Within a twenty year period, GM had gone from bragging they were losing one
of every two sales, they owned over 50% of the market and were faced with
threats of being broken up, to redesigning the car, for both fuel economy and
emissions, to save the company. Where once Chevy sold over 25% of the new cars,
now the gas crisis, and the Japanese invasion were cutting into them deep.
Where GM styling and engineering had always been the leader in the industry, now
they were having to play follow a new leader, an off shore one, who only a few
years before was the butt of jokes, but was now for real. Their response for
1980 was the X car, aka the Chevy Citation, Buick Skylark, Olds Omega, and the
Pontiac Phoenix. The same platform with each division making it personal
through styling. Big on the inside and small on the outside, they were a long
way from the lower, longer, wider styling of decade ago, it was now mpg instead
of horsepower, and metric sized engines, the famous Chevy 327 becoming a 5.3
liter before going away forever. Based on the marketing, they sold well
initially, but problems began surfacing almost immediately. On the six cylinder
you couldn’t reach the sixth plug without partially removing the engine. There
were brake and steering problems, assembly problems, and the traditional dealer
problems. Yet knowing this, we bought one, used, a 1981 Chevy Citation X-11,
the high performance version of high performance at the time. 135hp that could
chirp the tires if you listened loud enough. Mag wheels with wide ovals, a cool
exhaust and bucket seats with a console. Even a raised hood scoop! A pretty
face if ever you saw one at the time, and I was suckered in passing by it on the
used car lot.
Working a deal to trade straight across for our 1893 Ford Escort, after
signing the papers, the sales manager came up, and told me in his good
conscience, he had to tell me the car had been in an accident. Not sure how bad
it was damaged, but they had checked it out and it ran well, and looked good.
Which explained the repaint, the gaps in doors, and rattles at certain speeds.
In this pre-salvage title era, it was buyer beware....and I had been taken in by
a pretty face. But when taking it in for service at the Chevy store where we
had moved, 50 miles away, when picking it up, the service writer told me the
parts guy wanted to see me. It seems it had been his wife’s car, and had been
T-boned by a drunk driver. She had pulled off the road to avoid him, but still
got hit, and the car was totaled. But using his auto shop skills and parts at
cost, they had rebuilt the car, and sold it at auction. He claimed it had been a
good car before and his wife loved it, and even gave me pictures of the car
after the crash. But now it looked good, ran good, and if no one else knew, who
cared. Until it spun a crank bearing outside of Early, Texas and we traded it
off. Somehow it had weathered being totaled, but couldn’t overcome GM”s
engineering at the time. Today no one knows of the X-cars, and none are
around. Where did the millions of them that GM sold all go to? And I read
recently that the Citation X-11 is becoming a collector car. And GM has gone
bankrupt over 8 years ago....and I had one, if only I knew what I was getting,
how would that have affected the sale and the trade in of it.
I get tired of hearing how we are all God’s children, especially from
Christians who should know better. But are we really, maybe if we read the
scriptures we tell people we study so much we will be amazed. John 1:12-13
outlines it differently. It is a process, and a decision we make, a spiritual
one, that cannot be inherited, cannot be gained philosophically or socially, and
you cannot marry into. John lists three ways we mistakenly think we have become
a Christian. First it is not of blood, it is not passed down to you because
your parents were saved, or just attended church. Attending a Christian school,
carrying a big Bible, even being a Bible student is not it. Even if you only
hang out with other Christians, and do Christian things, until you are born
again, you are not a Christian. You may sit in a pew, but the stink comes from
sitting in your own pew.
The second thing is not a choice of the will. Today I decide to be a
Christian, even it takes talking myself into it. Or others doing it. I can
talk the talk, and maybe even look like I am walking the walk, I can have all my
radio presets for Christian radio, know all the words, and have all the
Christian externals, but you cannot become born again by the choice of your
willpower. Lastly it is not the will of man, or others that you should be
saved. No religion, pastor, Pope, cardinal, reverend, or religious person can
make you a Christian. It can only be done by God through Jesus Christ by his
spirit, it is not a ceremony, joining a church, or even going forward at an
altar call. None of those things make you a Christian. It is what is happening
in your heart, being accomplished by God alone, that goes beyond any human
cleverness, manipulation, or or effort that makes you a Christian. John makes
this clear in his gospel. You must be born again! It goes beyond believing, it
is receiving him into your heart and repenting. Many believe in him, only true
Christians believe him. It is that personal.
It is something only God can do, you cannot. When your faith points to
Jesus, and you make that decision, when he is invited into your life as Lord,
then do you truly become a Christian, and earn the title of God’s children. A
new life begins in you, all the rules have changed, and you begin to grow in the
image of Christ. That is the mark of a new birth. I shudder at the number who
think they are saved by going to church, sitting under a good teacher, or having
friends or family who are saved. Just like the X-11 we bought, it looked good
on the outside, but when I learned its history, the cracks and imperfections
began to surface. You can put on a happy face, but God knows the heart. And
the car. And it s history. He knows who are his own, and who play the game.
Whose hearts are after Christ, or after themselves. John identifies this, and
makes it plain.
God doesn’t condemn us, he wants to save us. To rescue us and have
fellowship with him. To be true sons and daughters of Christ. He is calling to
you now via his spirit. Don’t make a foolish decision based on what looks or
sounds good. We loved the X-11, with all its creaks and groans. But it let us
down and it was time to trade it off. Jesus never lets you down, and won’t trade
you for anything. I often wonder where have all the X-cars gone, there were
once millions of them. Someday those left behind will wonder where did all the
Christians go? GM once bragged of market superiority, they only had 52% of the
market. The X-car could have saved them, but ended up almost ruining them.
Cars go in and out of style, Jesus never does. If only GM knew what God knew,
the question is, do you? Jesus Christ, like the old Chevy ads say, “you’ve got
to drive it to believe it!”
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com