Light week this week but here are your #AutoFactoids for the week of May 21, 2017.
May 22, 1929 – Goodyear Blimp took its maiden flight. Still provides some of the best auto racing coverage!!!
Goodyear Blimp.
First Goodyear Factory
Mr. Goodyear
May 23, 1875 – Alfred P. Sloan Jr. was born in New Heaven Conn. He headed up GM as President and guided it through some iconic car designs. He was instrumental in establishing the idea of make styling changes annually and planting the idea of (something we consumer dislike) planned obsolescence. He also established a pricing structure by sub-brand (Chevy, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick, Caddy) —referred to as the ladder of success, so that they did not compete with each other, and buyers could be kept in the GM “family” as their buying power and preferences changed as they aged.
Alfred P. Sloan – Time Magazine Dec 1926.
Alfred P. Sloan
May 26, 1906 – Mauri Rose born in Columbus, Ohio. This Racing Hall of Famer driver, placed second in the 1927 Indy 500. Actually won the Indy in 1941, but that was a tough victory, spanning two Maserati-powered Elgin Piston Pin Specials cars, after the first one had mechanical issues. He tossed a fit and the car owners pulled one of the other drivers from the race and give Rose that car.
The Pin
The Elgin Pin
What powered that thing? The Elgin’s “Power Plant”
Hope you all had a great Turkey Day!! Here is the line up of Auto Factoids for the first week in December!!! Nov 30 1960 De Soto ceases production. The last De Soto produced were really the Chrysler Windsor, most did not sale, even though dealerships continued to received cars after the …
Here are your Auto Factoids #AutoFactoids for the beginning of June, 2015. May 31, 1927 – Ford produced the last Model T. There is some debate as to actual date and it’s said that the 15th million Model T rolled off the production line on May 26th, 1927 and the Henry …
Kaiser-Fraser formed July 26, 1945 – The Kaiser-Frazer Corporation was the result of a partnership between automobile executive Joseph W. Frazer and business man Henry J. Kaiser. In 1947, the company acquired the automotive assets of Graham-Paige. Interesting enough, Kaiser had no automotive business experience. In 1953 the company became …
Here is your #AutoFactoids and Car News Now for this first full week of September 2015. Auto Factoids Sept. 7, 1954 – Production of Ford Thunderbird begins 1955 T-Bird 2002 Thunderbird Sept. 8, 1903 Preston Tucker was born in Capac, MI. While dubbed “Tucker Torpedo” during production no ‘Torpedoes’ were produced. Beautiful …
Here is your #AutoFactoids and Car News Now for this first full week of September 2015. Auto Factoids Sept. 7, 1954 – Production of Ford Thunderbird begins 1955 T-Bird 2002 Thunderbird Sept. 8, 1903 Preston Tucker was born in Capac, MI. While dubbed “Tucker Torpedo” during production no ‘Torpedoes’ were produced. Beautiful …
Is anyone tired of Hybrids? Part car, part generator. and I think it’s a cop-out for not being able to produce an affordable, long distance electric car (not include Tesla.)
But maybe the Cadillac CT6 Hybrid will change your mind or not.
The GM boast that the car produced 449 ponies at the rear wheel. That produced by the 2.0 liter turbocharged 4 cylinder and two electric motors. This will push the car from 0 to 60 in 5.6 seconds. If that’s a the good news here’s the worse – only 37 miles on a full charge – DUDES – why bother?!?!?!?!?! They are calling it a (Chevy) Volt (might be because it shares parts with the Volt) on steroids!!! Really? Well, it’ll have comfy seats, I bet!!!!
Underwhelmed? Sure, if it looks just like this 2016
Powered Up.
Toyota used the ‘Scion’ name like software developers the word ‘beta’ – not really ready for prime time. (I still hate the fact the Celica disappeared into that mess.) Frankly nothing much was worth buying under the Scion name until they produced the FR-S in 2011. The car was based on the previous 8-6 (86) concept and was a joint effort between Toyota and Subaru. Toyota was moved the 86 platform back under the Toyota brand and will be giving it a new look. Questions is will is cousin the BRZ get a new look? No one knows yet.
New 86?
Enter stage right – the Elio P5, the new U.S. Car company. With it’s all powerful 60-hp 0.9-liter 3-cylinder front-mounted engine that can lay down 55 ft lb of torque, reach a top speed of over 100 mph and can get from 0 to 60 mph under 10 seconds. Get all this for under $7K.
Kaiser-Fraser formed July 26, 1945 – The Kaiser-Frazer Corporation was the result of a partnership between automobile executive Joseph W. Frazer and business man Henry J. Kaiser. In 1947, the company acquired the automotive assets of Graham-Paige. Interesting enough, Kaiser had no automotive business experience. In 1953 the company became …
Here is your #AutoFactoids and Car News Now for this first full week of September 2015. Auto Factoids Sept. 7, 1954 – Production of Ford Thunderbird begins 1955 T-Bird 2002 Thunderbird Sept. 8, 1903 Preston Tucker was born in Capac, MI. While dubbed “Tucker Torpedo” during production no ‘Torpedoes’ were produced. Beautiful …
Sometimes the Automotive Journalism world is so off track – pun intended – that they cross the line where “reporting” becomes “tabloid babble”. Take the headline “MUSTANG BEATS CORVETTE!!!” “America Meet Your New Sports-Car King”. That is quite a statement gracing the cover of the Feb 2016 issue of Car and …
Take a good look at the picture below. If you thought there was a fuss about the C7 styling, just wait for them to roll this out!!!
They say it’s really going to happen: my friend Chris Doane used his massive telephoto Canon lens, nicknamed “The Stanley Cup” by his friends, to catch what looks a lot like an engineering mule for a mid-engined Corvette. Either that, or there’s going to be a mid-engined Holden Ute with no available space in the bed coming to Australia real soon. Supposedly this is going to be called the “Zora” or the “ZR1” or, predictably, the “ZR1 Zora” and it will go on sale at the end of 2017 alongside the current C7-generation ‘Vette.If that’s truly the case—if the first production Corvette to locate its engine behind the driver is just a limited-production, megabuck special—then I suppose I have no real beef with the idea. If, on the other hand, they’re proposing to replace the traditional Stingray with a mid-mounter, then that’s totally freaking crazy and we all need to take the strongest possible action before it’s too late.
Fiat Chrysler shareholders voted in favor of the separation of the Ferrari brand from FCA as part of Sergio Marchionne’s plan to raise cash and reduce debt of the Italo-American company.The shareholders’ meeting was held in Amsterdam where about 98 per cent of them approved the separation, with Fiat-Chrysler to distribute the remaining 80 per cent stake in Ferrari back to its own investors by early next year.This comes after FCA already sold 10 per cent of Ferrari in a public offering, raising around $1 billion. The whole company is burdened with a total of €10.9 billion in debt, with FCA raising about €3.8 billion from the divorce with Ferrari.This deal will reduce FCA’s debt by about €1.6 billion but at the same time, the seventh-largest automaker in the world loses its most valuable asset. Piero Ferrari, Enzo’s son still holds the remaining 10 per cent of Ferrari.“The separation will better enable Ferrari to realize its full potential,” Marchionne said at the shareholders’ meeting. “It will also allow Fiat investors to benefit directly from the substantial value inherent in Ferrari.”Ferrari had announced earlier on Monday that they are borrowing a total of €2.5 billion to finance their demerger from Fiat-Chrysler and help their former parent company in the funding of Sergio’s ambitious growth plan.
If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the video of the Jalopnik journalist hitting the wall with a 2016 mule Camaro. Enjoy and then check below for my commentary.
Clearly the guy felt bad and a little shaken up, but the reality is, he shouldn’t have driven the car. If you just look at the beginning frame of the video or notice the position of his arms just before he hit the wall, you can tell there the skill set just isn’t there.
I auto cross my cars – my C4 when I had it and my C6 now (not to mention my drag racing stint with my Mustang). I’ve attended my SCCA Solo courses and even attended some training with Bondurant at Phoenix International Raceway with Formula 1 cars. And what I’ve learned is that you must have more than just enthusiasm over a new car, especially a powerful one. You have to have some driving skills and you must have respect for the car’s abilities and know yours.
Here is a parallel event I was part of with my corvette club. We rented a part of the Bondurant facility to have an auto cross event. It included all generations of Corvettes as well as a few other non-Corvette vehicles. One of our members just purchased a brand new C6 and was very eager to run the course. Short version of the story is – he lost it on his second run, went through the chain-linked fence at a post and got the car hung up on the concrete footing. We had to dig him out and the Bondurant crew weren’t all that happy. Clearly he wasn’t ready for the abilities/power of his C6 even though he had the enthusiasm (and for pete’s sake keep the traction control on until you are used to the car).
Don’t get me wrong, accidents happen, just watch any F1, drag or NASCAR race and you’ll see professional skilled driver hit the wall. It happens.
Now back to the Jalopnik incident. If you watch the video you can tell the journalist seems pretty excited. However his driving skills seem a bit off in a number of ways. For instance, his sitting position is off, especially for track driving (maybe he’s just super tall or the mule car is not equipped with adjustable seats) for one. You can tell by his expression in a corner, prior to his last corner and the contact with the wall, that he was at he edge of his abilities with that particular car. As he goes into the now famous turn his arms cross – I didn’t realize a human could contort himself that much!!
I also found interesting was some of his commentary leading up to the crash with words like “rolly-poely”, “composed”, “nimble” especially in light of his comments that he was there to discuss the how it handles at the track. You must have the ability to test those things to give your readers a comparison and the proper (or more familiar) terminology helps e.g., replace “rolly-polly” with “body roll”. Wouldn’t GM want that too or at least his publisher?
There was a comment in his piece where he gave full disclosure, stating that GM wanted him to drive so badly, that they flew him out and paid for food and booze. Don’t know if that’s ‘special’ or standard fare. I also didn’t understand his comment – “GM asked me to leave the track” and they had to continued the video out in the street – seems a tough way to deal with someone, you really wanted there. Hopefully, GM doesn’t want their money back for the airfare or bill him for the damage to the mule.
Now I’m not a great blogger nor the greatest driver, but I do have car guy experience (including testing new models in a small auto cross scenario) and a fair grasp of the my native language. I’m not sure what all of his credentials are, he did say he had some track time, and I did look over some of his other entries and gained my own opinions.
It suffices to say that I much prefer a “car guy turned journalist” vs. “journalist turned car guy”, especially when to reading ‘car guy’ stuff and certainly for reviews like this one.
I do feel badly for him and GM and but I’m also sure it wasn’t the first time on media day that a writer dented one of the cars. He just had his published. And thank the auto gods that he wasn’t driving a Z28!!! I would have wept opening.
The 2016 Camaro SS is powered by a Corvette Stingray-sourced 6.2-liter V8 that produces 455 horsepower and 455 pound-feet of torque. By comparison, the 2015 Camaro SS has 426 horsepower and 420 pound-feet of torque. No matter the engine, the …
Are you excited about the new Mustang? Lots of people are!!!
The Wait Is Almost Over! Dealer Order Banks Now Open for All-New 2015 Ford Mustang
Ford dealers can now begin placing orders for 2015 Mustang fastback
2015 Mustang fastback includes many new standard features such as fully independent suspension, push-button start, next-generation SYNC® AppLink™ and a choice of three powerful engines
All-new Mustang EcoBoost® and Mustang GT available with 50 Years Appearance Package
For Ford Mustang fans everywhere, today they are one big step closer to experiencing the next generation as Ford has begun accepting dealer orders for the 2015 fastback.
Ever since the world got its first look at the all-new 2015 Mustang nearly six months ago, the anticipation has been palpable. Ford engineers have been racking up millions of testing miles, refining each system to make sure everything is just right before the first Mustangs reach customers later this year.
The All-New Ford Mustang GT
“From the six cities around the globe where we revealed the all-new Mustang, to auto shows to the recent 50-year celebration events, we’ve received an amazing response from people when they finally see the new model,” said Steve Ling, Ford car marketing manager. “This car is all-new with enhanced sophistication and craftsmanship, but it still exudes the essence of Mustang that’s been honed throughout its history.”
Chrysler will now become a wholly owned member of the Fiat family, as it’s been announced that the 41.46-percent stake in the Auburn Hills, MI-based manufacturer owned by the United Auto Workers’ VEBA trust fund will be sold to the Italian company. Concluding the agreement will mark the closure of a piecemeal purchase process that could have resulted in an initial public offering.
The total cost of the sale will see the VEBA healthcare trust receive $4.35 billion, $3.65 billion of which will come from Fiat. $1.75 billion of that will be cash, while an additional $1.9 billion will be part of a “special distribution.” An additional $700 million will be paid over four separate installments according to reports from Automotive News Europe and USA Today, although the shares will belong to Fiat following the first payment. The deal was reportedly initially struck on Sunday (though it is just being announced today), and is being portrayed as particularly good news for Fiat and Chrysler, which have now prevented the remaining shares going to the stock market in a UAW-forced IPO.
“The unified ownership structure will now allow us to fully execute our vision of creating a global automaker that is truly unique in terms of mix of experience, perspective and know-how, a solid and open organization that will ensure all employees a challenging and rewarding environment,” Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne said in a statement.
As part of the agreement, the UAW will adopt the “best practices” of Fiat factories from across the globe in its own plants, although it hasn’t been explicitly stated what these are and how they will come about.
Overall, this move comes as something of a surprise, as all indications pointed to a Chrysler IPO at some point in January. As recently as December 23, the two parties were reported back at the bargaining table, though, where this finalized deal was likely hammered out. There’s a short press release from Chrysler available below if you want to read the rest of the corporate-speak skinny.
