Or not. The best part? The LF-A, seen burning here at the 24 Hours Nürburgring, has just been re-approved for production, according to Motor Trend. Oy.

TTAC writer Samir Syed was on the lamb last night, cooked by yours truly. To honor the dead sheep’s spirit, Sam brought by a rented Ford Mustang GT. For some reason, I never got ’round to driving Ford’s latest Pony Car, what with the world’s largest bankruptcy looming on the editorial horizon and my step-daughter’s after-school activities ending for the term. Anyway, the car in which I was about to go roaming in the gloaming embodied its designers’ desire to re-infuse the ’Stang with some understated classicism—while attempting to add a bit of visual drama (swage much?). Other than a hideously overwrought rear, there’s nothing particularly wrong with the result. Not to put fine a point on it (so to speak), the new Mustang doesn’t give me wood. Still, personal fertility and automotive blue pill issues aside, there are plenty of reasons to be cheerful.

Popular Science clears the air (so to speak) about which of America’s favorite intoxicants impairs driving skill the most. And it turns out that the stoned driver is a careful driver. Well, compared to a drunk driver, anyway. Research from a fancy driving simulator at Ben Gurion University’s Laboratory for Human Factors in Road Safety shows that reefer-crazed drivers drove considerably slower than the control group, while drunk drivers drove faster. In addition, “the drinking drivers also tended to be confident and boast a sense of control, while the pot smokers seem to be ‘more aware of their impairment.'” Of course, PopSci and Ben Gurion University don’t exactly condone doobing and driving. “None of the doped-up or drinking drivers were models of safety on the road. They tended to switch lane positions, swerve, and vary their steering,” is the verdict. But that’s just, like, their opinion… man. In honor of TTAC’s recent exploration of the legal grey areas of on-road behavior, we thought we’d ask: what are the five best rules of stoned driving? Entries will be accepted until 6pm Eastern Time. The winner gets the unclaimed (previous contest) Taschenwörterbuch der Kraftfahrzeugtechnik (English-German car technical dictionary). Because compound words are mind blowing after a toke or two. Dude.

Automotive News [sub] is reporting that Beijing Auto’s bid for Opel “came too late for the government to assess it in depth,” according to German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück. Thanks for playing! Now how good did that offer have to be for the German government to have to avoid looking at it all together?

At a National Press Club speech intended to promote the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) stimulus spending initiatives, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood explained how his policies are designed to discourage the ownership and use of automobiles. Although many imagine road building when “shovel-ready” projects are mentioned, the only efforts highlighted by LaHood as worthy of receiving federal taxpayer subsidy included buses, light rail and other forms of multi-modal transit. “We have $8 billion,” LaHood said. “You’re going to see new buses; you’re going to see ability of transit districts to really have the equipment . . . And we’ll begin at DOT to set a standard for our ability to get out of the recession, get people back to work in good-paying jobs.” LaHood says some of those federally funded jobs involve driving buses.

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Three’s a crowd: an odd grouping where someone or something is always going to stick out. Think Holy Ghost. The third wheel. The Sesame Street “which one of these is not the same as the others” object. In our Yank Tank match-up, the Lincoln Town Car fell by the wayside, pilloried for its utter lack of anythingness. Which is also, strangely enough, it’s strength. We’ll get to the Cadillac DTS tomorrow. But as some of our Best and Brightest have already pointed out, the Chrysler 300C is the one that doesn’t fit.

With initial ($5 billion) attempts at bailing out struggling auto suppliers failing miserably, Reuters reports that Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm is calling for another $8 billion in supplier aid. Granholm says the aid will be especially important if (when) GM files for bankruptcy. “We need to provide the (auto) suppliers with the means to get through the next 60 to 90 days,” says Granholm. And then? Meanwhile, despite reports that (at least some) GM creditors will not be crammed down, MI Rep. Sanders Levin fired a shot over GM investors’ bows at the same press conference. The Chrysler experience proved to lenders that “bankruptcy doesn’t provide any more relief and maybe less,” said Levin. “We’re also hopeful that bondholders of GM have also got that message.”

In sharp contrast to the nasty cramdown of Chrysler bondholders, GM’s secured lenders will receive full recovery on some $6 billion in debt, courtesy of your United States Treasury. According to the WSJ, Treasury will “inject a fresh $50 billion in various financings to back a GM workout,” which would result in a 70 percent equity stake in the “new GM.” Although the plan had been for GM to exit bankruptcy still carrying some $40 billion of its approximately $80 billion in debt, the bank payoff should help trim GM’s debt to a mere $10-$12 billion. To accomplish this, the Treasury will pay Citi, JP Morgan and other financiers of GM’s $4.5 billion revolving line of credit that comes due in 2011 and a $1.5 billion term loan due in 2013. In full. Which beats 29 cents on the dollar any day.

Every day I see a wall. On the outside are tens of millions of consumers who lack the commitment, integrity and responsibility to keep their word. Debt, crime, and fraud are their elixirs and it’s literally destroying this country. It fills the lots and keeps the auctions busy for hours. Then I see the other side of that wall. Hundreds of millions trying to get ahead and do the right thing in their lives. They are my buyers, the lane clerks, the ringmen, the consigners, and all the people outside the auction who choose a better path. Everyone thinks that the auctions are a cut-throat place where only the knowledgeable and careful survive . . . and they’re right.

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Does this sound strange to you: Chrysler proposes spending $224 million of your tax money (bailout bucks) to land another $244 million of your tax money (Department of Energy green bucks). They plan on using the money to develop and, yes, build electric vehicles. Volt Envi much? Hang on; is the DOE money a “grant” or a “loan”? I mean, in all this $100 billion bailout excitement, has everyone forgotten about the $25 billion Department of Energy retooling loans? Is this deal part of that deal or the billion dollar battery research thing? Anyway, Reuters doesn’t say from whence cometh this particular part of the feds’ attempt to fix Motown’s meltdown. But they do put quote marks around Chrysler’s “partners” (you and Fiat sitting in a tree?) and parrot the zombie automaker’s enviro-agitprop without question.

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In the high states poker for Opel, GM did put the cards on the table, got up and walked.

Automobilwoche [sub] reports that GM handed over “all European plants, patents and access technologies debt free to the Adam Opel GmbH.” It’s official, the supervisory board of Adam Opel GmbH has acknowledged it. What’s more, the supervisory board of the GmbH (in reality, GM) “accepted the trustee model of the German government.” This clears Opel for a new investor, and keeps the company clear of the downdraft caused by the impending bankruptcy of the mother ship.

Tonight, there will be a meeting in Berlin that may decide who will take over Opel—with more than a little help of the German government. It could be a long night.

According to recent reports, the night most likely will be inconclusive.
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John writes:

Sajeev, a buddy at work paid 26k for a 2006 530ix with 39,000 miles. The seller is a pretty, late 20s heiress who had a new Bentley in the driveway. She wanted 30k but took the cash. My buddy does not know anything about working on cars and hopes that it does not break before 150,000 mile like his parents old 5 series. He left message at local dealer asking about cost of extended warranty. They didn’t call back.

I tell him to go there in person, ask, then offer 2/3 and see what they say for factory CPO deal. Don’t take other than factory warranty – BMW as counter party. He thinks maybe not since its only two years left with any extended warranty, saying “so what, tires wear out, right?”

I say, “Yes. And heads warp and trannies stop shifting too.”

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Today is—how do they put it at AA?—the first day of the rest of the life of Opel. Or not, as the saying goes around here. Today, everybody who has anything to say about Opel’s fate will get together in Berlin. The papers that will take away GM’s daughter Opel and make it a child of the state and parties yet undecided are already written up and are waiting for the signatures, says Die Welt. Klaus Franz, head of the Opel workers council has seen the paperwork, “and it looks good, everything is going in the right direction,” Franz said.

Present at the meeting will be Chancellor Angela Merkel, Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg, the premiers of the four states that are home to Opel factories, GM Europe chief Carl-Peter Forster, someone from RenCen, along with an anonymous representative of GM’s owner, the US government. Principals only. They will quiz the managers of the companies interested in Opel: Fiat, Magna, Richwood. The one with the most points wins.

Again, or not . . .

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No surprise there. GM needs its former in-house parts maker to survive, and Delphi is as dead as a doornail. After almost four years in bankruptcy, no one in their right mind would invest in Delphi. In other words, you’re up! Automotive News [sub] reports the glad tidings (without once threatening to connect the dots): GM is to re-absorb five Delphi plants. “General Motors has agreed to assume ownership of five Delphi Corp. plants in the United States and operate the UAW-manned factories as a wholly owned subsidiary, according to union highlights of the tentative new contract between GM and the UAW . . . Delphi spokesman Lindsey Williams said announcing the deal is premature. ‘Any agreement regarding Delphi assets is subject to approval by lenders who have loaned money to Delphi in bankruptcy as well as approval by the court,’ he said.” Premature in the sense that adding to GM’s bailout bill is not to the most politic of maneuvers. Premature in the sense that Delphi was due in court on Thursday to hash out its impending implosion. But true, nonetheless.

No, we’re not anticipating more congressional hearings. The AP (Breitbart) reports that inappropriately named Zero Pollution Motors is trying to bring MDI’s compressed-air technology to America. Again. Still. There’s only one problem. “Air compressors are one of the least efficient machines to convert electricity to work,” says Harold Kung, professor of chemical and biological engineering at Northwestern University. “Why not use the electricity directly, as in electric cars? From an energy utilization point of view, the compressed (air) car does not make sense.” What the professor appears to be missing is that the firm is called Zero Pollution Motors. Put that in your chemical engineering bong and and give it a toke.