Yes, when it comes to GM, there were definitely more than seven deadly sins. Actually, there were tens of millions of them. And while this is perhaps one of the less conspicuous and pernicious ones (I didn’t label it as such until I put up the first picture and had to rewrite the title), it is one nevertheless. And what is the sin this innocuous sedan embodies? Thou shalt not take thy godly names in vain. Read More >
Chinese dually. Picture courtesy transportfool.com
I spent an interesting Saturday with two old friends of mine. They had never met before. One, American, CFO of an insurance company, had been in the finance and banking business all his professional life. The other, born Chinese, naturalized American. Was one of the top mortgage writers in the Silicon Valley before the dotcom crash. Came back to China and heads a Chinese/American bank. The two got along splendidly.
Of course, we talked about money and cars. Recently, there was a discussion on TTAC on how the bursting of the Chinese real estate bubble would destroy the car market just like it had in the USA. I eagerly set out to pick their brains.
Quite oddly, the first one to throw water on the bubble theory was my friend, the staid CFO of the staid insurance company. Read More >
People do the right thing, unless money and power is involved. From the highest paid executives to the lowest ranking newbie, money and power is a motivator. Those in positions of accountability are held to a higher standard, and post-bailout Detroit is not immune to criticism. But in an act of corporate cheerleading, Pete Mateja’s Internet flamebait at Automotive News [sub] titled “Detroit had lousy management — and other myths that need debunking” shows how the “experts” got it wrong.
Thirty hours in NYC, with wife, sister and two kids who’ve never been. How best to turn a potential burn-out into a rejuvenation of the creative juices? The NYIAS? No; leave the world of new cars totally aside, and focus on the source of inspiration, not the end product: Art. So while my daughter and younger son happily spend the second day on an eight-hour guided NYC tour, the three of us go to MoMA (Museum of Modern Art). After almost seven blissful hours soaking up Kandinsky, Picasso, Matisse, Gaugin,Van Gogh, and Monet, we exit via the sculpture garden (background in photo), and I look back and see it beckoning me from the third floor: the Pininfarina. Back in we go. Read More >
TTAC Commentator Shane Rimmer writes:
I have a 2002 Ford ZX2 5-speed with about 80,000 miles on the odometer. For peace of mind, I plan to change the transmission fluid soon. The book calls for Mercon automatic transmission fluid, but I have read that synchromesh is the better choice. I’d like to get the thoughts of the best and brightest on which I should use or if I should just leave it as is since there are no problems.
Even as blogs assume a larger role in the media landscape, TTAC remains a small-scale labor of love. Recently we’ve become a family affair as well, with Niedermeyers elder and younger occupying the Managing Editor and Editor-in-Chief positions respectively. As a family, there come times when even the opportunity of a lifetime must take a momentary back seat to the obligations of family. Paul and I are in the Baltimore area, visiting with far-flung members of the Niedermeyer clan, many of whom I have not seen in the better part of a decade. And though for the next few days, family must come first, we remain as dedicated as ever to TTAC. Or, more specifically to you, our readers. Though cars are our passion, your collective wisdom, individual reflections, deep insights and often brutal dedication to the truth is what truly inspires us to man our keyboards every day in the pursuit of automotive truth-telling. Though there may be some interruptions (including a move to permanent headquarters later this week), as long as you remain hungry for the truth it will be our privilege and honor to dedicate our days to providing you with the latest news, commentary, analysis and reflections on the world of cars. Thank you all for your readership, support, criticism, praise and passion.
[We owe a special thanks to our fantastic Overseas Editor Bertel Schmitt, for manning the ramparts in our absence]
Joel writes:
I have a manual transmission car and am traveling on the highway at a speed that has my RPMs low for mpg. Now say I come to a hill, and my car can hold its speed and rpms, but I have to floor it or nearly floor it to keep my speed. I could downshift, where my engine rpms would go up, and I wouldn’t have to give as much gas through the pedal. My question is, is downshifting using more gas than keeping it in the same gear?
Now, I do realize that this is pretty much an OCD kind of question, but then again, if the answer is rather large, it would be good to know. And, if the answer is negligible, that would be cool too. So, if you know the answer, or is the kind of thing to put on the website, I’d love to know the answer. Thanks in advance.
FYI: the cars in question are a 2001 Honda Civic and a 1985 Volvo 245, and a 2007 Honda Fit, and all are sticks. That said, I even converted the wife to driving a stick, the Fit is hers!
This garage holds 45 years of automotive memories. As does the house it’s attached to. I’ll spare you the memories and stories that are being shared, relived and dredged up as the Niedermeyer clan shares a get-together at my parents’ house in Towson. But let’s take a quick look at the cars that have lived here since 1965. Like families, it’s a mixture of the good, the bad and the ugly (as the current occupants make it all too clear). Read More >
The New York Auto Show was a surprisingly robust event with a feast of products for any price point. But covering a show of this magnitude as a lone reporter was no small feat. With a wealth of product comes a wealth of showy stage productions and, of course, a metric ton of happy babble from the company men. They have their job, I have mine. On to the truth.
Due to developments beyond my control, you, the Best and the Brightest, will be exposed to a whole load of BS today. Nothing but BS. All day. Read More >
They say you can’t go home again. True enough, but as you read this, Edward and the rest of my family and I will be winging our way to Baltimore for a long overdue family reunion. My father recently turned ninety, and my mother will be eighty-seven soon. So what is the obvious choice of today’s Curbside Classic? The Niedermeyer family car from the early sixties, a black 1962 Fairlane, and in every way exactly like this one, except that ours was the base stripper, not the deluxe 500 like this one. That alone tells you something about the old man. Read More >
Powered By Ford. There’s something special about those words, something iconic, something that evokes nightmares of an uniquely American scope, from our first family cross-country trips in a 1954 Ford that perpetually overheated and stalled from vapor lock (when it actually started) to the last one, Mother’s craptastic 1981 Escort (replaced by a Civic) that could barely do seventy wheezing unsteadily along the rain-soaked I-70 straight. Powered by Ford. It’s the peeling logo hastily slapped onto the valve covers of this five-liter Mustang II, but you won’t need to raise the hood to understand what it means. The first time this pathetic lump of an engine tries to suck air through its tiny two-barrel carburetor and wheezes its feeble exhaust through soda-straw sized tailpipes, it will be more than crystal clear. Read More >
Ed Niedermeyer is probably too humble to say it, so it’s left for me to say: TTAC has been doing exceptionally well over the last few months. Thank you.
Yesterday was another record day: 122,000 views. Thank you, Jack Baruth for having written the 2011 Mustang review. It pulled in readers in droves. (Today’s Mustang GT review is developing into another scorcher. And thank you, Ford, for making the cars available.) Thank you, Paul, for writing another classic curbside classic about the Honda Prelude, and about the illicit substances you had sworn to keep away from your son. Thank you, Paul, for writing the runner-up traffic generator, about Honda’s high-revving, mid-engined whacky pick-up.
As you see, the most read topics on Thetruthaboutcars.com are as eclectic as our readers. Which brings me to the secret of TTAC’s success: Read More >
All this endless speculation as to whether Honda will someday build a real RWD pickup: they already did, in 1963. And in that inimitable Honda way, it stood the world on it ears: DOHC, four carbs, 30hp from 360cc at 8,600 rpm, 60 mph top speed. As an antidote to the mild-mannered Hondas sent our way in the seventies and early eighties, like the gen1 Prelude, the T360/T500 trucks were anything but boring. But the story of how this eminently practical little truck ended up with the engine from Honda’s crazy little S360 sports car is a wild tale only Honda could spin. Read More >
My only experience with Quaaludes was highly memorable. Yet I struggle to elicit any memories of my only drive in a Honda Quaalude. Or did I just dream that (the drive)? So just how did this Honda get that nickname anyway? Well, let’s just say that Quaaludes have more than one effect, and while the Prelude may well have induced sleep, its fairly unlikely that it was ever very successful as an aphrodisiac. I’ve certainly never heard it referred to as the Honda Viagra, despite its very close ties to the Honda Vigor. Read More >
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