If there seemed to be a 1970s-like unreality about the strike, there was a reason for it, which an outraged Peter DeLorenzo at Autoextremist described thusly: “Not only was the idea of a strike about as far-fetched of a notion as could be contemplated this time around, absolutely no one believed
the UAW would blow the opportunity to help propel the Detroit Three back on the road to long-term recovery, given everything. Yet, there was Gettelfinger on
Monday sounding like a throwback to the 70s, spouting all of the hoary union
rhetoric and combative posturing that ran its course easily three decades ago.”
On the other hand, Jim Dollinger at General Watch thinks the whole thing was nothing more than a kabuki dance to go after a VEBA (the fund that will pay retiree health care costs): “Hundreds of thousands of retirees will be left stranded as the under-funded account is plundered. GM will be off the hook, the union will play dumb, and Wall Street will have completed their strategy to pillage the capital. It all began years ago by assigning a present value to the future liability. Why else create the completely unnecessary administrative bureaucracy, except to shift huge dollars into the coffers of the International UAW as reward for their cooperation?”
In any case, it looks in this corner of the automotive worId like the only winners of this strike were Honda, Toyota ....
Speaking of Toyota, over at Full Throttle, Marc wonders if maybe some of that funny stuff has reappeared in the Waltrip Toyota team's engineering portfolio. Or maybe TRD has been working some of its own - long overdue - magic?
The Hemmings Auto Blog people are loving that new cable TV series "Madmen" because of the 50s vehicles regularly seen on the streets.
Just in case you ever need a reminder of what can happen when things go wrong on the quarter mile, The Auto Prophet has this video. Praise the Lord cauz the driver escaped with only broken bones.
Being a Danica fan, this observation from Courtney Messenbaugh at Mother Proof caught my eye. Man, I hope Courtney is wrong. And the way Danica steadily finished higher as the 07 season progressed is solid evidence that she is, but if Danica doesn't get a win in 08 ...
Subaru's redesigned WRX is getting mixed reviews among the auto critics. Take Brendan Macaleer at The Truth About Cars, for example: "Taken as a whole, Subaru hasn’t dropped the ball with its new WRX. They’ve just punted it onto a whole different playing field." That's just the conclusion, he has much more to say.
And on that happy note, we are pulling back in the Straightline driveway. See ya next week!
On the other hand, Jim Dollinger at General Watch thinks the whole thing was nothing more than a kabuki dance to go after a VEBA (the fund that will pay retiree health care costs): “Hundreds of thousands of retirees will be left stranded as the under-funded account is plundered. GM will be off the hook, the union will play dumb, and Wall Street will have completed their strategy to pillage the capital. It all began years ago by assigning a present value to the future liability. Why else create the completely unnecessary administrative bureaucracy, except to shift huge dollars into the coffers of the International UAW as reward for their cooperation?”
In any case, it looks in this corner of the automotive worId like the only winners of this strike were Honda, Toyota ....
Speaking of Toyota, over at Full Throttle, Marc wonders if maybe some of that funny stuff has reappeared in the Waltrip Toyota team's engineering portfolio. Or maybe TRD has been working some of its own - long overdue - magic?
The Hemmings Auto Blog people are loving that new cable TV series "Madmen" because of the 50s vehicles regularly seen on the streets.
Just in case you ever need a reminder of what can happen when things go wrong on the quarter mile, The Auto Prophet has this video. Praise the Lord cauz the driver escaped with only broken bones.
Being a Danica fan, this observation from Courtney Messenbaugh at Mother Proof caught my eye. Man, I hope Courtney is wrong. And the way Danica steadily finished higher as the 07 season progressed is solid evidence that she is, but if Danica doesn't get a win in 08 ...
Subaru's redesigned WRX is getting mixed reviews among the auto critics. Take Brendan Macaleer at The Truth About Cars, for example: "Taken as a whole, Subaru hasn’t dropped the ball with its new WRX. They’ve just punted it onto a whole different playing field." That's just the conclusion, he has much more to say.
And on that happy note, we are pulling back in the Straightline driveway. See ya next week!
moparbad says:
09:27 AM, 09/29/07
Unreadable due to the horrid text colors.
estreka says:
12:26 PM, 09/29/07
That's a nasty crash. Ditto on the green font.
kurtamaxxxguy says:
12:47 PM, 09/29/07
On my raggedy Mac, the green is hard to read (too light). Otherwise ok.
Wrt Subaru WRX and Mitsubishi Evo, they are getting slammed with making these cars less of tin box racing go carts and more of refined and polished driving machines. What's wrong with that?
Both companies decided the boy/girl racer market was too small (and possibly too liability prone) and are trying for greater appeal. Then again, if that market segment yells loud enough, perhaps Subaru and Mitsubishi will make "tuner ready" (read, __stripped__and chipped) versions of these cars?
cah11705 says:
03:19 PM, 09/29/07
the evo isn't as bad as the wrx cause the evo at least still looks good
the wrx is just hideous
ateixeira says:
08:01 AM, 10/ 1/07
Let's be clear, here, TTAC has an axe to gring with Subaru because Subaru banned them from their press fleet after an offensive comment about the Tribeca.
This is a biased article, without question, and savvy people will wisely ignore TTAC, as they clearly have an agenda.
Subaru is not alone - BMW has also banned them from their press fleet. TTAC doesn't deserve your time and attention.