At a Ferrari Owners Club (FOC) track day at the California Speedway, Lamborghini owner Corey Rudl is sidelined by his car's cooling problems. When Rudl admires Ben Keaton's Porsche Carrera GT (CGT), Keaton offers to show Rudl what the German supercar can do. As the Porsche speeds around the track, a flagman waves a Ferrari onto the front straight. The driver hesitates. The flagman tries to stop the Ferrari. Keaton CGT swerves to avoid the slow-going Italian exotic. The CGT hits a concrete barrier at approximately 145mph. Both men are killed. Rudl's widow files a lawsuit against various parties. Sports Car Market reveals the $4.5m settlement, as follows. Ben Keaton's estate (49 percent): "Keaton was warned about the handling problems with the CGT, ignored his mechanic’s advice, and invited Rudl for a ride without mentioning the problems. California Speedway and the track organizers (41 percent): "The pit-out design… brought the drivers onto the track in the middle of the straightaway and the pit-out driver’s view of the straightaway was completely blocked by a guardrail." The FOC "allowed [Keaton] to sign his own tech inspection form stating that the car was fine." Porsche (eight percent): "…one engineer testified that Porsche did not think that its PSM system would work on the CGT because the car’s frame structure and suspension mountings would create strong vibrations that would interfere with its operation. The other engineer testified that PSM was not offered because the customers didn’t want it." The Ferrari driver (two percent): "the Ferrari entered the track too slowly, forcing Keaton to evade him."

As Ford prepares to jettison Volvo, it's worth noting what could have been. While Volvo's mindspace is mostly occupied by boxy wagons that you can't kill with neglect, road salt or repeated blows with a ball peen hammer, it's important to remember there was brief shining moment when Volvo was drop-dead sexy. I speak here of one model and one model only: the P1800. Wikipedia has plenty of rivet-counting revelations on this certified classic, but the bottom line is that Simon Templar's steed turned out to be an evolutionary dead end (along with an equally doomed and thoroughly hideous mutation called the P1800 ES). Perhaps someone at Ford thought they could add a little P1800 back into the Volvo mix when the company scarfed the Swedes back in '98. Or did they really think Volvo's preppy design language could morph from middle class stolidity to upmarket aphrodisiac? In any case, Irv Gordon bought a P1800 back in the day, piled on the miles and found himself a G-list celebrity in the process. Now that he's retired, Irv's got time to explore the possibilities of his hard-won status. Will someone get this guy an agent? If only "Broadway" Danny Rose was real.  

We've reported on calls from environmentally-minded academics and academically-minded environmentalists to ban cars completely from England's capital city. Up to now, these anti-car campaigners' only vision of an auto-free urban utopia arrived via London's annual "car free" day. The Telegraph reports that they could get 16-days of automotive respite when the Olympics blow into Stratford. Although the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA, sponsored by FedEx?) is not calling for a ban on car travel to and from the 2012 games, they do want "100 per cent of spectators travelling to the Olympic Park in Stratford by public transport, walking and cycling." Hmmm. Anyway, this "encouragement" doesn't include dignitaries and officials from the International Olympic Committee and sponsors, who will be able to drive in special Olympic lanes during Games time. As for the plebs, the ODA recently accepted delivery of their first "javelin" test train; a plethora of which should– I repeat should— ferry 240k people to and from the newly renovated Olympic park station every hour. The Commons transport select committee shares my skepticism.  Earlier this year, they published a report criticising the ODA's draft Olympic travel plan for "not exhibiting any sense of urgency" and being "vague." A highly budgeted, non-elected government quango that's slow and mellow? Who'd a thunk it?

The Wall Street Journal reports that the U.S. Senate voted yesterday to cut $2m from the Office of Labor Management Standards' (OLMS) budget. That's the federal agency in charge of collecting and checking LM-2 forms, which force unions to disclose their income and expenditures. Amongst the revelations contained therein: the Food and Commercial Workers Local Union 1 spent $26k on golf, another (unnamed) union forked-out $3m on hotel bills and Don Hunsucker, President of Local 1288 of The United Food and Commercial Workers Union, pocketed a $679,949 annual paycheck. The OLMS also flags corruption; with their help, the Labor Department announced 13 indictments and seven convictions last month (raising their yearly total to 97 indictments and 115 convictions). With over $30b heading for a United Auto Workers-controlled VEBA health care superfund– that's GM alone– you'd think that our representatives would want to beef-up enforcement, rather than pull the rug from under the watchdog's feet. The Senate's 47 to 46 vote to trim the OLMS' budget was almost entirely along party lines; 45 Democrats voted to cut the funding. Make of that what you will.

Bill Reinhert is Toyota USA's national manager-advanced technology group. He wants you to know that Toyota's decision to offer an E85-compatible (a.k.a. flex fuel) Tundra pickup has nothing to do "greenwashing." “It’s a longer-term strategy," Reinhert told WardsAuto. "What we’re not going to do, in the short-term, is say: ‘Look at us! Aren’t we green?’” Bob Carter, ToMoCo NA's group vice president and general manager, seconds the motion. He claims Toyota's decision to develop the flex-fuel full-sizer was designed to help the company capture more sales in the American heartland; where corn is grown, ethanol subsidies flourish and E85 stations abound ('cause they don't have to schlep the pipeline aversive juice cross country). Be that as it may, the Midwest is certainly a key battleground for the new Tundra. "The Midwest is where we’re seeing our strongest sales growth percentage-wise, not volume-wise.” Oh, and the fact that inexpensively converted E85 Tundras will boost Toyota's CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) ratings may have a little something to do with it too. 

After Chrysler's executive [I have a] dream team addressed the issue of Canadian pricing in Sin City, they may soon wish that what they said in Vegas stayed in Vegas. Speaking to WardAuto, Ex-Toyota Prez Jim Press said Chrysler had inflated their sticker prices north of the border to account for the historic 10 to 40 percent gap between the dollar and the loonie. And now that the currencies are at parity? “Currency is a long-term move," a pressed Press confessed. "It goes one place to another, and when cycles come up, you take (that) into account. What you have to do is price at where the market is, and that’s what we’ll continue to do.” As for Canadian customers who dare cross the border to buy a Chrysler product, the automaker admits it's trying to cut them off at the pass. Steve Landry, executive director-North American sales, told Wards that he's sent memos to U.S. dealers warning them against selling vehicles to Canada on the gray market  Needless to say, Landry claims it's for the customer's own good, considering Canadian auto regs. “It’s not just homologation of an odometer. You have to also change the daytime running lights, which is a pain… Our dealers are more into selling vehicles where they can take care of the entire lifecycle of that customer in that vehicle." Convinced?

Henry Ford firmly established the economic benefits of leveraging large economies of scale– for both the automaker's profits and the customer's wallet. But time and technology have moved on. If you look closely enough, you can see we're heading for the end of corporate consolidation in the automotive industry, slowly heading towards the long-predicted era of mass customization. So-called "flexible manufacturing" allows carmakers to build various vehicles on the same line (e.g. Honda's Civic sedan, Ridgeline pickup and Acura MDX CUV). MINI has reinvigorated the idea of "have it your way." Uber-tuners and ride pimpers have graduated from bolt-on to bespoke. Tender shoots to be sure, but there's no reason to think mass customization shouldn't continue. Just have a look at the staggering number of vehicles for sale, and the consolidation of franchised dealers into multi-branded mega-dealerships. I'll go out on a limb here and say that we'll start to see MORE car brands, rather than less, as manufacturing hives-off from tied retail (a.k.a. franchised dealers). In short, motoring's golden age lies ahead, in a radically different form than we know it now. Put that in your UAW contract and smoke it.

Relax. The BLANK awards will continue exactly as planned. Same nomination process (now closed), same writers’ comments, same press release, same no-holds-barred excoriation. It’s just that our ad guy (yes, we have an ad guy) is adamant: TWAT is an acronym too far. Potential advertisers (yes we have potential advertisers) can’t abide the locker room humor. I’ve made an executive decision to capitulate on this “issue” for the greater good (i.e. money), because TTAC needs more resources (i.e. money) to survive and thrive. In other words, needs must, and a pile of rolling garbage by any other name will still smell so sweet. Meanwhile, can you please help us devise a new, less sophomoric name?  Suggestions below ASAP. We’ll use it tomorrow to start the official voting. Never a dull moment, eh?

How in the world did the United Auto Workers (UAW) boss Ron Gettelfinger think he could get his Chrysler members to ratify their proposed contract without providing job guarantees? Did he seriously believe a $3k signing bonus would convince his otherwise carrot-less union brothers and sisters to surrender their right to graduate into cushy “non core” jobs? Or was Gettelfinger blindsided by his own ego; figuring he could yell “roll over” and “play dead” at 45k well-paid autoworkers and make it so? Either way, the question must be asked: what the Hell is going on?

We've been highlighting the dangers of placing the United Auto Workers (UAW) members' multi-billion dollar health care provision into the hands of union bosses since the idea was first mooted. The Tribune Chronicle (Warren, OH) reports that one of the nation's longest running union-controlled VEBAs (Voluntary Employees' Benefits Association) is about to run dry. After twelve years doling-out health care payments for Copperweld Steel retirees, the VEBA will be out of cash in "a few more years"– some 15 or so years shy of its goal. Cooperweld's VEBA ran into trouble when the company filed for bankruptcy. Hamlin Holdings purchased Copperweld in 1995 and renamed it CSC. In 2001, Hamlin stopped making payments. In 2007, CSC went Chapter 7 and that was that. "No one imagined that CSC would go bankrupt," says VEBA trust committee chairman Earl Thomas. "If we were doing it differently, we would have made sure we had secured promissory notes." The Trib article also characterizes the template for the VEBA movement, the U.S. Steel's agreement, as something of a mixed blessing. "Many of our members are not satisfied,’’ Bill Luoma, president of Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees, told the paper. "[Health care] is a high cost item for many individual retirees, especially when compared to what they were responsible to financially contribute before the company relinquished its responsibilities for retiree health care.’’

"'People who took interest in electric vehicles are showing interest in plug-in' vehicles, Mr. Asakura said, through a translator. 'But my wife does not accept charging [the vehicle] every day.'" Speaking to The Wall Street Journal in Tokyo, Toyota's hybrid vehicle system-engineering division's project manager poured a torrent of cold water on GM's belief that their plug-in hybrid Hail Mary Volt will be practical, affordable, desirable, reliable or doable. Other than that… Toyota says its exploring plug-in possibilities using its existing nickel-metal hydride battery-powered Prius. An undisclosed number of Prii are headed for two undisclosed California universities for testing. Oh, and Toyota will also look at lithium-ion technology for their Synergy Drive system, in accordance with an undisclosed timetable. In any event (or lack thereof), Toyota's NOT down with GM's plan to build a car that motors around on battery power alone, then switches to internal combustion. If Toyota develops plug-in hybrids, they plan on powering the car on electricity for short bursts, alternating with power from the gasoline engine. 

"At one point, Aaron Taylor, a top regional UAW representative, took to a loudspeaker system. 'Don't listen to these outsiders!' Taylor yelled at employees of the Jefferson North assembly plant. 'This is the best deal. Just listen and read the facts and you will know.'" The Detroit News reports that the United Auto Workers (UAW) workers in a fourth large assembly plant were unmoved by Mr. Taylor's entreaties. According to "local officials," 56.7 percent of 1,100 production workers and 79.5 percent of 195 skilled trades workers rejected the contract. The numbers are instructive: the production workers are the employees least likely to suffer from the proposal's "two tier" wage structure. Reading between the lines, the new contract's lack of iron-clad job guarantees has these workers spooked. This weekend's no vote comes hot on the heels of a similar snub by UAW members at Chrysler's St. Louis and Newark, Delaware plant (which is scheduled for closure). And now… "The fate of the deal may rest in the hands of workers who will vote this week at several large Metro Detroit factories: Warren Truck, Sterling Heights Assembly and stamping operations in each city. Collectively the four facilities employ 9,500 UAW members. Locals at the Belvidere, Ill., assembly plant and four factories in Kokomo, Ind., also vote this week." Look for the UAW to re-double their efforts to "convince" members of the deal's wisdom, and stand by for our take on what might happen next.

TTAC reader David Robinson worked for Ford’s Talbotville plant in 1972, when he was 19. After five years on the assembly line, he was promoted to a supervisory position. Five years later, when Robinson was laid-off, he returned to school to earn his Manufacturing Technicians papers. Robinson then worked as a Service Advisor in a Ford dealership. (“Ever try to sell an oil change to someone who is pissed off because they just had their car towed in for the 4th time with a blown ignition module?”) His last job: a Production Part Approval Process (PPAP) technician for Siemens VDO Automotive in London, Ontario. In that capacity, Robinson worked with all of The Big 2.8, BMW, Volkswagen and most of the tier one and two suppliers (e.g. Bosch and Denso). He was also the Quality Systems coordinator. His position was “downsized” three years ago. Last week, Robinson listened to our interview with Ford’s Manager of Global Quality Data Systems. He contacted us via email to say “what is happening right now with the big 3 is just fulfilled prophecy.” I called him to discuss his experiences and his insight into the cultural roadblocks blocking Ford’s recovery.

I just finished editing a piece by Steven Wade about Saab's [alleged] renaissance. Bolstering the arguments of a writer whose opinions I don't share may seem a bizarre way to spend my time, but it's a necessary part of TTAC's dedication to platforming ALL viewpoints. (I love verbizing in the morning; its victorizes smells.) As a Jewish Quaker, I do believe there is but one truth. But I'm not so egomaniacal as to believe that I alone am able to discern it. More prosaically, I maintain a steadfast conviction that I can be wrong about anything at any time for any number of reasons. I know that sounds kind of weird coming from the founder/gatekeeper of the most strident of automotive websites, a site that earns more ire than any other. But I reckon that's because our legions of critics mistake our passion for arrogance. The truth is TTAC's writers and commentators care. Which is why I'm not really bothered by Mr. Wade's single-minded belief that Saab's products are vastly underrated. and will rise again. The guy's got heart. He's one of us. And it seems to me that "we" are gathering strength. I see it in our numbers. I see it in the comments sections (check out the 459 comments on "In Defense of the Big Three"). And I see it in my burgeoning in-box, where readers do their level best to contribute to our mission. Some day, we'll be breaking news instead of regurgitating it. Some day, we'll be ahead of the new car curve. But right now, tonight, I feel a sense of satisfaction. And for that I thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

The Arizona Daily Star reports that a University of Arizona researcher has tested the levels of Staphylococcus aureusin (S. aureus) on steering wheels and seat belt buckes. Jonathan Sexton discovered the bug on 32.4 percent of these automotive surfaces; nine percent of the microbes were methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus or MRSA. In comparison, Sexton discovered just 6.3 percent of public restrooms harbored S. aureus and MRSA. Just in case you're wondering, "Staphylococcus aureus is commonly found on the skin and in the noses of healthy individuals. It may cause infections with symptoms ranging from pimples, boils and other skin conditions to life-threatening pneumonias and blood stream infections." To wit: a eighteen-year-old Virginia girl died of MRSA on Monday. We recommend some anti-bacterial wipes and a bottle of Purcel the next time you rent a car.