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December 29, 2005
Cars, etc.
Joe Sherlock has posted his end-of-the-year thoughts on the auto industry, and they are -- as always -- sharply observed.
I seriously wonder if General Motors can be saved. It seems to be pinning its hopes on the next-generation big SUVs, at a time when demand for such vehicles is waning.
Except for Corvette, the Chevrolet Division is a disaster. I personally like the looks of the Pontiac G6 but no one seems to be buying it. Pontiac discontinued its front-drive V-8 Grand Prix due to poor sales, yet GM expects the front-drive V-8 Buick Lucerne to be a home run. Buick is in death throes as is Saturn. That leaves Cadillac as GM's sole successful car brand but Caddy alone can't save GM.
It's very strange - at the beginning of the year, car buffs were criticizing GM for having invested in Fiat. Now Fiat is worth more than GM.
Yikes! Fiat bigger than GM? Dad had a Fiat 124 Sport Spider back during his "I'm-gonna-be-40-and-I-wanna-be-wild-and-free!" pre-mid-life crisis in the early '70s, a replacement for the VW Bug he derided as a piece of crap.
As I recall, Dad replaced the engine at least twice in less than as many years, with the Fiat spending more time in the shop than in the driveway. What a piece of junk. Although it did look great, sitting there with it's top down.
Dad then bought a Honda Accord, back in '78 or '79, which would have made it around the beginning of Honda's move to the up-scale compact market segment. With the exception of a supercharged Pontiac in the '90s, an unfortunate mistake never to be repeated, Dad has sworn off American cars permanently.
Although the American auto industry is better than it used to be, it still ain't as good as the foreign competition. I'd love to be able to buy American, but my money's too important to throw away just to make a statement.
We bought an Acura TL, and it's the best car I've ever had, although I only drive it on the weekend; it's the wife's during the week. Looks good, drives great, luxurious to a fault, and ten grand cheaper than the competition.
Joe also has a 'graph on his old neck of the woods, and the typically insane goings-on:
Only In Eugene, Oregon ... and you'd have to have visited there frequently or lived there to understand: The town is now home to Emerald Earth Seekers, a pagan scouting troop. One craft project: making neck cords out of green, tan and brown strands that will become part of their official SpiralScouts uniforms. "The three colors represent diversity, and we're going to braid them into unity," co-leader Val Gomes-Pereira proclaimed.
Disclosure: I lived about 35 miles from Eugene for 12 years. Eugene's Saturday Market had an odor impossible to describe. They should have bottled the thing and sold it to drive out moles from lawns.
My cousin lived in Eugene for a long time, long enough to see her formerly-Conservative synagogue sail off the edge of the Earth. Cuz, who is an observant Jew (Conservative, leaning Orthodox), was essentially driven from the administration of the temple as a result of her insistence that, well, a synagogue ought to emphasize the rituals and traditions of the Jewish faith.
It may have been the lesbian American Indian drumming ceremony on the bimah (that's the alter, for you goyim) during "services" that was the multi-culti straw that broke the camel's back.
Yeah, Eugene is an . . . interesting place.
Posted by Mike Lief at December 29, 2005 11:08 AM
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