READER MAIL
Editors' Note: If you have a comment, please include your name or initials (AND YOUR HOMETOWN TOO, PLEASE). We do not print email addresses. If you want to read previous issues, click on "Next Entry" on the bottom of each section (we do not save emails from previous issues, however). Thank you. -WG
We've seen this movie before; it never ends well.
PMD, I’m old enough to remember those Goodyear Tote boards that showed up to date yearly car production. Can you imagine if we had a way to keep track of year-to-date Cash that's been wasted by the Big 3? From the EV boondoggle, GM's renovation of the RenCen then agreeing to tear it down, Ford's abandonment of car production, etc., etc.. etc. This has been going on in this town since the very beginning. It’s nothing new. because NOBODY that runs a company in this town learns from history. Ford actually thought it could end car production, then end CUV production (Edge and Escape), and people would just move into an F150. And the Board actually believed it would work. The Big 3 burn cash quicker than they can make it. And the cover up from the CEOs and their minions isn’t working anymore. We know the emperor has no clothes.
I read that Charger EV review. Bought and paid for. The media here is complacent and enables these “emperors” by printing such nonsense. The Media has become a mouthpiece for every corporate entity. I’m glad AE isn’t bought and sold like the rest. See you in 2025.
JRR
Plymouth, Michigan
The Fumes series.
It's getting to be that I open Fumes before any other section just to relive that fantastic time in road racing - late 60s through early 70s (still have my Autocourse from 1971). Closest track to me was Lime Rock so that's where I pleaded with my parents to take me. Seems that drivers drove in many more series than what happens today. AJ Foyt, Dan Gurney, Mario Andretti, Mark Donohue - all did Trans Am, Indy, endurance racing, and even NASCAR (Foyt won a stock car race at the old Ontario Speedway). Peter Revson of course did Can Am and Indy, but don't remember him doing NASCAR.
I did some research on Bridgehampton and didn't realize that parts of the track are still there. Have no idea on why they built a facility way out on Long Island, but the land of course was eventually worth a fortune.
Dave Goldin
Rochester, Michigan
Looking forward.
To say that February 5th is marked on my calendar as the day we hear Autoextremist continues is an understatement. As an avid car lover your column has been a constant source of true insight and will be missed when you decide to hang it up.
Wishing and you and Janice a wonderful Holiday Season!
KB
Sparta, New Jersey
Jeep fading.
Thanks for another year of cold, hard truth that almost no CEO wants to read. I think the news is getting worse for Jeep as the rubber-duck frenzy fades in the huge shadow that the Wrangler is truly a miserable daily driver, and Toyota now has not one, but two truly good vehicles (4Runner/Land Cruiser) that can be had for the same and even less money. If you're into that kinda faux LL Bean persona thing...
Once the most iconic Amercian vehicle, the GP will fade back into the niche in which it should have never left and certainly never been priced out from. Now, what will they do with all those #$%^ing duckies...
Happy Festivus,
Your favorite EV owner (self-nominated)
Tony W.
Mount Jubilence, Pennsylvania
Wait on the 4Runner.
I’m a 4Runner owner and in my experience, there is no great enthusiasm among the community for the new model. Part of it is resistance to change and giving up the time-tested model. However, a greater concern is looking at the issues that have befallen the new Tacoma and Tundra models. I think that current owners are going to wait a couple of years before taking a chance on the new 4Runner.
EG
Dallas Fort Worth, Texas
Looking forward to February.
First of all, Happy Holidays to you, Peter and Janice. Like one reader wrote, I eagerly await your renaissance in February.
I find myself endlessly fascinated by your RANTS... so very right on... and so very informative. I also find myself endlessly fascinated with your "growing up" stories about your Dad, Bill Mitchell (a legend in the same vein as Harley Earl and Alfred P. Sloan for that matter), Ed Cole, etc.
I joined Oldsmobile in 1968 as a young (18) GMI Student who grew up in Spokane but migrated to Lansing, MI for Oldsmobile and GMI in Flint for school and a priceless Mech Engineering curriculum. Harold Metzel was the Oldsmobile General Manager, soon followed by the also legendary (in my mind at least) John Beltz, who unfortunately died young after fathering the 1966 Toronado and inspiring and earning the love of the entire Oldsmobile team in that era.
When one "lives" this business, this automotive era, as you have Peter, it becomes absorbed into your being. You have been gifted with a.) these treasured experiences (like no other, WOW!) AND b.) your unique ability to write knowingly and vividly about it. And, interestingly, a never-ending bowl of "not good" (as you like to say) served up every day by the players in this industry we love. Thank you for regularly saluting the "True Believers," thank God for them. And ultimately, they will win. The marketplace is relentlessly unforgiving of the mistakes that you and Janice regularly catalog.
I'm not sure what the "reincarnation" of Peter and Janice will take, but I know this for sure, your work is not done. God Bless you both. Keep up the good work and have a great Holiday.
JJG
Spokane, Washington (formerly Rochester and Grosse Pointe, Michigan)
The 4Runner of it all.
I have a close friend who's had a 2003 4Runner since new. Around five years ago, she mulled about getting a new car so we started sporadically test-driving various vehicles. Fast forward to 2024 and she finally decides to pull the trigger, as new 2024 4Runners are very thin on the ground. We test-drove a new Land Cruiser but weren't impressed (especially with the price). She buys a gently used, certified Land Cruiser (with "more room for the nieces and nephews")... man, do those things hold their value. After two months she can't get used to its size and mass and wants to 'downgrade' to a new 4Runner except there aren't ANY available because they're in hot demand. So, we're going to wait a few months for a base model 2025 (she insists on cloth seats) and hope Toyota gets it right.
Peter & Janice, enjoy your extended and well-deserved break! Looking forward to "what's next" on February 5th....
Dave M.
Houston, Texas
The RenCen paradox.
The RenCen: another financial and PR speed bump during the “Grand Transition” this time landing with the true believers on the GM real estate staff. What to do, what to do, what to do? Notwithstanding the very expensive 20ft. linear piece of terra firma recently having served as a drag way for a hapless pedestrian by an autonomous Cruise Robo taxi, The Ren Cen is also a significant piece of GM real estate, a financial and optical dilemma for both Detroit and GM.
Ironically, its origins date and trace to Henry Ford II and connect to a vision of renaissance for the Motor City after a bruising previous decade of social and financial dysfunction. The RenCen could neither mask nor halt the damage, and perhaps that is its greatest failing. Born of the era and mentality that gave us 5 mph crash bumpers and the seat belt “safety interlock”, what did we expect?? Down the road was the greatest municipal bankruptcy in the country’s history. How’s that for “vision”? A far-fetched idea now might be a re-naming of the iconic battery shaped cylinders as “Ultium Towers” but even that GM moniker with its capital investment in brand have been buried in the same cold grave together with Cruise and Saturn.
I pre-date the RenCen having left my native Detroit for Arizona in 1970. Unlike for most other iconic venues in the city, I have no attachment to it other than having attended a few Michigan State Dental Association annual meetings that were less than memorable for either location or content.. like the depressed atmosphere that permeated the vehicles and the whole metro area during the early 70s. The Silver Dome has come and gone in my absence. By contrast, the foot of Woodward was always where I and thousands joyfully embarked on the river ferry for the summer magic of Bob-Lo. No more.
The RenCen is not exactly Detroit’s Statue of Liberty or Penn Railroad’s Loewy art-deco styled steam locomotives. There is no competition for it with Saarinen’s timeless GM Technical Center. The new Howe International Bridge is the long deserved dramatic and functional augmentation to the city, its skyline and its life. Will the first official crossing on dedication day be an EV?? Stay tuned.
Let the bean counters begin their numbering of RenCen’s remaining days.
Dr. John
Phoenix, Arizona
Editor-in-Chief's Note: The RenCen was - and is - a functional disaster from Day One. It is the most logistically unworkable office space ever created. If there's any rational thinking left in this city and at GM, the RenCen will be mercifully demolished as soon as possible. -PMD
EVs rule!
Let me remind everyone that GM was 25 years ahead of the goddamn curve with the EV-1 (which also looked better than 90 percent of the electric vehicle rolling today), and they could have been a global leader in the field but pissed it all away to chase those sweet sweet SUV profits in the short term...
And I happen to be very interested in the new electric Charger and think it's got a lot of potential. It’s much closer to what I hoped the Mustang Mach-E would be since it's, you know, an actual car... I'm not getting the first year, but maybe a second or third when the line matures a little. And spare me the bitching and moaning about the curb weight because the ICE Charger and Chally were already laughably overweight and it's not like the average Charger driver was taking his car to cut cones at gymkhana every weekend. The electric Charger will be faster and accelerate quicker than it's predecessor in every performance metric that matters to the average buyer, so all this hatred makes zero sense to me... (Okay I'll admit the manufactured electronic exhaust and other sci-fi sound effects are hokey as hell; I can only guess Dodge was trying to throw a bone to the faithful and the boy racers.. I imagine there's going to be a delete option offered for the realists in the near future)...
Scott Lowe
Virginia Beach, Virginia
Editor-in-Chief’s Note: Spare you? No, I won’t. These bloated, heavyweight EVs are an abomination, period. -PMD
Prelude to disappointment.
The new Prelude looks quite nice. But what's up with the "innovative shift control" How innovated? Is it controlled by hand signals? Interpretive dance? Oh wait, it's just some sort of CVT with piped in sound effects. While it's a shame that the new one won't have a manual (I remember with great fondness the slick-shifting 5-speed on my old Civic). If you won't give us bacon, don't charge us extra for Sizzlean. The original wasn't exactly a barn-burner: it wasn't for nothing it was called the Quaalude. Spare me the cost of the innovative shift crap and I can just make "vroom, vroom" noises for free.
Tom Pease
AE's L.A.-based correspondent
Beverly Hills, California
PMD, I’m old enough to remember those Goodyear Tote boards that showed up to date yearly car production. Can you imagine if we had a way to keep track of year-to-date Cash that's been wasted by the Big 3? From the EV boondoggle, GM's renovation of the RenCen then agreeing to tear it down, Ford's abandonment of car production, etc., etc.. etc. This has been going on in this town since the very beginning. It’s nothing new. because NOBODY that runs a company in this town learns from history. Ford actually thought it could end car production, then end CUV production (Edge and Escape), and people would just move into an F150. And the Board actually believed it would work. The Big 3 burn cash quicker than they can make it. And the cover up from the CEOs and their minions isn’t working anymore. We know the emperor has no clothes.
I read that Charger EV review. Bought and paid for. The media here is complacent and enables these “emperors” by printing such nonsense. The Media has become a mouthpiece for every corporate entity. I’m glad AE isn’t bought and sold like the rest. See you in 2025.
JRR
Plymouth, Michigan
The Fumes series.
It's getting to be that I open Fumes before any other section just to relive that fantastic time in road racing - late 60s through early 70s (still have my Autocourse from 1971). Closest track to me was Lime Rock so that's where I pleaded with my parents to take me. Seems that drivers drove in many more series than what happens today. AJ Foyt, Dan Gurney, Mario Andretti, Mark Donohue - all did Trans Am, Indy, endurance racing, and even NASCAR (Foyt won a stock car race at the old Ontario Speedway). Peter Revson of course did Can Am and Indy, but don't remember him doing NASCAR.
I did some research on Bridgehampton and didn't realize that parts of the track are still there. Have no idea on why they built a facility way out on Long Island, but the land of course was eventually worth a fortune.
Dave Goldin
Rochester, Michigan
Looking forward.
To say that February 5th is marked on my calendar as the day we hear Autoextremist continues is an understatement. As an avid car lover your column has been a constant source of true insight and will be missed when you decide to hang it up.
Wishing and you and Janice a wonderful Holiday Season!
KB
Sparta, New Jersey
Jeep fading.
Thanks for another year of cold, hard truth that almost no CEO wants to read. I think the news is getting worse for Jeep as the rubber-duck frenzy fades in the huge shadow that the Wrangler is truly a miserable daily driver, and Toyota now has not one, but two truly good vehicles (4Runner/Land Cruiser) that can be had for the same and even less money. If you're into that kinda faux LL Bean persona thing...
Once the most iconic Amercian vehicle, the GP will fade back into the niche in which it should have never left and certainly never been priced out from. Now, what will they do with all those #$%^ing duckies...
Happy Festivus,
Your favorite EV owner (self-nominated)
Tony W.
Mount Jubilence, Pennsylvania
Wait on the 4Runner.
I’m a 4Runner owner and in my experience, there is no great enthusiasm among the community for the new model. Part of it is resistance to change and giving up the time-tested model. However, a greater concern is looking at the issues that have befallen the new Tacoma and Tundra models. I think that current owners are going to wait a couple of years before taking a chance on the new 4Runner.
EG
Dallas Fort Worth, Texas
Looking forward to February.
First of all, Happy Holidays to you, Peter and Janice. Like one reader wrote, I eagerly await your renaissance in February.
I find myself endlessly fascinated by your RANTS... so very right on... and so very informative. I also find myself endlessly fascinated with your "growing up" stories about your Dad, Bill Mitchell (a legend in the same vein as Harley Earl and Alfred P. Sloan for that matter), Ed Cole, etc.
I joined Oldsmobile in 1968 as a young (18) GMI Student who grew up in Spokane but migrated to Lansing, MI for Oldsmobile and GMI in Flint for school and a priceless Mech Engineering curriculum. Harold Metzel was the Oldsmobile General Manager, soon followed by the also legendary (in my mind at least) John Beltz, who unfortunately died young after fathering the 1966 Toronado and inspiring and earning the love of the entire Oldsmobile team in that era.
When one "lives" this business, this automotive era, as you have Peter, it becomes absorbed into your being. You have been gifted with a.) these treasured experiences (like no other, WOW!) AND b.) your unique ability to write knowingly and vividly about it. And, interestingly, a never-ending bowl of "not good" (as you like to say) served up every day by the players in this industry we love. Thank you for regularly saluting the "True Believers," thank God for them. And ultimately, they will win. The marketplace is relentlessly unforgiving of the mistakes that you and Janice regularly catalog.
I'm not sure what the "reincarnation" of Peter and Janice will take, but I know this for sure, your work is not done. God Bless you both. Keep up the good work and have a great Holiday.
JJG
Spokane, Washington (formerly Rochester and Grosse Pointe, Michigan)
The 4Runner of it all.
I have a close friend who's had a 2003 4Runner since new. Around five years ago, she mulled about getting a new car so we started sporadically test-driving various vehicles. Fast forward to 2024 and she finally decides to pull the trigger, as new 2024 4Runners are very thin on the ground. We test-drove a new Land Cruiser but weren't impressed (especially with the price). She buys a gently used, certified Land Cruiser (with "more room for the nieces and nephews")... man, do those things hold their value. After two months she can't get used to its size and mass and wants to 'downgrade' to a new 4Runner except there aren't ANY available because they're in hot demand. So, we're going to wait a few months for a base model 2025 (she insists on cloth seats) and hope Toyota gets it right.
Peter & Janice, enjoy your extended and well-deserved break! Looking forward to "what's next" on February 5th....
Dave M.
Houston, Texas
The RenCen paradox.
The RenCen: another financial and PR speed bump during the “Grand Transition” this time landing with the true believers on the GM real estate staff. What to do, what to do, what to do? Notwithstanding the very expensive 20ft. linear piece of terra firma recently having served as a drag way for a hapless pedestrian by an autonomous Cruise Robo taxi, The Ren Cen is also a significant piece of GM real estate, a financial and optical dilemma for both Detroit and GM.
Ironically, its origins date and trace to Henry Ford II and connect to a vision of renaissance for the Motor City after a bruising previous decade of social and financial dysfunction. The RenCen could neither mask nor halt the damage, and perhaps that is its greatest failing. Born of the era and mentality that gave us 5 mph crash bumpers and the seat belt “safety interlock”, what did we expect?? Down the road was the greatest municipal bankruptcy in the country’s history. How’s that for “vision”? A far-fetched idea now might be a re-naming of the iconic battery shaped cylinders as “Ultium Towers” but even that GM moniker with its capital investment in brand have been buried in the same cold grave together with Cruise and Saturn.
I pre-date the RenCen having left my native Detroit for Arizona in 1970. Unlike for most other iconic venues in the city, I have no attachment to it other than having attended a few Michigan State Dental Association annual meetings that were less than memorable for either location or content.. like the depressed atmosphere that permeated the vehicles and the whole metro area during the early 70s. The Silver Dome has come and gone in my absence. By contrast, the foot of Woodward was always where I and thousands joyfully embarked on the river ferry for the summer magic of Bob-Lo. No more.
The RenCen is not exactly Detroit’s Statue of Liberty or Penn Railroad’s Loewy art-deco styled steam locomotives. There is no competition for it with Saarinen’s timeless GM Technical Center. The new Howe International Bridge is the long deserved dramatic and functional augmentation to the city, its skyline and its life. Will the first official crossing on dedication day be an EV?? Stay tuned.
Let the bean counters begin their numbering of RenCen’s remaining days.
Dr. John
Phoenix, Arizona
Editor-in-Chief's Note: The RenCen was - and is - a functional disaster from Day One. It is the most logistically unworkable office space ever created. If there's any rational thinking left in this city and at GM, the RenCen will be mercifully demolished as soon as possible. -PMD
EVs rule!
Let me remind everyone that GM was 25 years ahead of the goddamn curve with the EV-1 (which also looked better than 90 percent of the electric vehicle rolling today), and they could have been a global leader in the field but pissed it all away to chase those sweet sweet SUV profits in the short term...
And I happen to be very interested in the new electric Charger and think it's got a lot of potential. It’s much closer to what I hoped the Mustang Mach-E would be since it's, you know, an actual car... I'm not getting the first year, but maybe a second or third when the line matures a little. And spare me the bitching and moaning about the curb weight because the ICE Charger and Chally were already laughably overweight and it's not like the average Charger driver was taking his car to cut cones at gymkhana every weekend. The electric Charger will be faster and accelerate quicker than it's predecessor in every performance metric that matters to the average buyer, so all this hatred makes zero sense to me... (Okay I'll admit the manufactured electronic exhaust and other sci-fi sound effects are hokey as hell; I can only guess Dodge was trying to throw a bone to the faithful and the boy racers.. I imagine there's going to be a delete option offered for the realists in the near future)...
Scott Lowe
Virginia Beach, Virginia
Editor-in-Chief’s Note: Spare you? No, I won’t. These bloated, heavyweight EVs are an abomination, period. -PMD
Prelude to disappointment.
The new Prelude looks quite nice. But what's up with the "innovative shift control" How innovated? Is it controlled by hand signals? Interpretive dance? Oh wait, it's just some sort of CVT with piped in sound effects. While it's a shame that the new one won't have a manual (I remember with great fondness the slick-shifting 5-speed on my old Civic). If you won't give us bacon, don't charge us extra for Sizzlean. The original wasn't exactly a barn-burner: it wasn't for nothing it was called the Quaalude. Spare me the cost of the innovative shift crap and I can just make "vroom, vroom" noises for free.
Tom Pease
AE's L.A.-based correspondent
Beverly Hills, California