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A different world.
Peter, first, here's to your complete recovery and to regaining your health for all the years ahead. Second, I reflect on the many Rant columns I've read over the years and how you hammered again and again that product is the most important thing, the ONLY thing that matters in the auto business. And I agree. Yet, it seems to me that the definition of product has morphed over the decades from the vehicle, its features and its performance to a more complicated amalgam of machine, fuel, insurance and financing. In the '60's and 70's, an 18-year-old could buy a two-year-old GTO and afford both the gas and the insurance. Today, fast cars are for the well-heeled and an 18-year-old is lucky to afford a 10-year-old Corolla with the insurance. The move to trucks and SUVs, and hybrid/electrical propulsion has made affordability even more difficult. I think the industry is trying to do so many more things at once that it really doesn't have the direction or focus that existed 30, 40 or 50 years ago. And with the government imposing externalities like pollution, worker safety, vehicle safety and the like, the world gets much more complicated for GM, Ford, Stellantis and the rest. What a different world from the romance of the annual Fall mini-auto shows at the local dealerships when I was a kid!
CAE
Palm Springs, California
Crossed paths.
Sending my very best wishes for your strong and speedy recovery, Peter. Your path and mine crossed and stayed crossed for some time when Chrysler was on its game, from the Iacocca days up to the early days of Dr. Z ruling the Auburn Hills roost. But soon after that? Well, not so much. Still, that era was a pretty damn good ride and I'll always remember that when I left Bloomberg Business News in 1995 as its Automotive Reporter in Detroit to join one of the Big Three in a communications role, Chrysler was the hands-down choice because they had the balls to be daring and different vs. the other two. Again, all the best and here's to many more spot-on rants from the Autoextremist Extraordinaire!
Jan Zverina
San Diego, California
A momentous season.
The BOAC 500 also represented the first time that FIVE different manufacturers won races in the World Endurance Challenge:
Ferrari won at Daytona and Monza.
Porsche won at the Nurburgring and the Targa Florio.
Ford won at Sebring and Le Mans.
Mirage won at Spa and the Chaparral won the season closer at Brands Hatch.
Robert O’Brien
Huntington Beach, California