Antics abound at the SAE Greenbrier retreat

The Greenbrier retreat hosted by the Society of Automotive Engineers is known as something of a boondoggle in the industry, but with all the doom and gloom, we're hard-pressed to deny the automotive bigwigs a little fun. The tone of the confrence is light, with industry execs spending more time creating comedy routines than doing any actual work. Last year's event saw Bo Andersson search high and low for a Dracula costume after an opening skit referred to him as a blood-sucking vampire.

This year's Saturday Night Live-style newscast, which is a yearly tradition, showed Delphi boss Steve Miller at his funniest, even relating that the night before was so cold, Ford purchasing chief Tony Brown was seen with his hands "in his own pockets."

The fun didn't end at Greenbrier, however -- the annual Steakout, a not-so-PETA-friendly fundraiser hosted by the Detroit Press Club Foundation, will take place this Wednesday, complete with a re-do of the aforementioned newscast as well as some new stuff, including a secret video tape allegedly of the first meeting between Bill Ford and "The One," Alan Mulally (set to the soundtrack, "Endless Love"). Also slated for the dinner is the "real story" behind GM's unanimous vote to reject Renault/Nissan's merger bid -- all we'll say is that Jerry York should have held it.

Proceeds from the dinner go toward scholarships for journalism students and buying holiday toys for children.

[Source: Detroit News]

Add your comments

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.








Autoblog Podcast #155: 'Twas the night before LA...

Chris, Dan, and Editor Paukert go over some LA Preview action and quietly whoop it up on the podcast.

 
 

Featured Galleries

  • LA 2009: 2011 Chevrolet Cruze
  • Live: 2011 Cadillac CTS Coupe
  • 2011 Audi A8
  • 2011 Audi A8: Live from Miami
  • 2011 Chevrolet Cruze
  • 2011 BMW 5 Series sedan
  • Texas unveils new Vanity Plates
  • Spy Shots: Next-gen Buick Excelle for China
  • 2011 Cadillac CTS Coupe
  • Hyundai 2.4L Theta-II GDI
  • Ginetta G50EV and John Surtees at the Channel Tunnel
  • 2010 Toyota Land Cruiser

AOL Autos

Find Your Next Car

Autoblog Video


Autoblog Green

Daily Finance

Download Squad

Engadget

Joystiq

Autoblog Spanish

Switched.com

FanHouse

Asylum