QOTD: Ready to Go One-on-One?

The setting: a dimly lit bar, which is the best kind of bar, and one that seems to have stepped out of another time. Old, overly varnished wood mingling with red faux leather on the chairs and booths, a stained glass lamp hanging over each corner nook, and a complete absence of daylight or identifiable exit. Are you even above ground? You can’t tell.A din registering somewhere between pleasant background murmur and raucous cacophony ensures reasonable privacy from the introvert population of this half-filled saloon. The drinks adorning tables and bartop are not mango mojitos, but brown liquors. Some with ice, most without. This is a place where long-lasting, healthy relationships are not kindled, but where more than a few businessmen have stopped in for a last drink before jumping off that overpass or going home to clean dad’s rifle. Maybe Deep Throat drank here. Maybe, somewhere out there in the brightly lit streets that may as well be a million miles away, three-piece suits and sideburns are back in vogue, and every car has an ashtray.As you ponder your surroundings, puzzled, disoriented, and more than a little intrigued, a figure moves towards your table.Somehow you just knew that a chance meeting would occur, but this is no simple random encounter. You’ve secretly, or not so secretly, desired this moment most of your life. You know the person.Tossing a coat over an empty chair, they join you at your table, snapping their fingers at the discreet-looking bartender and barking out a simple drink order that arrives in record time. You’re unnerved by their presence, but excited. As your newfound guest settles in, preparing for a long stay, their steely gaze fixes on you, eyes narrowing as they mentally size you up.And a question kicks it all off.“What would you like to know?”The person you’re drinking with is an auto industry executive, and it’s entirely likely they’ve returned from the dead in order to share a candid moment with you. It can be whomever you choose. Walter P. Chrysler, Henry Ford, John Z. DeLorean, Robert McNamara, Lee Iacocca, Bob Lutz (wait, this exercise is probably playing out in real time for him somewhere…), Mary Barra, or any one of the lesser execs throughout history who played a role in the ascendance — or downfall — of their company. It can be the creator of a certain model you covet so much. The designer of a unique engine, or sculptor of a car body you’ve lusted after since childhood.There’s plenty of stories to tell. So, whose brain have you always wanted to pick?[Image: Seller]