I almost bought a Dino, my personal choice for the world’s most beautiful car. Before making the jump into Fezza-land, I consulted an independent expert. “There are two kinds of Dinos,” he counseled. “Ones that have been completely restored and ones that need to be completely restored.” After I found a perfectly restored car, the Dino guru pointed out the next hurdle, “Will you drive it every week?” As a father of two small girls with enough work on my plate to keep me busy through several incarnations, I couldn’t hand-on-heart promise to give the Dino a proper weekly workout. “Then plan on regular rebuilds,” he said. I ended up commissioning a resto-mod Jaguar XK120. But point taken. Even modern cars don’t like sitting around doing nothing. AOL Autos warns that all those new cars piling up on lots not selling are devo. In other words, like the rest of us, they aren’t getting any newer. In fact, quite the opposite.

Read More >

Stargazer writes:

I have a slight head gasket leak in a 1993 GMC van, 350 cu. in. engine. I know that I will have to replace the gasket eventually; however, a friend suggested a head gasket sealant. This sealant drops into the radiator, and seals the leak. This friend had worked on cars professionally, so his recommendation has weight with me. Would you recommend this fix for a one hundred mile trip? I need the van to tow something.

Read More >

You know . . . when it’s moving.

More than a few members of TTAC’s esteemed B&B have been clamoring for the European specification Ford Focus—ever since Ford decided the original was just fine for the non-discriminating American customer. “If you bring it, they will buy it” our commentariot railed at the Powers That Be. Well, after sampling the latest basic Focus, I can tell you that the Euro Focus sucks just like the American Focus, just not quite as much.

Read More >

According to Frank Herbert, fear is the mind killer. Well, it’s certainly a sales killer. And now that Hyundai’s cut through the FUD to rack up some U.S. sales with its CYA buyer protection, we’re witnessing an international outbreak of MSMD (monkey see, monkey do). Stateside, Ford has lost—I mean launched its Advantage Program. GM offers customers Total Confidence (as if). And now, from the Land of Hope and Glory, Autocar reports that Volvo and Honda will pay for British buyers’ wheels for one year should they get the boot. Of course, to qualify, you have to employed first, then buy the car, then become unemployed. Kinda like betting against yourself. Anyway, if it’s a Honda, you need to be on the dole for at least three months before you get your car payment relief. If it’s a Volvo, we’re only talking about the C30, S40 and V50 models. In both cases, future deadbeats have to finance through the cars’ respective in-house lenders. Look for Honda USA to implement the plan here STAT. Meanwhile, why do I get the feeling that all these programs are opening the door to some serious fraud?

Shock! Scandal! Horror! Ousted General Motors Chairman/CEO Rick Wagoner will remain on GM’s payroll for the remainder of 2009 and will be paid his full salary for doing no work, reports the DetN. Out of your tax dollars, no less! So how much will Wagoner earn while not working for GM this year? Oh, right, one American dollar. And because not all of Wagoner’s pension is bankruptcy-proof, keeping him on the salary until December 31, 2009 actually improves the chances he’ll take another big hit to his compensation. Wagoner will receive $68,900 in annual pension payments whether GM goes bankrupt or not, but five additional annual pension payments of $4,523,400 could be wiped out if Chapter 11 occurs before Wagoner takes his first payment at the end of this year. In short, the arc of justice may be long, but it bends towards surrealism. In the form of GM’s $1 per year executive jobs bank. And just to make the whole situation even more bizarre, the DetN notes that Wagoner “cannot work for another automaker without GM’s written permission.” Because I’m sure he’s got the headhunters beating down his door.

The city of Winnipeg, Canada, has shortened the duration of the yellow warning at intersections equipped with red light cameras. The length of the yellow is the single most important factor in determining the financial success of a photo enforcement program, according to documents obtained from a red light camera vendor in 2001. The city’s signal changes came to light after a 64-year-old grandmother named Judy received a ticket in the mail claiming her minivan had run a red light on August 31, 2008. She contacted Larry Stefanuik, a former police constable who now helps motorists fight traffic tickets who began looking into the ticket. Judy’s ticket shows the intersection had been set with a 3.9 second yellow and that she entered the intersection—slowly—just 0.1 seconds after the light turned red.

Read More >

Now we have the economic literature to confirm what we all know is happening: local governments using traffic citations to make up for revenue shortfalls. According to a paper in the February Journal of Law and Economics, published by the University of Chicago, “as the economy tanks, motorists may be more likely to see red and blue in the rearview.”  Study authors Thomas Garrett, assistant vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, and Gary Wagner from the University of Arkansas, Little Rock, examined fourteen years of revenue and traffic citation data from counties in North Carolina. Revenues drop, traffic citations go up. Specifically, “a one percentage point decrease in last year’s local government revenue results in roughly a 0.32 percentage point increase in the number of traffic tickets the following year.”

Read More >

Now that April Fool’s Day is finally done, I can report with confidence that GM CEO Fritz Henderson did, in fact, say the following [via Daniel Howes at The Detroit News]: “People ask, ‘What changes are you going to make in management, in the organization,'” he says. “None. That would be a waste of time. We don’t have time. There are mechanisms to get this done. You just have to drive them hard.” And put them away wet, I suppose. Only Danny isn’t buying it, ’cause there’s that pesky little matter of all the other GM “stakeholders.” “The constituencies Henderson needs to drive hardest have reasons to balk. United Auto Workers leaders, strong backers of the Obama administration, figure their allies will protect them. Bondholders operating in Bailout Nation figure the feds are more likely to help them (and protect labor) than force GM into bankruptcy and risk the collateral damage to the shaky economy.” And so the countdown to GM’s C11 continues, steady-as-she-goes-down style, with the company’s caretaker taking care . . . of his own.

One of our moles has emailed ALL the dealer paperwork on GM’s Total Confidence program. Blogger, editorialist and aspiring car reviewer (knees must) that I am, I shall leave it to you, our Best and Brightest, to dissect the offer and how GM dealers might sell the plan (or simply give up and sign the opt-out sheet). Michael Karesh, former TTAC partner and ongoing TrueDelta operator, has done some stellar work uncovering the flaws in the residual guarantee part of the Total Confidence program. If you want the inside skinny via Michael’s Delta force, click here. If you want the read the real deal, jump.

Read More >

Now you may think that Tesla Motors, makers of the $109K+ lithium-ion powered Roadster, are acting in good faith re: taking deposits for their recently revealed Model S sedan. If so, GreenTech Media’s report that the Musk-scented company has secured 520 advance orders for the vehicle is a good thing: a sign of early adopters’ faith in Tesla’s ability to design, build and, eventually, sell the all-electric foor-door. Leaving aside Tesla’s past history of missing deadlines and changing announced specifications. With eyes wide shut, the fact that Tesla has collected $5K per car from 520 prospective customers, generating some $2.6M, is a good thing. Nothing wrong with raising a little—and in the car business $2.6 million is  microscopic—working capital. The fact that Tesla’s first model, the Roadster, isn’t profitable, and that the new money may be helping to prop-up THAT side of the business, is neither here nor there nor the subject of a court case. So . . . good news! There may be more money on Tesla’s table!

Read More >

Now that President Obama’s played a short clip of “Dr. Strangelove; or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love a GM Chapter 11” at his auto-related press conference, GM’s remaining stockholders have cottoned on to the inevitability of a GM Chapter 11. As TTAC’s Ken Elias predicted many moons ago, it’s only a question of time before the New York Stock Exchange de-lists GM. When Wagoner resigned and Obama opined, the zombie automaker’s share price began its final glide path. The stock plunged 25 percent on Monday and 28 percent on Tuesday. Yesterday, the price hit $1.58—before rebounding to $1.93, off 1 cent for the session. No surprise there. When the feds pull the plug, the stock will be worth precisely $0. The LA Times reveals the reason GM’s stocks are still publicly traded, by anyone. “Long-time GM shareholders may well figure there’s no point in selling now. If the stock becomes worthless, they can write it off for tax purposes at that point. Until then, it’s just a lottery ticket with extremely low odds of a payoff.”

The morning after U.S. new cars sales fell prey to the ides of March, ToMoCo’s MD sent General Motors a get well card. Yasuhiko Ichihashi told the AP that “Toyota was only hoping for an overall recovery for the U.S. auto industry, including GM.” Mr. Rising Tide Lifts All Boats (a.k.a. We’re All In This Together-san) said what’s bad for the U.S. auto business is bad for Toyota, as they share parts-makers. (A popular meme amongst the Bailout Buffet crowd.) What’s more, Ichihashi reckons GM’s collapse would depress “consumer sentiment.” GM’s filed for C11, I’m too bummed to buy a Toyota? Huh. Not mentioned: GM sets the floor for U.S. car prices and quality. If The General takes a powder, Toyota’s prices will fall, profits will sink and quality would have to rise. Honda had nothing to say about yesterday’s bloodletting, but previously, on “who wants to enlarge its U.S. market share,” HoMoCo president Takeo Fukui noted, “[it] has been a rare exception among Japanese auto executives in acknowledging publicly that weaker competition could in the long run present an advantage for Honda.” Ya think?