The Truth About Cars » Editorials

Editorial: Opel, Aftermath and Prelude

Bertel Schmitt — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:09:20 +0000

On Tuesday, twenty years after the fall of the wall that separated the two Germanies, German Chancellor Angela Merkel went to Washington. For the first time since Germany’s Chancellor Adenauer in 1957, the topmost German addressed Congress—to roaring applause. There was another wall. A wall of silence. Nobody in the US government—owner of General Motors—supposedly had [...]

Curbside Classic: 1968 Chevmobile Impala

Paul Niedermeyer — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:20:09 +0000

Hybrids are big in Eugene, but some are just plain huge. The Prius is the official new car here, having dethroned Subaru. But here’s a hybrid of a different color: instead of a marriage of two drive systems, it’s a cross between two brands, the engine of one transplanted into another. Back in the day, [...]

Curbside Classic: 1965 Volvo 122S Amazon

Paul Niedermeyer — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:57:44 +0000

How exactly did the Volvo 122 Amazon achieve its mythological stature? Naming it after the eponymous nation of all-female warriors was a good start. Legendary ruggedness and durability solidified its status. Sporty performance burnished it further. Then there’s the magic belt: one of the twelve labors of Hercules was to secure the girdle of Hippolyta, [...]

How I Won/Lost/Failed To Understand The Cadillac CTS-V Challenge

Jack Baruth — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:53:50 +0000

With apologies to Douglas Adams: Stress and nervous tension are now serious social problems in all parts of the Galaxy, and it is in order that this situation should not in any way be exacerbated that the following facts will now be revealed in advance. I took my privately-owned 2009 Audi S5 to the CTS-V Challenge, intending [...]

Curbside Classics: Chrysler’s Deadly Sin #1 – 1976 Plymouth Volare and Dodge Aspen

Paul Niedermeyer — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:59:08 +0000

While the human Seven Deadly Sins – lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride – clearly play a part in any automaker’s fall from grace, Detroit cultivated its own favorite deadly transgressions. Chrysler’s recurring dirty little habit was premature ejection: spurting cars out of the factory door before they were ready. The shoddily built [...]

Ask the Best and Brightest: What If We Didn’t Have Federal Safety Standards?

Robert Farago — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:02:05 +0000

Curbside Classic: 1985 BMW 635CSi

Paul Niedermeyer — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:29:35 +0000

Somewhere deep in the comments to last week’s oft-misunderstood Datsun 210 CC was this: “With all the beautiful cars in the world, why do you insist on picking shit boxes all the time?” Well, it’s not like the streets of Eugene are lined with Delages and Delahayes sitting curbside in the [...]

Housekeeping: TTAC’s Comment Policy

Edward Niedermeyer — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 06:01:18 +0000

As TTAC moves into its next chapter, it’s important that we revisit a topic that has long been a defining factor in our site’s success: our comment moderation policy. TTAC strives to provide the very best discussion on all things automotive, and in order to maintain decorum and high-quality online discourse, we’ve always moderated comments. [...]

Ford Death Watch 49: Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves

Robert Farago — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:43:48 +0000

Will Ford go bankrupt? I doubt it. Not while the “bad” automakers that suckled on the federal teat go on and on and on and on. A FoMoCo C11 would expose the government’s Detroit bailout for what it was/is: unfair, ineffective, ill-conceived and unsustainable. Politically, Ford’s failure is not an option. If push comes to [...]

Editorial: The Carless Kids

Edward Niedermeyer — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 21:27:49 +0000

We’ve seen the signs coming for some time: rumors from Japan, declining car sales at home, advertisments selling cars as “the ultimate mobile device.” And the picture that’s beginning to reveal itself is a challenging one for fans of four-wheeled transport. Young people, once a deep well of enthusiasm and sales growth for the car [...]

American Editorial: Huzzah! First Single-Digit Drop In 17 Months!

Bertel Schmitt — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 15:22:18 +0000

Prepare yourself for an increasing number of „good news“ along the following lines: „October U.S. auto sales should be down about 6 percent from a year ago, marking the first single-digit monthly decline since May 2008, industry forecasting firm J.D. Power and Associates said on Friday.” Glad tidings, brought to you by Reuters. Times must be really [...]

The Carless Generation

Jim Sutherland — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 21:31:45 +0000

There is always going to be a generation gap. The term “generation gap” was coined in the 60s when it became evident that Baby Boomers had developed a whole new set of rules for themselves that put a significant chasm between them and their parents in terms of interests and values. Generation gaps will always [...]

Gordon G. Chang: China’s Car Sales Are a Fraud

Bertel Schmitt — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:11:09 +0000

If right-wingnut Glenn Beck needs a China hater on the tube, he usually calls Gordon G. Chang. Chang is always good for talking bad about China. In 2001, Gordon Chang published a book titled. “The Coming Collapse of China.” In it, he predicted that China would implode by 2006, if not earlier, due to the [...]

Curbside Classic: 1980 Datsun 210 Sunny

Paul Niedermeyer — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:04:05 +0000

With what words shall I express my overpowering feelings toward this tin can wrapped in vinyl wood appliqué? Jeremy Clarkson once called the Sunny “the worst car in the world ever” (probably not for the first or last time). To show he meant it, he hurled one to its death from [...]

General Motors Zombie Watch 19: You Get What You Don’t Pay For

Robert Farago — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:43:47 +0000

OK, so, GM is a nationalized automaker. I know, I know: nationalization is for third world dictators. But there it is. Thanks to outgoing president George Bush, the feds used $50 billion from the Troubled Asset Relief Fund to bail out General Motors, in exchange for majority ownership. So no matter what W's political successor says about his administration's "hands off" non-management of Government Motors, he who owns the gold makes the rules. And when it comes to running a federal-funded organization, Uncle Sam plays by different rules than, say, any private enterprise extent. The bottom line is that there is no bottom line. Amtrak, the U.S. Postal Service, Medicaid---they're all run at a tremendous, ongoing loss. Which means there's zero sense of accountability. Which means they will never, ever be able to fully and fairly compete with privately held corporations. Why should GM by any different? Answer: it isn't.

Curbside Classic: 1951 Packard 200

Paul Niedermeyer — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:50:31 +0000

You would be forgiven for mistaking this modest-looking sedan as a low-end Dodge, Pontiac or Mercury. A Packard? The very name conjures images of exclusive cars from the classic era, like this illustrious coach-built V12, or perhaps its last gasp luxo-boat, the 1956 Caribbean. But finding this lowly [...]

Editorial: Where’s The Yellow Peril?

Bertel Schmitt — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 18:48:58 +0000

A year ago, the 21st Century Business Herald reported that SAIC might buy GM and Dongfeng might buy Chrysler. TTAC was the first to break the story in the USA. As a result, our servers melted down, and we were accused of driving down GM’s and Chrysler’s stock price. Usually, buyout rumors drive prices up. But GM and Chrysler had only one way to go: Down. Months later, GM and Chrysler went bankrupt. They became a ward of the US government. Chrysler was given away to Fiat. GM was trimmed down to the barest minimum and is still owned by the US government. And the China story turned out to be a myth. Following this, stories of Chinese car companies buying US car companies became a regular staple. Up to now, it is mostly talk and little action.

General Motors Zombie Watch 18: Hire Buickman

Robert Farago — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 15:59:42 +0000

Back in the day, GM really pissed me off. As the American automaker continued its inexorable slide into bankruptcy, executives, analysts, journalists, loyalists and camp followers scoffed at the prospect of disaster. Their scorn fueled my anger or, as Angus Mackenzie would have it, pompous indignation. When the feds bailed-out and then nationalized GM, the company's refusal to overhaul (keelhaul?) its executive "talent" kept my ire alive. A few months and $50b-plus dollars later and I'm rapidly approaching the point where I couldn't give a NSFW. How many times can you sing the chorus of "Where have all the flowers gone?" without saying FTS and cranking-up the MC5? Before I abandon this pursuit entirely, one last gasp . .

Curbside Classic: 1960 Comet

Paul Niedermeyer — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:19:21 +0000

If this goofy-assed little car showed up at your premium brand’s doorstep and told you it was an unwanted orphan, would you let it in? And keep it as a foster child, or adopt it as your own? That’s the scenario Mercury found itself in with the Comet. And true to [...]

Curbside Classic: 1978 Ford Fiesta

Paul Niedermeyer — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:54:49 +0000

In the depths of the gloomy automotive winter of the late seventies, the Fiesta made a brief appearance that brought a ray of sunshine into our deprived existence. She was like that cute, skinny little German exchange student who appeared one day at High School, and dazzled us with her algebra, physics, gymnastics and fencing. [...]

Editorial: Camaro Versus Camaro

Jim Sutherland — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 15:50:20 +0000

The 1969 Camaro is an automotive icon. Because of this juggernaut tag there are tens of thousands of these late 60s pony cars restored or under restoration. The late Reverend Jimmy “drink the Kool-Aid” Jones would have been humbled by this kind of blind loyalty-the sole reason the 09 Camaro exists was GM’s critical need [...]

Editorial: A Turbo By Any Other Name

Joseph Kaitschuck — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 16:07:35 +0000

I recently came across a brand new Lincoln MKS. I’m a pretty hard core Japanese car fan but I had to admit that this car looks pretty slick. I had heard that it was pretty fast too. I like fast. Upon inspecting the exterior of the car it came to my attention that [...]

Curbside Classic: 1965 GMC Handi-Van

Paul Niedermeyer — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:27:11 +0000

Regression to the mean. Lowest common denominator. Thinking inside the box. These over-used expressions are all-too often applied to Detroit iron. But which vehicle most fully lives down to them? Here it is: the crudest, simplest, most wretched-handling and least-safe vehicle made by the Big Three in the sixties. It’s a box with two cart [...]

Curbside Classic: GM’s Deadly Sin 3: 1991 Saturn SL2

Paul Niedermeyer — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:47:46 +0000

Friends, we are gathered together to pay our last respects to a fallen brother. Saturn was the love child of Roger Smith and Hal Riney; one was the Chairman of GM, a manufacturer of cars; the other, an ad man extraordinaire, a manufacturer of emotions. Let us savor their own words as [...]

Confessions Of A Reluctant Hoon

David Holzman — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 16:19:26 +0000

I am that oddball of pistonhedonism who has never lusted for speed. In fact, caution genes run in my family. To wit: my parents installed seatbelts in the ‘57 Chevy in 1960, eight years before they became mandatory in new cars. Our ‘65 404 was probably the first Peugeot station wagon in all of France to have rear shoulder belts. My father, an academic economist, showed the men at the factory how to install them. I didn't get tagged for speeding until I was just shy of 40, and that for doing all of 35 in Rock Creek Park. (Gail Wilensky, the Porsche driving head of Medicare under George H.W. Bush, was hitching a ride downtown with me in my then 16 year old Toyota Corolla with the busted window from a smash & grab, but that's another story.)

Ford 1979 vs. Ford 2009: What’s Changed?

admin — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 18:04:10 +0000

So exactly how did Ford achieve quality equal to Toyota? Or are their TV ads misleading, as the ads from decades ago which proclaimed “At Ford Quality Is Job One”? This was the question in my mind as I returned to the Sharonville Transmission Plant after exactly 30 years. A long term friend, who did not jump ship in 1979 as I had done, when it looked like Ford was going to self destruct, got me past the guard post for a tour of the plant. Jerry had seen what he called “a compete transformation of Ford Motor Company” during his 37 years. He said I would not recognize the place.

Cell Phones And Cars: Stating the Obvious to the Oblivious”

Jim Sutherland — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 00:36:12 +0000

Sometimes” obvious” is a vague concept for people and nowhere is that more obvious than behind the wheel of a car. The basic rules of engagement on the road are subject to interpretation by many drivers whose personal universe exists within a tight gravitational pull of their physical location. I’ve compiled a short list of egregious [...]

Editorial: Distracted Driving Ban Faces Distractions

Edward Niedermeyer — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:10:16 +0000

For all of the uproar around distracted driving this week, nobody seems to know exactly what the problem is, let alone how to stop it. Everything from in-car makeup application to text messaging is being blamed for 6,000 deaths in 2008, some 15 percent of all road fatalities. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood has heard [...]

Curbside Classics: GM’s Deadly Sin #2 – 1971 Pontiac Ventura II

Paul Niedermeyer — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:24:01 +0000

Bernie Madoff’s first bogus trade. Richard Nixon’s first fib. Charlie Parker’s first hit of heroin. What do they have in common with this perfectly harmless-looking Pontiac Ventura II? That first little giving in to temptation has a nasty way of turning into a big deadly habit, like GM’s badge engineering. All bad habits have a [...]

Curbside Classic: 1973 Jaguar XJ12

Paul Niedermeyer — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:21:27 +0000

Jaguar and V12. Two of the most lyrical automotive icons ever. One stands for grace at speed, the other for speed with grace. The combination of the two offered the prospect of a marriage made in automotive heaven. Yet when they finally enmeshed, the result fell short of the potential envisioned by the marque’s match-maker [...]

The Truth about the TATA Nano

Sajeev Mehta — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 16:05:01 +0000

Why is a soon-to-be success story gathering dust at TATA dealers across India? Much like the initial growing pains of the Ford Model T, the $2000 Nano currently lies on waiting lists. Given the lopsided supply/demand and construction conflagrations with the government, I reckon enterprising Indians are flipping the Nanos living in parking lot limbo [...]

Curbside Classic: 1959 Ford Courier

Paul Niedermeyer — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:41:43 +0000

Welcome to the Thursday edition of Curbside Classics. Tuesdays is for the big winners (and losers), the exceptional, the unexpected. Thursday will be for the more modest and prosaic finds. Any car a quarter century old or more still plying the streets of Eugene is worthy of our respect. Along with a helping of disdain, [...]

Feature: Arcimoto Pulse EV Launch

Edward Niedermeyer — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:01:52 +0000

Geography aside, Eugene, Oregon, is about as far away from Detroit as you can get. The biggest industry in that sleepy town on the banks of the Willamette is education, not auto manufacturing. You’re more likely to see dreadlocks at a typical Eugene business than a hard hat. In fact, perhaps the only thing Eugene [...]

Curbside Classic: 1959 Chevrolet Biscayne

Paul Niedermeyer — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:30:05 +0000

Look at the picture above. Now pretend it’s your rearview mirror. That giant set of batwings is right behind you and gaining; now it pulls into the fast lane. A couple of teenagers grin as they zip by you ass-backwards at seventy miles an hour. The front grille of the ’59 Chevy slowly recedes in [...]

Auto-Biography: Maserati Dreamin’

Paul Niedermeyer — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 07:45:52 +0000

I find myself floating above an endless sea of thimbleberry bushes. The berries are all ripe, infinite delectable crimson caps punctuating a sea of green. I can’t see the trail, but somehow distant and hidden legs carry me along and know where to go, while I gorge on the fruit. Now I’m behind the wheel [...]

Make Cars Not Trade Wars

Andrew van der Stock — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:43:13 +0000

Your car is made up of thousands of components, manufactured all over the world and assembled in many places by humans and robots. There is simply no such thing as a 100% “domestic” car anywhere in the world. When (not if) artificial barriers are placed on the manufacture, sale and movement of parts and the eventual manufacture, sale and movement of the resulting vehicle, there are two common outcomes. The best-case scenario is you’re going to pay more---effectively stealing from you and everyone in the global economy. Unfortunately, the typical result is that you cannot buy most of the cars made on this planet in your local market.

Editorial: TTAC’s Cap’n Mike Dices with Sabine Schmitz on the Nurburgring

Mike Solowiow — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:07:52 +0000

The Porsche GT3 RS with its wildly painted orange wheels was not going to let me past, despite my flashing headlights of protest. Why should he? I was in a mild-mannered Carrera S, devoid of any go fast wings or air ducts. I resigned myself to trying to gain momentum over him before we entered the Flugpatz, where the wider bit of road would provide a much safer passing zone and keep me from joining the purple Peugeot 206 we had just passed at Hatzenbach in the Armco barriers. I needn't wait so long, as in my mirror, four "angel-eye" rings glared at me from the nefarious BMW M5 'Ring Taxi. I put on my right-turn signal, let her pass, and then squeezed the accelerator in order to whip past the Orange Swedish Porker. Let the games begin, for I was on my 100th lap, and it was time for a joust with Sabine Schmitt in our Deutsche Chariots of Terror.

Curbside Classic: 1950 Cadillac Series 61 Coupe

Paul Niedermeyer — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:02:27 +0000

Bob Lutz may well prove that the Cadillac's CTS-V is the fastest production sedan in the land, thanks to an engine transplant from the Corvette ZR-1. But what about a genuine all-Caddy production racer? Something you could take to Le Mans, and challenge Europe's finest exotics. Or just down to the local drag strip, and blow away every production car in its day. You'd have to turn the clock back sixty years, when Cadillac's new V8 was the hottest engine in the land. But if you were serious about racing with it, like Briggs Cunningham did at Le Mans in 1950, or the original owner of this car, you'd have to request the factory to make one important change, which alone makes this hot rod Caddy the most historically significant Curbside Classic find to date. Well, there was that Vega...

Chrysler Zombie Watch 8: “We have to do business different”

Robert Farago — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:57:02 +0000

I can hear TTAC's audience wincing at the headline. It should be "differently," not "different." Of course, if you imagine this executive exhortation spoken by an Italian mobster---a reasonable re-imagining given the fact that Chrysler is now controlled by Fiat---it still doesn't work. In that case, it should be "We gotta do business different." Preferably preceded by the word "Hey." This ode to illiteracy appeared in a dealer document comparing Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep advertising's effectiveness to that of Ford and Toyota. (Guess who scored higher?) So, did anyone notice the literary mistake? Seriously; you can concentrate on what Chrysler plans to do different before it goes Tango Uniform, or you can wonder why these guys never, ever sweat the details.

Editorial: Trade War Watch 2: A Game of Chicken

Bertel Schmitt — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 10:47:43 +0000

Here we go. Just two days after Obama signed the edict to slap a 35 percent punitive tariff on Chinese car and light truck tires exported to the USA, the Chinese government "has reacted by launching an anti-dumping and anti-subsidies investigation" into American goods exported to China, writes China Daily. In China's cross-hairs: As predicted by TTAC, the second casualty after Chinese tires will be American cars exported to China. Next in line (who would have thunk it:) American chickens exported to China. Collateral damage: Up to 200K jobs, both in China and the USA.

How I’d Beat Maximum Bob

Jack Baruth — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 11:47:25 +0000

It looks like the American taxpayer is going to be stuck with the bill for another unpopular struggle in the sand. This time, however, the “insurgents” don’t stand a chance. General Motors and Bob Lutz have cherrypicked the opponent for their CTS-V track showdown. Not only is Wes Siler a novice-level racetrack driver (and, I would add, a very charming fellow), the C63 AMG is far too short on power and tire to run head-to-head with Cadillac’s supersedan. Mr. Farago has informed me that General Motors will absolutely not permit TTAC to join the party. That’s a shame because I could win this race-that-isn’t. Here’s how.

Dead Celebrities and the Cars That Killed Them

Jim Sutherland — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 13:01:13 +0000

James Dean was a moderately talented actor. You could say he made his best career move behind the wheel of a Porsche. After his fatal accident, Dean's “live fast-die young” legend grew to Giant-size, propelling Byron's life (and death) to legendary status. As for the car [not shown], many came to believe that the "Lil' Bastard" was evil, citing both the actor's death and the death and injury experienced by those who came into contact with the car or bits thereof. Steven King and Snopes will fill in the blanks on that one. But the truth is that celebrities aren't that different from you and me. The basic causation for their car crashes is the same as it ever was: human error and a light dusting of equipment limitations or failure.

Editorial: Trade War Watch 1: Yes, We Can Start a Trade War

Bertel Schmitt — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 12:33:27 +0000

President Obama paid his outstanding union dues and slapped a 35 percent punitive tariff on Chinese car and light truck tires exported to the USA. The new duty will take effect on September 26 and comes in addition to an existing 4 percent duty, Reuters reports. Everybody, except for the United Steelworkers, agrees that this is one of the most boneheaded decisions of the new administration.

General Motors Zombie Watch 17: May the Best Automaker Win

Robert Farago — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 17:46:01 +0000

General Motors is a nationalized automaker. But it can't stay that way forever. Its federal taskmasters have decreed that GM must return to public ownership before the Congressional mid-term elections, in 2010. Makes sense. If GM is still on welfare at election time, GM will be an enormous political liability. A symbol of Big Government gone bad. But GM can't possibly achieve profitability within that time frame. Even if it had the brains, it doesn't have the time or money to build what needs building, to fix what needs fixing. The new car market sucks and GM's product planning, reputation and branding are in tatters. So New GM's doing the only thing they can do: putting lipstick on the product pig and sending it off to market. This "May The Best Car Win" advertising strategy will backfire. Badly.

Editorial: Collector Car Market: The Sky Hasn’t Fallen; Just a Few Prices

Chuck Goolsbee — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:07:49 +0000

In a recent news article, RF stated: "…here’s another story where the web pulls the rug from under auto industry types seeking to hide the truth. We’ve been saying it forever (in Internet terms): the collector car market has collapsed. Well, duh. But the mainstream media and specialist press has both been happy to perpetuate the myth perpetuated by the auction houses that their business has been defying gravity. See? Cars are selling for phenomenal prices! Meanwhile, Hagerty’s CARS THAT MATTER is telling readers to pay attention to the men behind the curtain." In truth, the men behind the curtains are not the market. They are middlemen. They extract a percentage from every participant they can find to witness their activities; Buyer, Seller, hell, even the gawkers have to pay to watch the show. The auction houses are, in ecological terms, parasites on the very market they claim to serve. Like any parasite their success has a tendency to cause harm to their host. These guys are tarted up used cars salesmen. That, and the recent transformation of the car auction into a three ring circus, is what is killing the auction companies, and it has absolutely nothing to do with the collector cars being sold.

Editorial: Between the Lines: GM BOD Chairman Ed Whitacre’s “Satisfaction Guaranteed” Ad

Robert Farago — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 23:56:28 +0000

First of all, I don't have the embed code for this ad. For some reason, GM hasn't sent it to TTAC and it's not on YouTube. To see the ad, click over to Autoblog. Second, New GM Chairman of the Board Ed Whitacre should never have done this ad. GM's single biggest problem, the one that trumps everything: their insular culture. By fronting this spot, Whitacre has become part of the problem. He's crossed the line from gamekeeper to poacher. He's lost his independent observer/taxpayers' guardian status; he can no longer distance himself from the Lutzes and yutzes who animate the GM zombie. Whitacre's now "one of the boys." Third, the actual text of this ad [parsed after the jump] misses the boat.

Curbside Classic: 1970 Honda 600

Paul Niedermeyer — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:19:45 +0000

Your 2050 Brazzaville Micro-i600 solar-electric personal transportation device automatically glides into the Biodynamic Vego-Taco Loco lot and parks itself. On the way inside, you pass the static display of a 2010 Honda Pilot. Your seventeen year-old son stops in his tracks, looks at it with bewilderment, and asks if you really drove around in one these big, ugly, two-ton carbon-spewing behemoths forty years ago. Will you mumble something incoherently about times being very different then and tell him to hurry along, or will you stop, gaze admiringly, and wax eloquently about your distant but ever-so-vibrant Pilot memories?

General Motors Zombie Watch 16: The Russians Are Coming!

Robert Farago — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 14:01:28 +0000

Ron Bloom is a Harvard MBA grad, investment banker and former advisor to the U.S. Steel Workers. He's also the head of the Presidential Task Force on Automobiles, now that Steve Rattner is busy defending his investment firm against bribery charges. Over the weekend, the Obama administration has added Manufacturing Czar to Car Czar in Ron Bloom's portfolio of power. "Bloom is to work with government departments including Commerce, Treasury, Energy and Labor to develop new initiatives affecting the manufacturing sector. The White House said Obama is committed to partnering with the private sector to spur innovation, invest in the skills of American workers, and help manufacturers prosper in global markets by promoting exports." In other words, after nationalizing GM, Obama's mob are now looking to screw-up all the other parts of America's manufacturing base. A quick joke . . .

Editorial: Honda Crosstour: You Can’t Fix Ugly. Or Can You?

Robert Farago — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 01:32:10 +0000

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Beholders have beheld the new Honda Crosstour and found it not beautiful. Ugly, in fact. Ten years ago, this condem-nation wouldn't have been a problem for the vehicle's manufacturer. At worst, a few aesthetically-offended members of the automotive press would have nibbled the hand that feeds, gently alluding to the vehicle's "challenging" exterior. Otherwise, the illusion that the Honda Crosstour isn't a Gorgon-on-wheels would have been maintained---at least until "disappointing" sales proved the point. Those days are gone. These days, Honda's decision to green light an ugly automobile has unleashed a major PR debacle. Welcome to the Internet, fellas. I did warn you.

Editorial: Q & A with Spyker Founder Victor Muller

Paul Grusche — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 10:26:36 +0000

Victor Muller stands about six foot four, with dashing gray hair and glasses. He exudes the energy of a kid after five bags of Pop Rocks. Why shouldn't he? Muller's the co-founder of Spyker, one of the sexiest car companies to hit the scene since Lamborghini launched the Miura. Never mind that many collectors consider Spyker's first gen cars beautifully crafted automobiles with all the chassis rigidity of a tin can. Spyker is the very definition of a boutique automaker, including the fact that they haven't show a profit for nine years. If you want old school supercar exclusivity, Muller's your man.

Editorial: A Cautionary Tale for Labor Day

Ingvar Hallstrom — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 11:00:25 +0000

This is a tale from my youth, a very confusing period of my life, including the habit of drinking myself into a drunken stupor just for the fun of it, reckless driving of Jack Baruthian proportions, and generally excessive wanton behavior. In short, a day in the life of an average college kid, knee-deep in a period of sturm-und-drang. I was young, I was stupid and I had a death wish none of this world. I usually spent more time at the local café than in school, and I was out partying five days a week. I was twenty years old, I went to college, I had an apartment of my own, and I was the proud owner of a car, minus the driving license.

General Motors Zombie Watch 15: Volt Jolt for Dolts

Robert Farago — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 20:47:50 +0000

It's been a while since I've written a General Motors Zombie Watch. Time keeps on slipping, slipping . . . into the future. Only when you're dead, there is no future. You're dead. Oh, I know: New GM's got new plans for new cars with new advertising that will win new (old?) customers. And the new Board of Directors' Chairman Ed Whitacre is busy threatening to fire New GM's old (new?) execs if they don't get their shit together. But they haven't, as their farrago of product plans and the botched launch of the new Buick LaCrosse proves. In fact, the current crop of GM suits will be fired. And?

Ask the Best and Brightest Special Ed: Five Cars for Labor Day

Robert Farago — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 16:08:46 +0000

kbb.com presents a top ten automotive list that is to PR what plastic worms are to bass: completely contrived and intermittently irresistible. "Ten Great Cars for 10 Different Jobs" is about vague and non-threatening a compendium as I've ever encountered in this genre. And you can't fault them for adding the word "Different" "Ten Great Cars for the Same Damn Job" just doesn't have the same ring to it. Oh look! There's a Ford F-150! Quel surprise! Only this is the Raptor version for bounty hunters who don't find their man inside a bar or roach-infested apartment, and want to tear the miscreant into pieces and eat him, presumably. "The kbb.com list is sure to provide thought-provoking transportation options for those in various lines of work." Me, I'm only in one line of work: automotive truth telling. Well, that and comedy. And you're in this with me, you bastards. So make the jump for five more ideas for career-appropriate whips. Correct us if we're wrong. (As if.) As always, we welcome your suggestions.

Interview: Paul West and the Search for a Cadillac Flagship

Edward Niedermeyer — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 15:00:53 +0000

Paul West of Mahoning Automotive Design is a tenacious guy. While most merely rolled their eyes at Cadillac's front-drive "XTS" flagship plans, West wasn't going to take Cadillac's flailing sitting down. With Mahoning, D&D Classics and some promising industrial design students, he mocked-up an SRX-based study for a potential Cadillac flagship. "We did our best with the prototype," he says "but only Cadillac can do the idea full justice." It takes balls for a few upstarts from Ohio to show a major luxury brand how it should be preparing a flagship, and West knows it. But Cadillac's inability to develop a true flagship, gives West's study a significance that is more than just skin-deep. It's a provocative, gutsy way to shake up the thinking at Cadillac. And if nothing else it's provided plenty of food for thought. [West's complete powerpoint proposal can be found in the gallery below]

Editorial: The Last Silver Arrow

Stephan Wilkinson — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:16:05 +0000

On September 1, the Collier Collection of Naples, Florida, brought to Lime Rock its 1939 Mercedes-Benz W 154 Grand Prix car. (Yes, Collier's is a collection, not a museum. Don't bother looking for a website; visitors by invitation only.) The word from Lime Rock's PR person: this would be the first time the engine had ever been started on a racetrack in 69 years and 363 days, having last run in anger at a minor street race in Yugoslavia on September 3, 1939, two days after the start of World War II. Two ringers from Stuttgart had been sent to Connecticut to help with this historic ignition, as had the British restorer who'd rebuilt the engine. The Collier guys also planned to run the car on the track briefly, which, it was said, would also be a 70-year first.

Curbside Classic: 1963 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 Convertible

Paul Niedermeyer — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:28:52 +0000

Tear the highly practical metal roof off one the most boring big American sedans like a 1963 Olds Dynamic 88, and suddenly it becomes the key ingredient of an intensely romantic scenario: a hot summer day, a full-size ragtop, a beautiful woman to share it with, and the open road. What could be better? It's got to be one of the top "relive the youthful automotive memories/dreams" recipes for guys my age or so. Except in my case, it's a nightmare.

Editorial: Luxury Carmakers Hoisted by Their Own Petard

Robert Farago — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 04:16:04 +0000

Thanks to Uncle Sam's Cash for Clunkers program, even the weakest of America's mainstream automakers will live to die another day. Meanwhile, the so-called "mass luxury" brands are hurtin' for certain. The falling tide of the global economic meltdown has left Audi, BMW, Cadillac, Lexus and Mercedes stranded, flopping around on the metaphorical beach, gasping for the oxygen of financial lubricity. It's hard to feel sorry for any of them. The upmarket marques marked the last ten years or so by chasing volume sales with "entry level" models that cheapened and weakened their brands. Is it any surprise that the very customers that fueled their expansive profits have abandoned them in droves, as badge snobbery has kept pace with financial security (or lack thereof)? In other words, the fact that these "luxury" brands are "suddenly" in worse trouble than everyone else is their own damn fault.

Curbside Classic: 1972 Plymouth Fury and Saab 95

Paul Niedermeyer — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:50:10 +0000

A recent study shows that the generation gap has dramatically narrowed. Parents and kids are now each others’ best friends, or something like that. But it wasn’t always so chummy, especially in the sixties and early seventies. I have a theory for that: it was the heyday of the rear-facing third-seat station wagon. Nothing like the generations traveling while facing in opposite directions to cultivate oppositional disorder. And just to add a little more dissonance, how about we examine the two most polar opposite examples of the genre.

Who Says You Can’t Have It All? Not the EcoDrivers!

Robert Farago — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:42:50 +0000

I drive a Mercedes GL450: a vehicle that struggles to get 18 mpg. On the highway. Downhill. Downwind. Unladen. At the posted speed. But here's the thing: I don't drive my Merc much. I work from home. I live in a "walkable" community. I walk. I ride a bike. And I got rid of our second car. In other words, like many Americans, I want my gas guzzler and a clean conscience too. God bless America; when the market perceives a need, someone fills it. In this case, it's our friends at the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers (AAM). The industry lobby group is providing the juice behind the trendily hyphen-aversive EcoDriving movement. Which, to my mind, is a bit like the pre-nascent DietFeasting movement. I may be guilty but I'm not stupid. Or am I?

The Dog Days of Summer

Jerry Sutherland — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:49:24 +0000

Most dogs love to go for a ride. Perhaps it taps into their genetic hunting imperative. Maybe it's a pack thing. One thing's for sure: a dog would never question why it has to ride in the back of an open pickup truck. Nor, unfortunately, do hundreds of thousands of pickup-driving dog owners. The Utah Humane Society estimates 100,000 dogs die every year from jumping out of moving trucks. At least as many dogs are seriously injured. And the number of chronic ear and aggravated eye injuries is even greater. So stand back fellas: I'm going to pour some hate on owners who think man's best friend should ride in the back of the truck.

Cash for Clunkers: The Environmental Cost of a New Car

Michael Martineck — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 22:06:35 +0000

The short answer: 31,362 Btus per pound. That’s the average energy cost for constructing a modern motor vehicle - rubber, fluids, glass, metal and battery. Can that number tell you if it’s better, environmentally speaking, to keep your ’85 Renault Fuego or pick up a Honda Insight? That’s a longer answer full of scary science and scarier math. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Lab has attempted to analyze the energy consumed manufacturing vehicles. Their creation is called Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions and Energy use in Transportation models. GREET. No really.

Curbside Classic: 1984 Toyota Tercel Wagon

Paul Niedermeyer — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:26:41 +0000

I'd say we all could use some R&R after exhaustively documenting the Vega's innumerable weaknesses and frailties. So how about we spend a little time communing with its polar opposite in almost every conceivable way possible (while still being a small wagon). I could have picked any of some thirty or forty Tercel wagons still hard at work on the streets of Eugene to shoot. But check out the impeccably-restored 140 year-old Carpenter Gothic house behind this one. The house and the Tercel are both owned by my nearby neighbor David Gusset, a renowned maker and repairer of fine violins, including my 1833 Valenzano. If anyone can appreciate a well made instrument built for the long haul, it would be him.

Editorial: How GM Tried to Win Me Over, Part Three

Darwin Hatheway — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 05:46:32 +0000

While driving the Buick LaCrosse, I asked Line Director Jeanne Merchant a question: what could she tell me about reliability that would persuade me, a satisfied Toyota owner, to jump ship? Merchant gave a pretty good answer, but I was busy trying not to run over traffic cones. In a subsequent phone interview, Merchant said reliability starts early in the process. From design to component testing, from durability tests to audits and feedback, from computer modeling to real world testing, they make sure every part of the car and all its systems are built right and performing to specification. And they take it very, very seriously. “The LaCrosse is very personal to me," Merchant said. "I’ve worked with it for years. Everybody else involved feels the same way. And the same goes for the other product lines.” Process and passion. Is it enough?

Editorial: Between the Lines: Detroit News: Ford Gets Its Sexy Back

Robert Farago — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 12:32:56 +0000

I've been harping on about the media's "Ford didn't take bailout bucks" meme for some time. Commentators have slated me for slating the Blue Oval Boyz for claiming they avoided the taxpayer trough. In fact, Ford raided the public purse to the tune of $5.9 billion dollars. Yes, it's a no-to-low-interest Department of Energy "retooling loan." I repeat: the $5.9 billion loan from the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) program allows Mulally's minions to spend $5.9 billion dollars on something else. It's a bailout. Question: if you're an industry writer, how do you push Ford's mega-suckle to one side to keep the "pure as driven snow" show alive? You draw a distinction between "emergency tax dollars" and ATVM loans, while, at the same time, not mentioning the loans. Sarah Webster's "Ford, Toyota in a close race to No. 1" does that and more, taking Motown's hometown cheerleading to the next level.

Editorial: How GM Tried to Win Me Over, Part Two

Darwin Hatheway — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 22:04:06 +0000

Like many American car buyers, I place reliability near the top of my "must have" list. Over on GM's FastLane blog, I told GM they'd conquer [some] Toyota and Honda customers when the American automaker's ten-year-old cars offered the same service as ten-year-old Toyotas and Hondas. Truth be told, New GM may not HAVE ten years. So it's no surprise that they tried to wow me with tail fins and technology. When the speeches finally ended in the Proving Ground auditorium, I was invited to sample New GM in the "now." Our PR handlers gave us a quick safety talk (don’t do anything stupid, obey the traffic wardens) and turned us loose.

Editorial: How GM Tried to Win Me Over, Part One

Darwin Hatheway — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:35:12 +0000

A few weeks ago, I received this from GM Communications: "I've noticed some of your comments on our Fastlane blog. We are looking for passionate and influential consumers to participate in an upcoming showcase on August 10, 2010 in Detroit, MI. Would you be interested in a GM-hosted opportunity like this to learn more about our future vehicles and company?" I was more than a little surprised; my FastLane posts are generally uncomplimentary regarding GM's products and business decisions. “Do they know we own three Toyotas?" my wife asked. "And we gave a fourth to our daughter, who’s happily driving it at 150 thousand miles?” “I think that’s part of it; they want to know what it will take to win me over.” “They could try building cars that are as reliable as Toyotas.” “I’ve suggested that.” “Don’t you dare bring home a GM car," she warned.

Editorial: General Motors Zombie Watch 14: 2012 Lineup

Edward Niedermeyer — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 02:27:42 +0000

General Motors has always been long on talk about the future. The company that invented concept cars and pioneered planned obsolescence has always kept consumers focused on the next big thing(s), and that tradition is ever more important now that GM is a publicly-owned entity. Future products are the justification for current investments and subsidies, and GM knows it. Though details are sparse and largely sifted out of the murk of PR leaks, teases and hearsay, a picture of post-IPO GM's 2012 lineup is beginning to form. The success of these vehicles depends on a number of difficult-to-predict factors, but assuming fairly conservative projections (steady increases in US economic growth, auto sales and gas prices), it's not too hard to tease out a few early conclusions on GM's strategy. So let's hop in the time machine and set the dial for the Fall of 2011.

Editorial: TTAC’s Guide to Car Dealer Lingo

Robert Farago — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:05:44 +0000

Regular readers will recall that this site's denizens helped radio personality, car dealer and fellow commentator John Wolfe name his new CBS radio show. In exchange, Wolfe promised that he'd give me a guest shot. And . . . he's given us permission to rip this glossary of dealer jargon from his "Real Deal" website. While you peruse the perfidy, I'm thinking turnabout is fair play. How about TTAC's Best and Brightest invent some of its own terms for what car dealers do to us? Yeah, yeah, some dealers, not all dealers. Suggestions below please.

Editorial: General Motors Zombie Watch 13: Manic Street Preachers

Robert Farago — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 02:46:12 +0000

While General Motors has downsized physically and financially, the nationalized American automaker still suffers from a monumental mental disorder. Today's F5 PR tornado made that point pellucid. In fact, it's hard to know where to begin the diagnosis. We might as well start with the "big news" on the vehicle destined to become GM's Edsel. The General would have you believe that the Chevrolet Volt will achieve 230 miles per gallon in city driving. Yes, well, the Volt is supposed to surmount the first forty-miles on battery power alone. So I make that . . . zero miles per gallon; you know; as it's not using any liquid fuel. Hey! Anyone remember [former] Car Czar Bob Lutz's hand-wringing re: the Volt's gas supply fouling because owners would never use the internal combustion engine? Like that. Quick question: what drugs are these guys on? More accurately, why aren't they taking their meds?

Editorial: Why I Hate Cash for Clunkers

Michael Martineck — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 00:26:02 +0000

The CAR Allowance Rebate System---C.A.R.S---sounds like a ‘70s Saturday morning cartoon about guys in striped jackets using trick vehicles to save the world. In fact, that would actually be preferable to the program currently airing, at cost of three billion and counting. Cash for Clunkers may be popular with a healthy segment of the population, but that group doesn’t include a lot of economists. In terms of economic policy, C4C would benefit from a little C4, if you know what I’m sayin’.

Curbside Classics: 1970 Camaro RS

Paul Niedermeyer — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:43:57 +0000

After being trapped six weeks in a 1971 time warp, I had the controls of the Curbside Classics time machine all set for the mid-eighties. But once again, fate interceded. Running some errands, I had my first encounter with no less than two 2010 Camaros. Then, on the way home, something called out to me as I tooled down Franklin Boulevard. I found it parked behind the old boarded-up Chevy dealer, and it had an important message for you and me: "beauty is not in the eye of the beholder; it's in the object itself."

E85 Boondoggle of the Day: Where There’s a Will . . .

Brian J. Donovan — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 12:34:59 +0000

The issue is whether the proper development of an advanced biofuel industry in the United States is feasible when: (a) independent ethanol producers in the U.S. are at the mercy of volatile commodities markets for feedstock; and (b) the price of ethanol is controlled by the oil companies.

Editorial: Now That’s a Car!

Jim Sutherland — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 14:15:56 +0000

The August 6, 2009 issue of the Edmonton Journal ran a story about the hormonal boost for young males provided by high end performance vehicles. A Concordia University study determined that “endowing [yes, endowing] the men with a vehicle few people could afford tripped an endocrinological response-measured using saliva samples---mimicking the one elicited during competition for female mates.” As a guy who used to be young, I could have saved the academics a few bucks. Of course hot cars raise testosterone levels. That's a fundamental part of a guy’s reason for life. It's the selfish gene on wheels: hot cars > better babes > better babies. But all is not exactly as it seems . . .

“Cars for Comrades: The Life of the Soviet Automobile”

Lewis Siegelbaum — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 13:29:52 +0000

I set out to write a book not so much about the varieties and comparative deficiencies of cars in the Soviet Union as what these objects meant to Soviet citizens. The structure and organizing principles of the book were among the first things to become clear. There would be three chapters on the “Soviet Detroits”---the places where automobiles were built, the people who built them, and how the cars and trucks they produced both embodied the state's agendas and inspired popular identification.

Curbside Classics: 1971 Small Cars Comparison: Number 1 and GM Deadly Sin #2 — Chevrolet Vega

Paul Niedermeyer — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:46:22 +0000

Curbside Classics takes you back to 1971 for a virtual comparison test of six small cars, based (and partly borrowed) from a C/D test.

There it is, a golden yellow Vega, seductive and infinitely irresistible, hanging from the tree of automotive disappointment. Its serpent maker found plenty of smitten takers (especially among the motor press), because the bitter truth imparted was apparently in a time-release potion: “The best handling car ever sold in America” (Road &Track). Motor Trend’s COTY. C/D readers voted it the best economy car three years in a row. And it won this C/D six small car comparison. I (mentally) bit too, having spent idle hours in 1971 with a Vega catalogue speccing a yellow Kammback GT exactly like this one. But sure enough, the sweetness of that first bite evaporated all too quickly: the apple was rotten at the (engine) core. The Vega was GM’s Watergate/Waterloo, the beginning of its inevitable end. And yet here I am forty years later, totally smitten, seriously considering biting the apple again.

Editorial: Speeding Wants to Be Free

Jack Baruth — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:18:38 +0000

"When I first started in this job thirty years ago, police work was never about revenue enhancement," Utica Police Chief Michael Reaves told the Detroit News. "But if you're a chief now, you have to look at whether your department produces revenues. That's just the reality nowadays." Nothing produces bizarre behavior quite as reliably as an inappropriate economic incentive, whether we’re talking about the infamous “Sec 179” SUV tax deduction or every Aerosmith album after, and including, “Permanent Vacation.” Is it any surprise, therefore, that most police departments have, over time, shifted their focus away from crimes that don’t pay them in favor of those that do? Murder, rape, theft, vandalism, assault---all offenses that require considerably more effort than apprehending a 44-in-a-35, and none of them containing the kind of guaranteed municipal vigorish that can be garnished from a hapless motorist.

Editorial: Are New Cars Ruining Old Car Shows?

Jim Sutherland — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 13:59:39 +0000

Over the years, I've attended thousands of “old” car shows. At the most prestigious of these events, eligibility rules are clear, consistent and cast in concrete. Meanwhile, at the bottom end, the cars on display have grown to include brand new Chevy trucks and late model imports. As long as it has four wheels, it's in. What kind of twisted logic allows a post-millennium car or a brand new truck to qualify for a car show when some poor schmoe who put thousands of unpaid hours into his '57 Ford has to park away from the show in a dusty parking lot? I know: times are tough. If you want to shoot ducks, go where the ducks are; the money's in the mods. But once again, we're looking at an auto-related industry where the relentless pursuit of short term gain threatens long term survival.

eBay’s “Auction Insurance Agency” to the Rescue

Nick Naylor — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 16:42:05 +0000

Like tens of millions of American consumers, I shop for my cars online. I do due diligence; working hard to filter-out fraud and minimize the unavoidable unpredictability inherent to such transactions. My methodology is far from perfect---as my recent experience will attest. In fact, my tale of woe provides a real life example of how the biggest online seller---eBay---responds to fraudulent transactions.

Editorial: $20 a Gallon Gas a Good Thing, Not a Bad Thing. Apparently.

Robert Farago — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 16:03:28 +0000

God forbid TTAC should criticize someone for making an outrageous suggestion to get people to think (rethink?) their opinion about an auto-related issue. But you gotta wonder if the book "$20 per Gallon" is at least ten bucks too high in the hyperbole department. Still, credit where credit's due. By setting sail on a ship fantasii, author, civil engineer (of all things) and Forbes reporter Chris Steiner has outed the environmental hairshirt wearers amongst us. Needless to say, The New York Times is chief amongst them. They've published a Q&A with Steiner that somehow manages not to lump-him-in with alien abduction deprogrammers---although the piece is filed under the Freakeconomics banner. Instead of demanding Steiner's list of prescription drugs, the Gray Lady's Annika Mengisen "asked him to give us his predictions for what our lives might look like with gas at $8 and $18 per gallon, respectively." Fun!

Editorial: There May Be a New Buyer for Opel. Get a Mirror

Bertel Schmitt — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 12:45:17 +0000

As time goes on, Opel's chances to be rescued by an outside investor are dwindling. A member of the German government's Opel Task Force told Reuters on Thursday that negotiations between GM and the two competing bidders (RHJ and Magna) for Opel could drag on longer than expected. The way it looks, the deal may never close - because GM doesn't want to. There could be another rich sugar daddy: It's you.

Ford Death Watch 48: ’til the Cows Come Home

Robert Farago — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 19:10:55 +0000

Speaking of barnyards, someone forgot to tell Ford watchers not to count their chickens until they hatch. The MSM is ready, willing and able to pronounce the Blue Oval Boyz' turnaround plan for the ailing American automaker as good as done, and skip the "it worked!" part of CEO Big Al Mulally's canonization. The Detroit News is down with this fait accompli meme. "As one fund manager who controls a sizable chunk of Ford's stock and bonds put it: 'The biggest threat to Ford's future is that Mulally steps off the curb tomorrow and gets hit by a bus.' Such sentiments, blunt as they may be, are a testament to the progress Ford has made since Mulally took over as CEO in September of 2006. He predicts the company should settle into profitability by late 2011." So that's it, then, save "Mulally is no stranger to success" and "He's been an agent of change" and "For many Ford employees, he has rock-star status" and I think they ought to think it out again.

Editorial: GM Can’t Read

Bertel Schmitt — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 18:32:22 +0000

Did we say the Opel sale is getting messier and messier? GM seems to be in urgent need to attend remedial reading class. There is the German government making noises that if GM doesn't say "Ja" to Magna, the government can't guarantee that another suitor gets loan guarantees. Which in German means, they won't. GM can't read the writing on the wall.

In Defense of . . . the United Auto Workers (UAW)

Tony Sterbenc — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 02:04:58 +0000

This website has stood out front in condemning the pro-corporate cowardice of the paper car mags, and rightly so. But when they show some courage and get it right, they deserve a shout-out. In the proud TTAC tradition of recognizing all viewpoints, I salute Jamie Kitman’s latest column in Automobile. Kitman’s point: the United Auto Workers (UAW) make a handy whipping boy, but contrary to the new conventional wisdom, they are not the Great Satan that sank our auto industry. In fact, the money the UAW made for decades was a good thing. “Courage,” you say? If you’re like many here, that’s not the adjective you’d use . . .

Curbside Classics: 1971 Small Cars Comparison: Number 2 — Simca 1204

Paul Niedermeyer — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:04:58 +0000

Curbside Classics is taking you back to 1971 for a virtual comparison test of six small cars, based (and partly borrowed) from a C/D test.

I don't have any shots of the Simca 1204. I haven't seen one in over twenty-five years; have you? So I'm taking my lifeline (to Google images). But the Simca 1100/1204 was such a remarkable and historically significant car, perhaps the most influential small car since WWII. Its DNA is in every transverse-engine FWD hatchback in the world. The VW Golf was a perfect crib of the Simca wearing a handsome Italian suit. Plus, j'aime les voitures françaises. And the Simca almost won the C/D test. It should have won. So forgive me, but we're going to have show and tell without the show.

Editorial: Chrysler Destroys Its Historical Archives; GM to Follow?

Bob Elton — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 01:10:12 +0000

Archives are the foundation of historical research. Without access to primary material---be it documents, photographs, financial statements, engineering or test reports---historians lack the building blocks necessary to write the chronicles that inform our understanding of the past and illuminate the future. To their credit, America's automakers have gone to great lengths and expense to preserve and protect the historical documents which chronicle and define their existence. Until recently. As Chrysler and GM plunged into bankruptcy, they turned their back on their own heritage, and destroyed a priceless part of our collective past.

Four Questions About the Toyota Prius

admin — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 11:27:52 +0000

I have nothing against the Toyota Prius. It's the car's mystique that irks me. You know what I’m talking about: the whole "Toyota Pious" thing. As someone who's read rational reports from Prius-owning TAC commentators, as a pistonhead who understands that there's more to driving a Ferrari than beauty and performance, I swear I'm OK with the hybrid's PC mantle. But the Prius's high MPG numbers and green street cred tends to stifle the debate on some important points.

General Motors Zombie Watch 12: Fear of Music

Robert Farago — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 18:48:11 +0000

When columnist Daniel Howes at the Detroit News gets pissed off enough at GM to write anything other than "we shall see what we shall see," you know the former bankrupt is doing something very, very wrong. The object of Danny's ire: the lack of fresh faces at The New GM. "To read the announcement of GM's new nine-person executive committee, the promotions and the retirements, as I did minutes after it was made public, is to hear the faint strains of Talking Heads singing 'same as it ever was, same as it ever was' and to hear more wailing about the chronically clueless GM." Mind you, Howes isn't calling GM chronically clueless (that's our job). He's angry that "the feds' pay-and-bonus restrictions essentially make it impossible for CEO Fritz Henderson to woo outside talent for inside jobs." Woo-hoo! Howes is on the money; out in the real world, $500K doesn't buy you a reasonable Human Resources manager. But hey, did someone forget the GM stands for Government Motors?

Editorial: The Truth About J.D. Power’s Vehicle Launch Index (VLI)

Michael Karesh — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 11:32:49 +0000

Earlier this week, J.D. Power gave the automotive world a new score to ponder: the Vehicle Launch Index (VLI). This addition to the survey giant's quality canon aims to measure how well manufacturers launch new or redesigned models. It's a worthy endeavor; a new model’s success in its first few months often predicts its long-term sales and profitability. But what do these new J.D. Power scores tell us? In the immortal words of Jeff Spicoli: I don’t know.

Toyota to Leave the North American Market?

menno — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 01:04:40 +0000

Toyota is the top automaker in the world, and has grown to this point by using methods put into place by one lone individual crying in the American post-war industrial wilderness. His name was Deming, and his message was (paraphrasing) “make it right the first time and it’ll be less expensive, better for the customer and more profitable for the manufacturer.” He also laid out how best to continually improve. The Japanese took this message and ran with it, patiently decimating the competition over half a century.

Editorial: The Truth About Rare Earths and Hybrids

Robert Farago — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 12:13:16 +0000

There’s no doubt about it: the automotive landscape is changing. Carmakers around the globe are embracing electric propulsion, whether the volts are generated by a gasoline motor, a fuel cell, a distant power plant or a combination thereof. New companies seem to be springing up overnight to take advantage of the government’s desire (and money) to wean motorists from their petrochemical "addiction." While everyone is rushing to produce politically-correct powerplants, one fundamental question that remains largely unexamined: from where will manufacturers secure the raw materials needed to mass produce this new technology?

Editorial: Between the Lines: NHTSA Hung Out to Dry By NYT

Robert Farago — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 15:07:54 +0000

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) woke up to a New York Times hatchet job. "In 2003, researchers at a federal agency proposed a long-term study of 10,000 drivers to assess the safety risk posed by cellphone use behind the wheel," the NYT begins, without specifying who, what, when, where or how. But we do get a general sort of why: "They sought the study based on evidence that such multitasking was a serious and growing threat on America’s roadways." And then, da da DA! "But such an ambitious study never happened. And the researchers’ agency, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, decided not to make public hundreds of pages of research and warnings about the use of phones by drivers — in part, officials say, because of concerns about angering Congress." Dive! Dive! Dive!

Curbside Classics: 1971 Small Cars Comparison: Number 3 — Toyota Corolla

Paul Niedermeyer — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:58:13 +0000

Curbside Classics takes you back to 1971 for a virtual comparison test of six small cars, based (and partly borrowed) from a C/D test.
Hail the conquering hero! Well, not of C/D's comparison test, but who cares, as long as the sales are there. And by 1971, the Corolla was well along in its conquest of the US small car market, despite being only three years fresh. In 1969, only its second year on the US market, the Corolla leapt to the number two import sales spot, and was nipping hard at the Beetle's pointy tail. Try replicating that today! And by 1975, the "little crown" was lording over the defeated krabbeltier. So what exactly were the Corolla's remarkable qualities that sent VW (and Opel) into such a deep and permanent retreat? And it's shortcomings that kept it from winning this comparison?

Editorial: Five Things I Hate About August’s Car and Driver

Robert Farago — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 15:44:54 +0000

Hitting 50 was tough. I've reached the point in my life where I no longer ask "Is That All There Is?" I now ask, "Why did I eat that bowl of mocha chip?" I've entered the phase Passage's author/plagiarist Gail Sheehy calls "Refreshed (or Resigned)." Paint me parenthetical. Recently, I've been wondering if I should resign myself to the fact that the car industry is full of liars, weasels, cheats and sons of bitches. And lighten-up. See the good in the people and products which make pistonheads purr. And then my daughter refused to go to bed; she trashed her room like a coke-fueled 70's rock band. "I have anger issues," Lola said, when she finally ran out of steam. "That's OK," I assured her. "It runs in the family." So here are five things I hate about the August issue of Car and Driver.

Editorial (Conspiracy Edition): Opel, RHJ, GM, Bilderberg, Rattner and Black Helicopters

Bertel Schmitt — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:16:17 +0000

Last night, make that early in the morning here in Beijing, I received a pleasant phone call. The lady identified herself as working for a large and reputable German newspaper. We exchanged German pleasantries, as much as they exist. Then she said: "You wrote about RHJ, Ripplewood and Opel? Do you know anything about Tim Collins' connections?" I confessed that I know of a recording artist named Collins, but his first name is Phil. "TIM Collins, the owner of Ripplewood," she said. "Sorry, never met the guy" was my answer. She says: "Ok, maybe I have to dig around his old compatriots myself." With these words, she bid me ta-ta. Are you the type who is worried of black helicopters? The New World Order? The Trilateral Commission? The Bilderbergers? Then read on. If you think conspiracies are bunk, skip to the next post.

Editorial: “Ten Most Unfortunate Car Names”

Robert Farago — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:43:48 +0000

Glenn sent us a link to this list on oddee.com. And the winners are: 10. AMC Gremlin - Wikipedia: "Gremlin is an English folkloric creature, commonly depicted as mischievous and mechanically oriented, with a specific interest in aircraft. Although their origin is found in myths among airmen, claiming that the gremlins were responsible for sabotaging aircraft, John W. Hazen states that 'some people' derive the name from the Old English word gremian, 'to vex'. Since World War II, different fantastical creatures have been referred to as gremlins, bearing varying degrees of resemblance to the originals." Such as . . . Howie Mandel. The AMC Gremlin wasn't known as much for mechanical malfunctions as its questionable styling. That said the name didn't stop 671,475 American and Canadian customers from buying one. Well, I assume it was one.

Curbside Classics: 1971 Small Cars Comparison: Number 4 — Ford Pinto

Paul Niedermeyer — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:44:16 +0000

Curbside Classics takes you back to 1971 for a virtual comparison test of six small cars, based (and partly borrowed) from a C/D test. Few cars are more polarizing than the Pinto (except the Prius, of course). Commonly derided for its exploding gas tank and general crappiness, other folks found (still find) it to be cheap, fairly reliable transportation with a variable fun quotient, depending on its configuration. Sometimes cars develop their reputations later in life, but the underdeveloped Pinto was pretty much an open book, right from the beginning. A children's book, at that. The Pinto should have been called Foal; it was a baby car.

Editorial: Imagine a world where Steve Rattner decides that Ken Elias should become the anointed King of GM

Ken Elias — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:50:35 +0000

That’s right, the CEO in charge of Government Motors. (Ok, don’t really ask me why I think I’m qualified; let’s just suspend belief for a few minutes shall we?) So what would I do? First, I’d insist on a new wardrobe for every person at every level. Gone are all the suits for the white-collar workers. Factory workers can’t wear jeans and t-shirts or whatever. Nope, everyone in the company now wears the GM uniform, kind of like the military. The new GM garb consists of coveralls in blue and white with a GM logo on the back, and each worker gets a name tag to pin on the front. Ranks are determined by stripes, bars, and stars, just like the Army. As CEO, I get four stars on the shoulder epaulets. And of course, there’d be a “dress uniform” for outside events.

Bertel Schmitt — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 09:50:03 +0000

There is a lot of funny money flowing to dealers: Holdbacks, incentives, carry-over-allowances, packs and countless others. All in the name of moving the metal. Did you ever hear of a car company that sent the dealer cold hard cash, and then sent it again and again, if the dealer just asked for more? No single car sale involved? Never? You’ll hear it now, in this week’s installment of the Autobiography Of BS ©. Also in this episode: On the inside of roadside assistance.

Editorial: Between The Lines: New GM’s First Press Release

Robert Farago — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:42:17 +0000

I once asked a priest about confession. What was the point? I knew Catholics who'd sin, confess, sin, confess, wash, rinse, repeat. "It's not a 'get out of hell free' card," he insisted. "Confession means you fully acknowledge your sin, pledge to atone for the harm you've caused, promise God that you've learned from your mistakes and change your behavior." Let's say you do all that and commit the same sin. What good's an unrealized promise? "None," he said. "I have refused absolution to repeat sinners because I didn't believe that they were ready, willing or able to abandon their sins." And there you have it: New GM's recipe for disaster. Let us turn to the first sentence of New GM's first press release.

General Motors Zombie Watch 11: Cadillac Must Die

Robert Farago — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:50:19 +0000

General Motors has left bankruptcy behind. The MSM is greeting GM's graduation with guarded not to say advertiser-sponsored optimism. Meanwhile, the populist backlash has begun. Yesterday, for the first time, I heard a "civilian" refer to GM as "Government Motors." And then, another. Even if you discount the protest as right wing rhetoric (I was listening to Fox Talk), it's clear that General Motors is becoming a lightning rod for anti-government sentiment. With tax hikes looming and the federal deficit ballooning, the public is starting to see the "new" General Motors as a symbol of federal impudence, intransigence and impotence. In fact, GM could be President Obama's Iraq: the Gordian knot that strangles his political fortunes. To fully understand the futility of this financial folly, consider Cadillac.