PIMEN MAGAZINE: March 2011

The Nethercutt Museum has a section that is a replication of an early car dealership (like the photos from Shorpy)

For the Shorpy photos of dealerships, check out an interior https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFVHZW1NfqfOvtrYmXwz5B68r-dzbSeiYAWsq0xrxfZ-_oq_8MtQHk04DXm4p5APvSpkpUqB9tyO_2GKULNkuPfSlqytFiX0D1xJNQPDtgrVkmIVD3_J1bdKo_9S3fi10D3gB7bX0y2wg/s1600-h/cars8.jpg or two in this post: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2008/11/automobiles-of-20s-and-before-from.html or an exterior: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/03/impressive-car-dealershp-architecture.html

Woman motorcycle cops, I just learned why we never see them except in movies

Women aren't generally interested in being cops, so very few cops are women. Of the women that want to be cops, few want to be on patrol. Of those that patrol, few can ride a motorcycle. Of the extemely few women in law enforcement that are on patrol, and can ride a motorcycle... few of them can lift a law enforcement spec motorcycle. A race bike maybe, but not a fully equipped motorcycle the cops ride, and have to lift from the ground as a requirement of the training course for motorcycle cops. And that is a train of events that creates a scarcity of women motorcycle cops

Gas prices around the globe, March 2011

chart from http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/market-news/gas-prices-world-high-low-country-pain-pump/19895547/?icid=maing-grid7main5dl3sec1_lnk252904

via AIRINC http://www.air-inc.com

Early Reveal for Corvette-Powered Spada Codatronca Monza Speedster

Thanks to these leaked photos, we won’t have to wait for the high-end Top Marques Monaco show in mid-April to get our first taste of the new Spada Codatronca Monza. Loosely based on the Spada Codatronca TS coupe that was revealed at the same show in 2008, the Monza is a hardcore speedster model aimed primarily for weekend track racers with a very fat bank account.

The word on the street is that Kia will lift the covers off a sedan version of its new Rio series in a world premiere at the upcoming 2011 New York International Auto Show in mid-April. The new generation of the Rio was recently unveiled in hatchback form at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show earlier this month.

The shortage of parts and electricity problems in Japan in the aftermath of the Tohoku earthquake may delay the production of at least 500,000 Toyota vehicles, according to market research company Advanced Research Japan.

The world's largest carmaker may subsequently see its operating profit drop by at least 100 billion yen ($1.2 billion) in the 2010 fiscal year (ending March 31 2011) and up to 200 billion yen in the 2011 fiscal year. Auto analyst Koji Endo says any impact on production destined for export will affect earnings even more. “Hardly any cars will be built in April and a very low level of production will continue from May,” Endo was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.

Audi is joining a long line of car manufacturers that have reached out to bicycle specialists to create their own range of two wheelers. Being that the brand with the four rings is renowned for the use of aluminum in its cars, you’d expect Audi to employ the lightweight metal on its bicycle series. But that’s not the case as the Ingolstadt automaker teamed up with Renovo Design, a firm famous for its wooden frame bikes. Read more »

Buick Goes for an Emotional Brand Campaign for NCAA

Buick is sponsoring the NCAA and as part of that effort they launched a new series of inspirational videos featuring several athletes who have overcome adversity. The campaign is called the Human Highlight Reel and as part of the launch Buick bought the homepage ad unit on YouTube last Monday.

This is all part of Buick's transformation or is it reclamation as the brand moves upmarket as a premium brand. This is the segment brands like Lincoln, Acura, Infiniti and to some extent Cadillac has played in for the past couple decades. Some people also call them segment affordable luxury. It's that awkward place between general consumer and luxury consumer vehicles, essentially the brands that cannot

directly compete with the likes of Mercedes, BMW, Audi and Lexus; although, Lexus is a primary target of all these brands. Lexus breaks convention as they have beaten the Germans in some vehicle segments.

Buick wants to own the Premium space and as Cadillac continues to evolve and yes become a direct competitor with German luxury brands, now is the time for General Motors to show keeping the Buick brand, after closing several others, was a good decision. Fortunately, the products are getting better but the brand itself still has a major way to go as it assumes a more lofty aspirational brand identity.

The Human Highlight Reel campaign is a fairly typical attempt at facilitating the brand change. I'm sure the consumer research came back showing that Buick considers or the aspirational customers Buick wants to attract are free thinking (think brand agnostic), self motivated people who don't want to follow the herd. As a way to attract these consumers, the brand is trying to appeal to that person through inspirational content that shows the spirit the brand wants to embody or at least thinks its desired customers embody.

I'll admit it is personally difficult for me to see Buick as anything other than my mom's car. She had a nice, yellowish 1976 Buick Skylark coupe. It was mom's car from 1976 until the late 1980s when she finally sold it. Amazingly, it looked just as good the day she let go of it as when she bought it off the car lot. I definitely get my cleanliness when it comes to cars from my mom (my dad's Nissan Sentra had several weeks old McDonalds bags and various trash all over the floor. No wonder they got divorced.)

Fortunately, others may be more open to the Buick brand than I am and fortunately too they are making some solid products to back up the marketing change, because it doesn't matter how bad you want to attract new customers - you have to have the right products to meet the desired change.

New Study Finds Women Comprise 38.5% of U.S. Auto Sales

Americans love their cars. Whether it’s a humble family wagon, a muscle car, a luxury sedan or even a minivan: there’s nothing Americans like better than the automobile. What’s that, you say? What about women car owners?

Unsurprisingly for a species with just two genders, half the world’s population is female. And as everyone these days has to own at least one car, automakers obviously spend a lot of money catering specifically to that section of the market.

In a new study by automotive industry analyst R. L. Polk, it was found that some 38.5% of the last four year’s light vehicle registrations were made by – you guessed it – women. In “not-white” households, it’s more like 40 to 45%. It might not seem like much,

So what are the nation’s womenfolk buying? Would you be surprised to learn that nearly half of all MINI sales (47.9%) went to the fairer sex? Okay, so that’s not too surprising, but how are top five market leaders doing? Well, scroll down to see for yourself:

Audi's Ingolstadt plant produced on Wednesday the five-millionth A4 model, an Avant station wagon painted in Misano Red. The brand with the four rings started production of the A4 in Ingolstadt in 1994 and since 2007, it has also been building it at Neckarsulm. The A4 Sedan, A4 Avant, A4 allroad quattro, S4 Sedan and S4 Avant are manufactured in Ingolstadt, while the A4 Sedan is built in Neckarsulm in both plants. The A4 range takes up a high proportion of the Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm plants' production capacity. Read more »

Find of the Day: Infiniti G35 Dressed Up as a Nissan GT-R

Usually, it’s Nissan owners that want to upgrade to a model from sister company Infiniti, but in this case, it’s the other way around. Found for sale in Quebec by Carscoop reader Caroline is this Nissan GT-R wannabe based on the Infiniti G35 Coupe. From what we can tell, the owner’s budget dried out after he or she finished the front end that now resembled the R35 with a bespoke grille and front bumper assembly. Read more »

VIDEO : Watch the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Apply for Jobs

What is the best way to promote a commercial van? Well, you can follow the classic way by showing off its qualities and advantages over the competition, but that lacks originality. On the other hand, a van that writes its own letters of application and sends them to 121 potential employers (i.e. big buyers of commercial vehicles) sounds a lot more creative.

And that’s exactly what a German marketing campaign for the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter is all about. Check it out in the video below, but don't try to do that to your Sprinter, it might lose its grip -literally...

Sure, the Opel Ampera is nothing more than a Chevrolet Volt with some extremely mild cosmetic changes, but doppelgangers have always had a very special place in the wonderful world of General Motors. If Bloomberg’s inside sources are right, GM is currently looking into the development of a Buick-badged version of the plug-in hybrid Opel Ampera. According to people familiar with the project, the Buick model could go on sale in 2013, if the plans goes ahead.

Given that the styling changes over the Chevrolet Volt would be limited to a Buick-specific grille and bumper designs, one of the most significant problems GM faces is how to justify the car and its higher price tag which would be in excess of the Volt’s base MSRP of US$41,000 not including a $7,500 federal tax credit.

GM's Korean subsidiary lifted the wraps off the Mi-ray hybrid roadster concept at the 2011 Seoul Motor Show today, as a tribute to Chevrolet's 100th anniversary this year. The aggressive-looking Mi-ray (which means “future” in Korean) was developed by the GM Advanced Design Studio in Seoul and pays homage to the bow-tie brand's sports car heritage.

The roadster uses styling cues from Chevy's 1963 Monza SS and the 1962 Corvair Super Spyder, but also from aircrafts, with its aerodynamic fuselage being reminiscent of modern jet fighters. Elements like the scissor-doors, the pronounced wheel-arches and the sharp front bumper add further drama to the Mi-ray's appearance.

The car's bodywork is made of lightweight materials such as carbon fiber and carbon fiber reinforced plastics, while the turbine-shaped wheels (20-inch front/21-inch rear) are made of aluminum-carbon fiber composite.

Seeing that Volvo will be holding on to the XC90, which has been in production since 2002, for a few more years, tuning firm Heico Sportiv decided to update its styling offerings for the crossover model.

The newly developed bodykit is made from PUR-R-RIM plastic and consists of six parts. These include new front apron that replaces the series-produced central and side panels and has a stainless steel stay located in front of the cooling air outlet, side skirts that are mounted on top of the original parts and a new rear apron that accommodates the four-pipe sports exhaust system with oval chrome end tips.

Making its world premiere today at the at the Seoul Motor Show, is Kia’s Naimo electric crossover utility vehicle (CUV), a B-segment sized concept car that will serve as a test-bed for the company's EV technology. Penned by Kia's international design team in Seoul, the car takes its name from the Korean word “Ne-mo”, which is pronounced ‘Neh-mo’ and means ‘square shape.

There’s so much you can do to improve a supercar like the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, but tuning specialist Anderson Germany believes it has some goods to offer with its new program for the Italian model.

The 2011 Seoul Motor Show that runs in South Korea from March 31 to April 10 plays host to the world premiere of the all-new Hyundai Blue2 concept study. The name ‘Blue2’, which is read ‘Blue square’, is a combination of Hyundai’s sub eco-brand ‘Blue Drive’ and the number `2’ from H2, the symbol for hydrogen gas.

Codenamed HND-6, the prototype is Hyundai’s first sedan-style Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV). The four-door saloon is powered by a fuel cell electric system that delivers a stack power of 90kW or 121HP and fuel economy of 34.9km/ℓ (of hydrogen, of course), which is equal to 82mpg US and 2.9lt/100km. The concept is also equipped with low-resistance tires and alloy wheels which are designed to improve aerodynamic performance.

A new Buick concept model called the Envision will make its global debut at the Shanghai Auto Show on April 18. Jointly developed by Shanghai GM and the Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center (PATAC), the Envision is a crossover model designed for the Chinese market, although the company points out the vehicle incorporates Buick's "dynamic, fluid, quiet and comfortable" styling language.

I love the old British attitude about luxury cars.

Here in the US we needed a "name" on our luxury cars. Cadillac, Lincoln, Imperial, etc. We needed them to be big, chromed and scream "I paid a lot for this car!".

That didn't hold true for the Brits. They'd take pretty much any brand, any model, any size car and turn it into a luxury car. In many cases the manufacturer offered a luxury version of their cars (i.e BL's Vanden Plas badged cars), but when they didn't - or didn't offer one luxurious enough - "coachbuilders" often took on the task.

Coachbuilder Wood and Pickett specialized in Minis. They were known for their super luxurious interiors. They also offered a long list of options, which allowed the customer to personalize their car.

This Wood and Pickett Mini is based on a 1275 GT. While these were never sold in the US, this one is left-hand drive. I assume it came from somewhere on the European continent.

I may be in the minority here, but I always liked the front end of the 1275 GT and Clubman better than the standard Mini. The body of this one looks really nice with its Rolls Royce "Garnett" paint and 10" Minilites.

The interior is something else. The seats are Recaros and they, along with many of the interior surfaces are covered in Connelly leather. The dash is polished Walnut. In that dash are some great round Smiths gauges. (In a car like this they should have used gauges with chrome rings.) This car has power windows and even a power sunroof. The carpeting looks like - and probably is - Wilton wool. It even has a 1971 state-of-the-art AM/FM 8 Track player.

I was going to end this post by writing something like "it's too bad no one ever created cars like this in the US". Then I realized that it would have been impossible to create a car like this in the US. What would we have created? A luxury Chevy Vega or Chevette? A luxury Ford Pinto? This only works because the Mini is a fun car to begin with.

This car is being offered by Edenholm Motor Group in Scottsdale, AZ. Click here to see their ad.

Wood and Pickett is still in business, although they are a parts and restoration company now. You can find their website here.

LaJolla Motor Classic is this weekend April 3rd, here's a couple photos from the last one I made it to, and looked over some of the rarest cars

Preceding the show itself will be a book signing on Friday, April 1 and a catered lunch plus car tour of San Diego's top car collector locales on Saturday, April 2.

Tickets to the Sunday Show are $35 in advance and $40 at the entrance. In addition to general admission tickets, guests can upgrade their experience by purchasing a VIP ticket to the show for $100.

This ticket includes entrance to the show on Sunday, April 3, an event program, a commemorative poster and entrance to the VIP area with complimentary food and beverages.

Renowned author Tom Cotter will present his newest book, "The Corvette in the Barn: More Great Stories of Automotive Archaeology" at the La Jolla Historical Society’s book signing on Friday, April 1, 2011 at 5 p.m.

The book signing will be the opening event of the 2011 La Jolla Motor Car Classic. Author of nine automotive books, Cotter draws on his experience in automotive repair, used cars & parts sales, as well as his lifelong interest & experience with vintage cars.

The Corvette in the Barn is his fourth in a series of automotive archeology books, following The Cobra in the Barn, The Hemi in the Barn and The Vincent in the Barn. The 2011 Motor Car Classic will take place at the Ellen Scripps Browning Park, overlooking the renowned La Jolla Cove and featuring over 150 automobiles in 30 specialty car classes. The featured marque for this year is German Automobiles.