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Re: Response to Classic Car Restoration

To: dayton carpenter <djcarpen@hotmail.com>, spitfires@autox.team.net,
Subject: Re: Response to Classic Car Restoration
From: "Michael D. Porter" <mporter@zianet.com>
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 02:50:40 -0700
dayton carpenter wrote:
> 
> Michael:
> 
> Thanks. Good points. I would be more than happy to discuss via phone while I
> am in the US.

Truly, I have absolutely no interest in discussing this with you. My
time's valuable. Twenty minutes wasted on this email is all I intend to
spend.

> I have been living in China for over 2 years. Most of my
> investors at this point are Taiwanese, so go figure.  They have put the
> money up and know that the project is sound.  I have done business in Taiwan
> I have personally meet the former President of Taiwan, Lee Deng Wei. I know
> that Taiwan is different place. Most of my previous legal clients are
> Taiwanese.

Fine. Who cares who you say you know?
 
> As for classic cars there are plenty in US. I won!/t be dealing much with
> the British cars because they are too cheap and have no market value as
> compared to Corvettes and some of other US muscle cars.  When comes to
> business and someone is willing to pay the right price for your car most of
> time it does matter who the buyer really is and what he will do with the
> car.

I presume you meant to say, "doesn't matter." If you understood your
market, you'd know it does. But, perhaps you subscribe to the P.T.
Barnum principle of marketing? 

And, further, why then did you bother this list with your proposed plans
if your plans only were with regard to Corvettes and muscle cars? 
 
> As for my car check out last years Spring issue of the Spitfire magazine and
> you will see my Spitfire. Also check the Syracuse Herald and Albany, New
> York Times for other pictures and articles about my car.  I would be crazy
> to think I was going to spend 6,000 hours on a restoration here in China or
> the US.  My project was totally different.  Once you check out the magazine
> then you can criticize me. Many of the list members and asked for my input
> on their projects. I built the car for me and not to sell. It is in garage
> in Syracuse NY used one month year in summer.

Your car doesn't mean shit when you're talking about your business. Ah,
you mention Syracuse. Your last email address, a recent one, I presume,
was djcarpen@kong.syr.edu. From the evidence, you haven't had time to be
a lawyer and a master metalworker/restorer and an environmental
engineer, and be in practice in the law for five years. Good try. No
real evidence of genuine credentials. Besides, who cares what your
credentials may be if you're working on a sleazy venture. They would
only prove that your education was wasted on you.
 
> Everything I do will be legal cutting corners wont work in the long run but
> doing business in another country is not like the US.  Unless you have done
> big business deals outside the US you would not really know this.  Even in
> Europe things are different.

You just answered all my questions. And, yes, it is different in Europe.
Tougher standards. And if it won't work in the long run, I do hope you
have only your money in it, as I've said.
 
> I have an education and license to practice law I would not jeopardize this.
>   This education is worth more than $500,000.

Your U.S. law education cost you $500,000? You wuz robbed. Or, did you
mean it was worth that to you over your lifetime? You plan to work
cheap, I see, or don't plan to live very long at all. All bullshit, from
appearances.

> Are you a legal expert? Do
> hold any professional certifications? I know the law and have been
> practicing international law for 5 years.  I am working with members of
> Delphi, GM and Ford in China on this project. Did you know Buick has a plant
> here in China and Ford is planning on opening one?  Are they sweatshops?

Compared to US plants, they will be. Are you busily enforcing sensible
democratic, environmental and labor standards in China, for the good of
the Chinese workers? If so, please explain in detail how you intend to
put workers' rights and environmental standards first, and how you
intend to force the Chinese government to uphold democracy and people's
rights? Yeah, I thought so.... More horseshit. You are in this for
yourself, and don't kid a soul about it, even yourself.
 
> What qualifies you to talk about Asia? Have ever been here?  Lived here?
> Speak the language?  Probably not?  So you really don!/t know what goes here
> other than what you may hear or read in the press.

Doesn't matter what I think. You brought this business up, not me. I
don't have to defend myself. You, however, do, since you put the cards
on the table first. And, made an outlandish claim or two in the course
of your emails.
 
> Next time you look at something check out where is made.  Probably 50% or
> more is made in China.  Black& Decker, Sears and most power tools, your
> cloths, coffee maker, toaster, toys, etc.  You can be sure you see more
> after China's admission to WTO.   The US is China's biggest trade partner.
> If you are really concerned about sweatshops then you better talk to your
> Congressman.  Good luck!

I have, and have. And with the attitude you present in the paragraph
above, you're clearly part of the problem, not part of the solution.
 
> My shop will state of the art and will not be a sweatshop. If you ever time
> come to China you may after some time start to think Globally.

I presume you meant "will be" in the above, and "ever have time." With
regard to automotive manufacturing, and especially with regard to the
sort of enterprise you propose, there's no such thing as
state-of-the-art in China. Ever use a Chinese-made machine tool imported
to the U.S.? I have. Good luck, as you say. If there's a good
manufacturing tool in China, someone else gave them the design and
specifications. Besides, if you have any notion to reproduce British
classics in China, GM, Delphi Packard and Ford are of no real use to
you. Don't kid a kidder. Beyond that, the British car fraternity accept
that the cars came from Great Britain, and that some of the parts
inevitably would have to be sourced from that location, or elsewhere.
The "born in the USA" guys wanting `Vettes and muscle cars wouldn't
stand, for a minute, for "Made in China" on the label. They simply
wouldn't buy from you when word got out, and it would get out, very
quickly. You might be a lawyer, but you're an exceeding poor marketer,
and probably an even lousier businessman.

And, I do think about the global economy. In ways you do not. You would
never consider such an enterprise in the US, because profits might not
be what you would like, even though your venture would very likely
require people with the skills and training and experience found here.
You think an abundance of untrained labor is right up your alley... so
be it. Live with the results. I'm not stopping you. But, as I said, I
hope your money is in it, and that of no one else. 

Oh, yeah... where'd you pass the Bar? I'd like to look up your
credentials, just in case I have to testify against you sometime in the
near future.

Cheers.
 
-- 
Michael D. Porter
Roswell, NM (yes, _that_ Roswell)
[mailto:mporter@zianet.com]

`70 GT6+ (being refurbished, slowly)
`71 GT6 Mk. III (organ donor)
`72 GT6 Mk. III (daily driver)
`64 TR4 (awaiting intensive care)
`80 TR7 (3.8 liter Buick-powered)
`86 Nissan 300ZX (the minimal-maintenance road car)
`68 VW Type II Camper (Lancia twin-cam powered, but feeling its age....)

Remember:  Math and alcohol do not mix... do not drink and derive.

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