Happy Thanksgiving!

The daily blog will take a break for the holiday weekend as we enjoy turkey, mash potatoes, pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce, stuffing, wine, cheese, nuts, chips, beer, sausage, pizza, pork chops, sushi, chinese orange chicken, turducken, pad thai, sourdough, ice cream, salad, salmon, green beans, crackers, hummus, bananas, apples pie, eggplant, carrots, peas and left over sandwiches.  Cheers.

How to Spot a Craigslist Jackass

Here was my latest Craigslist time suck. 

"1.7 Ltr, Fuel Injection, Black on Black. Body straight, Bumpers recromed, paint good. Heads reconditioned, new exhaust, Riviera rims. Restoration near completion. Interior still needs some work. There is no major rust. Also, have new luggage rack(rare)along with many spare parts from other 914 projects. Too many to list.

This penny will shine up for minimal investment. $1900 AS IS."   (pictures are actual size)

Ray, the guy who placed this ad, was a jackass.  The ad originally said $3500 but he dropped the price.  On the phone he told me that because of a workers comp claim that put him out of a job, he needed money.  Sounded like a swoop-up opportunity for Duff Man... or buff man.  It's either a lot of beer or a lot of polish that was going to be needed shine this turd but at this point I wasn't sure which. 


The car looks good in the pictures, no?  $3500 is the going rate for a decent 1.7 liter.  It was a piece of shit.  It was under cover and for good reason.  Two flat tires, duck taped interior, steering column apart, no keys, paint that had been sanded through to bare metal in several spots to "get it ready for paint," it goes on and on.  Rusty chrome, bumper trim missing, turn signals missing.  Oh, but he had all those parts and plenty more to give me with the car.  I walked away as fast as I could so pissed that he wasted my f--king time.   3 hours total.  Read the ad again and tell me what you would expect?

I should have known the car was going to be crap because before we walked over to it, he showed me his other beautiful project car.  A 914 that he had been working on for 10 years.  He had a premonition that he was going to get into another accident.  So he reinforced this car with steel beams in the doors, front and rear trunks.  Then he took fiberglass and put two layers under the hood and in the doors.  He must of added 300 pounds to the car.  He was all proud of the paint job.  It looks like thick house paint  over a teenage acne face.  Awful.  Forgot the beer, bring me shots to make either look worthy. 

So what was his giveaway that should have kept me home?   Before driving down, he asked me what my expectations were regarding the car.  Followed by, "he could have it painted before I made it down by his good buddy who has done paint his entire life... for a few hundred more."  The guy who paints was actually there.  He said he could do it for $150 bucks.  Really???  Can you even buy the paint for that amount? 

See ya.  

Buick Has Finally Arrived

There are ways of telling when a car has finally become cool.  Chicks know what you are talking about when you name drop your ride at the bar.  Rappers put them in videos.  And cops pull you over for speeding.  Cops don't pull over everyone for speeding.  It's a car's attitude that first tips them off, followed by the "are you paying attention factor", until finally the actual digits above legal seals the deal. 

Out of the three factors above, you'd have to be smokin' the nanner peels to think Buick has ever made it into the top ten of highway demons.  First, there has been no attitude whatsoever in Buick in like 40 years... save the GNX (without a stick I might add).  Second, no one has to pay attention to cops when driving a Buick because no one actually breaks the speed limit in them, ever.  Hence there forth my conclusion on Friday, Buick has arrived. 

The new LaCrosse pictured below was pulled over for speeding on HWY 15 to Vegas.  Vegas baby.  As a matter of course, I look at every car pulled over for speeding mentally note taking that cops like foreign expensive jobs and slammed rice burners with rigged rear wings.  Yes, your fancy SUV is included quite a bit too.  But a Buick?  I looked twice and then again when the woman, who clearly didn't learn, caught up to me on the freeway.  Hmm... BMW like headlights, big grille that makes a statement and a back end that mimics the other Buick, Lexus.  Overall, not bad looking.  Squint when it approaches doing 90mph and it may even look cool.

Lexus Screws Dealer Markup and My Chance to Make Millions

In a calculated move that challenges the very idea of capitalism, the company will offer only two-year leases for the $375,000 two-seater, thereby keeping the pink slip in hand.  This comes straight from Brian Smith, vice president of sales and dealer development for Lexus division.

He said Lexus wants each customer to pay about the same price for one of the 500 LFA units, which will be powered by a 552-hp, 4.8-liter 10-cylinder engine. Once the two-year lease is up, customers can opt to buy the cars.

"If someone buys it the first month and then decides to sell it, that could be damaging for the ownership experience," Smith said. "If it is not controlled and hits the speculation market, all bets are off."

However, you can order the car exactly the way you want it and it will not be built until "bought."

"You can personalize it right down to the stitching in the car," Smith said.

Special factory trained technicians will handle service.  Lexus dealers will not have to buy any special tools or hire the techs, Lexus will handle it all.

It will be interesting to see how the market plays out after two years.  Lexus talks about specialty cars like theirs ending up in museums and not being driven.  I don't see how a lease with option to buy is going to change that.  Ok, you can't trade it for two years.  But you can still park it, wait out the two years and let the gambling begin.  It looks like dealer markup will be the only thing that suffers.  And in this market, that will be enough to piss some of them way off.

Miura SV Barn Find

This guy has got quite a collection. I spoke to Ed Biggie who lives in Florida and owns this collection. He bought the entire lot from an old friend who was downsizing to assisted living. It includes the Miura you see here plus a 1979 Porsche 930 with 38 original miles. I'll post some more footage or pictures of that car shortly. The Lotus in the background are Number 100 and Number 6. One has 4,000 miles and the other less than 1,000. Ed has been slowly bringing the cars back to life but will not be driving them. The Miura footage was shot six months ago.

Body Double

Ford has announced plans to scare the crap out of criminals with it's new transformer cop car.  To announce the new rig, Ford has solicited the former Robocop star Peter Weller to symbolize weight reduction, fuel efficiency and safety.

For information that may be deemed the real story with actual facts, check out World Car Fans.

 

V + W = XYZ PDQ

Bob Lutz confirms Cadillac CTS-V Wagon.  556 super charged horses to bring the quarter mile, alphabet and your good driving to an end Pretty Darn Quick.  Squint really hard and imagine the two pictures coming together as one or take a look at C&D for more details.

Hail to the new chief.

 

 

Selling Detroit

Thanks to reader Mr. Mase for this tip.  Check out the link below.


Selling Detroit
Time Inc. asked five Detroit ad agencies this question: Why would anyone smart, young, and creative move to or stay in Detroit? Here are the ads they created to answer that question.

The above ad was put in by Doner but is a straight nod the 1912 recruitment ad from Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922), the invincible Antarctic explorer whose fame came from his expeditions -- none of them successful -- to reach the South Pole.

Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages. Bitter cold. Long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success.

Feeling the juice to work in the Antarctic or work in D-Town? Nevertheless, when this ad was run by the polar explorer, Ernest Shackelton, men started walking across England to get to him. More than 5,000 applied.

Vote for your favorite!  They'll announce the winner Dec 2.

The Worst Stick Shift with RWD That You Want to Be Good

It's time for me to start dedicating blogs to the true nature and devotion of this magazine, stick shift and rear-wheel drive.  So why start with a pile of crap?  Why not.  I saw one for sale and started to reminisce to a time when I knew nothing about cars but thought it would be really cool to own a Maserati, especially a Biturbo one.  That's like more than one turbo, it has two!   Special?  Not really.  In the eighties, everybody was adding turbos to their cars.  Turbo was to four bangers like organic is to fruit nowadays.  Boyce!

"There's little doubt that a series of niggling problems with the first-edition Biturbos helped dash the model's early popularity. Mis-set carburetor float levels caused the engines to stumble during left turns, pickup wires in the distributors cracked from the heat, water ran through cylinder sleeves, fluids leaked from faulty seals throughout the drivetrain, fuse boxes melted, and coolant temperature warning lights came on even when engines weren't over-heating. Clutches, timing-belt tensioners and water pumps had to be redesigned early on.

It was quite disheartening. Nonetheless, it's amazing a small company like Maserati with no experience in volume production fared as well as it did with the Biturbo. In fact, while the Biturbo's failings were always annoying, they were usually not serious. And nearly all the car's bugs were eventually worked out with upgraded parts. ... Most notable of all, our experts wholeheartedly agree that the basic Biturbo engine -- the block, pistons, etc. -- is virtually indestructible."
-- Road & Track, August 1990

Hey Simpson, where's your loser mobile?!  What a piece of junk.  It's called testing.  Crap, just drive the car father than from the factory to the ship and off. 

"Maserati boss in the 1980s was none other than the headstrong Alessandro de Tomaso. He did not have the time or luxury to fully sort the early cars before launching them on the modern Maser-hungry masses. After-sales problems were considerable and together with other factors led to the Fiat takeover in 1993."
-- Auto Italia, Jan/Feb 1996

Oh right.  Well... I never liked Panteras, so maybe this is all coming full circle.

A total history on the Biturbo from CarThrottle

Okay, you all probably saw this, but I had to make a comment. When do you know you have more money than brains? When you crash your Bugatti Veyron into the lake and aren't going down with ship because you can't face yourself, or your wife, at the fact that you just threw away $1 million dollars.

Thank you, Associated Press for bringing this story and image to us...

For those of you that haven't read the story, a guy was apparently "scared" by a bird, causing him to drop the phone he was holding - which he then leaned over to grab, and turned directly into the lake.

This is dumb in so many ways, but I guess the it makes the case for handsfree phones...and that rich shitheads should get themselves a personal driver...

What Was Supposed to Be My First Car

For 25 years, the Citi range has continuously been refreshed and kept alive with innovative, appealing special and limited editions such as the Designa, CTI, Deco, Sonic, Wolf, Bafana Bafana, R Line, Xcite, Billabong and most recently the GTS.  However, Volkswagen has ended production of the Golf Mk I model in South Africa and announced that a limited edition of 1,000 Citi Mk1's (based on the Golf I) will be made as a commemorative series.  The latest and last limited edition of the Citi range, the Citi Mk1, is offered with the 1.6i engine which has a power output of 74kW at 5400rpm.

The original Rabbit was almost my first car.  My dad pushed it on me as reliable transportation that wasn't really cool.  We must have looked at seven or eight of them.  A GTi would have been money but the regular Rabbit, not so much.   Who knew that just like the Mini Cooper, some not-1st-world country would produce these things until the wheels fall off.  Both designs still hold up in my view.  The commemorative edition in black looks pretty sharp.   I'd drive one now.  Maybe we can do some VIN swapping back to 1981 and pull them stateside just like Minis. 

Craiglist, the Conclusion of the Lost Porsche

The Porsche was located about 20 minutes from me in Irvine.  I arrived at the house to find the garage door open, car gone and another car parked behind the open space.  The niece greeted me outside to inform me her uncle took the car for a spin.  Why I thought this car was a garage queen owned by a man half in the funny bag, I don't know.  I mean, are you supposed to drive when you can't remember stuff like directions or traffic laws?   Maybe I need to know more about dementia.

The uncle pulled up and looked quite young actually.  Nice full head of... oh it's a rug.  You play it well my Asian friend, you play it well.  Polite introductions aside, we did a quick walk around and then got in the car for test drive.  Everything was up to snuff aside from a trashed interior, the air not working and the brake warning light on (new pads were needed).  I spent another 30-40 minutes looking over the car and talking with the uncle.  I figured he was the final say in the sale of his car.

The niece checked in on us as well as her mom.  They were curious as to my take on the car.  The uncle had owned the car since 1991 and appeared to keep it well maintained.  The last service record he had was a new clutch, full service with valve adjustment and some bushings.  The rest of the records were in his safe... which he forgot the combination to.  The niece had to put in a call to his son to get the combination.  The title was in there too.

The niece was clearly out of her element selling this type of car.  But we all agreed that I would buy the car based on seeing the records and would come back on Saturday when they'd have the safe open.  I asked if she wanted a deposit to hold the car.  She said no and assured me the car was mine.  Why did I have a sinking feeling then?

I called her on Friday to see what time was good for her on Saturday.  2PM.  She had a call into the uncle's son in New York for the combination to the safe.  The uncle told me he originally bought the car for his son as a graduation present from doctor school.  The kid didn't want the car when he moved away and eventually bought his own Porsche in NY.  If he didn't want the car, then why was he on-fire-pissed when the niece told him they sold the car for $10K.  I'm not sure either.  But apparently it was enough for them to call off the sale on Saturday and break their word to me.

Sure, I beat myself up over not having something signed on Thursday.  I had the flippin' paperwork in my truck ready to go.  But I didn't want to push because they seemed so nice and genuine.  Would a signed piece of paper really have changed the deal?  I don't know.  All I know is that my sure fire flip was a flop and now I'm looking for another Carrera.  

B-B-D-O-N-E

If you are in the ad business, you've probably already heard.  BBDO is d-o-n-e.  BBDO is the Detroit Chrysler ad agency that was contracted for nine years.  That contract expires January 2010 when the business goes up for grabs.  About 500 people are most likely going to be shit-outta-luck at that point.  At least, the other 1,500 or so that have been sliced and diced over the years since the great merger between Bozell and BBDO had a head start. 

The writing was on the wall when Fiat took over.  BBDO has been pushed around for years since their bankruptcy and buyout.  It's not like the old days when one agency rained supreme for decades to help build a brand.  Now we sell our American companies to oversees interests so they can suck any profit out of our country.  I mean Fiat!?  Fiat was chased with a stick out of America but kept alive by Italians who created incentive to buy their nation's cars while blocking foreign imports.  They own Ferrari, Maserati and bodda-bing, puff puff poof the territory that shunned them in what used to be the largest and most influential car market in the world.  Come on, let's admit it.  We are starting to suck here.     

I really feel for the folks at BBDO.  We still have friends there and wish them all the best through what will be difficult times.  Hopefully the economy will continue it's upwards trend and Fiat will see the value in the loyalty and knowledge of some really solid people.

Craigslist "porsche targa carrera $10000"

VERY NICE
113,000 MILES
TWO DOOR
RED
LEATHER SEATS
T-TOP

PLEASE CALL

If it appears that I've been a bit distracted and haven't posted in a timely fashion, it's because I don't have dementia.  The uncle who owned this car doesn't either, as far as he knows.  The niece however confirmed, the old man was losing it.

The family needed to sell his two cars, the other being a 1985 380SL, and found Craigslist to be the best route.  I saw the ad pop up Wednesday night around 9PM and was drawn into the possibilities.  A two door Porsche with t-tops, purple window tint, something special indeed.

The girl was very nice on the phone when I called the following morning.  She said was having everyone interested in the cars over on Saturday when she would be down from LA.  Originally she posted the car for $14K but didn't get much action and reduced it to $10K for a quick sale.  It worked but was I quick enough? 

I was very cordial on the phone, since she didn't know squat about the car except one key detail.  It was a 1989 Carrera.  That would be the last year for the torsion bar suspension 911 and arguably the last year of the iconic 911 started in 1965 (don't write me to tell me it's the 993 of 1998 unless you are arguing.  Note: I did say arguably). 1 of 860 US spec Targas produced in '89 is fairly rare.  I finally asked, "how are you going to manage everybody that's coming over?"

Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner.  "You sound nice," she replied.  "I actually have to be down tomorrow (Thursday), can you meet me at 10AM?"

Could I?  Would I?  You betcha. 

Carfax, Experian Add Clunker VINs to Databases

The industry's two top vehicle history reporting companies have added to their databases vehicle identification numbers of the 700,000 trade-ins meant to be scrapped under the government's cash for clunkers program.

This is a great call.  I'm slightly surprised that a list can be generated accurately and passed on.   But all are 17 digit VINs that can properly navigate the zeros and ones of the computer world so dealer beware.  You are not going to be able to repack that Maserati Biturbo with a Chevy and sell it on to some sucker.  Oh right, maybe you will.  Because you had to be a sucker to buy a Biturbo in the first place.
 

What Chris Wants for X-Mas

Thanks to our reader Chris for this forward. Forza Motorsport 3 for Xbox with Multiscreen views at Nurburgring is killer. It reminds me of the arcade stunt driving game that we used to play up at State. It had three screens as well with loops, jumps and a shadow car. Much time and coinage wasted on that game... along with my brain that seemed to always drive better wasted after a night at the bars.

SEMA Booth Babes, More Yikes than Yum in MHO

Japlopnik brings us what is most important about going to SEMA...  to see what the half-naked babes are now peddling.  Check out their site for a full review.  

Porsche Boxster Spyder to Make World Debut in Los Angeles

Bring along your favorite proper height-to-weight ratio friend when you want to drag race the ol' Boxster S, the new Spyder shed 176 pounds while gaining 10 horses up to 320hp.  In fact, you could actually bring along a slight chubber.

Porsche AG is introducing a new top version of the Porsche Boxster, a light mid-engined roadster, which will make its world debut at the Los Angeles Motor Show in December this year. Weighing just 1,275 kg or 2,811 lb, the Boxster Spyder is the lightest model through-out the entire range of Porsche cars. The new model is entering the market in February 2010 as the third version in the Boxster range, joining the Boxster and Boxster S.

0-to-60-mph time comes is 4.6 seconds on cars equipped with the ZF dual-clutch transmission and a top speed of 166 mph with the roof down.  Sales begin in February as a 2011 model with a base price of $61,200.

Toyota To Enter LeMans Again?

Toyota confirmed that it will pull the plug on F1.  They arrived in 2002 and although they did not have any podium wins, they did have a couple of seconds in the last four races.  Who remembers number two though?  With Honda already out, this leaves Japan with no strong ties to F1 but of course opens Toyota up for another famed sportscar event, LeMans.  They last competed there in 1999.  If they do decide to return, perhaps I'll catch them in 2011.  Yes, I'm planning on going to LeMans in two years.  Yeah baby, yeah.

Porsche Just Slipped a Really Small Notch With Me

It pretty hard to knock Porsche off of the pedestal I've built for it in my garage, my magazine and in my dreams.  When a stiff wind blows, I stand at attention for the marque.  However, yesterday when completing research for the Tatra reference in our latest feature story, I came across this in Wikipedia:

"It is believed that Porsche used Tatra's designs since he was under huge pressure to design the Volkswagen quickly and cheaply. According to the book Car Wars, Adolf Hitler called the Tatra 'the kind of car I want for my highways'.  Ferdinand Porsche later admitted 'to have looked over Ledwinka's shoulders' while designing the Volkswagen.

Tatra sued Porsche for damages, and Porsche was willing to settle. However, Hitler canceled this, saying 'he would settle the matter.' When Czechoslovakia was invaded by the Nazis, the production of the T97 was immediately halted, and the lawsuit dropped. After the war, Tatra reopened the lawsuit against Volkswagen. In 1961, the matter was settled when Volkswagen paid Tatra 3,000,000 Deutsche Mark in compensation."

Dr. Porsche was no fan of war and attempted to remain as politically neutral as he could, preferring to keep focus on his cars and factory.  He was still a prisoner of war when the numbers "356" were first put down on paper.  He had been in and out of French prisons with Anton Piëch until August 1, 1947 while Karl Rabe and Louise Porsche-Piëch kept things going at Gmünd by supervising the repair of prewar VWs and VW bucket cars.

It's impossible to say how the pressures of war and Hitler would actually play on one man's need to copy or even steal.  This was not something I was familiar with until yesterday and while some of you may already have know this story, it rubbed me sideways.  This was different than hearing the president lied or cheated.  I've come to expect that from people in power.  Ford stole intermittent wiper designs and I'm sure manufacturers have been stealing technology from each other for years.  Nothing new but Dr. Porsche... how could you?                  

The Best of France and Italy Car Show

The drive into Van Nuys... ah like totally in the valley... for the Best of France and Italy Car Show wasn't particularily hot on this November 1st morning but it was still only ten o'clock. The things I hate most about car shows in California is how hot it gets by mid-day. Should I wear shorts, pants, maybe jeans and a t-shirt, big hat for the sun, baseball hat, tennis shoes, flip flops. What's a boy to do? We drove in a classic 1958 Desoto with big fins, big vinyl-couch seats and big windows. Big glorious windows that let the wind smooth out your hat-head hair and give you some cool. But the vinyl seats, well, they just make your butt sweat.

See the feature story on the magazine side here.