Monday & Friday Cars: An Observation of Human Nature

[Guest Hal Davis (MODEL A HAL)]

While removing some of the interior body supports in my '29 Ford Town Sedan, I ran across a bolt laying in a hard to reach area. It was the same size and thread as one of the bolts that hold the spare tire mount to the rear of the car. There are no other bolts of that type used anywhere near where this one was found. I must surmise that the bolt was dropped 71 years ago when the spare tire mount was being mounted to the body and instead of fishing it out, the guy simply grabbed another one and put it in place. <P>Does this make mine a Monday or Friday car? No, of course not. This is the kind of thing that happens all of the time. You or I would probably have done the same thing. It was just interesting to me to find that the auto workers of 1929 were not a lot different than we are today.

[Dave@Moon]

Brings to mind my dad's '74 Ford van. We eventually filled a small coffee mug with the loose/lost nuts/bolts/washers/fuses/etc. we found in it after a few years. They don't loose 'em like they used to!

[Guest]

I still see new Buicks & Gmcs come off the truck with nuts & bolts in the interior on the floor & under the seats. Suzuki`s I haven`t seen any.Maybe they work 7 days a week in japan!<P>------------------<BR>Mike<BR><A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/lmmax97/cadillac/" TARGET=_blank>1964 Cadillac & Cars from the 40`s to 70`s<P>FREE! Cadillac parts posting board</A>

[novaman]

Back in '86 - '87 when I was working in a Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick dealership. We'd really check a Buick over if we didn't find extra nuts and bolts lying on the floor. We figured that if there weren't any, they forgot to bolt something on. Chevrolet and Pontiac, we might find something once in a blue moon. This dealership had a lot of cars go through it as the owner also owned a big rental car bussiness.

[Guest]

We found a cork lined beer bottle top sealed in the floor under the casket extension table of our 1939 S & S Cadillac carved panel<BR>hearse during the restoration--what happened to traditional coffee breaks??? Must have been finished on New Years Eve. Or...

[Guest]

I could not get what a Monday or Friday car is ?

[Dave@Moon]

Julio, a Monday or Friday car is simply a car that was assembled at the factoryu on a Monday or a Friday. As I recall it was around 30 years ago that consumer quality studies were made (by someone) who concluded that the cars made on those days were significantly more trouble-prone than mid-week built cars. Weekend anticipation and drinking were usually blamed.<P>In the mid-70's, when car quality was at its worst, I can vividly recall my dad looking up the date our Ford van was made before he closed on the deal. That's the one we eventually found all the extra hardware in, and it was built on a good day! <P>The car lasted 11 years eventually, to 120K miles. When is was junked it had literally been patched with over 5 gallons of Bondo (we kept track!). In it's defense, the body work wasn't intended to be a work of art.