Thursday March 11, 2010

Putting Things In Perspective: Michael Fumento has written about the press "hysteria" over Toyota safety. Excerpt: "Although Toyota had almost 17% of total U.S. car sales in 2008, it accounted for merely 8% of total claims for deaths and injuries in the first quarter of that year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Edmunds.com found that while Toyota was third in U.S. car sales from 2001 through 2010, it was 17th in NHTSA complaints. Thus, even if every sudden-acceleration complaint proved valid, Toyotas are among the safest cars made."

Miniature Market: Eric Waiter Associates (also known as EWA Miniature Cars USA Inc.), a mail order and (later) internet retailer with a large offering of scale model vehicles, has closed. The Green Brook NJ firm has been around since 1982 and, at its peak, reportedly moved $3 million worth of little cars and other auto-related merchandise per year.

In recent years, online business via the firm's web site accounted for 75% of EWA's income. Besides selling 8,000 different model cars and subscriptions to many of the world's car and racing publications, Eric Waiter Associates also offered more than 3,500 automotive books. Customers included Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld and David Letterman. At one time, the firm reportedly had annual sales in the $3 million range.

No reason was given for the closure, although the store suffered $300,000 from storm damage in 2008. The model car business has changed greatly and as pre-boomers and boomers are getting older and downsizing, they are buying fewer models. Or have already purchased everything they want.

EWA did carry models that I couldn't find elsewhere but the firm became a last resort for me because the prices were high and, if there was a problem, the customer service was less than stellar.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, small companies were producing limited-edition, expensive models of automobiles in 1:43 scale. Described as "Hummels for guys," models were mostly of cars from 1935-1965. Brooklin, Western Models, SMTS and Mini-Marque - all based in England - dominated the market. Later, Franklin Mint and Matchbox got in the game, adding expensive little models to their line. Then the market got saturated; people had bought every model they wanted and their display cases were full. Matchbox Collectibles disappeared, Franklin Mint downsized and many of the smaller boutique producers either closed or became shadows of their former selves.

Over the past decade, a large number of model car retailers have also shuttered their premises; EWA being the latest. (permalink)

Book Review: '1960 - LBJ vs. JFK vs. Nixon: The Epic Campaign That Forged Three Presidencies' by David Pietrusza.

The 1960 presidential campaign season was dominated by three men, each of whom became president. One was assassinated, one was shamed out of office and one resigned in disgrace - just ahead of impeachment.

David Pietrusza chronicles the tales of each, the interactions, the flaws and the election itself where race and religious bigotry played major roles. 1960 was also the first presidential race of the modern era of campaigning, using media and branding. The author relates the events seemingly without bias; even after completing the book, I couldn't guess the author's political leanings.

The supporting cast is amazing: meddlesome old ... (more >>>)

Now I'll Have More Time To Work On My Book Of Kells Facsimile: Rumor has it that this is the last season for 'Numb3rs' and '24'.

Good Question: The Onion has asked, "How Will The End Of Print Journalism Affect Old Loons Who Hoard Newspapers?"

Bad Pun of the Day: The grave of Karl Marx is just another Communist plot.

Tuesday March 9, 2010

Happy Birthday, Av: On Saturday, our Toyota Avalon turned five years old.

At just over 35,000 miles, we have not encountered a single problem with this car. It has been given ordinary scheduled maintenance at the local Toyota dealer. It is garaged and, because of where we live, the Avalon doesn't see much in the way of temperature extremes or road salt. It is washed, cleaned and waxed fairly regularly.

We shopped carefully before choosing the Avalon. Time has validated our decision.

We generally keep vehicles a long time - 8 to 12 years and/or 80-100,000 miles, typically. (Our record is 28 years and 156,000 miles on our '67 Volkswagen Beetle.) Based on the good behavior of this car combined with the low miles we're putting on it, I wouldn't be surprised to find it in our garage in 2020. On the other hand, it's doubtful that I'll be around in 2020.

First Ride: On Friday, I awoke the '39 Plymouth from its long winter nap and went for a cruise. It was cold - 45 degrees - but there was some sun and I had an enjoyable ride.

Positively Scary Idea: Jerry Flint has written, "If that fellow at Fiat, Sergio Marchionne, were smart, he'd offer Bob Lutz the presidency of Chrysler."

Crossing The Aisle: About 100 traditionalist Anglican parishes across the United States have decided to convert en masse to the Roman Catholic Church. "They have voted to take up the offer made by Pope Benedict XVI in November that permits vicars and their entire congregations to defect to Rome while keeping many of their Anglican traditions, including married priests."

Friday March 5, 2010

And The Oscar Goes To: The Consumer Reports Annual Auto issue is out. For 'Best Car Overall', CR chose the Lexus LS 460L, noting that the LS "scored an outstanding 99 out of 100 in our road test, making it our highest-rated vehicle. This large cruiser pampers its passengers with a comfortable ride and luxurious driving environment, including a roomy, well-crafted, and exceptionally quiet interior. It offers a plethora of electronic amenities, including an optional self-parking system. Yet, its controls are easy to use. Although the LS isn't exactly fun to drive, its efficient 380-hp V8 and eight-speed automatic transmission deliver smooth, brisk acceleration and a relatively good 21 mpg overall, the same as a Honda Accord V6."

That's a reassuring pick for me and mirrors my experience so far. In perusing the magazine, I learned some other interesting tidbits:

• You might think that every Lexus model is the paragon of quality, but the AWD version of the Lexus GS is 'much worse than average'.

• Studying the reliability data at the back of the magazine, I was shocked to see all of Cadillac's listings awash in a sea of black dots. Every model was rated either 'worse than average' or 'much worse than average'. This is a disgrace for the brand that was once 'Standard of the World'. Maybe GM should have spent some of that CTS-V hype money on building better Caddys.

• The Jeep Wrangler Sahara Unlimited is the king of crapmobiles. With a road test score of 17, it is the lowest-rated vehicle tested. Consumers also awards it 'Worst Value'. And its reliability is 'much worse than average'.

• Of the five Least Satisfying Cars (lowest 'would you buy it again' scores from readers), three are from Chrysler and two are from General Motors. It makes me wonder if their owners ever swear like Principal Seymour Skinner on The Simpsons: "GM Chrysler!"

• The two lowest rated auto companies were GM and Chrysler. Honda and Subaru tied for the best.

• The least reliable car in 2009 was the Jaguar XF sedan with 30 problems per 100 vehicles. The best, the Toyota Yaris hatchback, had 2/100. The most troublesome car in CR's survey was the 2002 Kia Sedona with 207 problems per 100. The 2001 Chevy Monte Carlo was close behind at 202/100.

• When I look at 60mph-0 stopping distances, I figure that anything that stops in 120 feet or less has great brakes. (When CR tested a VW Beetle like mine in 1967, they didn't think much of the car but it stopped in 120 feet. The Volkswagen might have only had drum brakes, but it was a heck of a lot lighter than today's cars.) This year, the Porsche Boxster was best at 112 feet. The worst was the Chevrolet Silverado 2500 HD; it took a looooong 171 feet to come to a stop.

• CR's April issue was on newsstands by late February, indicating that Consumers Union has succumbed to the dark side in terms of calendar inflation. But that's not as bad as others: my doctor's office already had the April issue of Car & Driver last month.

I put a lot of stock in Consumer Reports' car opinions because I believe it presents pretty unbiased information and has the largest experiential database. I recommend that you pick up a copy of the April issue for reference while it's still available.

It's A Big World ... and somebody, somewhere will find this car attractive, even if you and I think it's hideous.

Presenting the Australian-made Bufori Geneva, debuting - appropriately - at the Geneva Auto Show. It is rumored that the grille flips up to make a barbie and you can cook shrimp on it.

End Of An Era: General Motors Co. Vice Chairman Bob Lutz will soon have left the building (as Elvis' announcer, the late Al Dvorin, would have said). Maximum Bob will officially retire on May 1, ending a career in the auto industry that spanned four decades and included executive posts at each of Detroit's Big Three auto makers. And BMW.

Larger than life, Lutz was always good for a quote - and often quoted by me. But being larger than life isn't always good. Just ask Andre The Giant. Lutz record was, at best, mixed and his appointment as GM's car guru was, in retrospect, not a great decision. (On the other hand, that buffoon Rick Wagoner made many other decisions which were much worse.)

Lutz's departure probably ends the era of colorful characters in the auto industry. The business has grown-up, peaked, achieved commodity-appliance status and is becoming dominated by Japanese and Koreans, who are colorful-character adverse.

Infrastructure And Building Codes Make The Difference: Last Saturday's earthquake in Chile measured 8.8. "That's nearly 500 times more powerful than Haiti's, or about one million Hiroshimas. Yet Chile's reported death toll - 711 as of this writing - was a tiny fraction of the 230,000 believed to have perished in Haiti."

Your Tax Dollars At Waste ... Again: The extension and expansion of the home buyer tax credit will probably cost taxpayers over $100,000 for each additional home sold. "Just about every economist opposed the tax credit as expensive and ineffective." Details here.

Extreme Dating: Police officers responded to a 911 report of a naked woman tied to a tree in Point Defiance Park in Tacoma. Officers determined that it was a "consensual rendezvous."

No one was arrested. I don't know why.

Apologies Should Always Be Both General And Specific: Data and search giant Google has apologized to everyone for its recent security issues. "We would like to extend our deepest apologies to each and every one of you," announced CEO Eric Schmidt, speaking from the company's Googleplex headquarters.

"Whether you're Michael Paulson who lives at 3425 Longview Terrace and makes $86,400 a year, or Jessica Goldblatt from Lynnwood, WA, who already has well-established trust issues, we at Google would just like to say how very, truly sorry we are."

The company apologized to all its users "particularly the 1,237,948 who take daily medication to combat anxiety - for causing any unnecessary distress, and he expressed regret - especially to Patricia Fort, a single mother taking care of Jordan, Sam, and Rebecca, ages 3, 7, and 9 - for not doing more to ensure that private information remains private."

Schmidt sought to reassure Americans that the company "would take all necessary steps to keep confidential information, from Social Security numbers to Gonorrhea test results, absolutely safe."

It's all from The Onion of course.

Quote of the Day is from Bill Vaughan: "It might be a good idea if the various countries of the world would occasionally swap history books, just to see what other people are doing with the same set of facts."

Wednesday March 3, 2010

Unexpected Concours: On Sunday afternoon, we stopped at the Laurelwood Brew & Public House in Battle Ground and were treated to a little car show. Parked at the restaurant were several vintage vehicles:

My grandson and I spent some time looking at the nicely-finished orange '32. This rod was full of interesting little details. We noted the orange pinstriping on the white firewall, the triple carburetors on the flathead V8, the rare Offenhauser heads and the special gearshift knob.

The knob appeared to be a one-off design made by gluing a stack of 1/4-inch thick orange and white translucent Plexiglas plates together, then chucking the sandwich in a lathe and turning it to get the correct knob profile followed by a thorough surface polish, resulting in a glossy striped-candy shift knob. Cool.

My grandson got a big kick out of examining these ancient (to him) machines - made 50-65 years before he was born.

Where's The Congressional Witch Hunt? General Motors has recalled 1.3 million Chevrolet and Pontiac models in North America for power steering failures that are tied to 14 crashes and one injury in the United States.

The NHTSA opened a separate investigation on 905,000 U.S. Cobalt models in January 2010 after receiving more than 1,100 complaints on power steering failures.

February New Vehicle Sales: Between global warming snow, a hungry fleet market and the negative Toyota publicity, it was a weird month. Overall auto sales for February were up 14% over a year ago but still a dismal 10.4 million units in seasonally-adjusted annual terms and a 3.5% decline from last month.

Toyota reported an 8.7% drop in February U.S. sales. Camry sales fell by 20%. Only 732 Avalons were sold - a decline of 65% from last year. Sales at the luxury Lexus division rose 5.2% but only 254 LS models were moved - a 10% drop.

Ford Motor Co. posted a remarkable 43% jump in February auto sales and outsold General Motors for the first time since August 1998, when GM was short of cars to sell because of a recent Flint plant strike. Ford undoubtedly grabbed sales from Toyota - the Camry-fighter Fusion model was up 116% - but a significant portion of Ford's increase came from low-margin fleet sales which increased 74%. Among brands, Ford was up 46%, Lincoln increased 19% and Mercury moved 24% more metal.

Chrysler sold 0.5% more vehicles (a mere 399 units) in February than a year ago, the first increase since December 2007. But much of Chrysler's volume (58%) came from fleet deals. "A good number of government and rental car companies held off on ordering vehicles last year and those orders are coming through now," according to Chrysler spokeswoman Kathy Graham.

GM posted a sales gain of 12%, helped substantially by fleet orders. Chevrolet reported total sales up by 32% but a mere 1% increase in retail Chevy sales. Buick reported an overall sales bump of 47%; its retail sales were up 18%. The restyled Buick LaCrosse got a retail sales boost of 100%, which may indicate where those former Toyota Avalon buyers have gone.

American Honda posted February sales of 80,671, an increase of 12.7% when compared to February 2009 results of 71,575. Honda Division was up 12.2% - mainly from strong sales of the Accord (up 41%, stolen Camry sales?). The Acura Division was up 16.7% but only 131 top-of-the-line Acura RLs were sold.

Nissan was up 29%, Subaru gained 38% and Volkswagen increased 33%. Hyundai's sales improved 11%; Kia up 2%. Sonata sales were up a whopping 58%, perhaps in part because of the Camry's woes.

Nelson Muntz Moment: Over at Ace, Purple Avenger has written, "Just got back from Big Lots while making my weekly Arugula and Wagu Beef run and they had a big stack of handsomely boxed limited run Obama commemorative plates for $2. They used to sell for $20+S&H on TV. Oh how the mighty have fallen."

Haw-Haw. (permalink)

Unemployment Blues: Preliminary estimates place the January unemployment rate in Clark County WA at 14.1%, up from the revised December rate of 13.7% and a year-ago rate of 11.6%, according to the Washington state Employment Security Department.

In related news, for the first time since the Great Depression, Americans took more aid from the government than they paid in taxes.

Quote of the Day is from W. Somerset Maugham: "Only a mediocre writer is always at his best."

Monday March 1, 2010

Wouldn't You Really Rather Have A Buick? Last week, I spotted a geezer-piloted white Chrysler 300 sedan with aftermarket Buick-style portholes installed.

Steam Workhorse: In its day, one of the most popular steam locomotives for freight trains was the Consolidation class, which featured a 2-8-0 wheel arrangement.

The first locomotive of this type was most likely built by the Pennsylvania Railroad in the mid-1860s; it had a leading axle that was rigidly attached to the frame. Later locos had a swiveling front pilot truck. The 2-8-0 design was given a major boost in 1875 when the PRR made it the railroad's standard freight locomotive. The same year, the Erie Railroad began replacing its 4-4-0s in freight service with Consolidations. Railroads found that the 2-8-0 could move trains twice as heavy for half the cost of earlier locos.

Total U.S. production of the Consolidation class has been estimated at more than 33,000 locomotives. About a third were built for export to other countries.

In 2000, I bought an O-gauge Pennsylvania Express starter set made by MTH Electric Trains, which included a PRR Consolidation steam locomotive. While such a loco normally hauls a freight consist, it looked so good that last year I purchased some old-style passenger cars for it. In early 2010, I produced a video short (running time - 1:51 min.) of my Consolidation loco and passenger consist in action:

In Other Train News ... I'm pleased to report that we successfully moved the train layout from the living room to its secure storage spot in the garage without incident (unlike last year). After ten years, I think we've developed a system. I had spent the earlier part of the week putting away the trains, vehicles, buildings, mountain and tunnel portals.

Another Pro-Manufacturing Voice: Having spent most of my working life in manufacturing, I am keenly aware of the importance of manufacturing to the health and well-being of the U.S. And have penned several editorials about it.

Last year, I wrote, "Manufacturing is vital to the economy of the United States because it is a generator of wealth. By taking low cost raw materials (wood, baking flour, steel) and processing it to produce much more expensive items (furniture, cakes, automobiles) creates profit. This in turn creates wealth - for individuals and for a nation.

Furthermore, if the nation's products are unique and interesting enough that people in other countries want to buy them, fresh capital is brought into the United States. Such capital can used to expand capacity, improve products offerings and increase efficiency - these things make our offerings even more competitive and attractive in the world market."

Alan Mulally, President & CEO of Ford Motor Company, has taken up the cause. He has said, "We are fighting for the soul of America right now, because we have not held manufacturing as a high priority in the United States. And I think sometimes it's maybe because we define manufacturing with a small 'm'. But when you look at the R&D that we invest in the United States, 70% of all the R&D investment in the United States comes from manufacturing. It's all the science, it's the enabling technology, it's the engineering, it's the manufacturing. So, when we think of manufacturing ... this is manufacturing with a big 'M'. And this is about whether the United States, whether the United States can compete with the best in the world where everybody else around the world will do whatever it takes to get into manufacturing. Because it is the answer and part of the solution for energy independence, energy security, national defense sustainability … it's so important."

In an earlier article, I proposed four changes which needed to be implemented to revitalize manufacturing in the U.S. Sadly, nothing has yet been done.

Five Steps To Return U.S. Prosperity: Describing himself as a conservative Republican from the hills of upstate New York, Tim Knight at Jumping In Pools has written, "The Obama administration is leading our economic future into a brick wall.

With their economic stimulus that has sent us deeper into debt, government budgets growing an alarming pace and socialistic proposals being accepted on a regular basis, all economic hope of recovering before Republicans retake Washington is out of the question. However ...." (more >>>)

Rest In Peace: Tom 'T-Bone' Wolk, the very talented bass guitarist, producer and musical director has died of a heart attack at age 58.

From 1986 to 1992, he was the on-camera bassist with the Saturday Night Live house band, often jamming with G.E. Smith during musical bridges. T-Bone had been playing bass guitar with Daryl Hall and John Oates since 1981. He also worked with Carly Simon, co-producing 'Tired of Being Blonde', as well as being music director/co-music producer of her acclaimed HBO Special 'Live from Martha's Vineyard'.

Reality Imitates The Simpsons: The UK's Daily Mail has reported, "A monitor that deciphers babies' cries, distinguishing a sleepy whimper from a hungry wail, is being developed. The cry translator could also alert parents to hunger, the need for a nappy change or desire for a cuddle."

In a 1992 episode of The Simpsons, Homer's half-brother Herb Powell develops the first baby translator, a device that will interpret babies' cries and mumbles into plain speech. Homer agrees to fund the project and when Herb's business takes off, he buys Homer and his whole family appropriate gifts to thank them.

Catfight! A Delta Connection flight from Rochester, NY to Atlanta was canceled after two female flight attendants "got into a fist fight." According to a passenger, "The pilot decided to kick everyone off the plane."

"They told us we had to get off the plane because stewardesses were fighting," said another passenger.

Rowwwrrrrr!

Quote Of The Day is from John McCain: "It seems to me that President Carter has earned his place as if not the worst president in history, the worst president of the 20th Century."

Footnote: Sean Hannity has written, "Former President Jimmy Carter is fuming. Given his disastrous record in office you would think that he would be happy to be compared to the Anointed One, but apparently President Obama has made such a mess that even Carter is now distancing himself.

When foreign policy analyst Walter Russell Meade compared the two in the journal Foreign Affairs, Carter submitted a letter to the editor noting this displeasure, stating, "I resent Meade's use of such phrases as, 'In the worst scenario turn him (Obama) into a new Jimmy Carter' to describe my service.""