TTAC writer Terry Parkhurst suggested I give Mitch Silver of Silver Collector Car Auctions a call. Mitch's mob aren't the biggest of the big, but they've developed a sterling reputation for friendliness, honesty and expertise. Silver's signature event: the Reno-based Hot August Nights. With over 800 pre-'72 cars up for grabs, Mitch counsels buyers to think of car collecting as a hobby (not an investment) and do NOT get in a pissing match.

Blasting down the autocross track at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in a BMW M3, wringing that mad motor to the max, I still couldn't catch the rat bastard in the car ahead. My Teutonic ride had more than enough juice to gain ground during the straights. But the second a twist appeared my target slipped away like a thief with a knife. At some point, courage got the better part of valor; I switched off the DSC and drove well beyond what any rational human would call "safe." Wrong answer. Without Bimmer's Nanny riding shotgun, my car control disintegrated. The Dodge Neon SRT-4 pulled away, leaving me in the dust.

Before spending two-days at the Skip Barber High Performance Driving School, I was convinced I was a reasonably skilled driver. I had no idea how bad I sucked. Lucky for my ego, I wasn't the only one to make this realization. Wealthy sports car owners from all walks of life swaggered into the Vegas heat full of piss, shit and corruption; convinced they could pilot Bimmers, Porkers and a Viper with confidence and élan. One-by-one, Skip Barber's Neon-driving instructors disabused them of the notion. As we struggled through a tire-smoking orgy of spinning, understeering, knocking over cones, missing turn-in points, choosing the wrong gear, braking at the exact wrong time and place, we all came to the same conclusion: none of us could drive for shit.

Rabid Rick Wagoner lacks self-esteem. Why else would GM's CEO submit himself to triple presidential humiliation? First, Bush tells GM to take a hike– even before Rick shows-up with his begging bowl. Then, despite the slight, the head of the world's largest automaker sets-up a meet with the Commander-in-Chief (presumably to engage in a vigorous debate about the definition of a "relevant" vehicle). Then Bush cancels the meeting. George heads for the border; Rick detours to Congress to promote corn juice– and reschedules the presidential pow-wow for June. To do what? How long does it take RR to take a hint?

The funny (peculiar) thing is that every time I run out of ways to make the case that GM's [lack of] leadership assures its oblivion, the company throws me a bone. On Wednesday, GM shit-canned– sorry, accepted the resignations of– Controller Paul Schmidt and Chief Accounting Officer Peter Bible. Given GM's recent decision to restate its earnings for the last FIVE YEARS; given the on-going Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation into GM's payments to its suppliers, its purchases of precious metals (of all things) and a New York Grand Jury alone knows what else; you'd think the double golden parachute exhibition was enough craven media manipulation for one day. But no, GM went and hired Jay Alix.

The Upper Middle Fork road into Washington State’s Snoqualmie National Forest is the kind of road a SUV buyer sees all the time– in glossy ads. It’s a roller-coaster ride of immense potholes, fist-sized rocks and ankle-deep snow that carves through an ancient, awe-inspiring landscape. As such, it’s the perfect testing ground for the Mercedes-Benz ML500: a vehicle appealing to well-heeled suburbanites who want to know they could drive their $63k SUV down treacherous roads like this, at speed, even though they never will.

According to Alfa Romeo's website, Henry Ford used to doff his hat whenever he saw an Alfa Romeo pass. More credibly, the Italian automaker claims Enzo Ferrari cried like a baby on the day his race cars finally beat Alfas'. Yes but– Alfa Romeo's distinguished portfolio of elegant motor cars and racing heritage may be glorious beyond compare, but that history also includes ignominious defeat. In 1995, after selling just forty-four cars to [long-suffering] American enthusiasts, Alfa withdrew from the US market. And now, once again, the company that gave Dustin Hoffman's graduate his getaway car wants back in.

Emboldened by Maserati's North American comeback, reinvigorated by GM's $2b payoff, corporate parent Fiat believes that the Alfa Romeo brand is finally ready to launch its own US re-invasion. Initially, Alfa plans to sell and service a small range of vehicles through some of its 40 former American dealerships and most of Maserati's current US franchisees (recently liberated from the Fiat's Ferrari dealers). Fiat management refuses to commit to a timetable for the move, which has been postponed three times since 2003. Rumor has it we could see Alfas stateside by late '07. But is there a seat at the table for Alfa? Where does today's Alfa fit in the world's largest automotive marketplace?

openairtours.com has a second-by-second counter marking down the moments until the next time 200 convertibles hit the road in Wisconsin. TTAC respects that kind of auto-oriented OCD. We also wish Gary Knowles' posse a speedy passage through the dairy farming portion of their travels.

Last year, GM unveiled a funky retro-styled vanlet called the HHR (Heritage High Roof). Although the HHR has generated some much-needed action on Chevrolet dealers' lots, the vehicle's character and genesis is an ominous sign that all is not well within GM's product development process. For one thing, the HHR is a bin-engineered clone of its competitor, the PT Cruiser, designed by the same man who penned the Chrysler. For another, there was a five-year gap between the PT and the Me-Too. In other words, when it comes to creating products for the US market, General Motors is dim, cheap and slow.

To be fair, GM's current vehicles are generally 80 to 90% as good as the class-leading benchmarks. TTAC readers might not choose a Pontiac Torrent over a Honda CR-V, but there's nothing wrong with the Pontiac that automatically disqualifies it from consideration. Right now, that is. A few years down the road, things start to get ugly. When it's time to update a product– not just adding new options and colors, making significant mechanical and cosmetic improvements– GM has been known to let a new vehicle slip seven years or longer between refreshes. In contrast, The General's foreign competition is fully committed to a five or six-year product cycle. As a result, GM's products are falling further and further behind, until they become obsolete. For example…

All I remember about my driver's ed class was a film (remember film?) about a nerdy mid-Westerner who performed all these ridiculous pre-flight checks ('Lights working Dad!') and still managed to kill himself and his entire family by overtaking a slow moving truck straight into an even larger truck. These days, it's the 'Red Asphalt' series, and it's all online. Makes sense to me, and Gary Tsfirin of driversed.com.

TTAC receives a great deal of excrutiatingly boring PR copy on a daily basis. When I caught sight of this sexy PR prose poem, I had to know more: 'The purely mechanical device, made up of four chambers, attaches directly in front of the throttle body. A movable flap senses pulsations generated when the engine vibrates due to acceleration. As the flap moves, via a spring-mass system, it changes the high-frequency whistle of the turbocharger to the more muscular tone that is the natural byproduct of the combustion process.'

Ray Wert is a member in good standing of the so-called 'Swedish Mafia': the new breed of internet-based automotive journalists who write what they think and let the chips fall where they may. In other words, Ray's a TTAC kinda guy. We're pleased that he's joined us on the GM Death Watch, bringing his keen understanding of high finance to bear on The General's orchestral maneuvers in the dark. Given the fireworks to come, I reckon we'll be seeing more of his piercing glimpses into the not-so-obvious.

In the waning years of the twenty first century, when the world's petroleum reserves finally near exhaustion, hydrogen fuel cells will most likely propel our personal transportation. These cars of the future will be practical, safe, fuel efficient, clean-running and dull. The gas – electric Honda Civic Hybrid (HCH) could well be the prototype for this new breed of automobile; where all the car's harmful social and environmental byproducts have been minimized, and all the fun of driving has been designed out of existence.

I never met a pistonhead without a fully-stocked fantasy garage. Unfortunately, the ones who try to bring the dream to life learn a Buddhist lesson: that which you own, owns you. The Langoliers of depreciation decimate the dream from day one. Registration fees, taxes and insurance take their toll. The hassle and expense of service and repair suck. Four years and 12K miles later, the per-mile expenses are astounding. And then, inevitably, the enthusiast's eye begins to wander; their piston passion runs as hot and cold as a cheap motel shower. Another round of this automotive folly would be insane. Unless…

The car share club concept took root in London in 1996, with Formula One World Champion Damon Hill's P1 Prestige and Performance Car Club. The basic idea is simple enough: P1 buys and services a portfolio of high-priced heavy metal; England's well-heeled petrolheads pay a fee to drive them. No finance payments, depreciation, maintenance, storage or tax. Just drive, dump and go. Of course, P1 membership is only cheap relative to ownership, and there are plenty of rules dictating which car you can drive for how much and when. P1 has an elaborate points system that involves a joining fee, an annual fee, a sliding points scale for best to worst times and cars, and mileage restrictions. But it's all about the hassle– or lack thereof.

In the run-up to our June re-launch, The Truth About Cars is proud to present a new feature: the TTAC Daily Podcast. The 10-minute recordings will feature interviews with our correspondents, industry folk and enthusiasts. If you have a product, service or event to promote; or an axe to grind, contact me via email to arrange a call. We'll have more news on the new site soon…

As any good debt counselor will tell you, paying down your debt isn't enough. You need enough cash on hand to deal with ongoing expenses and extra funds for any major bills. Otherwise, you end-up scrambling to borrow more money and digging yourself into a deeper hole– until you can't. The same rules apply to General Motors. They need to pay their workers, dealers and suppliers on a regular basis, and they need extra money for large, one-time expenses (e.g. worker buyouts). Although GM claims to have enough money to stay the course, the truth is they are only one "exceptional expense" away from Chapter 11.

According to GM's recent quarterly statement, The General has $17.4b in cash, $1.4b in marketable securities and useable assets of $2.8b in their VEBA (Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association) trust. That works out to $21.6 billion– an increase of around $1.2b from the prior quarter. The financial markets were heartened by the resulting black ink– even though the increase was more a reflection of accounting practices than a healthy increase in income. Despite this optimism, GM's situation is just as precarious as it was throughout '05; the Delphi dilemma remains dangerously unresolved.

I've never run a multi-billion dollar multi-national car company. But I've driven hundreds of cars, and every car I drive tells me everything I need to know about the company that builds it. Literally. What do I need to know about GM's product development process that I can't glean from the Solstice's fiddly roof? What can Daimler-Chrysler's flackmeisters tell me about the company's strategy that I can't appreciate by hammering an SRT-8? What does BMW have to say that their X3 doesn't? And how can I be expected to take Ford's "Bold Moves" campaign seriously after driving a Ford 500?

Someone forgot to tell Billy Ford that everything– sales, service, marketing, the money in his pocket– starts with product. First you build cars, trucks and SUV's that do one thing better than anyone else, THEN you market them according to their unique selling point. If you want to sell ultimate driving, start by making damn sure all your vehicles ride and handle better than anything else in their segment (Boxster-beater my eye). If you're selling safety, begin by building cars that get five stars in all crash categories (S40 four-star rollover rating my toches). If you're starting an American revolution, it's probably best to sell cars built in America. And if you want to be known as bold…