In some cities, people don't want to pony up loose change for a meter-fed parking spot. In Boston, an abundance of available spaces would be like a dream come true, as evidenced by the exorbitant prices being paid on a regular basis in some areas. For example, The Boston Globe reports that a spot at 48 Commonwealth in the Back Bay district has just gone for a record $300,000 after residents in the area engaged in a bidding war for it. The couple that sold the space is also trying to sell their high-rent district condo for $2.5 million. Before you think that's too much dough to drop on a downtown, keep in mind that the price includes an underground parking spot.

While $300,000 is extreme even for Boston, spots reportedly average $134,000 in the exclusive area, and that number's going up. Last year, a parking space was $127,000 on average. For that kind of money, you could buy two Cadillac CTS-Vs, an Aston Martin V8 Vantage, or an Audi R8, or four Chevrolet Camaro SS models, or, well, you get the point. When a parking spot costs more than 99% of the cars on the market, Armageddon can't be far behind.

[Source: The Boston Globe]

click above image to view a gallery of the Subaru Tribeca stretch limo

Wow... um... just wow. Words don't do this stretch Subaru Tribeca limousine justice. It was reportedly built by Ernie Boch Jr., a powerful Boston area dealer that apparently has a penchant for long limousines. Before this he built a stretch Subaru Forester, which happened to be the catalyst for what you see above.

The story told on the North American Subaru Impreza Owners Club forum goes like this. Ernie was in Japan for a meeting with executives at Fuji Heavy Industries, to whom he showed them his stretched Forester and then pitched his plan for an elongated Tribeca. They loved the idea and got the Tribeca's engineers involved, who then shipped plans for stretching the Trib's chassis to engineers at Subaru's plant in Indiana. The limo was then built right on the same assembly line as normal Tribecas. The interior, however, had to be done by a custom coachbuilder.

Apparently both the Forester limo, which we've heard has been sold to another dealer, and the Tribeca limo, are seen frequently around New England. It's a crying shame the updated 2008 model wasn't available at the time, seeing as its new 3.6L boxer six has more ponies and twist available to pull around the limo's extra metal. Of course, when you're in the back of a Tribeca limo, you want to go slow so everybody sees you, right?

[Source: NASIOC via Carscoop]

Spectacle Island in Boston Harbor has a name it has truly earned. During a hundred-year-span, a list of its illustrious tenants includes a brothel, a horse rendering plant, a grease reclamation plant, and then tons and tons of Boston garbage dumped there over thirty years. The dumping ended when an entire bulldozer disappeared into the muck. When the city decided to stop dumping, the only thing that happened on the island was the seepage of "thousands of gallons of eroding material into the surrounding water..." A long way from the Tea Party, eh?

That's good enough for Honda, though. The company is hosting its 2008 Accord junket in Boston and on the island. It's a novel choice -- for the obvious reason -- but also because, as the invited NY Times writer mentions, Boston is so ... pedestrian, shall we say ... compared to the usual locales that host such events, which usually feature far more pina coladas than potholes. Good on you, Honda, and good luck to you, Mr. Dyer.

(FYI, Spectacle looks all right for what was recently a rotting heap of compost. After spending what must have been entire landmasses of money, Spectacle now houses "a 120-acre park, with a new pier, marina, a visitor center, two public beaches, and five miles of walking trails.")

[Source: New York Times]

Poor Arnold Worldwide. They were mining advertising gold for Volkswagen in the late 1990s with clever spots and print ads. Apparently the relationship went cold, and VW moved on. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth in Boston, but now, Arnold has found themselves in the crosshairs of father's advocacy groups as they vie for Volvo's ad money.

Arnold is in contention to win the $150 million account for Volvo's advertising, but they're drawing fire for past work that's denigrated fatherhood. Men's-issue advocate Glenn Sacks is leading the charge, along with the groups HusbandsandFathers.org and Fathers and Families. Sacks cites Arnold's recent work for clients such as Fidelity and Verizon as evidence the advertising agency is "anti-father."

For its part, Arnold has been dragged in far enough for CEO Fran Kelly to rebut Sacks's claims and point out that the client has the final say on any creative before a campaign leaves the concept stage. It must be a little bewildering. One day, you're sitting there in the Pru, doing your agency thing, and the next thing you know, they're outside with a cauldron and pitchforks. While Sacks has a point that portrayals of fathers on television is a caricature at best, most of what's on the tube is hyperbole. The efforts of these advocacy groups may be better directed at the brands and companies that are approving the campaigns that offend. With a little sensitivity training, the end customers may start making more considered decisions. We won't be holding our breath, but hey, it could happen.

UPDATE - Volvo has provided us with a statement regarding its current ad agency search:

"Volvo has four outstanding agencies vying for its advertising account, and it is our intention to select the agency that we think has the best understanding of our brand, the best creative and that can best communicate our brand and product attributes to the public. In the end, Volvo will be the ultimate decider on the advertising that reaches the airwaves or the printed page."

[Source: Automotive News - sub req'd]

Still looking for a way to impress that special someone with that million dollars burning a hole in your pocket? How about this, the "Prelude to a Kiss" Valentine's Day package at the Taj Hotel in Boston?

The whole shebang includes an overnight stay in the presidential suite, a romantic six-course dinner for two, plus a few extra perks including a diamond necklace with matching earrings for her, a set of gold cufflinks for him, and a Bentley Continental GT in black with red leather interior thrown in just for good measure. It also includes breakfast in the morning, rose petals on the bed, and ballroom dancing lessons.

The package will cost you $1,069,000, of which $193,000 pays for the Bentley and some $866,000 goes towards the bling. "Prelude to a Kiss" is right... if that doesn't do the trick, we don't know what will.

Want more information? Click here for a PDF on the full package.

Thanks for the tip, Stu!

[Source: German Car Scene]

We can't imagine how many safeguards had to be ignored and incompetent people employed to allow such a thing to happen, but somehow last Wednesday a Super Petroleum gas station (no pic available, generic station at right) in Holbrook, MA had its underground tank for regular unleaded accidentally filled with diesel fuel during a routine delivery at 3AM. Three days passed before the mistake was realized, during which time 45 cars expecting good ole' 87 octane were fed diesel fuel.

The Enterprise reports that some cars made it 20 miles before they stopped dead in the street while others didn't make it out of the station. Local mechanics that received the windfall of business from the error eventually figured out what was going on and three days and 45 downed cars later the damage came to a halt. Fortunately, affected car owners are reporting that the gas station has been paying for each vehicle to be repaired or performing the repairs itself. Station owner Dana Watson is even filling each car repaired by her Super Petroleum mechanics with a fresh tank of gas. She might want to double check what she's pumping this time.

[Source: Boston Herald via Kicking Tires]

Perhaps its the fact that there are thousands of doddering septuagenarians plying area roads, but Miami, Florida has just been dubbed America's least courteous drivers. Or to put a finer point on it, they've got some road rage and rude driving issues. A new AutoVantage survey of 2,000 adult commuters in 20 major cities has concluded that Miami has the worst road etiquette. The Norwalk, Connecticut company's phone survey also found a lot of negative feelings in:

• Phoenix, Arizona
• New York, New York
• Los Angeles, California
• Boston, Massachusetts

And there must be something to the whole 'Minnesota Nice' thing, as Minneapolis topped the list of friendliest commuter cities. Other top finishers included:

• Nashville, Tennessee
• St. Louis, Missouri
• Seattle, Washington
• Atlanta, Georgia

AutoVantage questioned participants on everything from obvious displays of motoring anger (middle fingers, cutting off other cars, tailgating, etc.), turn signal use, talking on the phone, and 'driving too fast.'

[Source: The Associated Press via CNN.com]

(Top Tip, Evan!)