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About Me
My work has appeared in a number of major publications either as writer, photographer, or source. I enjoy talking about all things automotive. Recent Posts
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CarSpace Hudson's BlogAll around the car world there are stories and these are just a few of them. A new blog is posted every Monday. Sometimes more often. Oct 1, 2007 - The Ultimate Car Dream...Part DeuxA few weeks ago, I wrote about my dream of manufacturing cars. With this long-held dream and my work with and around automakers, I've become very skeptical whenever someone announces that they're going to introduce a new brand of cars or trucks. The first thing to do is poke holes in their plans with basic reasoning. I do not get my kicks out of deflating the dreams of others, especially when I share the same dream. I do, however, get some enjoyment out of deflating gas bags...people who talk a good bit but have little or nothing to back it up. As a fan of "orphans and oddballs" (see earlier blog on the subject), I want these guys to succeed. I would have loved to see Tucker or Bricklin or Delorean or any of a few DOZEN automakers make a second or third or fourth generation of their ideas. But it is a very difficult market. Delorean was the big success here with about 9,200 DMC-12s built. Bricklin produced 2,854 SV-1s by September 1975. And many people know about the 51 mostly hand-assembled Tucker 48s built before the plant was closed. The men behind all three of these cars, Preston Tucker, Malcolm Bricklin, and John Delorean, said they would build a successful car even after their first attempts ended in bankruptcy. Tucker and Delorean died before they could accomplish this goal but Bricklin is still trying. It's a tough dream to overcome. And to many, it seems like an attainable dream. I wish it were that easy. The latest in a long line of dreams is Carbon Motors. In the early days of the American automobile industry, there were companies that produced nothing but commercial cars. Companies like Yellow and Checker produced vehicles almost exclusively for the taxi industry. There have been brands of cars produced exclusively for rental fleets. But Carbon claims that they want to produce dedicated police cars. It's a great idea. The police forces in the US have been very limited in the vehicles they could operate. When Chrysler stopped making rear-wheel drive, V8-powered sedans in the late 1980s, the choice was down to the Chevrolet Caprice and the Ford Crown Victoria. And Ford was the last one when the Caprice ended production in late 1996. Dodge re-entered the field recently with a modern sedan but Ford's offering can trace its production back to the Jimmy Carter administration (and engineering work dates back to the Nixon era). When the most popular product in the field has seen three two-term presidents (and two one-term presidents), there's either a great product on the market or there's little-to-no money in the market. But still others see this as an opportunity. Enter Carbon Motors. The Carbon E7 looks like something created for a movie set. Angular lines and suicide doors along with integrated brush guards give this car the look of a futuristic prop from the movie "Demolition Man." It seems like the modern interpretation of what a police car should be. But then the skeptic in me wakes up. Who are these people behind Carbon Motors? What experience do they have and why would they attempt to launch a car company? It didn't take a full scan of the officers to get my answers. William Santana Li is the man in charge of Carbon Motors. He has experience at senior levels of Ford, which is a plus. But on the negative side was the mention of his previous venture, Build-To-Order (BTO). BTO planned to revamp the automotive industry. Vehicles would be...wait for it....built to order. These vehicles would be produced in such volume that prices would be in the near-luxury range. It seemed nice on the surface, but the business plan lacked any appeal to investors. Even BTO's claim that they would re-launch a famous American car brand, rumored to be Auburn, wasn't enough to light the investment community's fire. And BTO quietly faded into the scenery. So now from BTO's ashes rises the Phoenix of Carbon Motors. A few hundred million dollars invested in the E7 could get it on the road. And assuming that Carbon can get a 300hp turbodiesel certified in a mass produced sedan...and assuming that 50,000 are ordered by police forces across the country each year from a no-name company...then I'd bet they can be a success. But do you think that Carbon can do put all of this together and sell the cars for about $25,000 each and make over $1,000 per vehicle? I do not. I know that my opinion about a car that has yet to be produced has little bearing on your opinion. So I'll give you a few reasons why this car, as shown on the company's own website, will not go into production as is. First, there's the powertrain that has not been certified for light-duty use by any company so Carbon Motors must complete the certification,which is very expensive. Second, there's the suicide doors that BMW claims to have an exclusive waiver on for its Rolls-Royce. Third, the brush guards will not pass federal regulations for bumpers which require that the bumper withstand a 2.5 mph crash with no damage to the vehicle. And this is all assuming that the vehicle is based on the Chrysler LX platform (Chrysler 300/Dodge Charger) and can pass standard crash tests. Good luck to you, Carbon Motors. My money's betting on no cars being produced to the specs (or even close) outlined on the Carbon Motors press release. If only Las Vegas would take my bet...and give me odds. I've got to figure that even the bookmakers can see the ultimate fate of this venture. Can't you?
Aug 26, 2007 - Oddballs and OrphansWalk down the rows of cars at any large car show and you’ll see the same cars. Not usually the actual same cars, but typically the standard models and model years show up at every car show. Go to a hot rod show and you’ll see Model T Fords and 1930s-era Fords, Chevrolets, Dodges, and Willys coupes. Go to the usual old car show and the usual old cars show up including ’55-57 Chevrolets and ’65-66 Mustangs and early Camaros and Corvettes of all vintages. And even “late-model” cruise nights have the same groups of Fox-bodied Mustangs and third-and fourth-generation Camaros and Firebirds as well as the occasional hopped-up Honda Civic or Acura Integra or Mazda RX7. It’s oh-so-predictable. When I go to a car show, I always look for the oddballs. I’ll notice the crowds gathered around better-than-new classic Chevrolets or Fords where the discussion is about “a buddy of mine had one” or “my dad drove one of these.” Reminiscing like that is great and I’m glad they enjoy that. It doesn’t help that I had a car before any of my buddies did when I was younger. It also doesn’t help that none of my buddies (or my father for that matter) were “car people.” And when my buddies did get their first cars, they were 1967 Ford F-Series pickups or 1978 Chevrolet Monzas or 1979 Chrysler Cordobas…nothing to write home about. Even my first car was not noteworthy. Over the years, my taste in cars has become more honed. I still like almost anything on four wheels…and sometimes that criterion is not locked in. But to arouse my attention, you need to dangle something different and odd in front of my face. A few weeks ago, I was walking to my car after a day of car judging when I noticed two guys ogling a car. It was a very nice late model Aston Martin but they were overlooking the Sunbeam Imp sitting right next to it. I asked the guys standing there, “sure it’s a $150,000 Aston Martin, but does it hold a candle to a classic Sunbeam?” They laughed. Sure, the Aston Martin is very rare, but when was the last time you even saw a picture of a Sunbeam car? If you go through my photographs, you'll see some oddballs and orphans. The stranger the better is my opinion. And a really good car show, in my view, is one where there are models and brands of cars that I have never seen in person. Most concours events will have beautiful and rare cars of the Classic era. Duesenbergs and Bugattis and Hispano-Suizas and the like. The engineering on these vehicles can only be rivaled by the spectacular coachwork build atop their large frames. They definitely catch the attention of all attendees, and I am among the people impressed by the craftsmanship that went into them. But I'm looking for real oddballs. Ever see an El Morocco? There were 27 built in 1956 and 10 built in 1957. I had read about these in books, but it was a concours event that I attended a number of years ago where I first saw one in person. To most people, it just looks like a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air, but Chevrolet fanatics will note that the grille has less trim and the tail fins are from a Cadillac. And it's not badged as a Chevrolet...it is an El Morocco. A friend of mine and I had a discussion about rare vehicles we've seen. He stated that he had worked on or seen at shows a high percentage of the total production of MGA fixed head coupes. His percentage was around 1% of the 1,000 built, which is impressive. My reply was that I had personally seen six of the about 40 Vectors ever built. That's the kind of thing a fan of oddballs looks for...rarity. During a tour of a restoration shop, I spotted an old chassis. The large car had a milled block straight-eight engine and obviously dated to the 1920s or early 1930s. Since it had no body, I guessed that it was a sports car of the era. My tour guide filled me in on this rarity. He said it was a Pedroso. I pride myself on knowing many different (and rare) brand names, but this one had me stumped. He continued that Pedrosos were built to race (at LeMans, if memory serves corrrectly). And there were TWO built. One of the two sank with a ship crossing the Atlantic and this was the sole survivor. A few years later, I was part of a tour of the storage room at the Petersen Museum when our tour guide unveiled a car that had everyone (mostly seasoned historians) mystified. The tour guide told us that this was a Pedroso, and it turned out that it was the same car I had seen years before but now with its body attached. As recently as today, my friend and I were surfing ebay in the "others" category for these types of oddities. He sent me a listing for a Muntz Jet and then wondered how rare it was. According to my research, the numbers are disputed by it seems that fewer than 200 were built and fewer than 50 have been located. And all of this just makes he and I want the car more. I've snapped pictures of AMC Spirits and Kaiser Darrins found at car shows, primarily because they stand out as orphans, which makes them stand out among the Ford Thunderbirds and Chevrolet Corvettes that seem to populate most car shows. But when I find a Checker Superba or Zimmer Golden Spirit or a Walter truck, I have found a memorable car show. Come to a car show with me...let's find some of these treasures!
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