Local car aficionados said they were hopeful that General Motors will get back on its feet.
"My first car was a '68 Camaro," said Ed Castellano, of Unadilla. The 47-year-old Franklin Central School bus driver also builds custom hot rods.
"I loved that car," he said. He's also had a 1972 Corvette, a GM van and a Chevy pickup over the years.
"They make a good product," he said. "They were way ahead of other companies" in terms of design, he said.
Some of GM's problems arose from "getting ahead of the market" by making higher-priced cars without concern for gas mileage, he said.
"They need to design a low-priced car they can make money from," he said. "They have to keep pressing."
Marc Burgin, 56, a partner at Burgin's Auto Service in Franklin, said his family is driving a '95 Chevy Astro and '85 Pontiac Fiero.
"I like the product," he said. "I do hope they make it."
Changes were needed years ago in such areas as labor costs to make General Motors vehicles that were more competitive with foreign car makers, he said.
Those areas need to be addressed in order for the company to get on its feet.
GM had some problem years, with things like quality and design, but so have other companies, he said. In general, it has done a good job in those areas, he said. From what he has seen in the shop, the cost of repairing a General Motors vehicle is less then the imports, he said.
He expected GM and Chrysler will have an future in the automotive industry.
Charlie Loucks, 72, of Otego, has been a member of Reminiscers antique and classic-car club for about nine years. He owns a 1956 green-and-white Oldsmobile, and one of his first cars growing up was a 1949 Oldsmobile, he said.
"I think they will come out of it," he said about the problems facing the company.
"They have a good product," he said. But a high pay scale for auto workers and executives probably helped get them in this financial dilemma, he said.
They have to make a product that gives people good mileage, he said.
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