Recent Comments:
Carroll Shelby sued by Unique Performance customers {Autoblog}
Apr 2nd 2008 4:20PM It's the "deep pockets" theory at work. That said, Carroll is an asshole who gets a pass from everyone who has never done business with him. He deserves his fate.
U.S. Volkswagen plant to source 80% of parts locally {Autoblog}
Mar 26th 2008 11:14AM I have no dog in this fight, but why is the old Westmoreland plant not in the running? Sure the old manager's ghost probably still roams the halls, but hell, that's just SOP, right? Seriously, back in the late 70's they spent some real $$$ to bring that place on line. Anybody from the area know what's going on at the old VWoA plant?
Ebony and Ivory: B&W Camaros caught in Florida {Autoblog}
Mar 26th 2008 10:53AM I'm sorry, but I cannot understand the disconnect between the engineers and styling. The high beltline is ugly and the car looks as though it weighs 4000 pounds. Where is the lithe and agile shapes that a 200hp 4 banger would accelerate at a very respectable clip? Eventually the market and the EPA together will force these changes. Why not-for once- be ahead of the curve? It isn't impossible. If GM or Ford built a Lotus, at, say, a 50,000 per year sales clip, are you telling me they couldn't make money at $20,000? Someone needs to come out of the ether in Detroit, or they're going to leave the longest-lasting legacy the car business has ever seen- no more domestics.
Autoline on Autoblog with John McElroy {Autoblog}
Mar 21st 2008 3:19PM Another piece of "it's those damn lawyers" drivel. When this author has his family taken from him by an out -of -control semi-truck, is he going to forgive and forget, or sue the company? These so-called "tort reform" advocates are nothing but limit the corporate responsibility shills, who would immediately call their favorite litigator whenever the shoe happens to be on the other foot.
RIP: Paul Frère, 1917-2008 {Autoblog}
Feb 25th 2008 9:19AM Another classic passes from this mortal coil, along with his generational knowledge of all things automotive. My Father, who was born one month earlier, is still around, thank heaven, and the older I get, the smarter he gets. Funny how that works.............and damned ironic, particularly to the parent of a 15 year old son.
BREAKING: IRL and Champ Car unification agreement signed {Autoblog}
Feb 23rd 2008 10:27AM Count me as unimpressed. I volunteer at PIR every year to do grunt stuff, just to keep Portland's hoary race coming back. We, will undoubtedly be a casualty, and with the combined series using that god-awful sounding piece of #$%&*@ motor along with those ugly cars.............well, I'm sorry. I try, but watching those ugly cars that the France's try to call sports cars is also beyond my ability to absorb ugly. Must be some genetic defect.........
GMAC restructuring will shed 930 jobs from financing branch {Autoblog}
Feb 22nd 2008 8:39AM As an old hand in the financial arms of the Big 3, the money boys have been carrying the water for the manufacturing divisions for going on 30 years now. I never understood GM selling GMAC, even in light of the billion dollar ransom to divest its' FIAT stake. Even more mystifying was their entry- in a big way- into the mortgage business. I don't think that GM has had a true visionary since Ed Cole.........hell, Bunkie Knudsen was better than most. These 21st century "Whiz Kids", may be the smartest guys in the room but if you're the guy assigning seats, that's not too hard to accomplish. I would like to spend a year working for Toyota, just as juxtaposition on my domestic experience. We need their keiretsu manufacturing dogma, and they need our innovation and financial expertise. Somehow, someone has to find that synergy, or the last northern manufacturing job will be dismantling -for scrap- the RenCen and River Rouge. What a loss to our to our collective legacy............or maybe it's already gone, and we don't know it yet.
VIDEO: New Jaguar XF spot {Autoblog}
Feb 9th 2008 8:16PM Now I remember why Blackmore, Lord, Gillian, et al, never achieved individual acclaim the way they did together. By the way.........nice Jag. As one of the few who actually drove AND liked the much-maligned X-Type, maybe I am prone to like anything with the leaping cat, and therefore not the audience they're aiming at here. Ford invests all this R&D money for this, the aluminium XJ, and now I hear also a 5.0 V8 for the Land Rover............all while attempting divestiture? If I had a loose billion- hell, even a tight billion, I would buy those marques in a heartbeat, as I believe they will maintain their panache for more generations to come, and make someone some good money in the process.
Transport Canada to implement speed limiting device {Autoblog}
Feb 9th 2008 6:08PM The PC's in the current government would probably find this anathema to their Alberta-based smaller government philosophy. I used to live in the Lake BonaVista neighborhood, and consequently, I have a small amount of insight into how these guys think. Methinks Transport Canada will find a budgetary crisis in their near future, making implementation of this draconian device moot. This even finding usage in the big rigs is unsettling, but almost everything that comes from the White House and the so-called "Patriot Act" is equally surreal, so who knows what our "protectors" will come up with next? My dual citizenship was once my ace in the hole, but actions like this make me wonder what direction my home country is going. But, long -term, the approach to governing of the Canadians is far superior to the greed-based corporate domination of America, so I would still bet on their common sense to prevail in the end.
Spy Shots: Fiat Abarth 500 SS {Autoblog}
Jan 18th 2008 9:59AM Fiat has nightmarish memories in the US market to overcome before they start to import stateside. They will need thousands of customers like the 17 year old who just commented, because those of us who had hands on experience with the brand will be damn reluctant to part with our cash for whatever they bring here- no matter how promising. When I was 19, I bought a 124 Sport Coupe, and at first-wow. Five speed, DOHC, four wheel independent and If I remember right it also had four wheel discs. Way cool in the corners. But, as time went by, it spent more time at Jaremko's than it did with me. One day, while waiting for the third time that week, I noticed another car with almost the same specs- a 240Z. Same money, too. I left in the Z, and ten years and 180,000 miles later I got $3000 for it. The selling price new was $3675. Guess who has owned 8 of them since?
