Rants

GOODBYE TO ALL THAT.

2026-10-04T12:41:49Z

Editor's Note: This week, Peter paints his bleakest picture yet of the U.S. auto industry, which is careening toward also-ran status on the world stage. In On The Table BMW debuts its new 3 Series in gasoline and EV form, Honda has updated the Civic Type R for 2027, and Hyundai has unveiled its new Tucson. Our video this week presents Peter Brock and the Cobra Daytona Coupe. Our AE Song of the Week is "Espresso" by Sabrina Carpenter. In Fumes, Peter unveils Part VI of his series, "Famous Front Rows." And finally, in The Line, we have F1 results from the Bahrain Grand Prix (which was relocated to Sepang in Malaysia), MotoGP from Japan, and the season finale of the IMSA Series - Petit Le Mans - from Road Atlanta. Remember, you can read past issues by scrolling down and clicking on "Next 1 Entries." Onward! -WG

By Peter M. DeLorenzo

Detroit. It’s clear to me that we’ve reached an inflection point in this “Swirling Maelstrom” that I call the U.S. auto industry. Things aren’t making sense because up is down and down is up, and there’s no rhyme or reason to anything anymore.

In the midst of the most extreme affordability crisis car buying consumers in this country have faced in the last 25 years, domestic automakers are churning out $85,000 (and much more) pickups and SUVs with impunity, counting on the fact that they’ll keep making money on those luxury behemoths while hoping to figure out the lower end of the market on the fly.

As if.

While this is happening, these same automakers are insisting that they haven’t ignored the concept of affordability and that “it won’t be long now!” before domestic dealer lots are crammed with under-$40,000 vehicles. But, needless to say, their credibility is highly suspect.

The evidence? Jim “I’m a genius just ask me” Farley, the Ford CEO – who flits between cable TV appearances on an endless quest for self-aggrandizement and with his “look at me, I’m so cool!” podcasts – is promising that the “Fathom” wonder truck will be the greatest thing since sliced bread when it hits the market next year. Which, considering the source, is highly questionable. Remember, this is from a guy who has promised the moon and the stars before and fell flat on his face. After all, how many “Model T moments” from one company can there be before people just ignore his boastful – and flat-out delusional – promises altogether? Farley is saying his little “wonder truck” will be out next year. That’s a laugh. It might appear on December 31, 2027, in pre-production form, only to suffer an endless series of delays and recalls. Ready. Set. Oh, never mind.

I’ve covered this tedious situation before, but Chairman Bill Ford is well and truly hamstrung with Farley, because the company’s bench strength is nonexistent. So, we’re all collectively stuck with this self-promoting blowhard until he retires to Carmel with his hundreds of millions. Good Riddance can’t happen soon enough. But at least he was crowned “2026 Automotive News Industry Leader of the Year” so there’s that.

And there’s more, there’s always more. Ford and General Motors operatives blatantly cozied up to the Conman-in-Chief to get defense contract business, as well as getting the mileage standards rolled back to where they were during the previous administration. And they succeeded on both counts. But to that I say, be careful what you wish for, because the cost of achieving those goals was astronomical.

These same leaders blithely sat by, there was that unforgettable – and cringeworthy – picture of Farley preening in the oval office as the Stumblebum-in-Chief touted his tariffs, which have only served to decimate the auto industry and destroy longstanding relationships with this country’s most trusted trading partners. It has been, quite simply, a debacle of almost incalculable proportion. Again, to see these corporate leaders whore themselves out was excruciating and inexcusable.

GM’s case was particularly disturbing, as the company destroyed what little shred of credibility it had left when they cozied up to Dear Leader and allowed him to bring his festering Dead Air Circus to Milford. It was simply unconscionable to me and by far the lowest point in the corporation’s history. And what did CEO Mary Barra get for that, exactly? A slew of defense contracts that may or not prove to be lucrative – after all, this is the U.S. government, we’re talking about – so please spare me the idea of a “sure thing,” especially while “partnering” with this chaotic administration. When the final tally is written about Barra’s tenure, this episode will have irrevocably besmirched her reputation.

The other dimension to this “be careful what you ask for” thing is the rollback of the fuel economy standards. It’s no secret that this is the most short-sighted and painfully reactionary administration in this country’s history, so this dimwitted action was not entirely unexpected. After all, Dear Leader is locked in a sick 1980s-time warp, which will only serve to park this auto industry in neutral, while the rest of the global auto industry blows by it, hammer down.

I have predicted of late that this country’s auto industry will end up looking a lot like Great Britain’s, which is basically a cottage industry. But in retrospect, I was being woefully optimistic. The rollback of these standards will effectively destroy the U.S. auto industry within a decade, relegating it to permanent also-ran status.

As I said in my preamble last week, things are rapidly spinning out of control. I retained a shred of optimism as recently as a few weeks ago. Now? We’re watching as an excruciatingly slow train wreck unfolds before our eyes.

And what about all of the glorious high-performance cars we have access to now? Doesn’t that count for something? Sure, it does. And they will look really good at Pebble Beach fifteen years from now as symbols of a perpetually mismanaged industry that was swallowed whole by the harsh realities of a changed world.

It’s just beyond infuriating at this point

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

Editor's Note: Click on "Next 1 Entries" at the bottom of this page to see previous issues. - WG

IT WAS GOOD. AND HARD. AND FAST, PART II

2026-09-27T11:50:04Z

Editor's Note: This week, after a searing"middle-of-the-night" mini-Rant from Peter, we reprise a special, unvarnished missive about his incomparable high-octane life. On The Table, speaking of a brand that is completely out of ideas, Nissan operatives unveiled a concept that honors T-Tops! Ugh. Our video this week takes a look at the career of Dave MacDonald. Our AE Song of the Week is the classic "Choosin' Texas" by Ella Langley. In Fumes, Peter gives us Part V of his series, "Famous Front Rows." And finally, in The Line, we have F1 results from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix from Baku. Remember, you can read past issues by scrolling down and clicking on "Next 1 Entries." Enjoy! -WG

Editor's Note: Every now and then, it's good to hit the PAUSE button. This week is one of those times (as in, Stop the world - I want to get off). I received the following mini-Rant in a middle-of-the-night email from Peter. “Things are rapidly spinning out of control. The so-called ‘leaders’ of this nation are doing everything in their power to screw things up, and their serial incompetence is costing this country, dearly. The auto industry in particular is caught between a rock and a hard place, careening between piss-poor, capricious decisions in Washington compounded by a tariff strategy that’s completely nonsensical, decimating any semblance of planning or predictability for these manufacturers. U.S. car companies are locking in plans that may result in profits in the short term, but meanwhile the global picture is coming into focus. And it doesn’t include our domestic manufacturers, which are careening toward becoming a localized cottage industry, aided and abetted by an administration hell-bent on punting the U.S. auto industry back to the Stone Age, as they roll back fuel economy standards. What a joke. And, if that isn't enough, VW is talking in-car gaming and Genesis is touting in-car home theater, I mean, WTF is going on? It just pisses me off.” Nice to wake up to, no? So, in the meantime, I thought it would be a good time for Peter to cool off, and to reprise a special, unvarnished missive from The Autoextremist, and a look inside his incomparable high-octane life. Enjoy! -WG

By Peter M. DeLorenzo

Detroit. I am the passenger. I am a Technicolor Dream Cat riding this kaleidoscope of life. I’ve seen some things, indeed, more than most. Magic things. Loud things. Fast things.

I once looked up at a ghostly tornado finger drifting overhead in Flint. It was ominous and beyond scary. A lot of people died that day too. But then, a few years later, I saw my first 707 hanging in the sky. It was majestic and powerful. And the Jet Age was on.

I got introduced to horsepower, side pipes and chrome, and I happily got sucked in. Corvettes and 409s, GTOs and Starfires. And Sting Rays. Forever Sting Rays. And in the midst of all that, I bought and rebuilt a Bug go-kart, had the Mac 6 engine rebuilt and hopped-up, painted it bright orange, and spent one summer terrorizing our neighborhood. I dubbed it the Orange Juicer Mk 1, and found out how fast 60 mph felt that low to the ground. It was everything, all the time.

It was good. And hard. And fast.

Woodward wasn’t just a thing. It was Life. In 0 to 100 bursts. It all came alive at night. Open pipes, rumbles and roars, dares and boasts. The drive-ins smelled like burning rubber and French fries. Girls leaned and preened. Boys slouched and crouched. To get a better look. Riding shotgun with my brother, it was a world that called me.

From there, it was riding with The Maestro, Bill Mitchell – our neighbor – in the original Sting Ray racer, thinking it was normal and knowing it was not. But I soaked it all in anyway, and it was just the beginning. There were Mako Sharks, Monza Super Spyders and GTs; and XP-700 Corvettes and XP-400 Pontiacs. And on and on. It was all stunning to look at. And be in. The grass was greener and the sky was bluer, and the sounds were intoxicating.

It was good. And hard. And fast.

And then came the Cobras. All lithe and tiny next to the Corvettes. And a new kind of fast. Blistering, neck-snapping fast. A two-car-length jump off the line fast. Open-top roadsters lurking for a fight. It was the smell of English leather and burning tennis shoes when running the Cobras in the cool of the night. And believe me, there was nothing else like it.

And then road racing came calling. My brother Tony’s driver school at Watkins Glen in June of ’64. In a Tuxedo Black Sting Ray that had been personally massaged by Zora and his troops, complete with straight pipes to install when we got there. Riding on Goodyear Blue Streaks the whole way. The Glen Motor Court beckoned, but the track was the thing. That Sting Ray barked and blurted out speed, and Tony was the fastest man there. There was no turning back at that point.

It was good. And hard. And fast.

Next up was a “A” Sedan Corvair that we flat-towed all over hell and back. Starting out at our local Waterford Hills raceway, and then on to Nelson Ledges, Mid-Ohio, Lime Rock, Vineland, Grayling and even a 12-Hour endurance race at Marlboro, Maryland. But that was just the pre-game.

The real stuff was coming in 1967. We ordered what turned out to be the first of just 20 427 L88 Corvette Sting Rays built that year. I remember when we went to Hanley Dawson Chevrolet in Detroit to see the bad-ass Sting Ray for the first time. It had just been unloaded off the truck and it was stunning. We hopped in it just to see, and suspicions were conformed: It was a wild, unruly beast. We dismantled it over a weekend and had a roll bar welded-in, installed a set of American Torq-Thrust racing wheels and bolted-on some OK Kustom headers. We added a few other tweaks and we were off to our first SCCA Regional race in Wilmot Hills, Wisconsin. In “A” Production. There was a 427 Cobra there, too, but it was no match for our Super Sting Ray. Tony won going away. And then it was off to the races, literally: Mid-Ohio, Road America, Blackhawk Farms, Nelson Ledges, Watkins Glen, Daytona.

It was good. And hard. And fast.

And then everything changed. Owens/Corning Fiberglas became our sponsor. And the races got bigger. Twenty-two straight wins in “A” Production, with twelve 1-2 finishes with teammate Jerry Thompson, who would go on to win the National Championship in ‘69. Then it was the major endurance races with GT class wins at Daytona, Sebring and Watkins Glen. And the Trans-Am series in 1970 with Camaros, and in 1971 with ex-Bud Moore factory Mustangs. And finally, the infamous Budd-sponsored Corvette in 1973, with Tony sitting on the pole at Sebring for the all-GT 12-hour race that year.

They were fleeting moments in time, but they were unforgettable. Pouring a bucket of water over my head after gas spilled all over me during a pit stop at Marlboro. Waking up in the cab of our semi on the Ohio Turnpike in the middle of the night on the way to Lime Rock only to see that my brother was fast asleep as we were running diagonally off the left shoulder and headed for the median. I yelled. We made it. But that was just the way it was back then. No sleep for days on end getting the cars ready – to the point of exhaustion – only to then have to load up and drive to the next race. It was relentless.

Then there was the infamous Pontiac street race in 1974. It was a dubious track at best, with haybales and guardrails offering little protection for the drivers, or the crowd. Tony was passing a slower car during the race and the driver moved over on him. The move forced Tony into some haybales, turned him sideways, causing his Corvette to barrel roll 20 feet in the air taking out a light pole. That impact with the light pole saved him from going into a spectator area of at least one hundred people. I was a fair distance away when I saw a flash of his car going end-over-end (after the light pole impact) down the straightway on Wide Track avenue. I sprinted to get there, only to see the car burst into a fireball. I arrived to see my brother laying on the ground. He had gotten out in time, barely a moment before the car burst into flames. It was only later that we found out that a guy who was keeping the car in Florida in-between Daytona races had removed the check-valve in the fuel cell “to save weight.” Idiot.

Needless to say, that was a dark day, especially since a reporter at the event called one of my dad’s GM PR staffers – my mom and dad were at an outdoor party with his entire PR staff – and informed him that Tony had been killed in Pontiac. (He never saw Tony get out of the car.) My dad’s right-hand man informed my parents that they had to go to St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Pontiac immediately. They feared the worse, of course. So that was me at the hospital seeing the ashen look on my parents’ faces when they arrived. I took them to see my brother on a gurney in the hallway; he was alert but battered and extremely sore. My parents were relieved, and so was I.

But that was only part of my ride on this kaleidoscope of life. There was the time we built a prototype ’69 L88 Corvette roadster (in black, of course) called the “Daytona GT” with the intention of selling customer versions. It was basically one of our racing cars equipped with a few more comfort options. We even got display space at Cobo Hall during the Auto Show to show it off. But the pressures of running the racing team meant that the project was shelved. The Corvette was eventually rebuilt to fully race-prepared OCF racing team specs, given a psychedelic paint job and sold to a German Lufthansa pilot who used it to terrorize local and national racing events over there. But before that all happened, I was tasked with keeping it in running order and exercised. Needless to say, I relished that assignment and I happily terrorized the area with open headers on my “exercise” jaunts.

It was good. And hard. And fast.

Then I veered off on my own and became enchanted with the Porsche 911. I bought a used ’75 911S and proceeded to drive that car all over hell and as fast as it would go. I spun-out once going 100 mph on a two-lane road because unbeknownst to me the shoulder had just been graded and there was dirt all over the road in a left-hand sweeper. I came to a stop with the rear wheels right on the edge of a 20-foot drop. And then there was the infamous late-afternoon run from East Lansing to Ann Arbor that I did flat-out, rarely going below 100 mph the entire distance. I made it to my destination in just under 30 minutes, door-to-door. And it is just as vivid for me today as it was when I did it. Fleeting moments indeed.

And then there was the time during my ad career that I spent shooting commercials at the Nurburgring Nordschleife, for a full week. We were short performance drivers, so I spent the week assisting with the driving while tearing around the circuit for the filming. And if that wasn’t special enough, NATO jets were using the wide-open terrain to practice high-speed, low-level maneuvers. How low? We could see the helmet marking on the pilots as they banked over us at tree-top level. It was a week-long orgy of speed that I will never forget.

The point of all this? I’m still a Technicolor Dream Cat riding this kaleidoscope of life. This column gave you fleeting glimpses of some fleeting glimpses. There’s plenty more to tell and a long, long way to go. And I'm not close to being finished.

It was good. And hard. And fast. Indeed.

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

Editor's Note: Click on "Next 1 Entries" at the bottom of this page to see previous issues. - WG

PORSCHE WANTS ITS DEALERS AND CUSTOMERS TO WAIT A MINUTE. AS IF.

2026-09-20T11:54:30Z

Editor's Note: This week, Peter takes on Porsche, with its staggering product lineup and even more staggering prices, as it attempts to find its place in a market where both its customers and dealers have run out of patience. On The Table, Stellantis goes to its rapidly depleting well again with its Jeep brand, and MINI (remember it?) has come up with yet another special edition for a brand that was completely out of ideas ten years ago. Our video this week is a riveting interview with the great Dan Gurney. Our AE Song of the Week is the classic "Radar Love" by Golden Earring. In Fumes, Peter gives us Part IV of his new series, "Famous Front Rows." And finally, in The Line, we have MotoGP results from the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria, and IMSA SportsCar Championship results from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. Remember, you can read past issues by scrolling down and clicking on "Next 1 Entries." Onward! -WG

By Peter M. DeLorenzo

Detroit. Porsche CEO Michael Leiters wants everyone, meaning its U.S. dealers and their customers, to wait a minute while the brand figures out just what the hell it's doing in the midst of the capricious tariffs put in by Dear Leader, self-inflicted product missteps and other assorted chaotic influences in the current market.

The only problem for Leiters is this fundamental question: Who has that kind of time? Remember, this is a company that made the fateful decision to turn its best-selling vehicle by far in this market – the Macan – to an EV-only offering for 2027. Dealers and customers are apoplectic, as in WTF are you guys thinking?

Leiters & Co. have thrown themselves at the mercy of their dealers, asking them for their patience, while promising an all-new ICE/Hybrid Macan sometime in 2028. What does that mean, realistically? It means that Porsche won’t be bringing a new, non-EV Macan to this market for two years from right now. Oh, Porsche operatives will insist that it will get here sooner than that, but who’s kidding whom? In the present state of the business, that’s an eternity.

And let’s not forget, Porsche just dropped what I considered to be the best driver’s vehicle it made – the 718 – completely this year, which was more than a head-scratcher; it was just flat-out stupid.

So, what’s left for Porsche dealers to push on the Porsche faithful? There’s a brand-new 2027 Cayenne, which thankfully is available in both EV and ICE versions. There’s the Taycan EV, which admittedly is an acquired taste for a lot of Porsche intenders, the Panamera four-door sedan, and a larger-than-Cayenne SUV aimed at the U.S. and Chinese markets. (Needless to say, I’m not enthused about that vehicle in the least.) And last but not least, there’s the cornerstone of the Porsche brand, the 911.

Leiters promises to boost the 911 even more, which is hard to believe, since the model proliferation under the 911 nameplate is almost incomprehensible at this point.

Then there’s Porsche pricing. We all know that the Porsche option list is a monument to unbridled greed and unrepentant usurious behavior, but it’s the base prices that have now reached a new level of out-of-control, and there doesn’t seem to be any hope of stopping the increases.

To give you an example, the base price of the Cayenne Electric is $109,000, and it goes all the way up to the Cayenne Turbo Electric at $163,000; except I saw one at my local Porsche dealer showroom that stickered for $198,000. Ouch, Baby.

And then there’s the Taycan, which starts at $111,900 (good luck finding one for that) and goes all the way up to the Taycan Turbo GT with Weissach Package, which goes for $243,700.

The Panamera starts at $113,000 and goes all the way up to the Panamera Turbo SE-Hybrid for $245,200.

The aforementioned Macan Electric starts at $80,300 (again, good luck finding a “base” model), and the Macan Turbo Electric starts at $112,700.

And last, but not least, there's the Porsche 911, which starts at $135,500, but you’ll never find a base 911 on a dealer lot; you’d have to order one that way. Other 911 pricing lowlights?

The 911Carrera T starts at $148,000.

The 911 Carrera S starts at $156,200.

The 911 Carrera 4S starts at $164,500.

The 911 Carrera S with manual transmission starts at $167,100.

The 911 Carrera GTS starts at $181,000.

The 911 Carrera 4 GTS starts at $189,300.

The 911 Cabriolet starts at $149,400, and other variants go all the way up to the 911 Carrera 4 GTS cabriolet at $203,300.

The 911 Targa 4S starts at $180,200 and goes up to $203,300.

The 911 GT3 starts at $235,800.

The 911 GT3 S/C starts at $273,000.

The 911 Turbo S starts at $270,300.

The 911 Turbo S Cabriolet starts at $284,300.

And finally, there’s the 911 GT3 90 F.A. Porsche, which starts at a whopping $387,000.

Why bother to go through this exercise? To demonstrate the fact that Mr. Leiters and his fellow Porsche operatives have their hands full. The days of unimpeachable belief and blind allegiance to the Porsche brand are over, for customers and dealers alike. With the average Porsche priced at $100,000 and up (you can forget about the base price of the Macan EV, that’s merely a suggestion), Porsche dealers are coming to the realization that the Porsche brand has now ascended to a level of luxury pricing that as of just a few years ago would have been unheard of.

For Porsche intenders and shoppers, once a vehicle crosses the $100,000 threshold, there are more and more options to consider. As for Porsche’s electric offerings in particular, they are merely present and accounted for compared to the new BMW iX3 SUV and i3 sport sedan, whose advanced architectures are setting new standards for the entire industry. Those machines will offer an entirely new – and better – option for serious EV buyers.

But the reality is even worse than that for Porsche and the VW Group. At Porsche, demand is declining rapidly – especially in China – and sharply increased costs are forcing CEO Michael Leiters to take drastic steps to restore profitability. How drastic? Porsche is cutting almost 9,000 jobs to stay afloat. And remember, this is the same company that once boasted that it was "the most profitable car company in the world."

To be sure, I will get pushback from the hardcore Porsche enthusiasts, but the reality is that they are few and far between now. The 911 is one thing, and I’m only semi-confident Porsche will not screw that up. But Porsche’s other offerings are another thing altogether. They are grasping for attention in a market with a painfully short attention span, while offering models that are now pretty much ordinary, other than the Porsche name and crest, especially now that they’re sharing more and more underneath with other vehicles in the VW Group (aka Audi).

So, Porsche headman Leiters' plea to its dealers and its dwindling faithful to be patient while the company figures things out would be laughable if it weren’t so obviously pathetic.

In a drastically altered automotive world, the collective response from potential buyers about the idea of being patient with Porsche is, “As If.”

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

Editor's Note: Click on "Next 1 Entries" at the bottom of this page to see previous issues. - WG

RUNNING DOWN A DREAM, PART III.

2026-09-13T12:19:13Z

Editor's Note: This week, we travel in Peter's dream to the year 2035 as he details the state of the industry. As PMD says at the end, "the memorable moments in life are fleeting and precious, and still worth pursuing." A hopeful sentiment - no, as we mark the 25th anniversary of 9/11, make that an impassioned plea. No one is guaranteed a tomorrow. And at the end of the Rant, Peter reminds us once again that the future of our nation - our collective tomorrow - is up to all of us. In On The Table, we feature the latest monster hot-rod from Mercedes-AMG, the Mercedes-AMG CLE 646 Spezialanfertigung. There are only 30 of them and they're all sold, of course, but it's still worth a look because of the stated attitude behind the car. Our video this week is a revealing look at Bruce McLaren, complete with details about his life that you probably weren't aware of. Our AE Song of the Week is "One Headlight" by The Wallflowers. In Fumes, Peter gives us Part III of his new series, "Famous Front Rows." And finally, in The Line, we have F1 results from the brand new "Madring" circuit in Madrid, Spain, and the MotoGP Red Bull Grand Prix of San Marino. Remember, you can read past issues by scrolling down and clicking on "Next 1 Entries." We're on it! -WG

By Peter M. DeLorenzo

Detroit. Deep in the throes of another sleepless night, delirious with the knowledge that it was the early hours of a Sunday morning and I still hadn’t written a column or even thought about it, the urgent, searing guitar riffs of one of Mr. Petty’s signature songs took over my thoughts.

And suddenly, it was 2035.

I stepped out into the darkness, wandering around in a world that looked, well, remarkably as it looks today. I noticed a few stray autonomous vehicles doing their rote routines, with their blue LEDs indicating what they were. But they were – not surprisingly – insignificant, part of the thrum of a new reality, but only a bit part.

And as the darkness lightened slightly, I started to see the ebb and flow of traffic on Woodward Avenue. Some avant-garde designs were noticeable – aero shapes punctuated by their wildly diverse lighting systems – but they were clearly full-zoot luxury machines. Other cars were decidedly less adventurous, a mix of small- to medium-sized conveyances that really didn’t look all that much different from today. And yes, the traffic flow was dominated by SUV-like vehicles still, the American consumer having long ago abandoned any thought of going back to a typical passenger car.

The sounds were diverse too. A mix of BEV whine, hybrids and yes, full-on ICE machines as well. It was obvious that the prognostications of a complete transition to BEVs were, of course, dead wrong. The “Grand Transition” had stalled out mightily by 2026, as the perpetual negatives associated with BEVs – the excruciatingly slow-to-develop infrastructure combined with the costly realities – crushed the BEV dreams of those convinced that it was The Future. The result? Scores of consumers happily embracing ICE vehicles for two reasons: cost and the freedom of movement with no limitations, abetted by the chaotic regime in Washington that finally came to an end at the end of 2028. The manufacturers who continued to hone their ICE offerings were reaping the financial rewards because of it, but the international push to EVs continued, and foreign manufacturers were slowly but surely leaving our domestic-based manufacturers in the dust.

To wit? GM and Ford were hanging by a thread, churning out ICE/Hybrid SUVs, crossovers and pickup trucks just to stay alive. The next “Model T” moment put forth by Ford CEO Jim “I’m a genius, just ask me” Farley defined by a wave of “breakthrough” affordable EV pickups and their derivatives was an abject failure. Plagued by launch delays and recurring quality issues, combined with the inevitable stiff price increases, the “new-wave” Fords were languishing on dealer lots because of too much hype and a ho-hum response from consumers. And Farley had finally been exited from the company because of it.

Mary Barra’s seemingly impressive ability to ride whichever way the prevailing winds were blowing in the industry finally ran out of gas, and she was exited too. GM was pretty much where it was at the end of 2026, with its unimpressive and decreasing market share, and a plethora of ICE vehicles that, though attractive, were battered by high prices and flagging consumer interest.

The bright spots for Ford and GM? The pint-sized Ford Pinto EV (developed after Farley’s departure), a limited range – 200-miles – urban commuter selling for $20k; and the GMC Jimmy, another pint-sized vehicle – this one in SUV guise – again with a limited range of 200 miles and selling for $20k.

What of Stellantis? The company pushed its muscle-head agenda to the limit but reached the point of diminishing returns by 2028. The muscle cars started piling up on dealer lots and the company floundered badly because of it. Now? The company lives on its hybrid Ram pickup trucks as it continues to throw product up against the wall to see what sticks. The big – and ongoing – train wreck for Stellantis was the continued mishandling of Jeep. Wrong products at the wrong time punctuated by high prices have damn-near crippled the brand. The “trail-rated” Jeep EVs launched dead in the water because of limited range and crushingly high prices. The “big” Jeeps continue, but pricing has become untenable, with $100k becoming the going ask. And of course, Detroit being Detroit, the Stellantis entry in the new – and all of a sudden red-hot – “pint-sized” market is the only Jeep EV to ever succeed: The on-road-only Jeepster for, you guessed it, $20K, with the obligatory 200-mile urban-only range.

The Toyota conglomerate now includes Honda and Mazda – run as completely separate entities – as well as Subaru. And Lexus survives only as a fully-electric brand after Toyota bought out the assets of Tesla, which had gone bankrupt five years earlier, a direct result of the “Muskian Nightmare” as St. Elon’s runaway ego ran the company right into the ground. Other news? Peugeot-Citroën and Renault solidified into one company, with Nissan being absorbed and rebranded as Datsun worldwide and Infiniti having been finally put to sleep, for good.

Daimler and BMW had entered into a joint operating agreement; both Mercedes and BMW retained product independence in the new German company and were joined by Aston Martin, which finally ran out of time and money trying to keep its luxury brand afloat.

The VW Group accomplished a shockingly successful turnaround, and its interest in taking over Ford has become a hot thing. Ford’s perpetually late product cadence, ineffectual leadership and prodigious ability to piss away billions has finally caught up with the denizens of Dearborn. And for the first time in its history Ford was no longer controlled by the Ford family, although the family still maintained a significant – but drastically reduced (from 40 to 20 percent) – presence in terms of stock and influence. Was Ford going to survive as an independent entity much longer? Don’t count on it.

As for the Chinese and Korean manufacturers, their presence had been growing to the point that the mainstream BEV market was dominated by their brands, as their market share grew exponentially. And because of that, this country's domestic brands were becoming less and less viable. It was indeed a different automotive world.

Another thing I noticed as I walked past the local Speedway gas station/convenience store on Woodward on the way home was that a row of quick-charging stations for BEVs sat empty, but the gas pumps were already busy.

I found myself back at my computer and I began to peruse some of the stories. The ongoing story (since 2026) that AI was set to kill us all, and soon, had become like any day now, soon. Why should we be surprised? Why should we have expected that those soulless, cash-sucking zombies in Silicon Valley would be responsible stewards of anything connected to the health and well-being of society? Left to their own devices, they conducted themselves exactly like we thought they would: self-absorbed societal pariahs with no redeeming value whatsoever. The brutally painful result? Criminal behavior and flat-out greed equal doomsday scenarios that have our collective heads in a guillotine. Not Good doesn’t even remotely cover it.

The most amazing thing I discovered in my future dream was that all of the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on the development of autonomous vehicles had turned out to be the biggest financial disaster in automotive history. The focus on autonomous conveyances and the promise of a Utopian future of no-involvement ride sharing and rent-by-the-minute usage had devolved into lawyered-up tech companies fighting over a few big municipal fleets, contracts with the U. S. Post Office and very narrowly-focused utilization for the elderly. The Masters from The Valley of Silicon were incredulous that consumers just didn’t buy into their all-encompassing brilliance.

The wholesale consumer acceptance of mass usage rental vehicles turned out to be a mirage, as real people with real lives convincingly reminded the brainiacs that the reality of mass ride sharing just doesn’t work in the real world, where the comings and goings of an average family will never fit into a perfect little autonomous box.

The brightening sky was now getting dark again, as storm clouds rolled in from the west. I went out and fired up The Beast one more time, just to remind myself that the memorable moments in life are fleeting and precious, and still worth pursuing.

And then I woke up and began writing...

I’ll leave it to Mr. Petty to close this one out:

I rolled on as the sky grew dark
I put the pedal down to make some time
There’s something good waitin’ down this road
I’m pickin’ up whatever’s mine

I'm runnin' down a dream
That never would've come to me
Workin' on a mystery, goin' wherever it leads
Runnin' down a dream

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

Editor-in-Chief’s Note: I couldn’t let last week’s events go by without some final thoughts. On the 25th anniversary of one of this country’s darkest hours, and amid the somber – and profoundly sad – realization that too many people have forgotten about the events of that horrible day, patriotism seems to have been ill-defined and marginalized by the cabal of miscreants currently at the helm of our government entities in Washington, D.C. Needless to say, this is blatantly offensive and an insult to every American who cares deeply about our country. The chaos unfolding on a daily basis and propelling the downward spiral that threatens to swallow this country's future whole is simply inexcusable and unforgivable. And as I said last week, it’s up to all of us to prevent this behavior from destroying this great nation from within. (Read Peter’s incendiary Rant from last week here. -WG)

Editor's Note: Click on "Next 1 Entries" at the bottom of this page to see previous issues. - WG

STICK TO CARS, NO. 427 REDUX.

2026-09-06T12:43:40Z

Editor's Note: This week, Peter's Editor-in-Chief's Note really says it all. The gloves are off. In On The Table, we feature the new Audi A2 E-tron, which, sadly, is not coming to the U.S. And we take in the dedication of the famed Laguna Seca Corkscrew in Alex Zanardi's honor. Then, we review a couple of "last-mile" transportation oddities from Hyundai. Our video this week features the famed Targa Florio, "the craziest race in the world." Our AE Song of the Week is "Shiny Happy People" by R.E.M and we have a new "Letter From L.A." from Tom Pease. In Fumes, Peter gives us Part II of his new series, "Famous Front Rows." And finally, in The Line, we have F1 results from Monza and INDYCAR results from the season finale at Laguna Seca. Remember, you can read past issues by scrolling down and clicking on "Next 1 Entries." Onward! -WG

Editor-in-Chief's Note: I expected blowbacks from members of a certain political spectrum over last week's column, but they were few and far between. Now, part of that is due to the fact that those card-carrying "DTIs" (Defenders of The Indefensible) have long since abandoned this website, permanently pegging me as someone who is "not one of them." They would be correct. The fact of the matter is that there is a growing majority of people in our great nation who are sick to their stomachs over the ongoing trainwreck in Washington, D.C., led by the current occupant of the White House who is hands down the most maliciously incompetent - and corrupt - person ever to reside there. We're sick of the constant lies, the inexcusable and outrageous conduct of the goons of ICE (cheerfully endorsed by this administration); the long list of serially incompetent people occupying positions of power (FBI, Justice, Defense, Treasury, et al.) who make our lives miserable each and every day; the bumbling and stumbling mishandling of the war with Iran, which has disrupted the financial well-being of everyday Americans; the nonsensical tariffs, which have only served to drive prices up for all of us and wreak havoc on our trading partners around the world; the belligerent mistreatment of our longest and closest ally to the north - Canada - which is simply unconscionable; the constant focus on all the wrong things by literally everyone in this so-called administration; the destruction of our enduring relationships with key allies around the world, which may never recover because of the lingering stench of the wildly inappropriate conduct by this administration; the constant grifting; the ridiculous "ballroom"; the desecration of the Kennedy Center; the ongoing environmental carnage; the criminal destruction of our health care system; and now, the flat-out offensive "arch," which will be a visual atrocity that will have to be removed immediately starting on January 20, 2029. And the list goes on and on. Will this country ever recover from this? I remain cautiously optimistic, but it will take years if not decades to right all the wrongs dumped on us by the embarrassing Orange Dictator and his bootlicking minions. People of all stripes around this great nation are sick and tired of it. All of it. Voting is the least we can do, but clearly that isn't going to be enough. The time has come for all of us to speak out loudly and defy every inch of the fascist regime currently occupying Washington, D.C. These people are out to destroy this great country from within, and we cannot sit by and let that happen. I'm pissed-off. We should all be pissed-off. Which is why we're re-running last week's column. And that's the High-Octane Truth for this Labor Day week. -PMD

By Peter M. DeLorenzo

Detroit. This column was supposed to be about the churning and burning going on in the global auto industry right now. Wandering through the latest auto news over the last week, it’s clear to me that some parts of the global industry are on the precipice of disaster.

The overcapacity in China will require a shakeout to that home auto industry of gargantuan proportions, with companies simply ceasing to exist left and right. Even then, it probably won’t be enough. Our friend and regular economics correspondent, Tom Bartkiewicz, passed along an article in Nikkei Asia that revealed some shocking details about current conditions in the Chinese market.

To wit: “China’s automotive industry is reaching extreme levels of saturation: at least eight automakers unveiled new models on a single day in July, hoping to keep up sales by flooding the market in an increasingly relentless showdown. BYD Executive Vice President He Zhiqi told Nikkei Asia that 542 new models were released between January and May alone, an average of 3.6 per day, and called the pace of competition ‘brutal’.”

3.6 per day? That’s unfathomable, and not in the future Ford pickup kind of way.

And more: “The sheer competitiveness of China’s automotive market is without parallel and can seem irrational, but there are basic structural factors underpinning it. One of the biggest is domestic manufacturing capacity and its underutilization: national capacity sits at around 55 million units per year against local demand of just 23 million. Assembly lines, broadly speaking, are running at less than half capacity; this leaves automakers trying to maximize utilization by either releasing a flurry of new models or leaning on global exports.”

So far, government officials are taking a “hands off’ approach in order to let the shakeout happen at its own pace. In the meantime, Chinese automakers will continue to flood global markets with their products.

And then there’s the situation in the German auto industry, where the implosion going on is historic. The VW Group alone is talking about eliminating 140,000 jobs, related to a 500,000-unit cut in the company's European capacity. The impact of this will launch tentacles throughout the German economy, with more than a million jobs possibly at stake. Product consolidation will accelerate, with Audi and Porsche sharing underpinnings on some models, and BMW and Mercedes-Benz will be facing economic devastation as well. This is truly unprecedented and an example of the turmoil roiling these traditionally solid automakers. In other words, a giant Wiener schnitzel of Not Good.

So, that’s the current situation those in the auto industry find themselves today. It’s a tightrope walk between survival and utter devastation. What about here in the U.S.? The U.S.-based automakers, as I’ve said previously, are rolling along, pushing 84-month financing while churning out pickups and SUVs (plus muscle cars and trucks in Stellantis’ case) with kind of a “What, Us Worry?” and “It Won’t Be Long Now!” warped mantra. As in “Why fret about today when tomorrow is going to be fan-frickin-tastic!” or something like that.

We all know that’s not how it’s going to play out. Mistakes will be made and missteps will occur. (We can’t wait for the production delays to emerge with Ford’s greatest-thing-since-sliced-bread, un-Fathom-able pickup. -WG) And the tides will soon change in the political spectrum as well, which means chaos and uncertainty will continue unabated.

But compounding all of this chaos facing the U.S.-based automakers, of course, is the absurd tariff situation between the U.S. and Canada brought on by the Clown-in-Chief (aka The Global Embarrassment) in Washington. (And please note: if you’re still a supporter of the Asshole-in-Chief you need to move along now, and by the way, BooFuckingHoo.)

Arbitrary, capricious, dumb and stupid, the alleged trade “war” with Canada is flat-out ridiculous. There’s no legitimate rhyme or reason for any of it, and it’s simply absurd that one deluded idiot in Washington is causing so much havoc in the auto industry and in this region.

And that’s right, this region. We Michiganders have zero animosity for our northern neighbors. In fact, we relish the fact that Canadians are our friends and neighbors. The cringeworthy clown in the oval office has embarrassed Americans and Canadians alike with this needlessly antagonistic trade “war,” and we don’t want anything to do with it.

And by the way, the CEOs of Ford and GM should be embarrassed about how they so blatently sucked-up to the Orange Dictator. What has that play gotten them, exactly? Nothing but grief, aggravation and devastating hits to their bottom lines. But I have no sympathy for either one of them, especially when Jim “I’m a genius just ask me” Farley preened for the cameras in the Oval Office like he was the asshole’s best friend. As far as I’m concerned, you both got what you deserved. You play with a snake, you’re bound to get bit. Welcome to the political cesspool that is Washington, D.C., you both came off looking like rubes wandering around in the big city.

As I mentioned in the first sentence of my column, I was planning to stick with comments on the industry today, but when the Dumbledick in the Oval Office announced that he was renaming Lake Ontario – by executive order, no less – “Lake America” that was a level of stupidity too far.

This just in: It will remain Lake Ontario long after this walking, talking embarrassment waddles back to Mar-a-Lago, but of course huge amounts of money will have to be expended to amend all of the changes this ridiculous order will cause. I apologize to our Canadian neighbors for being subjected to this unmitigated bullshit.

Oh, and by the way, in anticipation of the hate mail sure to come our way? “Stick to cars?” Well, BooFuckingWho, Part II. Because being forced to live under the reign of the Flatulant King has become simply intolerable and untenable. I will be speaking out and speaking out often from now on. This is beyond fucking ridiculous.

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

Editor's Note: Click on "Next 1 Entries" at the bottom of this page to see previous issues. - WG

STICK TO CARS, NO. 427.

2026-08-30T11:57:21Z

Editor's Note: This week, Peter discusses an industry that is on a tightrope walk between survival and utter devastation. And he also has a few searing comments about the insanity that continues in Washington, D.C. In On The Table, we look at the latest "It Won't Be Long Now!" Hydrogen effort from Hyundai, plus changes to the 2027 Chevrolet Equinox. Our video this week features the late Jim Pace in a Shadow DN4 at Road America. Our AE Song of the Week is "9 To 5" by the iconic Dolly Parton. In Fumes, Peter begins a new series, "Famous Front Rows." And finally, in The Line, we have MotoGP from the Michelin GP of Aragon and INDYCAR results from The Milwaukee Mile. Remember, you can read past issues by scrolling down and clicking on "Next 1 Entries." We're on it! -WG

By Peter M. DeLorenzo

3.6 per day? That’s unfathomable, and not in the future Ford pickup kind of way.

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

Editor's Note: Click on "Next 1 Entries" at the bottom of this page to see previous issues. - WG

LAST TRAIN TO SMALLVILLE.

2026-08-23T11:53:06Z

Editor's Note: This week, Peter has some follow-up comments about the absurd auction activity last week in Monterey. He then presents a dismal look at the forced contraction of the U.S. auto industry and what the future holds for the "Little 3." In On The Table, the wave of giant SUVs continues with the latest entry from Genesis. And we take a look at the all-new Mercedes-Benz C-Class. Our video this week features the Can-Am series and Team McLaren's sensatopnal 1969 season. Our AE Song of the Week is "Butterfly" by Crazy Town with an assist from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. In Fumes, Peter brings us the next chapter in his new series, "The Racing Machines." And finally, in The Line, we have F1 results from the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, INDYCAR results from Washington, D.C., and IMSA GT results from Virginia. Remember, you can read past issues by scrolling down and clicking on "Next 1 Entries." Onward! -WG

By Peter M. DeLorenzo

Detroit. The blowback from the luxury gorging during Monterey Car Week is going strong, fueled by the uproarious auction prices that are still resonating and reverberating throughout the car world. $42 million for one of the original Shelby American Daytona Cobra Coupes. $18 million for one of the original Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sports. And, of course, the $40 million paid for the Ferrari Luce No. 1, which was just astonishingly absurd.

As I said last week, the whole auction thing, or as I refer to it, the "Circus of Artificial Enthusiasm," is a bad joke. There is no excitement generated by these auctions, just a gloomy emptiness hanging in the air over machines that once brimmed with passion and creativity, but are now relegated to marks on a ledger, which will count toward a tally that will be used to promote next year's installment of the "circus."

This calculated feeding frenzy manufactured by the auto auction houses has graduated from being merely tedious to a threat to car enthusiasm itself.

And what can be done about it? Absolutely nothing. Do you think you’ll see that Cobra Daytona Coupe or that Corvette Grand Sport at a vintage racing event near you? You may see them parked in a paddock somewhere, but the likelihood of seeing them actually running on a track – like at the Goodwood Revival – is slim and none. And that’s really depressing.

The future for these machines is grim. They were paraded on stage – souls removed – only to end up in antiseptic, "perfect" garages until they're prepared for another auction down the road. This isn't about the car culture or the sheer passion once associated with these automobiles. Now, it's the living, breathing embodiment of Greed is Good.

Don’t assume I take any of this lightly in the least, because I certainly do not. It’s pretty much up to enthusiasts currently present and accounted for to keep the whole thing going. And therein lies the problem. A cursory glance at the participants in the “Dream Cruise” exposed an obvious dilemma: I’d say 95 percent of people who brought their cars to Woodward Ave. were well into their 60s and above. I saw more “for sale” signs on cars than ever before, because it’s clear that there’s a huge number of people “aging out” of the hobby.

So, then what? Are there enough people getting into the hobby to keep it going? That’s debatable, to be sure. I think it will be far more splintered than it even is today, which makes the whole auction thing even more frustrating.

Why? Because the tech bros and other newly-minted billionaires have no sense of history, no sense of what matters, no perspective on basically anything when it comes to cars. They just think acquiring a car that a lot of people lust after is just part of their reason for being. Soulless, moneyed people perpetuating the vacuous, soulless atmosphere promoted by the auction houses. It’s a perfect match. And a giant gavel of Not Good.

Getting back to the current state of the car business, the prevailing winds of “It Won’t Be Long Now!” are blowing hard and strong. 2030 is shaping up to be a huge year. Just ask the Jimmy Farley-led minions at Ford, who insist that they will be the “affordability” kings. Or GM. Or Stellantis. These companies’ operatives are tripping all over themselves suggesting that 2030 will bring new-found product dominance and certain profitability. That’s assuming, of course, that their various product blitzes will exist in a hermetically-sealed vacuum.

This just in: that’s always the assumption. It reminds me of the auto show press extravaganzas of old when each manufacturer got up to say that because of its product brilliance, it would be increasing sales enough to claim 25 percent of the market, or a market segment. This was, of course, followed by the other manufacturers claiming the exact same thing. And then, when you went to tally-up the day’s percentages, the market would have been expanded by 350 percent!

Nicely done, you unmitigated hacks.

The reality for this business is substantially uglier at this very moment in time, however. China Inc. has overproduced cars to a shocking degree, which means that the inevitable “dumping” of these cut-price machines threatens to destroy home markets around the globe.

The European manufacturers – Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, VW – are reeling, with wholesale job cuts and product reductions being undertaken just to keep afloat. And don’t forget that these manufacturers are continuing to develop their EV technologies, which is absolutely killing their bottom lines, in order to meet ever more restrictive environmental regulations. The only auto companies standing hard on the gas are Toyota, Honda and the Korean manufacturers, Hyundai and Kia, which doesn't bode well for what's left of the Little 3.

The automobile industry is permanently mired in chaos. In fact, chaos has become the new standard operating procedure across the globe. A two-step forward and five-back dance of mediocrity. A kaleidoscope of occasional winning product guesses, combined with out-and-out product failures, and the obligatory and massive overpromising of what’s to come (I’m looking at you, Ford). This is an otherwise moribund industry clamoring for something – anything – to be optimistic about. And that’s nevergonnahappendotcom by the way, especially here in this market.

The serial incompetents in Washington have made sure of that by decimating this nation’s home auto industry with egregiously damaging tariffs that have effectively closed off this market to innovation and forward thinking. The Canada debacle, completely orchestrated by the stumblebums in Washington, being Example No. 1. (That’s not to suggest that the True Believers will stop trying and innovating, because they won’t, which offers some degree of comfort.) As I’ve said before, this is a rerun of the decline of the British Motor Industry, only now it’s the U.S. auto industry we’re talking about. We’re going to be just fine with our giant SUVs and pickup trucks (Right. – WG), which are suited to this market and this market only, while the rest of the global auto industry leaves us standing like a house by the side of the road.

We’re witnessing the forced contraction of the U.S. auto industry right before our eyes. Any thought that our industry will recover somehow and someway with the next administration is just wishful thinking by individuals who should know better. (As for the burgeoning defense contract optimism? Good luck with that.) The reality is that it will take a decade or more for the U.S. auto industry to recover from the miscreants in Washington, but I should point out that this isn’t a given; instead, it will be a giant “We'll See.”

The automobile obviously means more to me than it does for most. I grew up immersed in this business, and the passionate endeavor surrounding the creation of automotive art has never stopped being interesting for me. And it is very much art, by the way. Emotionally involving and undeniably compelling mechanical art that not only takes us where we want to go but moves us in ways that still touches our souls deeply. As I have reminded our readers often, I for one will never forget the essence of the machine, and what makes it a living, breathing mechanical conduit of our hopes and dreams.

Which makes all of this that much more painful for me.

In the midst of what’s going on, I must admit that my interest in this whole thing ranges from Jimi’s “still raining, still dreaming” of a better, more optimistic day, to me notgivingashitdotcom. And my feelings swing wildly depending on the week, or the day, or hell, by the hour.

This business has gotten too predictable and too tedious. And it’s punctuated by too many small-minded but beyond-wealthy people with negligible perspective and bad intentions, motivated by flat-out greed, pure and simple. And with a rapidly contracting U.S. auto industry headed inexorably toward SmallVille, it’s really depressing. Because this was never a “small” industry. It was big and loud and jam-packed with blue-sky dreams, bold thinking and unlimited possibilities.

Which is why I’m paraphrasing the fabulous Gloria Swanson in “Sunset Boulevard” today: I’m still big, it’s the industry that got small.

And it really stinks.

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

Editor's Note: Click on "Next 1 Entries" at the bottom of this page to see previous issues. - WG

MORE THAN HALFWAY THROUGH 2026 AND WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?

2026-08-16T11:59:41Z

Editor's Note: This week, Peter is back from our summer break with a vengeance, reserving particular ire for the annual August events in Monterey and Detroit, and slamming the auction houses for basically destroying any shred of passion that remains in automobile culture. In On The Table, Ford has a name for its "Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread" EV pickup, and it's underwhelming to say the least. And we have an unlikely collaboration between Louis Vuitton and Singer, plus, news from Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Genesis, VW, Dodge, Toyota and Acura. Our video this week features the story of the "Repco-Brabham V8," the beautiful aluminum engine that GM let get away and which then became a F1 World Champion. Our AE Song of the Week is "Stoney End" by the late, great - and super-talented - Laura Nyro. In Fumes, Peter brings us the next chapter in his new series, "The Racing Machines." And finally, in The Line we have INDYCAR results from the Streets of Markham, Ontario. We also have Cadillac's V-ONE Concept, which has the manufaturer testing the waters for building bespoke track cars for well-heeled customers, something Ferrari has done for years. Remember, you can read past issues by scrolling down and clicking on "Next 1 Entries." We're back on it! -WG

By Peter M. DeLorenzo

Detroit. Greetings, WebVillians! I would love to report that our “break” was a wildly successful, wide-open pursuit of relentless fun, but the reality is that it was none of that. It was more of a much-needed mental respite from the week-in, week-out grind of producing this website. To be truthful, I started to get edgy after the first week of the first summer break we've ever taken. Not that I was bored, because I'm getting a book ready to be published after the first of the year, and that is consuming most of my waking moments, but even with that, I was still edgy. Relaxing has never been my thing. In the midst of all of it I reminded myself of one of my all-time favorite lines in rock and roll history from The Rolling Stones: “The sunshine bores the daylights out of me.” (We don't call him The Prince of Darkness" for nothin', folks. -WG)

This, as yet another relentless “heat dome” endeavored to fry our brains out. My usual rejoinder to those complaining about the heat around here has always been something like, “it’s better than February.” But, when WG – a true warm-weather aficionado – mentions the toll this heat has taken on her garden, you know it has been formidable. Then again, complaining about the weather has never been a value-added activity either, so we press on.

I didn’t expect much to happen on our break in terms of the business, and I wasn’t disappointed. The drumbeat of sameness coursing through the industry right now is debilitating and mind-numbing. And the auto companies and their dealers are hell-bent on painting a rosy picture of things no matter what, with a level of optimism that’s predictable, and with a large dollop of tone-deafness thrown in for good measure.

But no matter what they say, dealers never take the “long view” of things because it’s anathema to their very existence. They live in 30-day increments and that will never, ever change when it comes to the retail side of this business.

A sure sign of this are the gushing reports emanating from manufacturers and their dealers right now. These reports suggest that consumers are “adapting well” to the new retail environment, which is simply laughable. As if 84-month financing is anything resembling a whiff of sanity. Consumers are being cornered by the ugly realities of high prices and, with few options, they’re being forced to partake of a very unsavory stew. So, trying to “spin” the current retail environment as being even remotely acceptable is just so much unmitigated bullshit.

And guess what? Automotive News reported a couple of weeks ago that the average transaction price for a new vehicle exceeded $50,000 for the first time ever last September. "A record 24 percent of borrowers took out auto loans that span seven years or longer in the second quarter, according to Edmunds. In March, default rates rose to their highest levels since the Great Recession in 2010, and the number of defaults from January through March rose 9 percent from a year earlier, according to Cox Automotive."

Affordability has been a serious problem gathering speed by the month, and I’ve written about it extensively for years now. You just can’t keep burying consumers in crushingly long loans leaving them hopelessly “upside down” the moment they drive off the lot with absolutely no hope of ever catching up financially, while touting it as the new standard operating procedure of the business. For the record, this attitude goes way beyond tone-deafness; it points to the massive disconnect between the manufacturer/dealer consortium and the consumers they’re trying to relate to. And it is flat-out absurd.

It’s no wonder that Hyundai and Kia are posting all-time sales records, or that Honda delivers strong performances month after month. Combine decent pricing with growing availability of Hybrids, and you have a winning recipe. And where does that leave the domestic manufacturers? Pushing more trucks, SUVs and crossovers – trying to leverage the only thing they have going.

But at the same time, you have to love the car business. Well, let me rephrase that. Some of us immersed in this seething cauldron of runaway egos, shortsightedness, intermittent brilliance and, remarkably enough and against all odds, indomitable spirit, still love this business. (Then again, when it comes right down to it, it all depends on the day.)

We love it for the unbridled creativity demonstrated by the True Believers, who keep stepping up to the plate and swinging for the fences against all odds. We love it for the relentless 24/7 churn – and burnout – that entails (even though everyone complains about it, they wouldn’t have it any other way). We love it for the brief shining moments when an exceptional design or product advancement emerges to remind us all of what turned us on about the business in the first place, even though those moments are fleeting, at best.

But truth be told, we also love to loathe it too. It can’t be helped.

We despise the carpetbagging mercenaries who seem to rear their ugly heads at the most inopportune moments to wreak havoc on this business, masquerading as corporate saviors. We cringe at the legions of spineless weasels who populate almost every corner of this business, the go-along-to-get-along hordes and dutiful, sniveling minions who project a positive demeanor but who wallow in serial, abject mediocrity at every turn. That part of the business is depressing and tedious, there’s no doubt. “Wait just a damn minute!” I can anticipate the Voices from The Other Side weighing-in on my perspective. “I’m sitting here in our balcony room overlooking the 18th fairway at Pebble Beach, sipping mimosas with my smoking-hot third wife. How bad can it be? You’re just envious that you’re not here.” Or something like that. We received an email very similar to that a few years ago after my continuous (mostly) negative commentaries on Monterey Car Week.

And yet, here we are.

As most longtime readers know, I have gradually become even more aggravated with the state of the so-called car "thing" as it exists today. It's clear that the car enthusiast culture – or what's left of it – has been overrun by aggressive corporate types (I'm looking at you, Hagerty), con artists, clueless marketing twerps, greed merchants, poseurs and too many (but not all) in the media who display more go-along-to-get-along, "Thank you sir, may I have another" cheerleading than your average SEC school. It's clear that some in the media, who gushingly say (in so many words) that "everyone who is anyone in the car business is at Pebble Beach" have been co-opted and indoctrinated. And it's truly pathetic.

Where is it all going? Nowhere good, I'm afraid.

Yes, I skipped – yet again – being amongst the shiny happy auto "enthusiasts" and marketing troops gathered out in Pebble Beach, patting themselves on the back that they're present and accounted for at Monterey Car Week, even though the research gleaned and goodwill bestowed to prospects amounts to a giant bowl of Not So Much. As for the few brighter lights at the car companies who realize that the million-dollar bills they accrue at Pebble Beach really don't add up to much of anything quantifiable, they're unfortunately offset by the marketers who are whining because they aren't there and who can't wait to get out there next year. So, it seems that the cycle will continue.

If you need an excellent indication that luxury automakers and their marketing troops are completely out of ideas when it comes to marketing their wares, you only have to look as far as the over-the-top events held last week on the Monterey Peninsula. The relentless, ever-present din that hangs in the air out there is defined by the drunken spending among the luxury automakers, and unremarkably enough, the way they go about it has a stench of sameness attached to it that, in the end, makes it indistinguishable from one brand to another.

It’s the same luxury accoutrements, the same rote regurgitation of “luxury” words and phrases that are mumbled in an interchangeable soundtrack from brand to brand, and the same platitudes and cloying familiarity that blend together in a dismal cadence of vacuousness that goes by like a blur of marketing cotton candy, a fleeting sugar rush of pseudo substance followed by the inevitable crash of emptiness.

Yet automakers drop, collectively, one hundred million dollars (at least) out in Monterey every year like clockwork. Why? Because the lingering question hanging over the marketing troops isn’t, “Maybe we ought to reevaluate this whole thing” but, “What happens if we’re not there?” Which isn’t exactly an answer that makes a lick of sense, now does it?

As for the whole auction thing or as I refer to it, the "Circus of Artificial Enthusiasm," we received an unending series of come-ons from the auction houses touting the latest and greatest cars leading up to "Monterey Car Week," all of which are pegged at absurd bid levels, and it frankly left us cold. There is no excitement generated by these communiques, just a gloomy emptiness hanging in the air over machines that once brimmed with passion and creativity, but are now relegated to marks on a ledger, which will count toward a tally that will be used to promote next year's installment of the "circus." This tedious drill went far beyond the "Fools and their money..." adage well over two decades ago.

These machines are paraded on stage – souls removed – only to end up in antiseptic, "perfect" garages until they're prepared for another auction down the road. This isn't about the car culture or the sheer passion once associated with these automobiles. Now, it's the living, breathing embodiment of Greed is Good. (By the way, $40,000,000 for the first Ferrari Luce EV? I mean, seriously, WTF?)

The calculated feeding frenzy manufactured by the auto auction houses has decimated the fundamental enthusiasm that used to define car enthusiasts of all stripes. There, I said it. The whole auto auction game has graduated from being merely tedious to a threat to car enthusiasm itself.

Speaking of something not making a lick of sense, the fevered business surrounding auto auctions has come to define the car “hobby” for a lot of people, which is a very bad thing. Why? It’s not about the cars anymore, or the fleeting moments in time that defined what those machines represented, or the memories they created for the enthusiasts who drove them. No, as I stated previously, it’s about flat-out greed, pure and simple.

Whether it’s resurrected cars over-restored to perfection or “survivor” cars brokered “as is” it’s really all the same. It’s a circus marked by overheated auction hucksters in cahoots with the blatant sycophants at the TV networks who all do their very best to add to the faux cacophony, which is only punctuated by the projected “record” dollar figures seemingly for every car. (The usurious buyers’ and sellers’ premiums are barely mentioned.)

Car auctions have destroyed the last vestige of rational thought that was once associated with being a car enthusiast. In fact, rational thinking when it comes to the car enthusiast experience was steadily reduced to collateral damage years and years ago by the “greed merchants” at the auction houses. And it really stinks.

As for our localized "Dream Cruise," the annual car happening in August that went from being a spontaneous celebration of the automobile to an event wearing a leaded cloak of marketing sameness as orchestrated by the manufacturers and suppliers, I reserve particular ire for some of the card-carrying members of the local media who fall over themselves trying to pump up the volume on yet another edition, when the rote regurgitation of sameness hangs over the proceedings like a giant haze of "we've seen this before."

The manufacturers and suppliers have their territories marked, the anticipation is missing in action, and the whole thing has been reduced to an annual dirge of predictability. Is this really what it has come to in the "Motor City"? Is this "celebration" of our car culture the best we can do? I certainly hope not, because it has all of the spontaneity of the grim "back to school" ads polluting the airwaves right now.

The High-Octane Truth about the Dream Cruise is that it simply doesn’t ring true anymore, as unpopular as that notion might be with some around here. And it hasn’t for a long, long time. The spontaneity that once bubbled up organically in the early years has been replaced by a rigid sameness that is as predictable as the local media coverage of the event, which is nothing but a regurgitation of the last decade’s worth of stories.

The Dream Cruise has been overhyped, overblown and overrated for years, just like Monterey Car Week. And car enthusiasm is in a dismal state as well, having taken a huge hit thanks to the malicious hucksterism as practiced by the auction houses. And unfortunately, none of this is likely to change anytime soon.

Halfway through 2026 and what have we learned?

Not much.

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

Editor's Note: Click on "Next 1 Entries" at the bottom of this page to see previous issues. - WG

ADVENTURES TO NOWHERE.

2026-07-19T16:59:32Z

Editor's Note: This week, Peter discusses the current state of the business for the U.S. automakers and their obsession with producing hot-rodded off-road vehicles in order to maximize profits from their ICE-powered machines. In On The Table, we take a look at the limited-edition Vanquish 25 from Aston Martin. Toyota offers real affordability with the 2027 Corolla Hatchback, and we take another look at two special offerings from the upcoming RM Sotheby's Monterey Auction. Our video this week features the "1966 12 Hours of Sebring" with Ferrari, Ford and the Chaparral. Our AE Song of the Week is "These Days" by Jackson Browne. In Fumes, Peter brings us the next chapter in his new series, "The Racing Machines." And finally, in The Line we have F1 results from Spa, Belgium and INDYCAR results from Nashville. Remember, you can read past issues by scrolling down and clicking on "Next 1 Entries." Onward! -WG

WE ARE TAKING A MUCH-NEEDED SUMMER BREAK FOR SOME WELL-DESERVED R&R. WE WILL RETURN WITH THE AUGUST 19TH ISSUE. - PMD & WG

By Peter M. DeLorenzo

Detroit. Now that we’ve been hit with the realization that Detroit is going to keep building vehicles specifically aimed at this market for the immediate future – while the global automobile business keeps accelerating away in another direction – it’s clear that the town formerly known as The Motor City is in danger of sliding into a dimension that is looking frighteningly similar to the North American version of what once was the British motor industry. That is, cars and trucks built to exist in this market and nowhere else.

For the short term, this will keep factories running and profits coming, along with overall stability, but long term this development could prove to be calamitous for Detroit. One thing the stumblebums in Washington refuse to understand is that careening changes in regulations and maliciously misguided tariffs will serve to ultimately destroy one of the founding pillars of the American industrial fabric, because this just in: the auto industry needs to be able to plan at least five years out. And robbed of this basic ability to plan ahead, automakers and their suppliers are doomed to be held captive and swallowed whole by the constant thrum of idiocy emanating from Washington.

So, what’s left for the U.S. automakers? Business as usual until further notice, because investing in new is precariously dangerous. What does it mean, really? While the rest of the world forges ahead with breakthrough developments in battery technology, charging infrastructure, and all of the other issues and challenges associated with EVs, the U.S. automakers will churn out giant ICE trucks and SUVs because they know how to do it and do it very well indeed.

This is what engineering in a vacuum looks like.

And while this trend continues here until further notice, we will have high-performance sports cars, supercars and muscle cars catering to enthusiasts occupying one quarter of the ICE hemisphere. While gonzo pickups, SUVs and crossovers of all stripes – tricked-out and otherwise – and hot-rodded off-road vehicles make up the other 75 percent of the market.

Since we’re no longer waiting for the promised euphoria of the EV Age to come to fruition, the real action for manufacturers will be in maximizing the profits from building their ICE-powered machines.

As high-performance cars get more difficult to come by except for a select few – either because of price, or scarcity, or both – the cash generation is in what I’ve dubbed the Off-Road Dude Ranch segment, where off-road capability – which will, in fact, rarely if ever get used to even one percent of capability – is the calling card for near-term profits.

Machines like the Ford Bronco Raptor fit this mold perfectly. It has the look of a seriously aggressive, bad-ass off-road monster, which is exactly what the new legions of Off-Road Dudes and Dudettes seem to be craving. These Off-Road Dude Ranch tourists may never come within 3,000 miles of Baja, but just knowing that they could attack the off-road canyons and desert washes if they wanted to is just the kind of magic elixir they’re looking for, even if they probably won’t even traverse so much as a parking lot curb during their ownership.

I get why the latest manufacturer focus is full-zoot rough riders and all-terrain mashers. Sort of. After all, that’s what they think people want and need in order to attack the Canyons of Costco and the Hollers of Home Depot. Even if you aren’t planning to go to Moab next week, you could if you wanted to, right?

And therein lies the hook. The “hook” that auto manufacturers have exploited since people traded in their horses. Some of the past hooks were: You could sit on the front row at Indianapolis in your BelchFire8, if you wanted to, or you could qualify for Le Mans in your SuperSqualo Meteor, if you wanted to. And even now: You could qualify for an IMSA GTD race in your Porsche 911 GT3 RS, if you wanted to. These hooks have proved to be time honored, lethally addictive and highly profitable.

And now, with this burgeoning Off-Road Dude Ranch segment, it’s happening all over again, with an entirely new set of parameters. Extreme, track-focused high-performance is out (or fading away with stratospheric prices and a large dollop of unobtanium), replaced by rugged, off-road performance. Every manufacturer worth its 22”+ off-road wheel package (FYI: the Bronco Raptor has 37” off-road tires) is offering off-road performance versions of their various charges, whether they're needed or not. Beyond the usual suspects – Chevrolet, Ford, Ram, Toyota, Land Rover, et al. – even GMC, for instance, is offering an entire lineup of AT4 off-road-oriented spec vehicles. Which means it’s now officially a full-on epidemic. And you can expect to see more and more of these extreme off-roaders come to market, because it is “the thing” right now.

It’s interesting that the lives of manufacturer PR minions have changed dramatically too. Once upon a time, they used to book racetracks all over the country for the latest “fly-in” press events to tout their newest high-performance charges. Now? They’re scouring exotic landscapes previously only attainable by mule to stage press events designed to demonstrate the off-road capabilities of their latest BelchFire SuperPounder trucks, crossovers and SUVs. These PR minions are being forced to trade in their obligatory black pants and white logoed shirt outfits for canteens and wardrobes designed for the desert scrub brush aesthetic. So, there’s that.

The times are getting crazy. So crazy, in fact, that some journos are actually criticizing car companies for even bothering to offer sedans or traditional hatchbacks, believing that we’re supposed to all be driving SUVs-and-jacked-up-pickups-all-the-time now. Another journo camp is firmly entrenched in the EV-centric “Why are you still building ICE vehicles at all?” And finally, there’s the journo camp insisting that Detroit needs to start building sedans again (which they are planning to do, by the way).

But the auto manufacturers don’t exist for the edification of auto journalists, except when they need something from them, of course. The desired goal of these manufacturers is to make cargo ship loads of ca$h-ola. And they’ve been pretty damn successful at it.

As for the real world, consumers are just worried about the fundamental affordability of vehicles in general, which is why Ford’s Maverick pickup is still the most important vehicle that company makes, even more so than its jacked-up Broncos.

Does any of this make any sense? Maybe. I get the profitability thing, and I understand the latest bit of creative automotive Hose-O-Rama going on, but there are still consumers out there who just want a decent vehicle for a decent price. I strongly believe that there are plenty of car buyers out there who happen to like sedans and hatchbacks, including me. They’re fun and efficient instead of ground pounding and lumbering. It’s just a different style of motoring. Are there fun SUVs and crossovers to drive out there? Sure, but that doesn’t mean everyone has to have one, or want one.

As I’ve said repeatedly since Day One of this website, the automobile business is first and foremost a fashion business. It is consumed by trends, fads and what is perceived as “hot” at the moment. And before we’re immersed in the Next Big Thing – the ever-coming EV Revolution, perhaps? Oh wait, never mind – these vehicles designed to take us on adventures to nowhere are going to be the thing until further notice, which is not exactly good news in my book.

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

Editor's Note: Click on "Next 1 Entries" at the bottom of this page to see previous issues. - WG

THE CORVETTE FILES.

2026-07-12T12:30:01Z

Editor's Note: This week, Peter presents a fabulous review of his history with the Chevrolet Corvette. In On The Table, we have two very special offerings from the upcoming RM Sotheby's Monterey Auction. Then, we present two opposite extremes from the automotive spectrum: the McLaren 788HS and the FIAT Topolino. Our video this week features the "1971 Mid-Ohio Can-Am" starring Jackie Stewart, Peter Revson and Denis Hulme. Our AE Song of the Week is "Drop Dead" by Olivia Rodrigo. In Fumes, Peter brings us the next chapter in his new series, "The Racing Machines." And finally, in The Line we have MotoGP results from the Sachsenring in Germany and IMSA results from Canada. Enjoy! -WG

By Peter M. DeLorenzo

Detroit. As longtime readers well know, the Chevrolet Corvette has played an inexorable role in my ongoing car addiction. I’ve been honored to have experienced some of the most famous and spectacular Corvettes ever built in period and in real time. Those experiences are forever etched in my mind, and for reasons I’ll explain later, I think it’s high time I give you a glimpse into my Corvette history, because for me, it never gets old.

(GM)

The 1959 Corvette Sting Ray racer (photographed in the GM Styling viewing courtyard at the GM Technical Center in Warren, Michigan, in 1960). As I’ve stated many, many times in these pages, this machine is my all-time favorite car. I first saw it one blistering summer afternoon in our neighborhood in 1962, and I will never forget it. I was still in my bike-riding days back then, but I remember resting with my buddies on a corner in our neighborhood after a long, hot day of riding around aimlessly – we did that often back then – when we heard a rumble and roar coming from off in the distance. I knew right away that it wasn't motorcycles and that it was more than one of whatever it was – and just then a pack of the most stunning cars we'd ever seen burst around the corner and came rumbling right past us – the sun glinting off the barking pipes and the canopy of trees shimmering off the perfect mirror finishes of the paint jobs. This "horsepower train" was led by the 1959 Corvette Sting Ray racer in Silver, followed by the XP700 Corvette (a "bubble-top" show car with side pipes also in Silver – it was Mitchell's favorite color), the first Mako Shark Corvette and a concept called the Corvair Super Spyder (also in Silver), a wild, racing-inspired show car with dual cut-down racing windscreens and three pipes curling out and around each side in the back.

(GM)
A rare photo of the Corvette Sting Ray racer in its original red livery, taken at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, in 1959.

(GM)
The Corvette Sting Ray racer as it appears today.

(conceptcarz.com)
The Corvette Sting Ray racer "live" at a car show.

(GM)
The 1963 Corvette Sting Ray production car and the 1959 Corvette Sting Ray racer, photographed in the GM Styling viewing courtyard in the fall of 1962.

(GM)
Legendary GM Styling Chief Bill Mitchell photographed with the 1959 Corvette Sting Ray racer and the 1961 Corvette Mako Shark at the GM Technical Center test track, in Warren, Michigan, 1961.

They were so loud we couldn't even hear ourselves screaming whatever it was we were screaming, but after a split second to think about it we took off, pedaling our guts out after them. It was apparent that these machines were heading for our part of the neighborhood – and as we tried to keep them in sight, I realized they were turning on to my cross street…

We came around the corner and saw them pull into a driveway, exactly one block from my house. We stopped right at the end of the driveway with our mouths gaping down to the asphalt, as the drivers of the other cars handed the keys to the driver of the Sting Ray and he took them up to the front door where a woman collected them. Then, an Impala pulled up and the four men got in it and were gone, leaving the cars sitting in the driveway all lined up ticking and spitting as their pipes started to cool. This became the Friday afternoon ritual in the summer, because that’s the way Bill Mitchell wanted it. GM’s legendary design chief liked having a selection of his toys to play with on the weekends, and I was lucky enough to live just a block away from him.

All of those cars were special, but the ’59 Corvette Sting Ray racer was by far my favorite the moment I laid eyes on it. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing the original Sting Ray racer in person, it is a stunning machine. (Although for those who haven’t, you might not be prepared for how compact it is.)

Its taut, beautifully rendered lines absolutely glow in Mitchell’s favorite color – German “Silver Arrow” racing metallic. A favorite story? When Ed Welburn took over the reins of GM Design many years ago, the first thing he did was order the restoration of the ’59 Sting Racer, which had fallen into neglect and in desperate need of rejuvenation. And the GM artisans did a phenomenal job bringing it back to its previous glory. But the one area they didn’t touch? The seats, because Ed wanted them to remain in their original condition, in honor of all of the famous people who sat in them. An exquisite touch, and it remains the jewel of GM’s collection of historic vehicles.

No, I don’t count myself as one of those famous people, but I did have the honor of riding shotgun in the ’59 Sting Ray racer several times with Bill Mitchell at the wheel. The memory remains as technicolor vibrant as if it happened yesterday.

(GM)
The wild 1958 Corvette XP-700 concept from GM Styling.

(GM)

1958 Corvette XP-700 concept. This wild Corvette concept was the first car I rode in with Bill Mitchell at the wheel. Some may not like the looks of this beast, but it was surprisingly alluring in person. The one thing I can report is that its “bubble” top – which was an infatuation of Mitchell’s at the time – redefined the concept of “solar gain” as it baked your brains out in the summer sun. And that was fine with me, because to ride around in that cool, futuristic machine was a treat beyond words. The XP-700 eventually disappeared. Why? It became the underpinnings of the next car…

(GM)

1961 Corvette Mako Shark I. The Mako Shark concept (XP-755) was another thing altogether. This machine bristled with remarkable details, like the “gills” that doubled as sequential turn signals, the glorious side pipes and, of course its bubble top. But the most remarkable characteristic was its fantastic paint job, which mimicked the gradations of a Mako Shark. That paint job was mesmerizing back then and amazing in every sense of that overused word. Today, this machine is in desperate need of a full restoration, but that paint job remains its signature. How did this all come about? One of the countless anecdotes from the Mitchell era was that he caught a Mako shark on a fishing trip in Florida and had it mounted on a wall in his office. He kept telling the designers that he wanted the paint job on the Mako Shark concept to look exactly like the shark on his wall, with the same color gradations. After Mitchell rejected several attempts at painting the XP-755 and amid growing frustration, a few designers sneaked into his office late one night while Mitchell was out of town and removed the shark from his office wall. They then had the paint shop paint Mitchell's prized catch exactly like the latest version of the paint job on the Mako Shark concept. They then put the shark back up on his wall and presented the new paint job on the Corvette Mako Shark concept to Mitchell, who pronounced it "perfect."

(GM)
The paint job is truly wild - and stunning - on the Mako Shark I.

(GM)
The 1961 Corvette Mako Shark I as it appears today.

(GM)
The 1961 Corvette Mako Shark 1 and 1965 Corvette Mako Shark II, photographed at the GM Technical Center in Warren, Michigan, in 1965.

(GM)
The 1963 Corvette Sting Ray remains one of the most iconic automobiles ever built.

Ed Cole’s 1963 Corvette Sting Ray. We got to know Ed (and Bill Mitchell, of course) through our father, who was in charge of GM PR from 1957-1979. Ed took note that my brother Tony was totally into cars, so he often would send over cars for my brother to drive. One year he sent over his personal driver, which was a 409 cu.in. V8-powered Chevy Impala with a 4-speed. The only other 409 in existence was in “Dyno” Don Nicholson’s hands at the NHRA finals. Needless to say, we had a blast mopping up everything in sight on Woodward Avenue that weekend. But the most memorable car that Ed sent over was his personal 1963 fuel-injected Corvette Sting Ray coupe in Sebring Silver (with a 4-speed gearbox, of course). The new Sting Ray had been announced, but there were none on the street yet, except for Ed’s company car. To this day, the Sting Ray was one of the most dramatic and memorable auto introductions of all time, and driving it that weekend was like piloting a rolling space ship. No other car said “The Future” like the first Corvette Sting Ray. It was simply spectacular.

(The DeLorenzo Archives)

The 1964 “Zora-ized” Corvette Sting Ray (as it appeared for the SCCA Driver's School in Watkins Glen, New York, 1964. Note the straight pipes out the back). By early summer of 1964, my brother Tony’s automotive bug started to seriously turn toward sports car racing. He innocently asked "big" Tony if we could order a Corvette company car for the summer, and little did he know that the adventure was just beginning. As my brother said: "He made two errors: 1.) He agreed to do it and 2.) He let us order it!" And order it we did: A Black/Black 1964 Corvette Sting Ray Coupe with Heavy Duty finned drum brakes; Heavy Duty gearbox; knock-off aluminum wheels and radio delete. Little did our father know that Tony planned to take it to SCCA Driver's School in Watkins Glen, New York. So, the moment we got it we took the interior carpeting out, took the bumpers off, removed the spare tire carrier, and then we had a roll bar put in and we were good to go. Or so we thought. While Tony was sitting at his desk at Chevrolet Sales Promotion (his summer job) a few days later, the phone rang. This is how he remembers it:

"Hello?"

"Tony, this is Zora Duntov." Yikes, it was the God of the Corvette calling. "Your father has ordered a heavy-duty Corvette. Who is going to drive it?"

"Um… He is?!!"

Silence.

"Who is going to drive it?"

"Um, I am."

“What are you going to do with it?”

"Uhhh… I'm going to go to SCCA driver’s school at Watkins Glen."

“Ok.”

And “God” hung up. But not before requesting that we drop the car off at Chevrolet Engineering at the GM Tech Center in Warren so he could "take care of a few things." Two weeks later we went back to get the car, and Zora took Tony out to the little test track that sits inside the Tech Center. And there it was, it was the same Corvette but it sat lower and it was wearing the biggest Goodyear Blue Streak racing tires that could fit inside the fenders on the knock-off wheels. Zora also pointed out that the stock exhaust system underneath now had flanges just in front of the mufflers. Those flanges had been put on by Bill Mitchell's famous Styling Garage mechanic, Ken Eschebech, so that once we got to Watkins Glen, we could attach 4' long straight pipes designed to hang on special hangers, so that they would shoot straight out the back. Because, well, you can't run a Driver's School at Watkins Glen with standard mufflers, right? Zora was a genius.

But those changes were just the tip of the iceberg. The car had been completely gone through, including the brakes, the suspension and sure enough, the engine. In retrospect, we were convinced that Zora had the engine yanked, gone through and tweaked, because the thing was a rocket.

That trip to Watkins Glen was an adventure unto itself. We arrived very late one night at the rustic Glen Motor Inn, and the one and only Vic Franzese (the proprietor) checked us in, but not before he could show us his beautiful Lotus 11. The school went exceptionally well for Tony; at one point the Chief Instructor went to ride a couple of laps with him and emerged muttering something like "he's doesn't need any more instruction" – and that was the beginning of Tony's racing life. The return trip was eventful, too, as were so tired by the end of the weekend that we said, "screw it" and left the straight pipes on, rattling hearts and bones all the way back.

There's more to this story. It was getting toward the end of that summer, when dad informed us that the car had to go back to Chevrolet to be put back into stock condition. It turns out that our oldest sister's boyfriend at the time, who lived in Chicago, had expressed interest in buying the car. We took the roll bar out, piled the stock components in it and voila! It returned two weeks later as if none of it happened, with dad saying: “When that car comes back to the house, don’t touch it!” We didn't. The sad end to this chapter? The guy in Chicago had it for two days. On the second night it was stolen, stripped – and totaled.

Dollie Cole's "Bluebird" 1965 Sting Ray convertible. Ed Cole was the brilliant engineering genius and true enthusiast who was one of the creators of the small block Chevrolet V8 and who led GM Product Development in its heyday. Ed is a true icon of the industry. Dollie was his radiant wife, a fierce defender of all things Ed and a fiery enthusiast in her own right. She roared around Bloomfield Hills and Birmingham - two northern suburbs of Detroit - in her '65 Nassau Blue Corvette roadster with a white interior, a removable hard top, a 4-speed and side pipes. Dollie also had a lead foot and drove the hell out of it. She famously dubbed it her "Bluebird." Ed stuffed a big-block 396 V8 in it months before the engines were released to the public. She let Tony borrow it on several occasions. It was quick and suitably loud.

(GM)
The 1965 Corvette Mako Shark II. What can be said about this machine other than the fact that Bill Mitchell and his handpicked designers turned the dial up past “11” to come up with one of the most iconic Corvette shapes of all time? The obvious successor to the Mako Shark I, the “II” bristled with spectacular details that even today – in its “Manta Ray” guise – resonate mightily.

(GM)
The Mako Shark II transformed into the 1969 Corvette Manta Ray, which is how it appears today.

(GM)
The 1969 Corvette Manta Ray photographed at GM Styling in Warren, Michigan.

(The DeLorenzo Racing Archives)
Wilmot Hills, Wisconsin, May 1967. Tony DeLorenzo's first race in a Corvette - and first win in "A" Production - came at an SCCA Regional in Wilmot Hills, Wisconsin, in this brand-new 1967 L88 Corvette Sting Ray roadster sponsored by Hanley Dawson Chevrolet in Detroit. It was also the first time a 427 Cobra encountered the new L88 in an "A" Production race. This well-traveled Sting Ray is one of the most valuable Corvettes in the world not named "Grand Sport."

The 1967 Corvette 427 L88 racing car. Tony began his racing career in something much more realistic and affordable than a Corvette, which turned out to be a '65 Corvair. We started out pounding around at our local track here in Michigan – Waterford Hills – and from there it was on to Nelson Ledges, Ohio, and Mid-Ohio; a one-time event at an airport in Grayling, Michigan; Lime Rock Park, Vineland (New Jersey); and on and on. Two years later Tony talked Hanley Dawson, who owned Hanley Dawson Chevrolet in Detroit at the time, into sponsoring a Corvette in SCCA Racing. And after he agreed to do that, we ordered one of 20 L88 Corvettes made in 1967, in Black, of course (it actually turned out to be the first one built that year). I’ll never forget going down to the dealership after it arrived and taking it around the block. The thing was a monster in every sense of the word, and the sound that L88 made was spiritual. The first weekend we had it we installed a roll bar, replaced the stock exhaust system with a set of "OK Kustom" headers (from Flint), added a set of “Torq-Thrust” American Racing wheels, a set of Firestone racing tires, and we removed the windshield, cut the windshield posts down and put a plexiglass windscreen on. The debut race – and win – for Tony and that famous L88 Corvette came six weeks later in an SCCA Regional race at an obscure road race track in Wilmot Hills, Wisconsin. He went on to qualify for the SCCA Runoffs with that car, and then it eventually disappeared. It surfaced again, and after Tony documented its authenticity, it was restored back to its street configuration; then it was returned to its racing configuration – with Tony driving it in the Monterey Historics – then back again to its street configuration. This has become one of the most valuable L88 Corvettes in existence, and I think the last time it changed hands was for just under $2 million.

The 1969 Corvette “Daytona GT” L88 convertible. After the Owens/Corning Fiberglas sponsorship came to fruition for our Corvette team, we had the idea of building a limited run of street Corvettes that would be branded as the “Corvette Daytona GT.” We build a prototype, which was based on a Black/Black (of course) Corvette convertible powered by a 427 L88 and equipped with our competition headers and side pipes, our FIA-specific Plexiglas covered front headlights, American “Torq-Thrust” wheels and racing tires. We even displayed it at the Detroit Auto Show at Cobo Hall that year. From the “Best Laid Plans” File, the demands of our burgeoning – and successful – racing effort overwhelmed everything else, and the Daytona GT idea fell by the wayside. But that wasn’t exactly the end of the story. The car was stored at my parent’s house, and I was tasked with keeping it in running condition, which I performed with relish. Needless to say, a Black/Black L88 Corvette with open side pipes caused quite a stir on Woodward and the surrounding environs. It was the quintessential Bad Ass machine. What happened to it? A Lufthansa Airlines co-pilot befriended Tony at Daytona, and he eventually asked Tony if he would consider selling him a OCF-prepared Corvette. A deal was reached, and the Daytona GT was converted to OCF Corvette Racing specs. But not before Randy Wittine, the brilliant GM designer who created all of our iconic racing team liveries back then, came up with a wild “psychedelic” paint job for it that was drop-dead gorgeous. (Pictures exist somewhere, but they haven’t turned up.) Tony and I dropped it off at Detroit’s Metro airport, and watched it being loaded on to a Lufthansa freighter. That pilot proceeded to terrorize the equivalent of German SCCA national racing with that monster, humbling the usual assortment of Porsche 911s in the process. The car ended up back in the states somehow and is now used for vintage racing. Another Corvette life well lived.

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

(GM Styling)
Bill Mitchell pulling out of his driveway on Bradway Boulevard in Bloomfield Village, Michigan, in the 1959 Corvette Sting Ray racer. He drove his favorite cars all the time.

Editor's Note: You can access previous issues of AE by clicking on "Next 1 Entries" below. - WG