Much like the impending drop top Camaro we knew it was coming, this, the Coupe version of Cadillac’s comely CTS. And there it sat with little fanfare at the LA Auto Show. Our only hint was an invite-only affair on the eve of the show’s press days that apparently we weren’t invited to (that’s okay, we just cuddled up on the couch with some warm tea and a yummy chick flick – French Kiss, if you must know). Hit the jump for more on the CTS Coupe and less on Meg Ryan.

Continue reading "Cadillac Drops Two Doors in LA" »

Did you know the General brought back the Camaro for 2010? There’s no way I’d have known,except for the fact that you can’t walk six inches at SEMA without bumping into one. I’m kidding, obviously, and I don’t mean to sound like I’m begrudging my favorite domestic automaker all the fanfare surrounding the return of its legendary muscle car. I think the boys and girls at GM did a great job with the Camaro, and the silver one in the pic below is so hot it makes me want to use expletives. To be honest, I’m a little pissed that we aren’t going to see a NASCAR version, but the Hancoock/Seibon car that’s going to run in Formula D—which is posted after the jump—is wicked, and the ZR1 was a close second for the car I wanted to shoplift from SEMA. Oh, and from the looks of the booth, you’d never know Lutz’s overlords were trying to pawn Hummer off on the Chinese. Tons of pics after the jump.

Continue reading "All Up In Their Booth: the General at SEMA" »

I loved this thing. Definitely one of the coolest rides in the GM booth. More pics, stats and a walk-around video after the jump!

Continue reading "VSR Cadillac V-Series Powered Sports Rod Concept at SEMA" »

GM is making a bit of a hoopla over the 25th anniversary of Hendrick Motorsports, for which they’ll be issuing a Hendrick edition Camaro, limited to a run of 25 units. That car doesn’t seem to be here yet, though there are a couple of other nostalgic NASCAR racers already in place in the booth. I’m thinking that the Hendrick Camaro looks a little plain-jane considering what they might have done with it, but I guess I’ll have to reserve judgment until I can see it in person. Pics and video below the jump!

Continue reading "NASCAR Nostalgia In The GM Booth" »

Well it’s been a long time between drinks but I’ve finally made my way over to another local car event, this one being just an hour north of London.  The turnout was small, but there were still some lovely examples of rods and customs on display under the arena lights.  A particular favorite of mine and show highlight was a beautifully presented 33-34 hi-boy, finished off in the most gorgeous blue you could imagine! This rod, along with a choice selection of others, are after the jump!

Continue reading "Winter Warmer" »

Given how piss-poor the economy is, I’m really curious to see what SEMA is going to be like. Some industry folks have been telling me it’s going to be a ghost town, but I don’t believe that. I mean, hell, I still have a job. One thing I can be  sure of? There will be tons of sick Camaros—just like there were acres of Challengers last year—and a lot of them are going to be coming straight from the General.  You can’t see too much in Chevy’s teaser clip, but I liked what I did see. Check it out, and stay tuned for all our photos from the show floor.

That’s the only possible reason I can think of that Mike was turned down for a chance to go up against Bob Lutz and his CTS-V. As many of you know, Mike is a NASA track instructor with a lot of experience at the Monticello Motor Club, where this little event will be held on Thursday. Mike also just acquired a Dodge Magnum SRT-8 that he was gonna run (yeah, it weighs a lot more and has less hp than the Caddy). But GM won’t let him. If you have a comment, you can leave it at the GM Blog.

So, off I went up into to town to have coffee with my buddy Ted Silverberg at the local Starbucks. As I pulled into the parking lot, I was nearly run over by another buddy of mine, Mr. SuperSurfer and Waterman Laird Hamilton. You know when Laird’s around because his Hummer is way bigger than anyone else.

This is not a show truck. This monster does the real deal and is always dirty. And since Laird travels the world doing things that no one else would ever consider, this car is all him. Check THIS out. Yes, that’s Laird. Heart of stone cold adrenaline, plus coffee. And you thought I was nuts…

Continue reading "Fireball Hanging with Laird Hamilton and a Beast…" »

What started out as a division with a cult-like following ended up another irrelevant brand within the GM hierarchy. This is the story of how GM fumbled a golden opportunity to reinvent itself over the last 20+ years.

Almost twenty years ago, a new division was launched within the behemoth General Motors empire, and its purpose was to bring back disenfranchised buyers who refused to shop at Chevy, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, and Buick dealerships. The division was named Saturn, and it was going to be run differently than any other GM division. The premise of the Saturn brand was very simple, they did not share anything with GM; the cars were exclusively Saturn, the power train was exclusively Saturn, the manufacturing plant was exclusively Saturn, and the dealerships were stand alone Saturn stores. You could not find one GM logo connected to the entire brand when it was launched, right down to the keys. But one thing that stood out in the consumers mind was how they were treated at the dealerships with its no-haggle pricing policy and low pressure sales tactics. So how did a division with so much promise become the also ran within GM in less than 20 years? Read more of my piece at Automotive Traveler.

I like old cars. But not just ANY old cars. Concept Cars. Cars with vision. Visions of futures that never happened. It was the reason I like Tomorrowland at Disney and then became their Chief Designer in the late 80’s. But these cars were created with an intense vision that was unlike anything anyone had ever seem. And it influenced millions.

So, I set it upon myself to ask WHAT IF? What if we were to re-design the visions of tomorrow, but with a mind for today? And then, I got a little squirrly with it. Oops. The result? MOTORAMA MAYHEM!!!!

The bodies of the old ones are cool for sure. But nowadays, design is more than just form. It’s texture, color, light, purpose. We’re pretty advanced now, so movies like THE CRAWLING EYE don’t really cut it. Get my drift? I even took keys on these new versions from my Uncle Mike’s Hawker Sea Fury Racing Plane. He was a big cheese racer in the 60’s and won every race. (That’s ’cause the flames intimidated everyone…)

Motorama Shows of the 50’s inspired generations. Proposing what was next. But unfortunately, cars still don’t fly. They should… and will if I get a hold of ‘em.

Check it. MOTORAMA MAYHEM….

Continue reading "Fireball Asks… What If?" »

Just like it is scripted, the Cash for Clunkers fraud is about to expose itself in the most public of ways. As triumphant announcements hit the wires from around the auto-manufacturing globe, other announcements, like the one from Edmunds citing tanking sales also hit the wires. It’s a a perfect storm of fail, and we’re all in the eye of it.

In typical fashion, companies that should take a sensible approach to rebuilding inventory that was moved by the Cash for Clunkers national fraud campaign will instead ramp up production in factories to the point of having employees working overtime. Amazing.

Here’s a USA Today story with GM’s announcement.

This announcement came literally hours after Edmunds.com released a statement showing an analysis of sales data which it used to conclude that the program is dying a quick death in terms of sales volume. The Edmunds piece claims a 15% drop in sales activity last week alone. Sounds like the perfect time to crank up the factory! Let’s flood the market with stuff no one will buy again!

Here’s the Edmunds analysis.

Just when you thought these companies were in a hole before, they’ll be in the septic tank in a few weeks if the Edmunds analysis is correct.

Detroit’s annual Woodward Dream Cruise rolled into town this weekend along with droves of visitors looking to get in on the fun and Cruise Woodward. The estimated attendance was to the tune of just over 1 million visitors, which is said to be a few hundred thousand less than last year, although I’m not sure exactly how you’d go about counting everyone. Despite the Los Angeles-style traffic that comes with so many visitors, the boost in the economy is more than welcome around these parts. I even saw a few nuns, of all people, hustling visitors for their prime parking spots at a church parking lot. Well done sisters!

For Detroiters, it was a pleasant surprise to see the American automakers on hand and still showing their support for the event. Ford went as far as shutting down a portion of 9 mile Rd. in Ferndale,MI to turn it into Mustang Alley, lining both sides of the street with Mustangs from all generations and styles. It was pretty impressive such a variety of Mustangs including the original Shelby’s from the mid-60’s.

Continue reading and view more photos at MotorMavens.com

Yesterday, GM held a press conference announcing its short term product release plans and they included a mention about the Camaro being “freshened” in the 2014/2015 model year.

This is good news for those of us who were nervy about the ability of the Camaro to survive the government stewardship they are currently living through.

According to the Automotive News report, the Camaro convertible which was to be pushed to 2012, will now be moved up to the 2011 model year as the General has some cashola for tooling and the necessary production changes to build the car.

I just heard from inside of the plant that things are going well. Sheet metal is ready to install and the holders that carry the cars on the conveyor have been delivered. This is all ahead of schedule, so the conveyor guys are working hard to get ahead of schedule, too. It looks like an on-time launch is not only in the works, but that we may see cars rolling off the line early. This is good news for GM, which is also re-tooling Lordstown for the Cruze. I hear that that is going well, too.

Back in February, Bob Lutz announced he would step down from his position as “Vice Chairman and Senior Advisor.” Given the dude is 77, and has a collection of wicked cars and a personal fighter plane to play with,  it was hard to fault him for his decision. But everyone around the office was stoked to learn that he’s changed his mind, and will continue to serve the General. Good to see you’re not going anywhere Bob—now go kick some ass! Read the full story over at Automotive News.