Comments to last Tuesday’s Curbside Classic pointed out the lasting stylistic influence of the BMW 6 Series on such cars as the Acura Legend coupe. That reminded me of this out-of-focus shot I took of a 1990 Infiniti M30 last winter. I try to stick to cars 25 years and older anyway, but this is a car that has really fallen off the radar, as well as my camera’s auto-focus function. The M30 was a left-steering version of the Nissan Leopard, which in turn shared its platform and basic configuration with the legendary Nissan Skyline R31. Performance was quite another story: the M30 had a 162 hp version of the Nissan 3 liter V6, and came only with an automatic. Given its weight of 3330 lbs, performance was modest. But with the availability and interchangeability of Skyline and Nissan 300Z turbo components, the M30 is the easiest way to end up with that unique JDM-Skyline look on these shores.

More new Curbside classics here

Frank Weber, the man in charge of GM’s electric vehicle line, will be leaving GM for a senior leadership at the soon-to-be-sold (or not?) Opel. Weber previously worked on Opel’s development of GM’s global mid-size (Epsilon II) vehicle line, before becoming the head of GM’s electric vehicle development program in March 2007. Weber is the second senior executive in GM’s global electric, hybrid and battery development organization to leave in a month, following Bob Kruse’s departure at the end of September. And as with Kruse’s exit, the sound bites coming out of GM seek to portray the loss as no big deal. “There is a huge difference in the Volt program from when I came here,” Weber tells Bloomberg. “The entire organization has inhaled what we do here.” In reality though, Weber’s defection makes the introduction of the Opel Ampera (as the Volt will be known in Europe) even more difficult than it was already shaping out to be.

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GM’s sale of Opel to Magna/Sberbank is being held up by the European Union, which is looking into whether the German government unfairly favored Magna’s bid. But while the interregnum plays out (the EU will decide by November 27th), GM has plenty of time to develop a case of seller’s remorse. After all, GM’s VP for Global Engineering Mark Reuss recently told Autoline After Hours that Opel is completely integrated into GM’s global product development, and that the relationship “won’t change.” Does that, as Business Week’s David Welch asked, mean GM will keep all of Opel’s development capacity while reducing loss exposure to 35 percent? Reuss had to change the subject, but it’s obviously not the case. With Daewoo under fire, GM would clearly prefer to keep Opel’s development capacity integrated, and keep its intellectual property out of the hands of Russian automakers. And with German newspapers reporting that GM’s board is considering a “plan B” to keep Opel within the GM fold, Opel’s workers are threatening to strike.

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Car dealers are some of the most politically connected people in America. As we reported yesterday, more than a few axed GM store owners demonstrated their political muscles by forcing the nationalized automaker to rescind their franchise terminations. Further back in time, we highlighted the Obama administration’s “stealth” dealer bailout: a car dealer-specific Small Business Administration (SBA) loan program. Under the program, the SBA guarantees 75 percent of a car dealer’s floor-plan line of credit, ranging from $500,000 to $2 million. The SBA’s network of private-sector lenders make the loans. In theory. In practice, it’s been what the Brits call a damp squib. Although Automotive News [AN, sub] fails to put any hard numbers to the program’s failure, they acknowledge that the SBA dealer deal “has had trouble attracting lender participation since its May launch.” Needless to say, the “answer” to the SBA lenders’ entirely understandable reticence/prudence is . . . bigger loans and more federal backing.

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I used a 15-year-old Ranger to pick up some AMG wheels this evening. The ride was . . . pleasant. Light jazz on the radio. Engine and stick shift in good working order. Intermittent wipers and ABS for the rain. Alloy wheels for show. Did I mention this thing is 15 years old? Anyhow, my mind wandered into the world of ‘what if’s’. What if someone decides to buy this truck and keep it for another 7 to 10 years? It has only 150k and the prior owner took good mechanical care of it. Paint’s cheap. Parts are even cheaper. So…

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It’s not that GM’s Korean Daewoo division doesn’t need more money. The problem is that the only bank willing to lend a dime, the Korean Development Bank, wants strings attached. Since GM came up with the cash to buy up Daewoo’s $413m rights offering, it says Daewoo is out of trouble for two more years. Or 18 months… depending on that troublesome global car market. Meanwhile, GM-Daewoo’s $5b worth of forward contracts will burn up $300m in cash every month, as the debt matures. Although KDB and GM-Daewoo’s other lenders refuse to roll any of that debt forward and have been firm about enacting safeguards before loaning the automaker more money, GM’s Nick Reilly says Daewoo can now negotiate from a position of relative strength. Emphasis on relative.

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I was most gratified when the MSM adopted my nickname for then-GM Car Czar Bob Lutz, recognizing the crock of shit guy as Maximum Bob. (While they missed the irony, that only made it more delicious.) I’m now pleased to report (for my own selfish, ego-maniacal reasons) that the term “zombie”—as applied to Uncle Sam’s nationalized automaker and other bailout queens—may about to leave the TTAC orphanage for the big, wide world. Its champion: Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee. You may remember Corker as the only politician who pissed into Motown’s begging bowl, publicly grilling the Big Three’s CEOs when they jetted in to D.C. for a taste. (Thank you George Bush.) Here’s Corker’s press release on the Obama administration’s unspecified “request” for the next round of bailout bucks for GMAC. “Continuing life support to an institution like GMAC is a major mistake,” said Corker. “It creates enormous risk to taxpayers, is an inappropriate use of government subsidies to support jobs in a specific sector of the economy, and continually breathes new life into a zombie institution that should be seized and resolved. At what point are we going to stop propping up zombie institutions to support industrial policy through our banking system?” And here comes the right hook. . .

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As Redflex Traffic Systems fights a shareholder revolt at home in Australia, the speed camera vendor is simultaneously battling a public revolt against photo ticketing in two Ohio cities. Next Tuesday residents of Chillicothe and Heath will have the opportunity to vote on citizen-led initiatives that would ban the use of red light cameras and speed cameras. Redflex has poured substantial cash into an advertising blitz covering both towns. “Vote NO on Issue 5 and keep Heath safe,” read a Redflex brochure sent to Heath voters this week. “In the last four months alone, at enforced intersections in Heath… red light running has reduced by almost half… 90 percent of speeders are not Heath residents.”

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“We’re likely to have to put in less capital [to GMAC] than we expected,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner told the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee earlier today. Which raises six major questions. First, huh? GMAC has already received not one but two direct injections of federal taxpayer assistance. Why are we arguing over amounts rather than the question of whether or not we should draw a line under the fetid financier and call it quits? Second, when did Geithner’s mob/GMAC figure out that $12.5 billion wouldn’t be enough to keep the lame-ass lender afloat? Third, why hasn’t anyone been called on to the carpet (i.e. shit-canned) for underestimating the federal teat provision needed to prop-up these sub-prime pricks? Fourth, how much taxpayer money did U.S. Treasury Secretary think GMAC would need to stay afloat—you know; before he figured out that the meshugganah money men didn’t need quite so much? Fifth, how much new capital does GMAC need anyway? And sixth, why should we believe we will ever get this money back? Which brings us back to d’oh. “The only thing we’re doing is making sure we follow through on that commitment,” Geithner testified. Or, as the Brits would say, in for a penny, what’s yours is mine.

We’re on pins and needles here, waiting for part two, in which the beautiful Charlene (best pronounced Flight of The Concords style) enters into Gary’s office and emerges with a new car; I’m betting. Can you believe this thing had zero views when I found it? I’m also betting that will change. Sexist bastards.

There’s an excuse for everything, and if a UC Irvine study published in Cerebral Cortex [via CNN] is to be believed, genetics might just be the reason some people can’t drive for squat. A protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is typically secreted while performing a given task (in this case, driving), helping facilitate communication among brain cells and helps retain memory. But the study has identified a gene variant which causes individuals to secrete less BDNF, hindering learning and improvement at task performance. The UC Irvine team, led by Professor Steve Cramer, recruited 29 subjects to drive 15 laps of a twisty simulated driving course, measuring how well they learned to improve their performance. The seven subjects with the identified gene variant performed 30 percent worse. “These people make more errors from the get-go, and they forget more of what they learned after time away,” says Cramer, who estimates that 30 percent of Americans have the BDNF-inhibiting gene variant. “I’d be curious to know the genetics of people who get into car crashes.” There’s currently no commercially-available test, so bad drivers can’t definitively blame their genetics just yet. But they can still take lessons, hang up the cell phone, or chant the mantra “my car is a deadly weapon” whenever they get behind the wheel. Regardless of your genetic predilections, once you pass a driver’s test, the safety of other motorists is your responsibility.

Well, the “what makes an American car American” debate just got a little more interesting (and a lot more interesting than the “who ‘won’ the CTS-V Challenge” rigmarole). Automotive News [sub] reports that Ford’s Oakville, Ontario plant and GM’s Delta Township plant have ceased production of Flex, Edge, MKX, MKT, Acadia, Traverse and Enclave as supplier Rico Automotive is unable to supply key transmission components. The reason for the parts stoppage: labor violence… in India. Turmoil at Rico’s plant in Gurgaron (30 miles from New Delhi) came to a head on the 18th, when clashes between temporary workers and factory staff left an employee dead. Now GM stands to lose 7,200 units of production, while Ford admits “several thousand” units won’t be built over the next week. This striking illustration of how globalized the auto industry is, is causing some analysts to question the wisdom of using Indian suppliers. They argue that labor unrest like this is common in the subcontinent, compounding already-challenging logistical and shipping-cost issues. But GM and Ford aren’t exactly about to stop investing in Indian firms and production capacity either, since that market shows more growth potential than the US. One thing is for sure: there’s no such thing as an “American car,” let alone an “American car company” anymore. Government ownership notwithstanding.

I haven’t done this in 30 years. Young whipper-snappers showed me a thing or two. Let’s see them do this when they’re 77

Maximum Bob Lutz concedes defeat to TTAC’s Jack Baruth with dignity and a little feistyness. Cadillac is estimating Lutz will finish “in the top five or six.”

Via Cadillac’s Twitter Feed:

John Heinricy (Cadillac test driver)- Cadillac CTS-V: Top Lap: 2:46:560

Aaron Link (Cadillac development engineer)- Cadillac CTS-V: Top Lap: 2:48:902

Brian Redman- CTS-V: Top Lap: 2:49:596

Michael Cooper (Who is this guy?)- BMW M3: Top Lap: 2:50:424

Jack Baruth- Cadillac CTS-V (TTAC): Top Lap: 2:51:153

Lawrence Ulrich- CTS-V (New York Times): Top Lap: 2:53:157

Bob Lutz- Cadillac CTS-V (VP of Marketing, GM): Top Lap: 2:56:321

Michael Mainwald (carguydad.com)- BMW M5: Top Lap: 3:05:398

Wes Siler- Mitsubishi Evo X (Jalopnik): Top Lap: 3:08:126

Chris Fairman- CTS-V: Top Lap: 3:14:292

Archan Basu- Jaguar XF: Top Lap: 3:15:670

Tom Loder- Audi RS4: Top Lap:  3:15:702

It’s official: TTAC’s top driver has beaten Bob Lutz! Check back tomorrow for Jack’s on-the-ground take on the weirdness that was.

The Detroit News reports that GM is delaying the launch of the Chevrolet Cruze. The nationalized automaker’s next big—I mean small thing will now hit U.S. showrooms in the third quarter of 2010. In theory. GM’s explanation for the delayed denouement: it wants to ensure “a flawless launch.” Given GM’s on-again, of-again product planning chaos, and their failure to get enough Buick LaCrosses on the ground, you’ve got to wonder why they would set themselves up for failure with talk of perfection. Oh right; the automotive media has the memory of a goldfish. Meanwhile, the company’s camp followers can take heart in New GM’s new determination to get things right—while those of us who’ve heard it all before sigh, shake our heads and say “Flawless. Yeah right.” No matter how you slice it, the Cruze’s failure to set sail by the advertising for-sale date isn’t news to gladden investors’ hearts. After all, the ur-Cruze (the Korean Lacetti) debuted on October 30, 2008. The EU-Cruze has been plying European roadways since February. The delay means the Cruze will not arrive before GM’s kinda maybe sorta I know we said we would but tempus fugit mid-2010 IPO. Between now and then, stand back! GM’s predicting a sales spurt!

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