While Chrysler continues to struggle financially, employees have found their own way of getting over it. Outside of the plant, 15 workers have taken up drinking, and possibly even smoking pot, as a way to ease the pain. They might need to hit the bar because Chrysler has just announced that they all have been suspended indefinitely without pay.
This wasn’t just a one day occurrence either. These workers at the Jefferson North Assembly Plant have been hitting the bottles for ten days. It didn’t take long for Chrysler to identify each one of the 15 men and notify them that they had lost their jobs within 36 hours.
Although the video evidence is about as clear as a perfect summer’s day, Chrysler must still obey its protocol when releasing employees. The company also stressed that each one of their vehicles is screened for quality control and an issue like this will not affect the vehicles in any way.
Hit the jump to read the press release and see the news video.
A reminder to those people who own sports cars; please treat them with utmost care. And in the event that you decide to sell these cars, please give them more respect than leaving them out in the sun like they’re some kind of rusted-up lawnmower in a garage sale.
If you’re wondering why we’re a little, shall we say, perturbed, it’s because we found out that there’s a man somewhere in Utah that decided to have a little auto sale of his vehicles, which really isn’t a big deal except that one of those vehicles sitting idly on the lot as if it was getting a tan just so happened to be an Aston Martin V8 Vantage.
If this guy wants to sell his Vantage, by all means, he’s got every right to do so. We just don’t know if he understands just how special this car is. Sure, there’s a $75,000 price tag attached to it, but in this case, it’s not really about the money.
It’s about an Aston Martin Vantage being treated just like any other used-up car, which it definitely is not.
Sometimes, burnouts can be a good thing, provided, of course, that you do it the right way without showing off too much. The problem with being a little in over your head is that you begin to think that you can do just about anything without any repercussions.
Take the owner of this Chevrolet Corvette C6 for example. The scene was in Houston at the Cars & Coffee event where a number of Corvette owners joined in to participate in a nice little run around the streets of the city.
Unfortunately, one of them decided to bring some attention to himself by performing a burnout in front of phone-recording spectators. In doing so, he forgot to remember one thing that makes for a good burnout: you have to do it right, and not go Die Hard on the spectators by running them over. The good thing is, no injuries were sustained from the Corvette owner’s recklessness, although we think that his ego must have taken quite a hit.
We’re curious to know if at any point before the driver of this BMW X5 decided to turn his SUV into a Dukes of Hazzard stunt car did he honestly think that he could successfully complete an airborne barrel roll without doing his car – and himself – any harm.
We’re wondering that because we can’t, for the life of us, comprehend how he could honestly think of pulling it off given the girth of the SUV he was driving. Then again, crazy nut jobs do crazy things and this guy certainly qualifies for somebody who’s got a few loose bolts in his head that certainly need a lot of tightening.
That being said, we still enjoyed watching the video – we do hope the driver didn’t suffer any injuries – only because idiotic stunts like this remind us that performing stunts with your own car usually doesn’t end well for all parties involved.
Not that we condone swagger-jacking a car even for recreational purposes – we really, really, really don’t – but if you’re going to do it, you might as well do a good job of keeping your face seen by a camera. Better yet, cover your tracks and leave the camera at home.
Apparently, this man doesn’t have that thing we call ‘smarts’ in his little head. Working as a security guard at the Dallas Auto Auction in Dallas, Texas, the now former employee of the dealership decided that it would be a good and fun idea to boost a Corvette ZR1 – one that costs around $111,000 – and take it out for a nice little hooning under the warm Texas sun.
But as it turns out, this security guard, for whatever reason other than it was completely and amazingly stupid, decided to videotape the whole ordeal, complete with footage of himself getting out of the jacked ZR1 with his arms raised like Rocky before doing some pistol-preening in front of the camera. And to add insult to his stupidity, he went ahead and posted the video clip on You Tube where his employers quickly got a hold of the video, fired the employee, and are now on the verge of pressing charges against the security guard.
Once again, way to go to, Mr. Security Guard! You managed to get yourself fired and get arrested for your idiocy.
There’s no question that the Lexus LF-A is one of the fastest cars you can get your hands on. Unfortunately, the supercar’s speed also makes it a magnet for law enforcement authorities and, as this video will show you, the LF-A can now be associated with a different kind of fast: how fast it can get a speeding ticket.
In this video, Claus Ettensberger of CEC gets behind the wheel of a Lexus LF-A and takes it for a quick ride around the block. Twenty minutes later, Ettensberger returns to the dealership, but when he came back, there was a piece of paper sticking inside his windshield. Yes, dear friends, that piece of paper was a speeding ticket.
Turns out, during Ettensberger’s quick run with the supercar, he got flagged by local authorities for going 103 mph in a 35 mph zone. We don’t know what this dude was thinking, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that going three times over the speed limit is like heaving a stack of pancakes at a hungry man. The radar guns will take advantage of it.
The best part? The Lexus LF-A hasn’t even been released yet, so getting a ticket with a car that has yet to hit the streets is another feather you can add on Ettensberger’s cap.
You would’ve thought that, by now, people driving rental vehicles would be more careful of the cars they rent.
Apparently, some people are a little more hard-headed than others. Yeah, these are the same people who think that just because they’re behind the wheel of a rental - whatever the car may be - it gives them the license to do just about anything with it.
Now, a new idiot has popped up with another rental car crash. This time, it’s a 2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS – not as expensive as a 458, but it’s not a Pinto either – that was rented by somebody who thought that jumping it off of a railroad track a la Dukes of Hazard was a responsible thing to do with a rental. The result, as you can imagine, wasn’t what any of them expected.
Just goes to show that if you’re driving a rental, always make sure that you take good care of it because, in so many words, it’s not yours.
Illustrating a clear example of how "one bad apple spoils the bunch," some morons over in the UK have decided it would be a good idea to steal a car and flip it over on its side. Now, the owner of the Reliant is pointing the finger at our very own, Jeremy Clarkson.
Barry Cloughton has driven a Reliant Robin for over 40 years and his latest Reliant was one of the last ones to roll off of the production line when the company decided to stop making them. Apparently, this special car was the target of an idiotic attempt to recreate a Jeremy Clarkson stunt that was aired just two and a half hours before the yobs’ attempt was performed. The stunt, which was part of a "best" episode that was aired on Sunday night, shows Jeremy Clarkson taking the Reliant on a 17 mile route in Yorkshire where the Reliant regularly flipped over on its side.
Upon discovering that his very special Reliant had been stolen and damaged, Cloughton was so distressed that the paramedics had to be called to provide him with medical attention. The thing that makes this situation even worse is that the neanderthals came back around 3am to try the stunt again!
Owner, Cloughton, feels that it is not a coincidence the hoodlums performed the same act seen on Top Gear and calls Clarkson’s stunts ”ridiculous, irresponsible and dangerous” and that the show "put the idea into their heads". Don’t get us wrong; we definitely feel bad for Mr. Cloughton and we feel bad that he was put through this traumatic ordeal, but why blame Clarkson for the act of some neanderthals? Clarkson is making a living doing something he loves, and if anyone is to blame, its the delinquents that decided stealing a car and vandalizing it would be a good idea.
Homeowner’s Associations can be a good thing, but they can also be a very bad thing. Take this story for example:
AJ Vizzi of Odessa, Fl. purchased his home back in 1997 when it was perfectly okay for him to park his truck in the driveway. Mr.Vizzi even made sure of that with the HOA before moving in. He lived at his residence for a good nine years when, in 2006, the HOA determined that residents could no longer park their trucks in their driveways and proceeded to sue Mr. Vizzi for doing just that. Apparently, they didn’t know who they were messing with.
Mr. Vizzi was not going to take this situation lying down, so he countersued the HOA. In 2008, the judge ruled in favor of Mr. Vizzi and, one would think, everyone would move along their merry way. Well, the HOA appealed and it took another two years for the judge to rule in favor of Mr. Vizzi again while also making the HOA pay for the $187,000 Mr. Vizzi spent throughout the legal process. In total, Eagles Masters Association had to dole out $300,000 for a case they ending up losing. We have to wonder how much of that Mr. Vizzi, along with the other residents, will have to pay for in the form of increased association’s fees.
Okay, listen, we are animal lovers just like everyone else, but this may be a tad too ridiculous for us and, hopefully, many other people. Yes, our hearts go out to the animals featured in the tearful Sarah McLachlan/ASPCA commercial, but Patricia Edwards and her cat-infested automobile is just plain wrong.
The reason we say Edwards’ vehicle was cat-infested is because the woman had fifteen - yes fifteen - cats in her vehicle as she attempted to back out of a parking spot at a convenience store in Pierre, South Dakota. This scenario wouldn’t be a big deal unless, of course, Edwards hadn’t almost backed into a police cruiser in her attempt to see around the furry creatures.
The police officer, who was almost backed into by the feline-loving woman, immediately seized the cats in an effort to stop Edwards from driving with such a distraction.
The courts, thankfully, ruled against Edwards and her cats who were deemed "a distraction and interfered with driver Patricia Edwards’ ability to see where she was going." A distraction. No shit, Sherlock.
Seriously, can this get any more ridiculous? If it can, we’d love to hear your stories!
