Lamborghini 7 Free! 04 Aracor Eagle NUCLEAR accelerator

Crazy post on ebay.  The guy is offering seven free cars, One Espada, 1971; Five Murcielago's, 2002, 2003, 2003, 2005, 2005; and one LP640, 2009 with the sale of this.  Hand me the blow torch.

Tootsie Dealer Gets It In Writing

 So the dealer we bought from sent me a survey.  Here's what I told them...

"Still felt the typical sales pressure to get the deal done and typical bait and switch tactics.  Once we determined I needed to order the color combination we wanted, your sales manager told Kevin (our sales guy) to "come in as soon as possible because we should be able to change a car already in the system to match your needs."  I came in by the Monday as requested to make this deadline and Kevin was taken back, almost like he forgot that part of the offer... "ah, yeah no it's too late for that." 

On actual purchase two months later, the sales manager seemed to forget the 3.9% finance rate he quoted me on the phone two days earlier and only offered me 4.9% at the dealership.  He already knew on the phone our credit score was 800+ so there was no excuse. 

Third, the purchase price we agreed to was arbitrarily increased by $800 dollars.  I had to pull out the email from Kevin to show the agreed upon price in writing.  The room became so heated that my wife left.  Once the sales manager returned to the room the 2nd or 3rd time, he said "we'll just honor that price, it's the right thing to do."   You think??  You mean you will honor the deal we agreed to in WRITING?  Thanks.

Finally, we signed the initial deal paperwork but by the time we signed the contract, the agreed upon sales SIGNED price had been increased by $100.  I had to call back, they admitted the "error" and offered to correct it or give us free gas or parts.

Look, I expect nothing less then dealerships and sales personal trying to screw people.  Kevin our sales guy was great, your sales managers on the other hand were pretending they were still selling VWs from 30 years ago.   They used practiced tactics that pushed 1982 Vanagons to unsuspecting post hippies.  Pretty sad."

And they wonder why they have problems selling cars.

Tootsie Dealer - Screw #1

How many screws does it take to get to the bottom of a tootsie dealer?  More than three, I can tell you that.  The dealer tried to screw us four times during the deal making for our new Volkswagen Jetta Sportwagen TDI.  It's truly amazing how good they are at hiding the bunny at every turn.  An art carried over from years of selling crappy VWs 20-30 years ago no doubt.

SCREW 1:
We made the deal via email two months ago after visiting the dealership in person.  I asked our sales guy for his best price with our "Friends and Family" discount.  We know some folks at VW that gave us a the F2 coupon.  After some back and forth, he gave me invoice... in writing. Sweet.

Since we needed to order the color combination we wanted, I was told if I come in by Monday, we can change a car in the system to your combination and we wouldn't have to wait 2-3 months for the order.  Monday I put down $500 deposit on our deal to order the car.

"Change a car in the system?"  I asked.
"Uh, what?" he said.
"You know, go into the system to see what cars are already there, make a change to our color."
"Uh, no it's too late for that."
"Will you have a record of the invoice price we agreed to?  I followed.
"Yes, there will be a file with the F2 coupon showing invoice." the sales manager chimed in.

Sure there will be.  

To be continued...

Porsche Portal

Been spending way too much time on my Porsche parts company.  Check out PorschePortal.com.

The Ad Business and Faked Cars

The ad business is a funny place.  Going on a shoot usually meant paid vacation for the client, brutal hours for the production & creative folks and a continued loss of understanding why anybody needs agency account executives.  However, by the time these groups reach 30 to 35 years old, they have passed the buck to the younger go-getters so they can sleep through the 4AM call time for magic hour.

Now a days, there's not much of a buck to pass.  No longer is there a scout trip, travel to glorious locations, per diem for wrap dinners and long hours on the set... let alone photo equipment, 1st ADs, producers, craft services, etc.  Cars are built in 3D models (CGI), lit, retouched and edited without ever leaving the studio.  Advantage to this cost saving measure?  Sure thing.  Chance to forget somebody actually needs to drive the car when pulling a bitchin' burnout?  You betcha...  Probably the account executive's fault.

BMW Classic Center Opens to Customers

This is the kind of story that makes my heart swell.  The OEM embracing a time honored tradition of restoration that they couldn't give a crap before the value of classic cars started soaring and there was huge money to be made.  For decades these manufacturers had one philosophy:

Win on Sunday.  Sell on Monday.  Forget about it Friday the following year.

It has always been about one upping the year before.  If you drove last year's model Chevy in the 50 & 60s, you embarrassed your kids as the chump on the block.  Try to salvage last year's race car, it was better off in a heap behind the shop.  Wanna impress the girl who doesn't know how old your Porsche is?  She does now... the valet guy just gave you the Heisman.

Roughly one in 10 BMWs built until the 1980s is still on the road today so it's no surprise that the company wants to tap that market.  To do so, they have expanded the Historic Workshop, which until now was responsible for the company's own vehicles, into the BMW Classic Center, based in Munich and now accepting outside jobs.

The center will buy and sell vehicles, authenticate them and give advice to buyers.  You can buy parts and even rent classic cars.  There are plans to open a center in the USA as well.  The center points out that they have documentation detailing many different engineering specs and prototypes that aren't readily available to the average consumer.

What I find to be interesting, is that we are approaching the end of a generation who worked with these cars hands on.  They gleaned knowledge through apprenticeships before everything was computers or sometimes even written down.  If they didn't pass their knowledge on to successors, it gets lost forever.  From what I recall, Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari and BMW now have these historic centers.  But what of Porsche?  Do they even have the people in house that have familiarity with 50 year old parts?

These shops will become increasingly valuable as tooling, parts and documentation find their resting place with the companies that originally built the industry and can restore it.  Too bad it won't come cheap.

See more at the centers website.

Ford Bronco, Please!

Retro was huge at Ford long before the recent Mustang came along. Between the sleek shape of the resurrected—then killed again—Thunderbird, the Forty-Nine concept, and other streamlined throwbacks, the blue-oval division introduced the brutish Bronco concept at the 2004 Detroit auto show.

The 1965-inspired Bronco was the most interesting update of the old-school bunch. It was powered by a turbo-diesel 2.0-liter four making 128 hp and 244 lb-ft of torque, and it sported a nitrous system capable of bumping output by 50 hp for those times when your rock crawling went vertical. Jeep’s Wrangler has existed for six decades with little natural competition; this Bronco could have changed that. Now that Chrysler is struggling with its current identity and with its vendors dropping off like dead flees… Not to mention, Toyota’s FJ is no longer in production… Would or could Ford bring to market this vehicle in time to capitalize on the increasing void being created for a true off road, affordable, fun and practical sport vehicle.

Perhaps we may wish to ask Mr. Mulally to sponsor this project with his increasingly valued stock options that has accumulated as of late. Estimated just shy of 18 million last year. Throw a rock at the “Glass House” AKA Ford World Headquarters and see if we can convey a strong business case for this to be considered for production. All the while running as fast as you can from the security that will be hot on your tail for throwing rocks at their glass windows.

Ferrari 330 P-4

Some very talented friends of mine from Scottsdale, Arizona have completed their latest work-of-art. Joe Mischik and his son Trevor built this Ferrari 330 P-4 replica that has just been unveiled at their local car shows for all to drool, scratch their head and possibly find themselves muttering, now that is the right way to build a car. I have not yet seen this vehicle in person; however, I can attest to the quality and attention to detail that has been put into every part of a vehicle assembly they have had their hands on in the past. So, be on the look out for this beauty to be present in most upcoming high-end shows this year. I’m certain that this will appear in many and will command a second look from most. Joe may even be willing to part with this latest creation if the price is right in order to take on a new challenge just around the corner. His son may have a different opinion on that… so be warned.

Congratulations, gentlemen!

Horse Whisperer Passes

Donald Frey, a senior product planning manager at Ford Motor Co. in the 1960s who along with Hal Sperlich and Lee Iacocca developed the iconic Ford Mustang, died on March 5 in Evanston, Ill., from a stroke. He was 87 years old. Frey led the team at Ford that set out to develop an affordable, sporty car in the early 1960s.

With Ford reeling from the Edsel flop, Frey couldn't get a standard budget for the project. So he piggybacked on other programs--borrowing the platform and instrument panel from the Ford Falcon--to create the Mustang. The program was created in just 18 months. The original Mustang debuted on April 17, 1964, at the New York World's Fair. Managers expected to sell a bit less than 90,000 units the first year, but sales topped the 400,000 mark.

Over 8 million units sold since 1964, the Mustang lives on for a few more gallops. It will be interesting to see how much longer this American Icon will continue to remain in the stable of Ford’s offerings.

When Driving a Porsche Doesn't Make Your Penis Big Enough, Try Whale Penis Skin

This story was forwarded by our good friend, "d-oopsmat".

It's a story we can thank Pamela Anderson for... as if her early days in Playboy didn't make all of the young boys sprout a few extra inches anyway.  But not the point of this story.  This story is about a Russian tuner Dartz.  He created a rise last November when he announced they would be finishing the interior of an SUV in whale penis leather.

Pamela spoke out for all animal-rights activists giving Dartz much more media coverage and in turn, they junked their plans and switched to a whale vinyl substitute.  The Porsche pictured here has the feel of whale skin penis on the exterior, as if I would ever be able to tell, and does absolutely nothing to improve the overall appearance.

The fake interior whale hide will now carry a "save the whales" logo and the promise that both the interior and exterior will be as famed as vinyl tops last seen on pimp-mobile Cad-y-lacs.

Customers can order the whale skin vinyl finish through Dartz's French branch Dartz France (www.dartz.fr).