Who could cut elaborate tools in a hurry for a robust auto industry that changed designs by the year as a marketing strategy. Histories of the industry frequently mention the annual model change as the source of near-permanent overtime schedules and exhorbitant charges to make impossible deadlines.

Aided and abetted by chemists from Dow and DuPont and others, manufacturers learned," if you can think it, you can mold it." The skill transfer from 1:1 autos and consumer products was nearly perfect.

Then came longer product cycles, fewer model, aggressive cost cutting leading to fewer model changes within those cycles... and gradually the industry began to wither and trickle offshore.

As a friend employed by a Tier 1 to GM and Ford told me, "We're betting that China gets to quality before the U.S. can get to cost."