Damn right. The automotive media is awash with cheerleading syncophants, more than happy to let manufacturer PR departments write their copy in exchange for exotic (or not) junkets, all you can eat buffets, and the opportunity to drive everything on the road. The ones that write for major newspaper conglomerates must be the worst, with never a bad thing to say about a car, no matter how dreadful. (Check that – they always find a couple minor faults in a cynical attempt to appear a little bit objective).

It’s downright sickening, sometimes. Thanks, RF, for staying true to your mission. I know you suffer for it terms of access to test vehicles, but keep it up.

I’m going in 2008 with my wife, then we are going to drive to Nashville (to visit the Lane Microcar Museum, natch – what did you think? Music?!) and then we’re going to drive to Montgomery, Alabama.

Yep, at age 50, this car nut is finally going to see the inside of a car factory. We’re taking my wife’s Hyundai Sonata “home” for the journey (and getting away from snow for four days).

I’ve tried for 15 years to get into a Detroit mfr auto plant with no luck. (Partly because they keep closing them!)

I’ll look for TTAC hats and a group of four guys who look shell-shocked, and say hi when I see you guys.

RF when we last spoke you totally questioned the point of going to the auto show. Why the change of heart?

No change of heart. I’m not going.

Seriously, now that we’re a blog, we have to do what bloggers do. Only better. And different.

Mom must be so proud! First there was the TTAC Buick press junket and now she’s been blogged!

Once I even had a press pass thanks to the journalism course I was taking at the time. I had dreams of becoming automotive journalist, maybe even good enough for the legendary Car and Driver!

Wow… Were my dreams dashed.

I got to see first had the unveiling of the Malibu… Not the current, or even the last gen, but the suppository on wheels that was the 1997 model.

I must say, the NAIAS gives new meaning to the term “Dazzle them with bullshit.”

It’s long been said that Volvo has been trading on safety, but I bet that the majority of Volvo owners aren’t buying them for the “safety” as in “full of airbags”, but more because they feel solidly built.

I think that’s an important distinction that you guys have never seem to make.