Car Lust

Cash for Clunkers?

I'm dipping into quasi-political matters here, in violation of my own policy--but this is just too apropos to Car Lust for me to pass up.

SEMA, the aftermarket performance part/accessory trade group and organizer of the behemoth SEMA trade show, is very active in legislative lobbying. This morning it sent out a legislative alert with the following warning:

"Washington lawmakers are drafting a large economic stimulus package to help create jobs and rebuild infrastructure.  They want to include a nationwide scrappage program which would give U.S. tax dollars to consumers who turn-in older cars to have them crushed, as a misguided attempt to spur new car sales.  The lawmakers need to scrap this idea. 

"The stimulus package is being drafted right now.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) wants to introduce the bill on January 6 and have it approved by Congress by January 20, so that President Obama can sign it into law after he is inaugurated."

Amazon.com has no official position on this, and neither do I, but speaking as a private citizen who harbors lust for older cars, the idea of a systemic scrapping of older cars sends shivers down my spine.

Quantum of Annoyance--When Product Placement Goes Horribly Wrong

My wife and I watched the new James Bond film Quantum of Solace a week or so ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. As you might guess from my frequent references to Bond, I am a fan of the franchise--and while I occasionally miss the humor and campiness of the Roger Moore movies, I overwhelmingly approve of the franchise reboot. The series badly needed more realistic villains and a darker, more dangerous Bond, and the last two movies have delivered.

As good as Quantum of Solace was, though, all of its goodness was nearly unraveled by Ford's product placement whitewash. It didn't start out badly--the movie began with a thrilling car chase that featured Bond piloting a gorgeous Aston Martin. Even setting aside from Bond's history with the marque, Aston Martin is the perfect Bond car--muscular, debonair, slightly threatening, and thoroughly English. Aside from the fact that the company is owned by Ford, of course. (EDIT: Partially owned by Ford, that is. Ford sold all but a small stake last year. Thanks to the commenters for reminding me--I thought Ford still had a bigger stake.)

Likewise, I could buy that Bond would drive a Land Rover--it is a believable Bond vehicle, especially for off-road situations. Again, Land Rover is a Ford property. I even enjoyed the novelty of seeing a motorcycle chasing down an electric subcompact--a electric subcompact Ford Ka, naturally. 

Childhood Car Memories

Car Lust is about our emotional connection to the automobiles in our lives. Over the course of our writings, we've shared a few misty memories of the cars we saw and rode in when we were small (for example, here, here, here, and here).

Now it's your turn.

What are your earliest automotive memories? Hit the "comments" button and let us know.

--Cookie the Dog's Owner

Happy Thanksgiving!

Cookie the Dog's Owner already perfectly summed up my Car Lust-related Thanksgiving emotions; so I'll complement that with this image from Car Lust commenter That Car Guy, commemorating his favorite automotive turkey--the Chevy Vega. Car Lust readers, I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving.

10 Cars That Damaged GM's Reputation

Popular Mechanics recently released a list of 10 cars that they felt damaged GM's reputation. It's hard to argue about most of their choices, but since we've already established ourselves as a vanguard of poor taste and questionable automotive judgment, I felt it was important that we briefly review our feelings on some of these cars and remind everyone that, yet again, we have no taste or shame.

Thanks

Tomorrow is a day set aside in the United States to express thanks for one's material and spiritual possessions. In the spirit of the day, I’d like to do a little expressing of thanks for what I’ve got here in this little corner of cyberspace.

Point/Counterpoint--Retro Cars

Cookie the Dog’s Owner: Not too long ago, we Car Lust contributors had a lively discussion on the philosophy of automobile design and styling which was sparked by an e-mail from distinguished automobile designer Virgil Exner Jr. In the course of the discussion, my brother contributor Rob the SVX Guy said some things about “retro” cars that I felt compelled to respond to.

Rob wrote:

"You're wrapping modern internals around an outdated design language, which can be amusing, but it isn't really good design. For example, take the new Mustang, or the new Challenger. I mean, yeah, they're kinda neat, but over the long run I doubt they'll have the appeal of a car designed for today's era, with today's technology, and today's style. They exist because an aging demographic has the money to finally buy what they wanted 30 years ago, and that's what sells."

With all due respect, Rob, I think you are entirely too negative about retro styling.

Insufferable Blasphemy!

Since I have already set the precedent of responding to online articles in a completely un-timely way, I may as well respond to the Vehix.com article "Prepare to Get Scared: Top Ten Ugliest Cars in American History." The article ran more than a month ago, so I obviously have my finger firmly on the pulse of the automotive blogosphere.

Author Nathan Adlen does a nice job in producing a well-written riff on pretty familiar theme. Bashing ugly, terrible, and generally unpopular cars is fertile ground for a writer. I have read a bunch of articles on the subject over the years, and I own a few books that do the same--despite my bias towards defending bad cars, these books and articles are usually good for a few good chuckles. And, of course, if taking easy potshots at bad cars is a crime, I'm guilty. Adlen's piece is little different from that standpoint. It's witty, and he gets in some well-turned phrases. No, my beef is with his choice of cars.

Angry Cars--Current Generation Chevrolet Trucks/SUVs

Car: Current generation Chevrolet Trucks and SUVs

Condition: Downright peeved

Possible Motivation: Bean-counting cost reductions sap all the joy of engineering and any happiness from being the best-selling car-maker in the world. Nobody's buying trucks because gas prices are high, but when gas prices drop the economy disintegrates!

Defining Overblown High-Testosterone Action Movie Quote:
Chevy SUV: "I like you. That's why I'm going to kill you last."
(from Commando, 1985 )

--Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame

Bailout Challenge

We periodically run challenges here at Car Lust--for example, we have challenged readers to identify the most interesting used car available for less than $5,000 (challenge, results), the most interesting used car for less than $25,000 (challenge, results), and the best first car for a teenager (challenge, results). This time I'm going to take a slightly different tack.

My boss and I were discussing the potential bailout for the struggling American automotive industry this morning, and we agreed that if the automakers are going to request help from taxpayers, the taxpayers should have the right to make that help contingent on the automakers changing how they do business. After all, it makes little sense to throw billions of taxpayer dollars into what appears at the moment to be a broken business model.

So, assuming you could present a list of take-it-or-leave-it conditions to the automakers, what would they be? Silly, serious, semi-serious--it doesn't matter, I want to hear your suggestions. I would only ask that the discussion not get partisan--remember the comment guidelines and be respectful of each other, or I will need to shut down comments and suspend the challenge.

My thoughts in the comments section.

--Chris H.