ON THE TABLE

October 10, 2012

 Sergio Marchionne. Editor-in-Chief's Note: The Fiat-Chrysler CEO will revise his projected two-year growth plans for the automaker at the end of the month. The new projections will reflect the ongoing slump in European auto sales and the fact that his previous plans were gulp fiction based on everything falling into place just so. Expect the new projections to be sobering. - PMD

 Olivier Francois. Editor-in-Chief's Note: Get ready for a torrent of media stories about the new Ram Truck advertising, which will slavishly praise Olivier "I'm a genius, just ask me" Francois for being genius-like. By the way, the big, showy Ram 1500 launch ad called "Moving Heaven and Earth" - ? It's overblown, overwrought, overhyped and completely underwhelming. We want Sam Elliott to go back to being in the movies. Seeing him on camera in a Ram truck ad is a major league downer. - PMD

Selim Bingol. GM's PR Chief (and another Ed Whitacre AT&T recruit) will inherit Robert Ferguson's duties by expanding his role as U.S. vice president of communications to include public policy. Really? Yikes.

Toyota. Toyota has announced the automobile industry's single biggest recall since 1996 - 7.43 million vehicles worldwide - including 2.47 million in the U. S. The recall is to fix faulty power window switches. That's gonna leave a mark.

Editor's Note: The Lingenfelter Collection is hosting a special Open House on Sunday, October 14, 2012 from 12 - 5 p.m. to support Breast Cancer Awareness Month and to celebrate new additions to the car collection. Ken Lingenfelter is the owner of the Lingenfelter Collection, a 200-car collection featuring some of the most historically significant race cars, muscle cars, Corvettes and exotics from around the world. Started in the 1980s, this personal collection is a visual display of Ken’s passion for everything automotive. The ever-changing group of cars currently features the 1955 Duntov Corvette mule car, a Bugatti Veyron, an Enzo Ferrari and a Lamborghini Reventόn. Although the collection is private, it will be opened on Sunday to benefit breast cancer research charities.  Attendees will have a chance to see the newest additions to the Lingenfelter Collection, including the Lingenfelter COPO Camaro.  The Lingenfelter COPO Camaro recently made an impressive 8.64 quarter-mile pass at 159.12 mph after a few modifications from the engine experts at Lingenfelter Performance Engineering. In addition, McLaren will be displaying their new MP4-12C supercar at the Open House. Admission is free, however donations will be accepted for breast cancer research. The Lingenfelter Collection is at 7819 Lochlin Dr., Brighton, MI 48116. For more information on The Lingenfelter Collection, visit www.lingenfeltercollection.com or call 248.486.5342. - WG

Editor-in-Chief's Note: Tom Pease, our West Coast correspondent, checks in with another "Letter from L.A." this week. Enjoy. - PMD

Letter from L.A.

By Tom Pease

Beverly Hills. I will never understand how these decisions (GM's appointment of a lobbyist to lead the global marketing efforts for Cadillac) are made at the high level. Is there a course in Business School that removes common sense and adds in a heaping helping of self-aggrandizing bullshit? Because choosing someone whose claim to fame is that bastion of customer satisfaction that is AT&T ("Can you hear me now? No? We don't care...") to try to convince Europe that Cadillac is a player seems to be, shall I put it civilly, an odd choice? Especially since they've only got the ATS out recently, haven't got a diesel ready in any model, haven't gotten the new CTS or ELR out and only have a viable S-Class competitor vaguely on the horizon?

Instead of another half-assed attempt at entering the European market, perhaps they should work on cementing their comeback here in the states. Like actively trying to recruit some dealers. If I want to have my STS serviced the closest dealer is (the venerable, if inconvenient) Casa de Cadillac in the Valley. I was in my wealthy, college town hometown last weekend and was shocked to find that the local Cadillac dealer was gone. No more Burke-Whittaker, but I could always drive the 30 miles to Hartford for warranty service.

Makes that trip over Coldwater to the Valley seem like nothing...

And from the land of the $5 gallon, that's saying something. Having filled up the tank of my new (to me) STS I have new appreciation of the woes of SoCal motorists who drive family sized cars. Of course, I don't have a family that has to be at seven different destinations at various points in the city with various bits of kid gear, so I can leave the car in the garage and either give myself over to the tender mercies of the MTA or use shanks mare. I don't think all-electric will ever be the answer. As much as I am looking forward to the debut of the Cadillac ELR, I can only hope that GM is working on a tall wagon/crossover-type vehicle that uses the Voltec system, and can get it in at a reasonable price. Because even if it's only the first 30 miles running on electric only, it would be gravy in the land of the five-dollar gallon.

(Photos Courtesy of Goodguys Rod & Custom Association)
Tom Gloy's Brizio Street Rods-built ‘32 Ford roadster has won the Goodguys 2012 Tank’s Hot Rod of the Year award at the Goodguys 2^nd WIX Filters Speedway Nationals. Gloy’s low flying roadster was born during a conversation with Roy Brizio a few years back as the two drove to the Bonneville Salt Flats. Gloy wanted a channeled ’32 Ford roadster but Brizio cautioned that “Channeled ’32 Fords aren’t very comfortable and when channeled they can look too wide.” He also told Gloy how the driver often “sat up too high” in the channeled cars he’d seen over the years. So that was the challenge – to build a channeled, traditionally styled roadster in which Tom could sit low and drive fast.

To redesign the car’s front end, Brizio and his build team narrowed the cowl, grill and windshield. They also sectioned the radiator shell 3 ½”. To get Tom down low in the seat, the floorboards were radically lowered, more so than any other hot rod to roll out of Brizio’s South San Francisco stable.

Out back, the rear quarters were filled and smoothed and the rear wheels tucked tightly against the channeled body. The custom Brizio chassis features torsion bar suspension from Moal Coachbuilders and a classic hot rod rake courtesy of the chromed Magnum 5-inch dropped axle. Custom made 18 and 16-inch ET knockoff wheels are enhanced with custom machined caliper brackets designed to fill the backside of the wheels (inspired by Bonneville style Moon discs).

 

The roadster has a 302-inch, Hilborn EFI Ford crate motor and Tremec 5-speed gearbox. Brakes are courtesy of Wilwood brakes.

Bay area body & paint specialist Darryl Hollenbeck of Vintage Color Studio spent many hours perfecting the car’s classic finish – a stunning mid-50’s Porsche blue which perfectly contrasts the red leather interior stitched by Sid Chavers.

Gloy's racing career spanned more than 25 years, winning a Trans Am Championship as well as a Formula Atlantic title. He drove in six IndyCar races including a start in the 1984 Indy 500 where he finished 14th. Last weekend, Gloy, who lives in Lake Tahoe, drove the car over 2,000 miles from his home in Nevada to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to collect his award.

Editor-in-Chief's Note: This week's "quick take" has us in the 2013 Mercedes-Benz E550 4MATIC Sedan. That Mercedes-Benz can put together a fine luxury sedan is not news. And the E550 is everything you'd expect from the German luxury automaker. The vault-like solidity is back, the confident composure is there and the impression that this is a solid piece of work? It's all there. M-B interiors have undergone a forced transformation due to the fact that the competition is getting better at every turn, and this E550's interior was handsome with its Black Ash wood and Almond leather. And the Cuprite Brown paint was stunning in all lights and exceedingly attractive. Driving the E550 4MATIC was really good for the most part. The engine was responsively excellent in typical Mercedes V8 fashion and the thing just went down the road like a big German luxury car should. I loved that part of it at least. But I experienced part throttle stumbles and sluggish take-offs, too, and that wasn't so good. Why is that, by the way? Bad electronic programming? I really don't want to hear an explanation, it just shouldn't happen. Ever. And I can tell you with complete certainty that I would never order the Driver Assistance package. It's annoyingly obtrusive, irritating and did I say annoying? The "Active Lane Keeping Assist" in particular made me want to pull over to the side of the road, pull out a 44 magnum and put the thing out of its misery. I realize the German auto engineer mindset is obsessed with telling us what to do and how to do it via a gamut of driver aids, but unless you are a card-carrying member of the Rolling Unconscious, save yourself the money, because the option well and truly blows. Other than that, I liked the E550 4MATIC just fine.  - PMD

2013 Mercedes-Benz E550 4MATIC Sedan: $71,430 ($60,400 Base Price; Cuprite Brown, $720; Almond Leather interior; Black Ash wood trim; 4.6-liter Direct Injected Biturbo V8 with 402HP and 443 lbs-ft of torque; 7-speed automatic gearbox with Shift Paddles; 4MATIC Permanent All-Wheel-Drive; Electromechanical Power Steering; AGILITY CONTROL suspension; 18" alloy wheels with all-season tires; 115 volt AC power outlet, $115; Split folding rear seats, $440; Active Multi-contour driver seat with massage, $660; Heated steering wheel, $490; rear deck spoiler, $300; Premium 1 Package - COMMAND system with Navigation, Real-time traffic data, MB Apps-mbrace2, Voice control, Music register, harmon/kardon Logic 7 Surround Sound System, SiriusXM with six-month service, iPod/MP3 media interface, Heated front seats, Power rear-window sunshade, Rear view camera - $4,450; Driver Assistance Package - DISTRONIC PLUS (with PRE-SAFE brake), Active blind spot assist, Active lane keeping assist - $2950; Destination and delivery, $905)

We've added a new dimension to our "Quick Take" auto reviews by discussing brand image, in which we will ask ourselves a simple question: Does the vehicle we're driving adhere to the stated image of the brand? Or is it just a placeholder until they figure it out? We will be very clear as to what we think here, unlike some of the manufacturers in question who aren't quite sure as to who they are and what they stand for. - PMD

Adherence to Brand Image: That Mercedes-Benz is trying really, really hard to get its mojo back is to be applauded. After squandering the famous "Engineered Like No Other Car in the World" ad theme many moons ago and then careening through its dismal "more approachable" adventure when it built a slew of crappy cars, Mercedes has decided that "The Best or Nothing" will be its mantra from now on. And that is good, as long as they consistently live up to it. The E550 4MATIC adheres to Gottlieb Daimler's words quite well, but the reality for Mercedes-Benz is that the automotive landscape has changed. They had it goin' on for a long, long time with little serious competition to worry about in their heyday. Now? They have to scrape and claw for every little bit of market share in a luxury-performance segment that is simply overrun with stellar competitors. Mercedes needs to keep its head down and focus on the things that they can control, and that is building vehicles that live up to Gottlieb Daimler's words. They seem to have real trouble doing that, however, regularly finding themselves distracted in niches they shouldn't be playing in and so on, so for now it's a giant "we'll see." - PMD

THE ALL-NEW AE STORE IS HERE!

CLICK ON THE PIC BELOW TO CHECK IT OUT!

See another live episode of "Autoline After Hours" with hosts John McElroy, from Autoline Detroit, and Peter De Lorenzo, The Autoextremist, and guests this Thursday evening, at 7:00PM EDT at www.autolinedetroit.tv.

By the way, if you'd like to subscribe to the Autoline After Hours podcasts, click on the following links:

Subscribe via iTunes:

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=311421319

Subscribe via RSS:

http://www.autolinedetroit.tv/podcasts/feeds/afterhours-audio.xml