This past week there were two big automotive bombshells: Pontiac may disappear, and Chrysler may file for bankruptcy. If you’re a car enthusiast and follow the news, then neither should be a big shock. But neither fate may be as bad as it sounds.

Let’s take them each individually:

The unsurprising “shockers” of the week originally appeared on topspeed.com on Sunday, 26 April 2009 14:00 EST.

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While following up on my project car quest/stimulus package, I discovered something a little odd along I-95 north in Martin County, Florida (insert your obscure Super Troopers reference here.)

Drink 'n Type? originally appeared on topspeed.com on Sunday, 19 April 2009 11:00 EST.

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Every few months I get this itch (as in mentally, not the social disease sort of way.) This latest one is courtesy of the Barrett-Jackson Auction in Palm Beach. After seeing hundreds of beautiful machines of all ages, the little voice in the back of my mind tells me I need a new project car.

This time I have a real excuse. Usually when I start one of these projects it’s for completely selfish reasons, but this time I’m doing the country a favor. I’m going to provide aid directly to one individual by offering compensation for an old, useless clunker. Then I will supply aid to retail outlets nationwide by ordering parts from various catalogues as well as multiple midnight runs to the local auto parts stores.

There is no way I can make a profit on something like this, so that either makes me a great humanitarian or just an idiot.

I invite the rest of you to come with me. Grab some pocket change, a few wrenches, and go out to stimulate your local economy with a hopeless basketcase. If you’re not so motivated, at least you can help me choose what will be the source of my joy (or more likely frustration) over the next few months (or years)…

Stimulating the economy, one idiot at a time originally appeared on topspeed.com on Sunday, 12 April 2009 15:00 EST.

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Porsche’s old museum at its headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany used to follow the maxim "Small but good", and a visit there proved it. The whole museum and gift shop was located in a space that was about the size of most company’s boardrooms. The clear benefit to the small area was every piece featured was significant. The huge drawback was that everyone who saw that museum knew there was huge piece of the company’s history missing.

Porsche did not ignore this problem. It spent over two years building the new museum, which opened its doors on January 31, 2008. When we made the visit earlier this month it still had the new museum smell.

This is the ultimate destination for any Porsche fan. It not only houses all the significant pieces from the company’s history, but also concept cars that have been long forgotten. Ever wonder what Butzi’s original design was for the 911? (pictured right) Or what a long-wheelbase 911 would look like? (orange car in the picture gallery)

The new museum gives Porsche the room it deserves. The multi-story complex features road cars, racecars and even an observation area into the restoration facility. Porsche is a celebrated carmaker, and its finally got the showcase it deserves.

Of course anyone taking the time to travel to Stuttgart wants to see the factory complex surrounding the museum (trust me, it’s worth it). Unlike the Leipzig facility, Porsche’s home factory is not available to everyone and takes some planning ahead. A good start is making friends with the local Porsche dealer.

Plenty more pics in the picture gallery after the jump.

Porsche Museum visit originally appeared on topspeed.com on Monday, 23 March 2009 23:00 EST.

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A few weeks ago I explored the options of the perfect car for my grandmother. It was time to replace her 2001 Toyota Camry, and I enlisted the help of our readers for suggestions. I started out by noticing what was the favored car in the development, and trying to find a new option. I got a lot of e-mails and a few posts that backed up the direction I was thinking for Grammy. Everything seemed to point the same kind of car, and we were all wrong.

From the first post a new Toyota Camry seemed like a clear winner, except it was too common. So the most outside suggestions were of similar inoffensive import sedans, which sacrificed individuality for reliability.

I decided there had to be another option I wasn’t looking at, and that I was going to take the time to get this right. So when it finally came down to making the short list of cars Grammy would actually sit in, there had to be two kinds of cars on the list: those she knew she wanted, and those she didn’t know she wanted. That meant the Toyota Camry, Toyota Corolla and a few dark horses.

To Grandmother's Car We Go, Part 2 originally appeared on topspeed.com on Sunday, 22 March 2009 14:00 EST.

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We like to think that the U.S. has all the cars that anyone could ever want, but one quick look around the Geneva Auto Show proved very wrong. Of course I knew that we do not sell all the brands in the world, but the show gave a physical representation of how much we were missing out on.

There are plenty of brands out there with production capacity, but no U.S. distribution chain. That’s when I remembered Saturn will soon be broken off from General Motors, and it will be a distribution chain in need of a product.

Those who have read my commentaries before know Saturn holds a special place in my heart, so I am a little bias about keeping it in business. Also many would argue that the conditions U.S. economy would not favor a new car expansion. But I think this is goes to the heart of Warren Buffet-style investment strategy: if others are scaling back, then its time to expand.

It will of course sound simple on paper, but it’s sill worth taking a look at what some of there companies may have to offer…

Saturn's salvation may lie in its independence originally appeared on topspeed.com on Sunday, 15 March 2009 12:00 EST.

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Geneva is over for the journalists, but we still will be bringing plenty of updates over the week as we refresh our picture gallery with everything from Geneva. For now, its time for the public to have their turn with all the new cars.

Last week I mentioned that every auto show has an underlying theme, and the one at Geneva was clear: honesty. It may not seem like much, but I found the mood to be refreshing and revolutionary.

There was a time (about fifty years ago) when the automotive press towed whatever line the car manufactures put out. Over the last few decades we, the press, (yes some blogs are press now) figured out that we spur more loyalty and sleep easier by being more honest than nice. Good news for us; bad news for some auto companies. Now we have an interesting relationship where the press still works close with the auto companies, but everyone keeps at least one card very tight to their chest.

So for auto companies to be that forthcoming, I should take the time to recognize some of the standouts…

Geneva Motor Show: being there originally appeared on topspeed.com on Sunday, 8 March 2009 19:00 EST.

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This week’s Geneva Motor Show has been consuming our posts ever since the beginning of the year. Just look at how much news has been tagged previewing the show. Sure we get excited about auto shows, and Geneva is one of Europe’s largest, but this show is more important because it is a game changer.

Auto shows usually come out with a theme, even if it wasn’t intentional. In Paris last September, the focus was all on fuel efficiency because of the summer’s high gas prices. By the time Detroit rolled around in January, gas was cheap but the world’s economies were crumbling. The Detroit show was physically at the epicenter of the crumbling economy, so the feeling there was, “Great, but can you build it?”

Now comes Geneva. There are so many problems that it’s almost like the car companies have a blank slate. Since every major manufacturer is painted into a corner, they can come out fighting any way they want.

Why Geneva matters originally appeared on topspeed.com on Sunday, 1 March 2009 12:00 EST.

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To celebrate my grandmother’s 90th birthday, she decided to buy herself a new car. I can definitely see where I get some of my genes. She is older than the company that built her 2000 Camry, and she’s still a good driver (granted she no longer uses the interstate, and every time one of her friends yells “Road Trip!” she pretends to forget where she put the car keys.)

Because I earn a living by talking about cars, and I’m sure I am her favorite grandson, I was going to take the lead in finding a new Grammy-friendly ride. A new Camry was going to the top of my list, until I looked at the parking lots around her senior development. I noticed a distinct trend towards Toyota’s mid-sized sedan.

Grammy tells a story where she was recently at the social hall in her development. While she was waiting for a canasta game to begin, someone came in a said, “Whoever owns the Camry, please move it, or it will be towed.” It looked like half the hall’s Metamucil kicked in all at once, as the place cleared for everyone to go check on his/her car.

So now in my mind the Toyota is no longer a sure-thing for someone as distinguished for my grandmother. Now that it’s open for debate, I’m wondering what will the seniors of the future be driving? Until I get my answer (please help), I’m going to try and understand this situation a little better…

To grandmother's car we go originally appeared on topspeed.com on Sunday, 22 February 2009 12:00 EST.

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Happy day after Valentine’s Day everybody. Right about now, as you wipe the mid-morning crust from your eyes, you begin to realize that the person next to you is the exact same person he/she was last week, just with a few hundred dollars worth of food and chocolate in him/her. This reminds me of the relationship that’s worth putting money into: your car.

The cars in my past have been from Japan, Europe and even a few home-grown in the U.S. — My dating past has never been that eclectic. So now I’m paying tribute to my best relationships so far with my top 20 reasons a car is better than a woman. Anyone who wants to add to this (especially women with the counterpoints) please feel free.

Am I jaded? Absolutely.

Hit the jump for the list

Date your car originally appeared on topspeed.com on Sunday, 15 February 2009 12:00 EST.

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There’s not a whole lot to do when sitting in traffic. As my mind begins to wonder and my eyes gaze over a sea on non-precious metal, I start to realize the lunacy of car names. Would I love a Mustang any less had it been called a “Cougar” as the original designers intended? What exactly is a Vitara anyway?

So what’s in a vehicle’s name? It’s just a word or two designed to make me feel something about a car, right? But I now realize that I’m ok with a car company slapping on a badge to tell me how I should feel about its product. I have to drive a BMW 3-Series to know that it’s a great car, but a Dodge Challenger doesn’t even have to move for me to get excited about it. What I’m not so sure about anymore are the class code lettering. The difference between a Toyota Camry LE and XLE, is about $5,000. I know there are different options that come with the upgraded package, but is the lettering really necessary? Are most people going to know that I paid much more just for Toyota to put an “X” on my trunk? After thinking about it, there are very few of these extra letter that have any real meaning, and I can think of only five that even deserve recognition for being any good, or possibly no good at all…

Automotive alphabet soup originally appeared on topspeed.com on Sunday, 1 February 2009 13:00 EST.

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I am a single man. For me, the women I date usually fall into two categories: approach now and approach later. There is just something about the girls in the latter category that have a striking beauty that makes me hesitate until I get enough confidence (or drink enough) to ask them out. The problem is that I have found at the end of date I’m just as likely to describe her using the term “box-o-rocks” as I am likely to actually enjoy my time with the pretty woman.

This is my fault. While I was admiring the girl from a far, my brain had time to imagine how perfect she COULD be. I have a high expectation only from what I’ve seen, before I’ve even met her face to face. So if the girl is not who my mind has made her out to be, I’m disappointed. I can only hope this does not hold true with the Chrysler-Fiat merger...

Chrysler and Fiat: I'm excited; I'm afraid originally appeared on topspeed.com on Sunday, 25 January 2009 14:00 EST.

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Giving me a bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing. The last few times I’ve been on a track of any kind, I’ve used whatever knowledge I’ve gained on previous experiences and applied it to the current situation. Good, right? Not if you’re as cocky as I am.

My New Year's resolution: learn to drive (better) originally appeared on topspeed.com on Sunday, 4 January 2009 12:00 EST.

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As a car guy, I am not looking forward to the new year. I know we can expect plenty of CARnage (horrible pun) stemming from the economic slowdown that will kill off plenty of high-horsepower, low-volume fun cars. I also know the worst is not over yet. Gas prices will rise, emissions regulations will tighten, and car companies will look to sell the same car internationally. All this adds up to smaller cars with smaller engines, but there is hope.

We are on a crash course with mundane sedans, and car enthusiasts will not take this lying down. We can’t fight this in the conventional way of dropping a big engine into whatever car we feel like because soon the big engines won’t be so easy to get. It’s time for a new solution. In my never-wrong crystal ball (no guarantees), I see the return of great kit cars.

Do-it-yourself car building needs to make a comeback originally appeared on topspeed.com on Sunday, 28 December 2008 13:30 EST.

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All of Detroit is safe until after the auto show in January, sorta. The government approved $13.4 billion in loans for General Motors and Chrysler for immediate consumption (Ford said “no thanks” for now.) This will take them until February when another $4 billion may be available, but they will also have to show that their operations are able to show "positive net present value" – a tough goal I’ll get to in a moment.

This means at least when the North American International Auto Show hits Detroit in January, at least the Big Three won’t have to ring the Salvation Army bell, and instead they will be able to somewhat focus on products. But this isn’t the end of the fight, the big picture has four elements still to come:

 There will be more layoffs
 There will be more money needed pumped into the industry
 It’s the end of fun new cars
 The winner will be the one who returns to big cars first

So for this week, after the just I present a little accounting, a healthy dose of skepticism, and just enough optimism to keep fans of American cars from jumping out the window.

The Detroit bailout: it ain't over, don't be surprised originally appeared on topspeed.com on Sunday, 21 December 2008 13:00 EST.

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