2012 Pelosi GTxi SS/RT Sport Edition – cancelled
It was announced last week that all efforts to find new funding for the planned 2012 Pelosi GTxi SS/RT Sport Edition have failed.
The Congressional Motors Company, chaired by Nancy Pelosi, and with fellow millionaire investors ranging from Baba Streisand to John Kerry, filed for bankruptcy following the November election results which effectively and likely forever put an end to the Pelosi Mandate. Pelosi, who recently lost her personal Air Force jet, and who has quietly resumed using her gas-guzzling Lincoln Town Car limousine, was recently quoted asking “Why is America so dumb?”
Seriously, we’d have to agree agree with that line. Why are we so dumb that we’d put types like Pelosi, Reid, Obama and an endless number of Kennedys into office in the first place? In our rush to get rid of them, let’s also consider how we the people put them into office in the first place.
Rules for the Privileged Elite:
1. We are always right.
2. Do as I say not as I do.
3. When in doubt refer to rule 1.
Thousands quit car hobby in acute embarrassment and disgust!
CarLashes™ announces the newest and (what they feel is the) hottest automobile accessory of 2010: http://www.carlashes.com/
We are disgusted… we can no longer continue with this hobby if the road is full of cars wearing these. Reports are flooding the ‘net of driving enthusiasts selling their cars in droves…
Boats or airplanes might be the next hobby for us… or maybe just staying in the house and never coming out again.
We thought the flame-thrower exhaust kit was plain stupid… the Miss Kitty exhaust and the exhaust pipe spinners were both equally embarrassing. And don’t even bring up Bernie Ecclestone.
But this time the end has come… 2012 has arrived early for driving enthusiasts!
Observation
As a driving enthusiast, you spend a lot of time in your car. And you are highly observant of other cars on the road. You recognize their brand name, model, engine size, whether they’ve modified their suspension. And after that, what they say on their bumper stickers.
We’ve noticed that one bumper sticker in particular has been steadily disappearing over the past year: “Obama“, in direct proportion to his rapidly disappearing approval rating. Observing bumper stickers is not the most scientific method of polling the opinions of the people, but it does happen to reflect the results of formal opinion polls. According to Gallup, at the moment he has sunk to an all-time low of 42% approval.
Given our visual observation and the numbers to back it up, we’d hope to see that our country is learning something from this lousy experience: something about voting for people with well-oiled political machines behind them, no experience, a naive liberal agenda, and promises made to the disaffected to get their votes. And of vacations in Maine, Spain, and that liberal bastion Martha’s Vineyard while the worst environmental disaster in the history of the country is still being played out. And about promises made to illegal aliens with hopes of getting the votes he plans to give to them. Anything to get and stay in power.
When are people in this country going to see thru these types of politicians? And why do we allow flaming politicos such as Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to stay in power? Are they really representing the wishes of their constituents? How did Ted Stevens get away with his outrageousness for so many years? And John Murtha? Why do we put up with the continuous stream of petty self-serving crooks like Maxine Waters and Charles Rangel when so much is at stake?
Why do we put up with this? We see decisions being implemented all around us to enrich the pockets of companies and individuals, at our expense. The banking industry is a prime example – an incredible rise in fees, ranging from ATM fees to credit card rates in the >20% range and outrageous bonuses for officers even as their banks go down the drain. And right out in front of the bank we have a police force who is more concerned with handing out revenue-generating traffic tickets – either in person or with automated machines of dubious constitutional legality. Fortunately, the tide is turning there with Maryland police officers refusing to pay their own fines, and the City of Houston offering a referendum to voters this fall. No photo enforcement program has ever survived a public vote. That’s an excellent example of citizens taking back control of their government.
And speaking of taking back, in a couple of months we’ll have an election. Opinion polls show the end rapidly approaching for several politicians and their agendas. Are you planning to vote – in other words will you try to make any difference to the direction we’re heading or have you just decided to sit back and not matter?
“Badass GT” is pretty bad
And now for the bad side of the Mustang hobby: ego. This Mustang GT driver has to advertise in his brake light that he is “bad ass”. He is certainly not proving it with his automatic transmission, nor was he caught here demonstrating any “bad ass” skills on a roadrace track. Just proclaim it, don’t earn it.
Nope, he’s just some kid just cruising the streets with a loud exhaust and an attitide – not ability.
Good Riddance Hau Thai-Tang
Good news yesterday from Edmunds Inside Line: Hau Thai-Tang, the director of advanced product creation and the moribund SVT, has left to take over product development for Ford of Brazil.
He’ll be remembered as the person who took the SVT product line from all-around performance vehicles (handling dynamics over power) to the ultimately self-defeating morass of morbidly-obese straight-line ego-driven muscledom. Granted, his budget was repeatedly cut, but he didn’t help his company or retain SVT customers when he carelessly made public product promises followed by defensive retractions such as “We’ll never appease those IRS snobs”. Critical product features were cancelled; entire product product plans were set aside.
So good riddance, and a kick in the ass on the way out.
Now hopefully SVT can get:
- back to it’s roots and core values (since its current mission is nothing more than a virtual team of subject matter specialists)
- budget to build all-around performance cars (handling dynamics over power) that showcase what company engineers are truly capable of accomplishing.
- product testing procedures to ensure future SVT-led products perform well in wider ranges of temperatures across a wider variety of climates (such as what we in Texas consider the norm) and environments (open track events). SVT has had a severe reliability issue that resulted in Cobras and Ford GTs that can’t survive aggressive open track events (SVT On Track’s own Ford GT repeatedly failed and garked it’s fluid on many tracks across the country – in front of many fans – before finally being retired).
And, hopefully, Ford will:
- think twice about putting a defensive self-promoting stooge in charge of a product line that had earned an enthusiast following in both buyers and in the press.
- try (yet again) to understand the value to the company of mature multi-dimensional products designed for driving enthusiasts.
We’ve seen so many “golden ages” of performance products from Ford come and go in the past 20 years:
- Don Peterson and the original Mustang SVO (“form follows function”)
- the (recently terminated) sponsorship of the Bondurant school (and the requirements for Ford Engineers to attend)
- the emphasis on all-around dynamics in the early SVT products (culminating in the promising but flawed 1999 Cobra)
- balanced vehicles such as the SVT Contour and Focus (even though the Focus was market-obsolete before it was delivered)
- the original good intentions behind the fatally flawed Ford GT
Will there ever be a performance product plan inside Ford that can sustain itself? Can Ford learn from it’s mistakes?
Idiots trash new Mustang; no loss
Here’s one of the better-known YouTube videos going around this week, in which a kid trashes a customized new Mustang with a godawful aftermarket paint job. Stupid to buy it, stupid to let his kid trash it, and now he has to go to the dealer and explain what he did. And the entire country gets to see it.
But, no big loss (after all, it’s just a Mustang).
Latest HTT news from Ford
http://www.strictlyea.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=31922
A *great* post about HTT’s new job!
Oh no: the end of this hobby is approaching
Yet another sign the end of this hobby is approaching: spinners for your exhaust pipe.
If you have zero taste, want to be highlighted as an idiot, have already painted all the trim on the car yellow (yellow is faster, or so they say), and don’t have much money to spend on your car, this may be the accessory for you.