I am just illustrating how it happens in a huge corporation. I believe DeGiorgio was made the scape goat because in a huge machine like GM, nobody has autonomy to make a major decision. That switch had to go through a bunch of people in different disciplines, and then a few levels of their bosses. Stuff like this happens just like my illustration of the engineer who took the fall for the saw accident that he had nothing to do with.

Rob, what do companies in Colorado do now about drug testing? Do they still test for pot? Or can't they do that anymore since it's legal there? I recently filled out an on line application for a large company... they had a statement "We promote a drug free drug place (USA Only)" That one took me by surprise!

I think a Prius should have to emit circus music. Like an ice cream truck. Don't hit your head. It hurts and it doesn't solve anything.

Yea, pools are just inverted boats! Holes to sink money into! I thought I got off easy this year. Last year my main pump was seized upon opening.. that was $600. This year start up went without mishap until I tried the hot tub. Bubble pump bad. $300. Now the Polaris won't go on at all. It was working fine. Then the valve at the pool wall went bad, putting too much pressure on the pump which was whining. and now that pump is silent.. jury is out on how much this one will be. Maybe I'll be on tomorrow that I got a new pump!

How do you know the buck stopped there? You don't. No doubt he had many layers of management above him that knew, but he was the guy who got tagged. In a large company nobody has the total say in anything. Nobody has the ability to totally stop the train. I can't tell you how many times I've seen things screw up in companies where a boss who signed off on everything and knew everything fired a low level guy to cover his own incompentence! In fact I've seen people who have a whole trail of people who they've fired, people whose careers they've ruined... before the company actually realizes that they are the problem.

Right now I'm wondering how many of the guys discussing this issue in this thread work in large corporations. Having worked for Fortune 100 companies for the past 35 years, the environment seems very familiar of what happens in large organizations. Nothing to do with malice or evil individuals, just what happens as people see small bits of information, never the whole. And people get moved to other projects before they can actually act upon something. For those saying "one death is too many", I submit that if we discontinued every product where a death occurred, there would be no products left to sell. Every single car make and model has had fatalities. It's a matter of occurance, reoccurrance and just how safe a car really has to be. Note the information on Crown Vics earlier in this thread. No car is designed to survive those conditions. As I read through the pages here I see things that happen in big companies. First, every single one of them make every employee sign (sometimes annually) a "Code of Conduct" that describes the companies ethics in glorious simplicity. Then people are put through half hearted training programs that they again need to sign off that they attended. All of this is nothing more than fluff that enables a company to push off just about anything on employees who have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Employees are placed under very high pressure to perform, make goals and deadlines. Each and every program has due dates needed to keep the entire vehicle production on target. If GM says that they'll start sending Cruzes to the dealers on June 1st, there is intense pressure on everyone to make that goal. And under that pressure mistakes and compromises take place. I can imagine that engineer DeGiorgio was given a specific order such as "get this ignition switch through Quality Assurance by June 1st". He had a very specific job, no doubt with a project number. Other engineers were assigned projects on those very same components, but due to workstreams and such, they may have not known about these other projects or that other engineers were working on things at all. Such a division would be guys assigned to hardware and electrical. The divisions in huge company make that one hand doesn't know what the other is doing. So he had an issue that the lock tumbler turned a slight degree too easy for spec. No doubt this didn't seem significant. Heck, turning easier is better than it being hard to turn the key. When you oil a stuck tumbler on your front door lock and it turns easy you are happy. It never occurs to you that maybe it's now turning too easy. Nobody in this scenerio was evil. It's just that nobody at that point in time could imagine that human interaction with that switch... whether it was people with too heavy a key chain hitting against their person would actually turn that switch off and cause the issues that resulted. Remember, DeGiorgio gave his own son a car with that switch. And what was the pressure above him? How many levels of management told him there was no time to go back for a redesign now (as he did later), and to just move ahead to keep things on schedule. Nobody in a corporation wants their small part to be the one that screws up a project! All in all, in the big corporation, they always look for someone to blame. And this guy got the hot potato. There is also the fact that large manufacturers demand total indemity from their subs. So Delphi will be the one making good on all the costs etc of this debacle. Back when I worked in design for a large oil company, they were having issues finding companies that would sell them piping, valves and such. Their total indemity clause would hold that company completely responsible for any mishap, damage, environmental issue, even loss of production, if that valve ever failed... ever! Some companies would sign and take their chances for such a large contract, but others walked away. Such are corporations. So it's easy for GM engineering to sign off on a vendor part since they're told the part's manufacturer will be held responsible, not them. I can identify with this whole mess from the corporate end of it. One time I was in an engineering department and the boss was going door to door in my office area asking if we had any project going with a specific construction company. Every single one of us had projects with this contractor, but I didn't that week. Turns out that an employee from that company had an accident. He was cleaning up their construction trailer and picked up a circular saw that didn't have a guard by the blade, absolutely stupid. It was his own fault and wasn't associated with any of our company projects, but our corporate culture was that someone had to be blamed! So some poor engineer who had the sad luck of the draw of having them on a totally unrelated project that week took the hit for a lost time accident. That affected his review, his raise, his promotability and put him on the bottom rung in case of a layoff. And that's the way things work in a big company! I'm not getting into any GM coverup or any other conspiracy theories the press or people here with no experience in corporate speak come up with. We really don't have the whole story. No doubt by a long shot. And as far as those ignition switches. Time will show that the defect goes back to Delhi, the manufacturer of the switch. And that nobody at Delhi knew that a heavy keychain pulling on that switch when the car hit a bump in a certain way would turn a car off. And we'll be seeing recalls for that same switch design from different auto manufacturers. Probably already have and we don't realize it. I remember a few years ago my 1999 and 2000 Plymouth Breezes were recalled for the ignition switches. Both were inspected at the dealer and declared defect free. Were those the same switches? Or at least a variation of the same design? And time will show that that very same defect got by the engineering departments of many different auto manufacturers.

That's kinda like a backwards promotion... people come into the showroom to look at the new cars and see if they can win a car. Dealer asks "Would you like to buy a Cruze?" Customer answers, "No, I'll just wait until I win one I saw a local version of that this week.. It was a Toyota dealer. Had a big picture of a Camry and said in big letters... "WIN A CAMRY" and then the little letters said "lease". Yea, probably a 24 month one too!

I think it's graduation partys. We were invited to the kid next door's graduation party Saturday night. He had a bunch of kids sleeping over, his dad was collecting all their keys, so I assume alcohol was present. He didn't have any fireworks. I heard them out on their deck around 3am. So they tried to party all night long! And Pennsylvania is one of those states with fireworks stores at the borders. They say they only sell to out of staters, not to PA residents since fireworks are illegal. Funny thing, fireworks are illegal in the bordering states too, but that doesn't seem to be their issue.

Agreed. And this can be part of the GM story as well. GM sells a boat load of vehicles, so their recall number of units looks very large. We have no idea of the percentage of cars sold that the recalls represent. A Chrysler recall can appear to be small because it's a small number of units, but it very well may represent a large percentage of their overall vehicles sold. It's like those car history articles that say things like "Mustang was more popular than Barracuda outselling them 3:1 in their first year". Well, Ford had a much greater production capacity, thus more units. The author has looked purely at numbers with no further understanding of the companies, their target market share or the sales situation. Same could be said with Plymouth Dusters, that they sold less than certain other models from other manufacturers. But my uncle waited 6 months to get one. So a car can sell in what appears to be small numbers, but have had a demand that exceeded that manufacturers production capabililties. Same with the pontification in the press over the Tracy Morgan accident and the smearing of Walmart. The NJ stations were reporting "Bad Walmart" saying that their fleet had 381 accidents resulting in 9 deaths the past year. OMG! Then out of curiousity I Googled for info about their fleet and found that Walmart has 6500 tractors and 7000 drivers. Reading further they have very high safety standards and run one of the most efficient fleets in the industry. But the news just was looking for sensationalism, which is part of the news reporting of recalls. And off topic but, I'll say that no news report even mentioned that the section of the NJ Turnpike where the accident happened is absolutely unsafe and I'd say a primary cause of that accident. Three lanes going north and any time day or night it will come to a sudden screaching halt. Traffic was stopped dead there.. at 1am on a Saturday morning. No excuse for this road to exist that way! The Turnpike has doubled in width there (to two roads of 3 lanes each) but the new lanes aren't open yet. That should fix the issue. And the way the press works. That became a big story because of the celebrity connection. There was a much worse similar accident on the PA Turnpike where a truck hit a truck stopped in the shoulder resulting in three deaths. Barely a mention on the news.

In my experience the local candy store only had Palmer kits! You had to go to a variety store like Two Guys to get AMT!

Aside from the GM factor, note that today's cars are 10 times (probably more!) complicated than cars of past eras and are 100 times more reliable and last longer too! The cars we all revere and lust after from the 1950s and 1960s were troublesome beasts that gave new owners problems right off the show room. They were basically designed to last through the 2 year payment plan, and rapidly depreciated after that. I remember cars that were 5 years old that had seats that were worn through and major rust holes. I believe we can thank the Japanese for the level of quality we see in cars today. The late 70s Toyotas and Hondas set new levels of quality that Detriot had to sit up and take notice. In this era I worked for a home builder who was doing very well and bought many employees company cars. I was in charge of buying them and managing this fleet. When I'd take delivery of a new car, the quality was so bad then that I'd drive it myself for a few weeks before turning it over to the executive. I had new cars towed off the turnpike. I especially remember a new 1978 Buick that lost it's transmission. Another memory was a new Oldsmobile that had a loud rattle in the drivers door. Opening it up showed the steel beam was not welded in place. They replaced the entire door, but typical back then when they painted the new door they got paint all over the door handle gasket. And this was on a brand new car. Typical performance of this fleet? I had to keep an extra Cadillac because at least one car was always in the shop. Dismal. Then I got myself a 1978 Toyota Corolla wagon, 5 speed with a/c, and waited for problems... none! Nothing! The car just exuded quality. It felt tight and was fun to drive. It literally never went back to the dealer. I drove that company car hard and put over 100,000 trouble free miles on it in two years. That's what a car should do! Shortly after I got the wagon, one of the executives wanted a Honda Accord.. same thing! No problems, great little car. Once the Japanese companies got entrenched and developed a reputation for value and quality, Detroit had no choice but to follow suit. They had several false starts, ignored the change in the market way too long and answered it with the wrong products much of the time. But today most US and foreign cars (hard to tell which are what these days) all have a quality level second to none and can be counted on to deliver great value for a very long time. My daughters have both bought cars in the last two years. One has a Fiat 500, an Italian car built by an American company in Mexico, and it's been flawless. My older daughter got a Ford Fusion. Neither has ever been back to the dealer for anything. My boss got a Fusion hybrid in January, and again it's been flawless.

I respect anyone here who takes the time to photograph, write up and post tutorials here on the boards. It does take a lot of time and effort. Many folks here who don't contribute in this way do not understand this. And there are the ones who don't respect it, and post jabs and otherwise disrespect those who do contribute. I notice that the worst offenders are people who never post threads of value, and never share their builds.

I'm not sure if flying monkeys host deer ticks or if they are all wearing flea collars?

Great premise! I seldom use more than the basics. I use spray cans, a number 11 eXacto, tweezers, sand paper, small files and weathering chalks. I have a wire cutter I use to cut straight pins. My big high tech thing is a Flexi File frame! I keep three of them with different grits hanging on hooks over my bench. I do have a small battery power drill that I use with my tiny little bit set. I made my own spray booth. I never use an air brush and don't own a dehydrator. I own a Dremel but only recently pulled it out of my cabinet to make an effort to use it! I'm pretty low tech!

Um, you are looking at the sticker from whatever store you bought the kit from. Those are their prices. Has nothing to do with Revell or their policies.

Todd A. Koncsol AGE: 51 • Hillsborough, NJ Todd A. Koncsol, 51, of Hillsborough, passed on Wednesday, June 25, 2014. He was born in Perth Amboy, grew up in the Clara Barton section of Edison, and resided in Hillsborough for the last 16 years. Todd worked as a Graphic Designer for Bristol Myers - Squibb in Plainsboro. He was a 1996 graduate of Rutgers University and he was a charter member of the Tri-State Scale Model Car Club.Todd is survived by his wife of 16 years, Margaret Huang; his daughter, Lyra Huang Koncsol; his parents, Philip and Carol Koncsol of Edison; his brother, Dean and his wife Kathleen of Scotch Plains, and a nephew, Ryan. Funeral Services will be held at 11 AM on Monday, June 30, 2014 at Flynn and Son\Koyen Funeral Home, 319 Amboy Ave., Metuchen. Interment will follow at Clover Leaf Memorial Park, Woodbridge. Visitation will be Sunday 4-8 PM. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to St. Paul's Reformed Church, PO Box 1160, Perth Amboy, NJ 08862-1160. For directions or to send a condolence message, visit our web page at http://www.flynnfuneral.com - See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/mycentraljersey/obituary.aspx?n=todd-a-koncsol&pid=171515676&#sthash.3vPvL9QB.dpuf

I do like the idea of people commenting as you go. Your ideas will stimulate conversation that will result in more ideas and shared technique. Technically it's called "crowd sourcing".

Go for it Rob. Anytime someone takes the time to take photos and produce a tutorial, I'll follow along. And as far as the basics, we all find our own way, and I'm sure a good number of us old salts will learn from you!

Great work Blair... oh, why do I feel a model coming on? I do need to build something in response, but I have found myself more into 33-34 Fords than Dueces lately.. yea, I've been scouring eBay Motors

Thanks Dan for very sage advise, only 2.5 yrs have transpired so that ship has sailed for me. I do believe I may have forced them to cough up a few more dollars, and getting higher dollar estimates would only strengthen their case since they had totalled me out at $5000 and their high estimate was already $6500. In fact their estimator told me they'd do that, and said for $5000 he'd buy the car himself and fix it! So he was on my side and did what he could in the comments section. I did invoke Plan E though.. this was the insurance company of choice with my then employer. I did tell insurance company that I'd report my disatisfaction back to the employer. They told me to go ahead! Little did they know I was far enough up the food chain to have them removed. And I did. That no doubt cost them a lot more money than treating me fairly.

Little known fact is that insurance companies have a second profit center... selling damaged vehicles. That has become big business. There is a yard in King of Prussia PA that you can see from the Turnpike that holds cars for insurance companies. That yard probably holds 1000 or more cars and trucks and fills up and empties weekly! So there are literally thousands of cars totalled out every week. And when you see a truck on the highway with several 'totals' on it, you'll notice that some of them have somewhat minor damage. Yea, that's all part of their game. Screw you out of your car for a low ball offer, so they can resell it at a profit. When my wife got hit in the Jaguar I called my insurance company and the insurance company for the lady who hit us. My company sent us to their body shop for an estimate. The estimate was sky high, over $6500 for this little front corner hit, mainly due to listing all brand new parts. I don't have it in front of me, but things like new hood over $1000. The Jaguar is a 2000 S Type, but in pristine condition with 25,000 miles on it. I had bought it 2,000 miles and three months earlier for $10,000 cash. They offer me $5000 cash and wanted the car. I knew they had something like $4500 in parts on the estimate and knowing that the car would actually get repaired with used parts, I tried to negotiate them down, with me keeping the car. No, they don't do that. There offer was take it or leave it. They wanted the car. So I declined their offer and went after the lady who hit me. Her company also used the same body shop and agreed to allow the same estimate. Only they took the estimate and reduced it to $3500 calling it 'fair market' estimate, saying that they could get the car repaired for that. Fine, if they had a relationship with the shop and it would get repaired on a professional discount. No, the shop said they wouldn't honor that number. Then the insurance company comes back and says that they are only admitting 20% fault in the accident and are offering me $700. I check with my insurance company and they tell me that if I signed that, it would be admitting 80% fault and they'd come after me and my insurance to pay for their insured's car. So I don't accept it. This was during a difficult time in my life, so I didn't have the time / brain space / money to hire a lawyer to chase them, so I got nothing and the car never got repaired. It is drivable, but looks like hell. So having collision coverage on your car isn't the end all solution.