3 replys in one

[CARIBOULH <CARIBOULH@domain.elided>]

Hello John Kepplemen,

I think you may have mis-understood me a bit when you wrote...

<< Knock me down with a feather, Ed! You mean you don't think A
 Beta/Lancia is worth spending that kind of time and money on? >>

John, you know that no one has a higher loyalty to Lancia and Fiat than I do!
Heck, I've got so much money tied up in SELLING Fiat and Lancia parts that
"loyalty" shouldn't be in question!

The point I was trying to make is that on a daily basis I run into Fiat &
Lancia owners who can't even scrape up the $28 to buy a water pump!
Demographically speaking the US Fiat/Lancia owner is not the "average"
consumer for a $3000 modified engine. The UK though is different! And I agree
"hail to Guy Croft" because the point I was trying to make was that only in
the UK was (could) such a book be written!

Regarding Ferrari advertising: they spend money on full color well produced
ads for various Ferrari club publications; they print a quarterly or so glossy
magazine sent free of charge to Ferrari owners; they do local newspaper
advertising in major markets; the Beverly Hills Rodeo Drive event they sponsor
and the US arm of the 355 Challenge (where "identical prepared" Ferraris are
raced against each other by amature drivers) are both surely supported for
from "advertising" funds; and even the cars they loan to magazines or
newspapers for reviews are written off to advertising; as is a vehicle they my
give on "loan" the a TV or movie production crew.

I found out decades ago about Fiat wheels not fitting on the average US tire
changing machine, but could never figure out why they did it that way! I agree
with the observations that if Fiat really wanted to so they could have easily
done several things to adapt the cars better to the US market (like the wheel
snafu) but simply choose to ignore or not act upon what could have easily been
done.

Best Wishes,

Ed at Caribou Imports, Inc.
now the largest Fiat parts distributor in the Western U.S.
visit us on the Web at:
http://members.aol.com/CARIBOULH