I have a Piston Slap question for you. Does anybody out there in the main office (or any of the B&B perhaps) recall “Shell of the Future” gasoline. I grew up on Long Island, New York and in the early ’70s Shell introduced a gasoline called “Shell of the Future” which was just unleaded gas. This fuel was dispensed from a baby blue pump and was sold a few years before the national roll-out of lead free gas. My dad tried a couple of tanks of it, but the car detonated due to a too low octane rating, or so he said. I asked him just recently and he clearly recalls it. Nobody else seems to recall this product. I have Googled and Binged this to no avail. So, am I living a dream?’
There ain’t nothing stock about a stock car. Nowadays, there ain’t nothing standard about a “standard” transmission. How long has it been since you’ve heard that quaint sobriquet for a clutch-and-stick setup? More than ninety percent of new cars sold in the United States are self-shifters. Our oh-so-superior friends in Europe and Japan aren’t as far behind in the trend towards PRNDL hegemony as they would have us believe. Combine the weight of marketplace preference with the increasing difficulty involved in making a stick-shift meet emissions regulations, and it becomes easy to understand why manufacturers are making automatic transmissions the only choice for everything besides specialty cars. A clutch pedal is perilously close to becoming an actual luxury item in today’s market. Does that turn this twenty-two-grand base-ish Fusion into a luxury car? Hell no.
A four-door sedan is not my kind of car. I need space in the back for mountain bike, dog, golf clubs–on occasion, all three. I currently drive a Mazda CX-7, which has the space, plus the bonus of snappy handling and zoom-zoom pick-up. But as a green kind of guy, I’ve followed the Tesla saga from the beginning, and the S seemed like a very cool car. I had recently started thinking seriously about buying an electric car, something I could power with a small hydroelectric generator I’m installing on the creek that runs by my house in upstate New York. So when I read that a prototype Model S would appear at the Plaza Hotel in New York City last spring, I decided to drive the Mazda down and learn something about electric cars, and see if the S looked as good in the flesh as it did in the press-release photos.
Despite the clear message sent by voters in 1992, the city of Batavia, Illinois is busy pursuing a return to the use of photo enforcement. Police Chief Gary J. Schira made a sales pitch to the city council last month on behalf of the private companies that operate red light camera systems, hoping to add the lucrative program to his budget. Minutes from a Government Services Committee meeting on November 19, 2008 described the intention of city leaders:
According to CBS News, an ex-lawyer for Toyota of North America has filed a racketeering suit against his former employer. ToMoCo’s former managing counsel Dimitrios P. Biller accused the automaker of illegally withholding evidence in hundreds of rollover death and injury cases, in a “ruthless conspiracy” to suppress evidence of its vehicles “structural shortcomings.” Further, “Biller’s 75-page complaint [download pdf here] says that when he came to Toyota after nearly 15 years in private practice, he was ‘surprised and alarmed’ to discover that the company was not producing e-mails and other electronically stored information to plaintiffs as he said was required. According to the lawsuit, Biller repeatedly complained to supervisors that the company was illegally withholding evidence. The lawsuit further states that the resulting conflicts ultimately caused Biller to suffer a mental breakdown and led to his forced resignation in September 2007. He left with a $3.7 million severance agreement, court records show.” [thanks to Dennis for the link]
Sometimes companies do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do. Sometimes expediency rules the day. Not infrequently, legal compulsion provides the motivation. Whatevs. The Detroit News reports that New Chrysler has donated Old Chrysler’s Political Action Committee (PAC) lobbying fund to the United Way. The semi-nationalized automaker will write checks to local chapters totaling $525,000. This also means that New ChryCo will not use union/taxpayer money to support/reward the election/re-election campaigns of politicians friendly to the unions/federal bailouts. Chrysler gets props for avoiding an obvious conflict of interest. Or it that confluence The ball’s now in their fully nationalized cross-town rival’s court. “GM transferred its PAC from the bankrupt Motors Liquidation Co. — the GM entity that remains in bankruptcy — to the new GM. The fund had $418,000 in cash through May 31. GM has said political contributions will not resume until next year at the earliest.” I’ve got an idea: how about never?
Clearly, GM’s top suits missed the memo about the end of empire. While the artist formerly known as the world’s largest automaker clings to dreams of holding onto Opel with your (and German) tax money, the company has unveiled plan B: Chevy attacks! The Wall Street Journal [sub] reports that “Brent Dewar, recently named to head Chevy’s global operations, told reporters Friday that Chevy sales in Europe are expected to expand to one million from the 500,000 vehicles — or 2.5% of the market — sold in 2008. He didn’t provide a timetable for the growth target, but said new products — including Chevy Volt electric cars and Malibu sedans shipped from the U.S. — will fuel the effort.” Huh? “We’ve got to take this brand and truly make it global . . . a true relevant global participant,” Mr. Dewar said, admitting that the effort is “a work in progress.” Oh, so that’s what you call it . . .
The GM Opel saga continues—at least until it doesn’t. Meanwhile, Spiegel is reporting that GM pressured the German government to separate the Russians (OAO Sberbank and automaker GAZ) from the Canadians (Magna) to make an Opel sale more palatable to its owners (the American government). Spiegel’s sources say Germany nixed the request; it had made promises to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev about the sanctity (if you want to call it that) of the deal. For those of you who want a little background on this international game of chess, the World Socialist Website has the 411.
The South Dakota Supreme Court has limited the ability of police to search and interrogate innocent interstate travelers absent a reasonable and articulable suspicion of wrongdoing. The court considered the unique case of a vehicle search not made pursuant to a traffic stop, but while the owner was being detained before entering his vehicle. The ruling was based on a February 26, 2008 incident at an Interstate 90 rest stop near Spearfish. Sean Haar had parked his Subaru Outback at 3:20pm and went into the building to take a break. While inside, South Dakota Highway Patrolman Brian Swets pulled up on the scene, spotted the Illinois license plate on the Subaru, and parked in such a way as to block the vehicle from leaving.
Why a duck? Why no chicken? Hey, Ford asked the question. And by God, Ford’s answered it. On nationwide TV, the most compelling rational for sending your hard-earned money in Dearborn’s direction proffered is: “Why not?” [NB: “most compelling” does not necessarily equal “compelling”.] On the Why website, the Glass House Gang has another go. Why Ford. “Ford has the most fuel-efficient mid-sized sedans in America with quality that Toyota and Honda can’t beat.” Why Mercury. “Mercury Milan is the most fuel-efficient mid-sized sedan in America and Mariner Hybrid, the most fuel-efficient SUV on the planet.” Why Lincoln. “Lincoln has the luxury vehicles you want with the technology you need.” Like . . . an engine. Brakes. Rear window power sunshade. A 10GB hard-drive for photo storage. That sort of thing. So now I ask you, our Best and Brightest, to grade their answers and, perhaps, provide alternatives.
Sweden’s Dagens Industri reports [via Reuters] that Ford is not spoiled for choice when it comes to selling the money pit known as Volvo. Despite speculation about a Swedish group’s offer for the moribund manufacturer, China’s Geely Automotive has submitted the only concrete bid so far. You may recall that FoMoCo CEO Alan Mulally began his administration by swearing up, down and sideways that Volvo was not for sale. Last month, The Glass House Gang announced that it was “in discussion” with a “number of interested parties” to ditch their Swedish subdivision. Party of one? As we’ve said before, Volvo would be a coup for Geely—countering America’s distrust of China’s ability to create safe products in a single stroke. While Ford could use the money (and how), dumping Volvo on the PRC would give Geely traction in both China and, eventually, the US of A. What’s a mother to do?
BMW enthusiasts would have you believe that there’s only one “real” M3: the original 1986 model (codenamed E30). That bad boy began life as a homologation special for Group A Touring Car racing. As BMW updated the racer, the road car received power and handling upgrades. When the six-cylinder E36 M3 appeared in 1995 (US), enthusiasts derided it as too heavy and, well, comfortable. By the time the E46 M3 appeared in 2000, the ultimate driving sports sedan was considered a bit of a pig—by True Believer standards. In fact, the third generation M3 is an animal; it wants to be driven hard and put away wet. As you would when purchasing any German hot rod, tuck away a bit of money for repairs and consult a specialist before you plunge into an E46 M3. Consumer Reports put the E46 M3 on its reliability list, but a bunch of smaller stuff can and will go wrong, and your M car will need regular infusions of pricey fluids, pads and other consumables. Autotrader lists a Your Shitty Economy Car of the Week: a “pristine” (albeit white) dealer-sourced 53k-mile 2003 E46 M3 at a shade under $25K. So, about twenty large, then. Plus the turbo?
No. Really. GM’s top execs [not shown] stood up in front of their Midwestern dealers at the Rock Financial Showplace and told them that new car sales will rebound by 15 percent next year, ascending to an annual tally of 12.5 million vehicles. That’s fantastic news. But the real shocker: our mole reports that the suits only said the word “faster” once. The company’s new mantra: our costs are less, so we can charge you less. No, wait; that’s a local Toyota’s dealer’s come-on. I mean, our costs are less, so we can keep our jobs longer. Or make a profit. Or something. Meanwhile, Automotive News [sub] reports that GM has formed a special task force to “try to retain 3 million ‘free agents’ — customers that have lost their favorite brand, nameplate or dealership this year.” Interesting use of the word “favorite” . . .
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