Well, I knew it was only a matter of time. Down in the furthest recesses of a new car dealer’s lot, I saw a line of vehicles with windshields covered in chalk. They all said the same thing: “C.A.R.S. Impound from K.O. Towing Company bought July.” There was a Ford Explorer, an Isuzu Rodeo, a purply swirly conversion van, and about 30 other bastard orphans. They were forsaken by their prior owners. Some voluntarily. Others perhaps on the influence of drug-laden stupidity. Then the real surprise came out . . .
After our post on the “1000-DAY BIG THREE PLAN” to save the domestic automakers, TTAC commentators have been wondering about the man behind the website supportthebigthree.com. I’ve just got off the blower with site founder Sid Taylor who, it turns out, is the CEO of an automotive supplier named Set Enterprises. Scanning the site, it turns out the campaigner who would have Americans buy only Chrysler, Ford and GM products has a contract with Toyota. When asked about the apparent contradiction, Mr. Turner said the money involved is so small as to render the contract meaningless. “If I didn’t have Toyota it wouldn’t have any impact on my business.” Besides . . .
You may recall that President Obama has appointed a “Pay Czar” to “review” the compensation packages enjoyed by executives working for companies suckling on the TARP-shaped teat. As Bloomberg reports, “Feinberg, the Obama administration’s ‘special master’ on executive pay, is due to receive compensation proposals by tomorrow from Citigroup Inc., American International Group Inc., Chrysler LLC, Chrysler Financial Corp., Bank of America, GMAC LLC and General Motors Corp. The companies must tell him how they plan to pay the 25 top-earning employees. Feinberg will rule on the plans within 60 days after they’re completed . . . In a second phase, Feinberg will decide on pay packages for the next 75 highest-paid employees at the companies.” In anticipation of the gravy train pulling into the station, Chrysler said “it will adhere to the requirements outlined in its $12 billion U.S. government bailout”—presumably as long as they don’t apply to their new Italian employees (wink wink). “GM, the recipient of $65 billion in U.S. aid, said today that it has submitted its proposals. It doesn’t plan to make the submission public.” Looks like GM CEO Fritz Henderson had his fingers crossed when he promised—under oath before the Senate—that the nationalized automaker would be transparent to taxpayers. Huh.
Puralotor filters are OK, I guess. I’ll defer to our Best and Brightest on that score. The company’s claims don’t seem particularly boastful—“Purolator filtration products provide high quality performance for everyday driving”—or, let’s face it, exciting. And so the company’s ad agency has convinced their client to take a walk on the weird side. “Keep it Pure” is a series of vignettes that thinks outside the bun—although it’s less Dada then da-da-da-da. Anyway, when the ad folks offered us otherwise restricted access to some of these, uh, pronouncements, I said “damn, did I forget to put that up?” Actually, before that, I said, “This campaign was born for our Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” category. Or vice versa. While we await our TTAC-exclusive ’round three “Keep it Pure” moment, here’s one from Purolator’s YouTube channel. I bet you can’t wait for the next installment. In a strange sort of way, neither can I. Despite Mel’s antagonism, despite Detroit’s nationalization, don’t you just love corporate America?
In the 1950’s, everyone smoked. Car manufacturers installed electric cigarette lighters in every car. Not long after, a Very Smart Person took advantage of this universality and designed the Cigarette Lighter Plug. It was a brilliant way to get 12 volt power to all manner of accessories, from CB radios to cell phone chargers. Then folks stopped smoking. So many that car manufacturers eliminated the cigarette lighter as standard equipment. Some now offer an “ashtray delete” option. As drivers have all manner of accessories—GPS, radar detectors, Zunes, Nintendo DS, etc.—that the lighter socket itself remains. Now it’s just called a “power outlet.” Problem is, the 12 volt power outlet and its corresponding plug are absurdly large for their current functionality.
TTAC Commentator JG sent us this link, and the following thought for the day:
I was thinking that the government should really be censoring these videos. If they can stand the test of time, in 50 years people will watch the videos and it will seem remarkable how utterly stupid some people are at this time. You probably don’t have time to watch this, but my favorite lines are @ 2:10: “Whatever dumbass traded this in probably bought a piece of shit that’s far worse than this thing . . . some Kia or some crap . . . such a waste.”
I’m in the Army and I’ve moved to Korea for at least two years. I have a 2000 Honda S2000 that I left with my father in law in his garage. I’ve read advice from S2000 forums about slightly jacking up the car to “unspring” the suspension to spraying something into the cylinders to keep the piston rings from drying. There’s also a debate about whether it’s good to crank the car every so often or not. What is a guy to do?
The state of Arizona began deploying speed cameras on freeways last year for the stated purpose of slowing drivers. Scottsdale was the first jurisdiction in the state to use such cameras and issued $17 million worth of automated freeway tickets before the state took over the program. The city paid a local professor $75,000 to create a study to show that drivers had slowed. An expert in radar technology produced a report last month insisting that is not the case.
“EPA has not tested a Chevy Volt and therefore cannot confirm the fuel economy values claimed by GM. EPA does applaud GM’s commitment to designing and building the car of the future—an American-made car that will save families money, significantly reduce our dependence on foreign oil and create good-paying American jobs. We’re proud to see American companies and American workers leading the world in the clean energy innovations that will shape the 21st century economy.”
I have been consistently frustrated by the misinformation and untruths I have seen on websites and in the media about the Big-3. In addition to the outstanding vehicles they produce, many fail to recognize the contributions the Big-3 have made and continue to make to the infrastructure of this Country. I feel compelled to do my part to correct the misconceptions and get the word out about these fine Companies that have supported our American infrastructure. They are committed to America because it is American. Instead of criticizing them, I believe we should be thanking and supporting them for their innovative, high quality, safety driven cars, trucks, SUV’s and Hybrids, but moreover, for being the steadfast stewards of our American infrastructure for so many years.
So when did the thousand days start? TTAC’s put in a call . . . [thanks to gamper for the link]
When you hear Cash for Clunkers praised as “the most efficient stimulus for the auto industry,” you kind of have to wonder. Why did we spend the other hundred billion bucks?
I’ve crossed swords with AskPatty.com before. When the self-professed “automotive advice for women” site asked me to link to a contrived story on autos and the fairer sex (here be trolls), I replied that TTAC does not approve of sexual discrimination. The editor thought I was kidding. I wasn’t. I’m philosophically averse to AskPatty’s “Women Buy Cars, Men Have a Penis” perspective. But it’s the site’s craven kow-towing to carmakers that really sticks in my craw. And vice versa. Carmakers never met a PC website they didn’t like; they especially don’t not like this one. Normally, I’d [continue to] flank the issue. But advertisertalk.com reports that Midlands Honda in South Carolina has become the Palmetto State’s first AskPatty.com’s “Certified Female Friendly Location,” complete with an AskPatty-branded Midlands website. An unspecified number of dealer employees completed some [presumably cumulative] 90 hours of on-line training. So the question must be asked: what did they learn/pay for?
The Detroit News reveals that GM has stopped paying dues to the End of Life Vehicle Solutions Corp., an industry group dedicated to the safe disposal of mercury switches in scrapped vehicles (some of the dangers of mercury pollution and toxicity here). GM had paid the group $700,000 to $1,000,000 annually to prevent mercury pollution from its switches, “a substantial portion of the program’s funding,” according to the DetN. But since declaring bankruptcy, the New GM seems to think that the approximately 18 million mercury switches in its pre-2000 vehicles are no longer its problem. New GM “has never produced vehicles with mercury switches and has no mercury switch responsibility under the terms of the bankruptcy court order,” say spokesfolks. And though technically the New GM is a not the same company that built cars with mercury switches, GM’s green image-building is radically at odds with this decision. With cash-for-clunkers keeping crushing yards humming, this is going to be one of the busiest years on record for the ELVSC. In short, the perfect time to lose a major funding source. You stay classy, GM!
GM’s orgy of PR hype rolls relentlessly on with this video about America’s own volkswagen, the Bare Necessities Concept. After all, nationalized firms have to at least pretend to take on challenges other than getting folks into $40k EREVs and competing with BMW’s 3-Series . . . like competing with the Tata Nano. And for once the YouTube commentators get it right. “I already own this,” writes jeffseelig. “It’s called a 1978 Honda Accord.”
Recent Comments