Note to readers: The apple may fall near the tree, but sometimes it rolls a bit before it comes to a stop. As a kid growing up in and around Detroit, I couldn’t wait to get my driver’s license when I turned 16. My twentysomething younger daughter Tova, on the other hand, only today got her first learner’s permit. When she jokingly suggested that I write about our trip to the Secretary of State’s office, it occurred to me that it fit right in with Derek Kreindler’s Generation Why series exploring the current crop of young adults who seem less likely to drive (or buy) cars than their parents and grandparents. I returned her jocular suggestion with a serious one of my own, asking her to share her thoughts on the experience with you.

My text message was half-serious. “Dad,” I typed with my thumbs, “You should write an article about this for TTAC.” (Read More…)

Austrian artist Erwin Wurm may stretch the concept of sculpture but you can’t deny that the man has a sense of whimsy. Though the basic concept of art cars appeals to me, the execution often has a whiff of hostility to the automobile that this car enthusiast can’t stomach. That notwithstanding, when I first saw a photo of one of Wurm’s Fat Car series, I couldn’t help but smile. After all, we enthusiasts often complain about how manufacturers we once admired have allowed their cars to get bloated and heavy. (Read More…)

The city of St Petersburg, Florida uses camera systems sold by American Traffic Solutions (ATS, formerly American Traffic Systems) to issue tickets to drivers allegedly running red lights. According to The Newspaper, when the activists at St Petersburg Red Light Cameras reviewed logs of the 21,602 photo tickets issued in the city from October 29, 2011 to April 30, 2012 they discovered that the ATS cameras were reporting that they “measured” Bugatti Veyron level speeds from cars not realistically capable of that kind of velocity.

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In a recent post on Stillen’s contest to design a body kit for the Scion FR-S, I brought up the history of the Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild, a scholarship based model making contest for budding designers that ran from 1930 to 1968. Since just about all of the promotional materials for the Guild were targeted at boys, I wondered if any girls ever tried to enter the competition.

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Former Nissan racer Steve Millen’s aftermarket performance company Stillen is running a contest involving Facebook. Amateur designers can style the company’s body kit that will accompany Stillen’s performance toys for the Scion FR-S. The winner will get to attend SEMA this November, when the body kit will have its first public display. When I saw the headline my first thought was, “What, another social media hypefest?” Just the other day, Derek Kreindler questioned the value of Nissan’s efforts to crowdsource product planning via social media sites. Does the general public know any more about designing cars than it does about product planning? (Read More…)

The major Indian news operations are pretty much flooding the zone in covering the riot and lockdown at Maruti Suzuki’s Manesar plant. Besides whatever labor unrest there was at play in the Manesar factory riot, internal politics within the state of Haryana or competition with Gujurat state may have had something to do with it, with accusations of conspiracies and outside influences. Here is a rundown of the news. (Read More…)

When Chevrolet decided to reprise the ZL1 moniker for the fastest, most powerful Camaro ever, on one hand it made a lot of sense. The 1969 Camaro with the all-aluminum ZL1 motor, formerly the fastest factory Camaro ever, has achieved somewhat mythical status among Camaro fans and other knowledgeable gearheads. On the other hand, ZL1 is a bit of an inside baseball name. Brand names like Z/28, Mach 1, RS and Boss undoubtedly have more recognition among car enthusiasts and non-enthusiasts than ZL1.

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The problem with driving at night in the raining or snowing conditions is that your headlights work too well. They light up the rain and snow as much as they illuminate the road ahead, sometimes more so. In a novel approach using cameras, computers and DLP projectors to replace conventional headlight bulbs, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a “smart” headlight system that essentially shines light between the rain drops.

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One of the cool things about car shows in the Detroit area is that you will most likely start seeing interesting cars before you actually enter the show. I like to call them “parking lot prizes”, but then I’m fond of alliteration. At the recent Eyes On Design show, which benefits the Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology, I spotted a couple of prewar V16 Cadillacs, a ’61 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud and a first generation Corvette with a custom wooden boat tail before I even got to the press credential tent. Those are not common cars but the subject of this post is particularly rare. What could be rare about a Jeep Cherokee? They were in production in the US, South America and China for over two decades. However, this isn’t a Jeep Cherokee. (Read More…)

In 1896, when he was still the chief operating engineer of Detroit’s Edison Illuminating Company, and not yet famous as a car maker, Henry Ford was invited to accompany his boss to a banquet in New York, honoring their big boss, Thomas Edison.

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We try to be responsive to our readers. David Dennis took TTAC to task for not covering the start of deliveries of Tesla’s new Model S electric sedan at the former NUMMI plant in California yesterday. It’s a fair criticism. Starting production and making actual retail deliveries is a major milestone for any new automaker, particularly one promoting what may be a disruptive technology. The problem is that while we’re perfectly willing to dig for news in unlikely places, we’re still at least a little bit dependent on companies’ publicity machines. If a company launches a car at what Jalopnik’s Matt Hardigree characterizes as a “highly choreographed affair”, is it our fault if we’re not invited to the dance?

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In what Fisker insists is not a defensive reaction to a cascade of bad news that has put the company’s continued survival in doubt in at least a few observers’ minds, Fisker’s ad agencies, eMaxx Partners and Mono, have run a series of ads strung out over five pages of Friday’s Wall Street Journal print edition.

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TTAC’s influence on the auto industry continues to grow. Following TTAC’s choice of the Detroit Beer Company as the location of our meet & greet during the North American International Auto Show’s press preview, the NAIAS’ own organizers, DADA, the Detroit Auto Dealers Association, held a press conference this morning, upstairs at the same brew pub, announcing plans for next year’s show. Most of the announcements were fairly mundane, but buried in the news there may have been hints of a change brewing in how General Motors’ flagship brand is marketed.

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Automobile magazine reports that BMW is backing away from its ambitious electrically powered i vehicle program. Uncertainty about continued government support, a crazy quilt of state and national policies around the globe, a lack of charging infrastructure and, perhaps most importantly, a continued lack of consumer acceptance are said to have contributed to BMW’s decision.

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Almost every time I go to a car show I see something that reminds me that skill in shaping metal and plastic doesn’t necessarily translate into aesthetic taste or talent. Last year at a Woodward Dream Cruise event I saw what at first glance appeared to be sort of a Dodge Viper, but actually was a C4 Corvette with some creative fiberglass work. Then, a few weeks ago at a spring shine-n-show in northwest Detroit I spotted this not-so-cute ute.

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