By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

New York Times writer Norman Mayersohn defends the Buick Roadmaster as one “of the cars we’d hate to see go, ones that may never be featured in museums but could one day give rise to wistful memories.” See his other selections after the jump, and if you’re so inclined, read the full article at The New York Times

Continue reading "The New York Times Speaks Up in Favor of a Few Clunkers" »

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

According to the New York Times, drifting and drag-racing on public roads are popular activities among bored and disaffected Saudi youth. No big news there. What’s cute about the article, as always, is the NYT’s struggles with automotive knowledge and terminology. The author describes the mods on one of the tuner’s cars–it’s running “an intake valve” (only one of them?).  And when another kid “revs the engine until white smoke pours out,” our intrepid reporter doesn’t seem to understand that what he’s witnessing is a burnout. It’s always good for a laugh when a fusty publication expresses astonishment over that dangerous and appalling practice that the kids these days refer to as “drifting.” Oh well: if you can get past your disbelief over the automotive gaffes, it’s actually a mildly entertaining article. Amazing how tolerant the cops are of street racing in other parts of the world! Read up here.

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

On Tuesday GM shut down its factories in Janesville, Wisconsin and Moraine, Ohio, and last Friday Chrysler shut down its factory in Newark, Delaware. All of these plants produced full-size SUVs. Sales of SUVs dropped 40 percent this year and aren’t expected to come back up any time soon. More plant closings will follow as GM and Chrysler scramble to meet conditions of the federal loans. It’s definitely the end of an era. Full story at The New York Times.

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

2009 is gonna be a tough season for all racing, and NASCAR is no exception. Can NASCAR make it as the Big Three pull back? Read the full article over at The New York Times

Want to tour Berlin in a Trabant? I wonder what would be cheaper—taking the guided tour with Trabi Safari, or buying a Trabant and a guidebook? Read the full article at The New York Times.       

The domestic auto manufacturers are not the only ones having trouble right now. Check out this photo of imports stacked up at the Port of Long Beach. Full story on the huge glut of imported cars at The New York Times.

I saw the photo below in the New York Times coverage of the Lead East show and was like, WTF??? But after a bit of sleuthing on Moparts and the H.A.M.B., I managed to unearth the story. The car was built by Joe Sulpy of Ledgewood, New Jersey. It’s a replica an old custom called the "Parisienne," built by Dick "Korky" Korkes back in the late 1950s. The original Parisienne is long gone, so Joe Sulpy recreated the car based on magazine pictures and memory. Apparently it’s a Chrysler with T-bird fenders. More pics after the jump, including a photo of the original Parisienne on the cover of a May 1960 copy of Cars Magazine. And you can see a bunch of shots of the build on Sulpy’s site.

Continue reading "Joe Sulpy's Parisienne" »

Not sure? Then you might want to read the small print on your policy. Many insurance companies have started removing the loophole that covered cars and drivers on racetracks. And think twice before you ask your insurer to clarify your coverage—they might drop you simply for asking. Read the full article at The New York Times.

Thomas Friedman, a columnist in the New York Times, is delighted by the current high gas prices–so delighted that he is proposing that the US government establish a "price floor" to make sure gas prices stay above $4 per gallon. He also makes some pretty absurd statements about Chrysler’s "Let’s Refuel America" program, which Rich Truesdell skillfully deflates over at Automotive Traveler.

I found it interesting that Friedman mentions how he recently went to his local Toyota dealer in tony Bethesda, Maryland "to trade in one hybrid car for another." I guess he would never consider actually maintaining a vehicle and/or driving something that isn’t brand new. And since he carefully avoids mentioning the Prius when discussing his trade, I’m gonna guess he’s talking about Camry hybrid (33mpg city/34mpg highway) or the Highlander hybrid (27mpg city/25mpg highway). Neither of these vehicles do as well as a plain jane Civic, for example. Or an old Geo Metro. But that isn’t the point, is it? The nice thing about driving a hybrid is that you get to keep your giant house and huge heating bill. You can fly all over the globe on business trips and exotic vacations. You can buy and eat as much crap as you want. In other words, you can have a massive carbon footprint but still communicate to the world that you "care" about environment. And when gas prices go up and put the squeeze on people with less money and less efficient vehicles, you can feel smug as hell.

Edit–the mention of Bethesda, Maryland set off some alarm bells for me, but it’s worse than I thought–I just found this on Wikipedia: "Ann and Thomas Friedman live in Bethesda, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C. The July 2006 issue of Washingtonian reported that they own "a palatial 11,400-square-foot house, currently valued at $9.3 million, on a 7 ½-acre parcel just blocks from I-495 and Bethesda Country Club." Oh, and wifey’s $4.1 billion family fortune comes from developing shopping centers. Think of all the wetlands they paved over. 

Over the weekend, the New York Times ran this human-interest piece on DeLorean owner Lauren Reilly (her vanity plate: "DELAUREN"). It documents the daily realities of running a DMC in NYC, fielding a lot of flux-capacitor jokes and getting pulled over by cops out of simple curiosity—but much of it should ring true for just about anyone who drives a weird old unconventional love-’em-or-hate-’em ride in an area where everyone else has a shiny, generic new commuter-pod. Check out the article and the cool slide-show, which features a voice-over by Lauren talking about her ride.