I know, I know; there's been a lot of Ford and GM bashing on this site as of late.  All of it deserved.  As long as car companies make crap cars– and that's ANY company making ANY crap car– The Truth About Cars is ready, willing and able to provide a no-holds-barred reality check. But here's the important bit: every TTAC writer would love to see the former Big Three produce the world's best automobiles.  It literally pains us that they don't.  If and when America reclaims its mojo and produces world-beating product, be it a Chevrolet Corvette or a Ford Freestyle, we will give its maker its due.  To wit: Lieberman likes the Freestyle, Big Style.  [His review goes up tomorrow.]  It's both sad and symptomatic that Ford doesn't share JL's enthusiasm enough to dig down and make something more of a potentially great vehicle.  By now, Toyota would've been busy on gen II.  Will this misery never end?  Oh, and if you could please suggest a photo caption in the comments, I'd be much obliged. 

With all the talk in these parts about what it means to be an American automobile manufacturer, I couldn't resist Chrysler's press release about arranging some 200 employees to spell out the words "O Say, can you see" (complete with human punctuation).  Chrysler Group Spokesperson Jodi Tinson stepped into the podcasting breach, challenging my de-PR-speak abilities and facing the inevitable questions about Francis Scott Key's magnum opus (set to a bawdy English drinking song) and Chrysler's Americanosity.  The two-legged vowels and consonants will assemble on the front lawn of DaimlerChrysler's Auburn Hills Headquarters on Friday, July 7 during morning drive time.  According to the press release, the employees will sing the national anthem loud enough to be heard across I-75.  Here's hoping the DUB car show isn't rolling into town at the exact same moment the crooning begins. 

This weekend, a conspiracy of  VeeDub owners will assemble in Roswell, New Mexico for the seventh annual New Beetle “2K Car Show Weekend."  According to VW PR flack Clark Campbell, this bizarre intersection of dead aliens and live Bug owners began with a VW ad claiming that the new Beetle was reverse-engineered from an alien spaceship.  Needless to say, TTAC has uncovered previously classified government documents that prove that the commercial was created by an ad exec who'd been kidnapped by aliens, given the usual complimentary colonoscopy and returned to earth to spread disinformation: an ad that claimed that the new Beetle was reverse-engineered from alien craft to make people think it wasn't reverse engineered from alien craft, when, of course, it was. You know, this stuff practically writes itself. How spooky is that? 

Jonny Lieberman thinks SUV's should look like they're ready to win World War II or go to the moon.  Shrugging off that da-da-esque assertion, we schmooze about great car names of the past and JL's recent experiences with the Ford Focus (reviewed below). As a certain automotive website recently asserted that minivan ownership disqualifies TTAC's Editor from assessing automotive cool, I ask Jonny for his choice for coolest car under $18k.  Wouldn't you know: it's a BMW. 

The original idea: interview Jack Nerad about the type of cars parents buy for their teens.  When I finally got kbb.com's Executive Editor on the blower, he immediately informed me that A) He had no idea what we were scheduled to talk about and B) The press release about teen whips was released months ago.  So the guy works without a net and I'm behind the loop.  Shifting gears, I asked for their latest media mitzvah. "Cool Cars under $18k."  And then we get going and I discover that Jack's definition of "cool" takes us into some pretty strange areas.  Still, it's the journey that counts.  [Apologies for the audio levels.  We're working on it.]

I'm always amazed at how easily automotive PR folk slip into jargon-laden sound bites. I guess when your work involves something that doesn't appear on civilian radar– "my wife works with tires"– rattling off cool stats and technical terms to a pistonhead journalist must be the default option.  Still, I consider it my responsibility to try to get these technological flackmeisters to connect with their product, and us, on a more emotional level.  Of course, that only works if they do.  Dunlop's Janice Consolacion does.   

Our thanks to Redwing Studios for repulsing and rebuilding TTAC after the Romanians tried to turn our site into phish food (don't ask). And also to you for returning to us after the unintentional disruption of service. Rest assured that we're back in force, protected in full and sarcastic as ever. To wit: my conversation with TTAC's West Coast Bureau Chief Jonny Lieberman. JL is with GL at the moment. I've seen the first bit of his review, and it's a keeper. Meanwhile, here's what our intrepid correspondent has to say about, um, stuff. Hey, it was two days ago…

And so it's time to ask Mr. Fisker the obvious question: what's the ugliest car in the world? Although the former Ford design jeffe and current coachbuilder to chronically over-monied car collectors provides the obvious answer, it's nice to know that Pontiac has earned its place in automotive infamy for all time. As for yesterday's question– would you pay $300k for a re-skinned Merc or Bimmer– it's a dead heat. Your email could tip the balance. And it won't cost a dime.

Once upon a time, wealthy people didn't just pop down to their local Ferrari dealer, pick-up an Enzo and ask for their change in F430's. They commissioned a coachbuilder to add bespoke sheetmetal, fixtures and fittings to a suitable manufacturer's underpinnings. This trend created some wild ass whips, usually ascribed to the builder who provided the greasy bits. Not only is ex-BMW, ex-Ford designer Henrik Fisker determined to resurrect the whole coachbuilding thing, but the man wants name brand recognition. Well, fair enough. But would you buy a reskinned Merc or Bimmer for north of $300k? Answers on an email please. Or wait for part two, tomorrow.

TTAC writer Terry Parkhurst suggested I give Mitch Silver of Silver Collector Car Auctions a call. Mitch's mob aren't the biggest of the big, but they've developed a sterling reputation for friendliness, honesty and expertise. Silver's signature event: the Reno-based Hot August Nights. With over 800 pre-'72 cars up for grabs, Mitch counsels buyers to think of car collecting as a hobby (not an investment) and do NOT get in a pissing match.

openairtours.com has a second-by-second counter marking down the moments until the next time 200 convertibles hit the road in Wisconsin. TTAC respects that kind of auto-oriented OCD. We also wish Gary Knowles' posse a speedy passage through the dairy farming portion of their travels.

All I remember about my driver's ed class was a film (remember film?) about a nerdy mid-Westerner who performed all these ridiculous pre-flight checks ('Lights working Dad!') and still managed to kill himself and his entire family by overtaking a slow moving truck straight into an even larger truck. These days, it's the 'Red Asphalt' series, and it's all online. Makes sense to me, and Gary Tsfirin of driversed.com.

TTAC receives a great deal of excrutiatingly boring PR copy on a daily basis. When I caught sight of this sexy PR prose poem, I had to know more: 'The purely mechanical device, made up of four chambers, attaches directly in front of the throttle body. A movable flap senses pulsations generated when the engine vibrates due to acceleration. As the flap moves, via a spring-mass system, it changes the high-frequency whistle of the turbocharger to the more muscular tone that is the natural byproduct of the combustion process.'

Ray Wert is a member in good standing of the so-called 'Swedish Mafia': the new breed of internet-based automotive journalists who write what they think and let the chips fall where they may. In other words, Ray's a TTAC kinda guy. We're pleased that he's joined us on the GM Death Watch, bringing his keen understanding of high finance to bear on The General's orchestral maneuvers in the dark. Given the fireworks to come, I reckon we'll be seeing more of his piercing glimpses into the not-so-obvious.

In the run-up to our June re-launch, The Truth About Cars is proud to present a new feature: the TTAC Daily Podcast. The 10-minute recordings will feature interviews with our correspondents, industry folk and enthusiasts. If you have a product, service or event to promote; or an axe to grind, contact me via email to arrange a call. We'll have more news on the new site soon…