Whatever happened to Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous? Robin Leach’s TV series motivated class warriors and aspiring entrepreneurs alike, fortifying the former group’s conviction that they had a sacred duty to redistribute wealth (if only on aesthetic grounds) while inspiring rappers, coke dealers and other venture capitalists to redouble their efforts to reach ever-greater heights of conspicuous consumption. These days we have federal stimulus packages and MTV’s Cribs, which doesn’t include a single golden bath fixture (or a single book, but that’s another story). Ah, but we pistonheads will always have Pebble Beach, where we can watch old money compete with modern-day robber barons to pocket the world’s automotive crown jewels. One can almost hear Robin’s Harrow twang calling the tune: “One lucky collector bought home this 1938 Bugatti Type 57C Special, Ettore Bugatti’s personal car, for $1.38 mmmmmillion dollars.” Leach-like, the majority of the MSM would have you believe the collector car market defies economic gravity. The New York Times sets us straight.
King Henry III’s motto was qui non dat quod habet non accipit ille quod optat. He who does not give what he has does not receive what he wants. Henry Ford III is down with that. Autoweek.com reports that Crazy Henry’s not-short-of-a-bob-or-two great-great grandson spent two years as a junior high English and math teacher. So tell me what he wants, what he really wants. Three Sticks is a bit cagey on the “someday this will all be mine” front. “‘That’s not something I’m really focused on,’ he said politely, sounding like the young William Clay Ford, a guy who eventually did take over the company. ‘At this point in my career, there’s so much to learn about the auto industry and I really enjoy the learning aspect.'” So what has the 29-year-old scion (small “s”) learned? “I think the Ford products are far and away superior to our competitors right now,” he said. “I drove an Accord, Civic, Pilot, I don’t think they’re as well-designed, I don’t think they drive as well, I think our products are far ahead of them.” Absit omen.
Motorists have been hard hit by the increase in the cost of parking in in Chicago, Illinois that began with a deal struck in February. In the central business district, for example, the cost to park for an hour doubled from $1 an hour to $2 and will quadruple to $4 an hour by 2013. Meters must also now be fed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The hikes came after Mayor Richard J. Daley (D) leased the city’s 36,000 parking meters to Morgan Stanley for 75 years in return for an up-front payment of $1.15 billion. The Independent Voters of Illinois-Independent Precinct Organization (IVI-IPO), a liberal government reform group, fought back last Wednesday by filing a lawsuit hoping a judge would find the parking meter contract unlawful.
Mick Jagger once sang that “you can’t always get what you want,” and, to a degree, he was right. As a petrol head and committed environmentalist, I’ve found I’ve had to make compromises. After going crazy in my friend’s Porsche Boxster, I develop a painful pang of guilt of all the resources I wasted in the name of fun. No, really. Likewise, after driving greenly in my Toyota Yaris on a long drive (achieving 50 mpg for anyone who’s interested), I feel like I’ve watched a Russell Brand stand up show (i.e., I feel like my soul is damaged due to the absence of fun). But now it seems like Mr. Jagger’s words are out of date. Apparently, you CAN get what you want . . . .
Whale tail is the Y-shaped waistband of a thong or g-string when visible above the waistline of low-rise jeans, shorts, or a skirt that resembles a whale’s tail.Intentionally or unintentionally, a whale tail is exposed above the trousers mostly when sitting or bending, or even while standing. The frequency or occasion depends on the style of trousers, the style of underwear, and the way they are worn. Flashing whale tails became popular in the early 2000s, together with the rise of low-rise jeans and thong underwear. The trend, popularized by a number of celebrities including Christina Aguilera, Victoria Beckham, Mariah Carey, Melanie Blatt, Paris Hilton, Jordan, Anna Kournikova, and Britney Spears waned within the decade.
The Cash for Clunkers program is finishing its final weekend. By all accounts, the program has been a tremendous success, driving traffic back into tumbleweed-strewn showrooms, helping to cool the planet and reanimating idled automobile factories. Well, not by ALL accounts. The Wall Street Journal leaves no word unminced in its evisceration of the C.A.R.S. program: “The idea that a temporary subsidy program will launch the auto industry onto some new, higher sales and production plane defies logic.” As we shall see—or not—come September. Meanwhile, the media’s fixation with the NHTSA’s inability to send dealers rebate checks within a few weeks defies logic. For one thing, dealer ineptitude. For another, the NHTSA had three weeks to set up [what turned out to be] a $3 billion program. And lastly, it’s the federal government. What did anyone expect? Prediction: the dealers will get their money, the industry will gloat over August’s sales figures, and then it’ll be back to non-business as usual, until the housing market recovers. Whenever that is.
More details about the Volt’s charging system emerged at a GM FastLane livechat with charging equipment engineer Gery Kissel. Kissel reveals that the Volt will have 120V and 240V power chargers, but the 240V unit will be wall-mounted and hard-wired. Though the 240V charger will refill batteries much quicker (3.3 kW), it won’t be portable. Though the 120V will be able to plug into any outlet, it will charge more slowly (1.2 kW) and the cord will only be 20 feet long. Kissel said code required the cord to be under 25 feet or have some kind of management system to keep it off the ground. A retractable cord has been ruled out, and a decision hasn’t been made to allow the cord to lock to the vehicle while charging.
It’s a confusing world out there. Which is why TTAC makes frequent use of a “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” category. Here’s an “exclusive” look at Purolator’s newest “Purism” ad, the latest in a series that begs the question “what are they trying to sell anyway?” Like the man’s metaphor though, sometimes a swing and a miss is more entertaining than, well, an actual advertisement.
There are two sides to the auto insurance business: the repair side and the insurance side, and for the industry to function the needs of both must be balanced. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick is accused of upsetting that balance by replacing a long-standing member of Massachusetts’ Auto Damage Appraiser Licensing Board with an executive from Progressive insurance. Patrick responds to the accusations by arguing that Karen Mills’ replacement of Joseph Valarioti (owner of Central Auto Rebuilders) actually returns balance to the board.
Most dogs love to go for a ride. Perhaps it taps into their genetic hunting imperative. Maybe it’s a pack thing. One thing’s for sure: a dog would never question why it has to ride in the back of an open pickup truck. Nor, unfortunately, do hundreds of thousands of pickup-driving dog owners. The Utah Humane Society estimates 100,000 dogs die every year from jumping out of moving trucks. At least as many dogs are seriously injured. And the number of chronic ear and aggravated eye injuries is even greater. So stand back fellas: I’m going to pour some hate on owners who think man’s best friend should ride in the back of the truck.
TTAC commentator Holydonut shares some of his time with us:
I don’t know if you’ve tried out the Google Trends tool to see search and news activity on google.com for some auto-related searches. First: I just put in GM, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Toyota, and Nissan to see their trends [click here]. And another fun one . . . I compared searches of “gas prices” and “mpg” to some automaker names [click here]. I filtered the lists to show only USA region searches. Searching for “Ford” is misleading since the name is so common that you get several non-auto “Ford” topics all mashed together. If you go global, then Toyota and Honda become regular names of people, so it over-states the results as well. But for the selfish USA-only view, it seems mostly valid. Unfortunately this also means comparing a search for HUMMER versus Prius is invalid. The rankings themselves against each other aren’t very relevant, but the fun stuff lies in the change of the changes in the trend due to known events. Some interesting takeaways:
The Arlington County Board on Wednesday [above] filed suit against the Commonwealth of Virginia and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) over the High Occupancy Toll (HOT) Lanes project proposed for Interstates 95 and 395. The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has been determined to sell the existing High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) ride-sharing lanes to an Australian company in return for an up-front payment. Arlington officials claimed that in the rush to ram the project through the system, state and federal officials bypassed environmental laws. “I wish it did not have to come to this, but the County was left with no alternative,” Board Chairman Barbara A. Favola said in a statement. “We are encouraged that VDOT has elected to delay the project.”
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