TIRED.

By Peter M. DeLorenzo

Detroit.

"Pete, do you ever get tired, of the driving?"

"No."

"Lately, I sometimes get very tired, you know? Very tired."

That was Yves Montand – as French racing driver Jean-Pierre Sarti – talking to James Garner – as American racing driver Pete Aron – in the 1966 film "Grand Prix" after a particularly devastating Monaco Grand Prix, which left one of their fellow drivers, Brian Bedford – as British racing driver Scott Stoddard – badly injured and clinging to life in the hospital. That brief conversation encapsulated the euphoric highs and the devastating lows of the sport – two factors very much still applicable today.

Montand’s character was the veteran lead Ferrari driver, someone who had seen too much death and destruction, and who was growing tired with each new incident. Garner’s character was the confident younger driver, albeit a bit cocky, and too hell-bent on success to really hear what “Jean-Pierre Sarti” was saying. This conversation occurred right at the end of the first main sequence of the movie, and by the end of the riveting film, “Pete Aron” would find out what the French Grand Prix driver was talking about.

I have often said that when I grew tired – really tired – of creating the content for this website, I would hang up my spurs and move on to other writing pursuits. I haven’t reached that point, at least not yet. I must admit, I am exhausted all of the time, too often zombie-like because of little or no sleep and the high expectations that we have established with our readers, which is the direct result of the extraordinarily high editorial standards we have set for ourselves. It would be easy to re-run more columns because, after all, we have going on 22 years of content to choose from, but that doesn’t sit well with us. Yes, we do it occasionally, but “phoning it in” has never been part of our modus operandi around here.

But, given all of that, however, I am tired of a few things of late. Very tired. To wit?

I am tired of the Ford PR hype machine running amuck almost daily. The constant bleating, ably assisted by the Detroit Free Press – which seems to be an active arm of Ford PR by the way – seems to be designed to take our attention from the problems behind the curtain, such as launch issues and quality problems. In other words, the fundamentals of this business. 

Ask any supplier – at least the ones willing to speak – about Ford’s incessant product launch problems, and it’s clear that systemic failure haunts the automaker like a black cloud. And surprisingly, it’s usually not the launch itself, but it’s the run-up to the launch – about 36-48 months out – when things start to go bad. This is the traditional Ford “We’re the Smartest People in the Room and Don’t You Forget It” phase, wherein Ford operatives demand that suppliers design and engineer their products the “Ford Way,” because as the OEM, “we’re inherently smarter than anything you can come up with anyway.” 

Except for the fact that this isn’t remotely the case. The “Ford Way” is in fact a Highway to Hell based on how not to do things right, a slap-dash, haphazard death march of incompetence that grows exponentially until the company is left with reworking and fixing football fields of cars and trucks after they're built. 

What is the “Ford Way” you might ask? The “Ford Way” revolves around the company belief that not only is it smarter than its suppliers, but any solution the suppliers come up with Ford can not only do it better and quicker, but cheaper too. And, of course, the reality is that anytime Ford touches anything it takes twice as long and costs twice as much (if not more). Until Ford accepts the fact that it’s this fundamental issue that is holding the company back, it will never get out of its two steps forward – and five back – dance of mediocrity. And until the esteemed automotive media stops giving Ford a free pass for just showing up, the Fog of Misinformation will continue.

But sure, let’s hype that electric SUV/Crossover like it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread – as if no BEV existed before it – and let’s keep beating the drums suggesting that their CEO walks on water (as if). That way, we can forget about that little problem of F150 windshields coming loose.

There are countless other things that I am tired of too. Here are just a few. The Swirling Maelstrom that defines Tesla for instance, as the hype vortex continues to suck all rational thought out of previously rational people. I am encouraged, however, that with each passing day formidable BEV competitors are emerging that are going to turn St. Elon’s blissful daze into a certified living nightmare (see this week’s “On The Table” -WG). It can’t happen soon enough, in fact.

While I’m at it, I am tired of GM not getting enough credit for its pioneering BEV, the Chevrolet Bolt. A 259-mile range, in case you haven’t noticed, is a real-world number that works. Yes, the Bolt represents GM’s yester-tech EV technology as compared to the stunning array of Ultium battery-powered vehicles that are coming, but GM has been in-market with these cars for a long time. With a little marketing help – as opposed to none at all – the Bolt EV and Bolt EUV will provide a perfect transition to GM’s next BEV chapter. 

And finally, I am tired of the hype for hype’s sake. It’s rampant everywhere, but best exemplified in the five-second “news” bursts on social media. No follow-up reading bothered with, not even an attempt at understanding the issues at hand; just ready-fire-aim, all day and each moment of every day. 

Living in this world requires a modicum of participation, of digging through The Fog of Misinformation to get at the facts, and then, spending time to understand what’s real and what isn’t. I don’t think it’s too much to ask.

I am reminded of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, because the words still resonate today, if not more so:

Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

I am especially tired of these hollow tales told by idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

And that’s the High-Electron Truth for this week.

Jim Garner in "Grand Prix."