Youtube Video Of the Day
Chrysler K-Car Pushme Pullyou

Is THIS the Face of Jesus?


I heard a radio commercial this morning that the play Jesus Christ Superstar is coming to Indianapolis, with actor Ted Neeley reprising the role of Jesus. I've got nothing against Jesus Christ Superstar. I've enjoyed it since I was 12, and I'm 46 now. I've got nothing against Ted Neeley, he was wonderful in the movie version of JCS. Here's the thing: Ted, you're 63 years old! Give it a rest, man. Part of the tragedy of Jesus was that he died before his natural time. The Passion of Christ loses its power if when he dies people say, "it's a shame, but he was bound to go soon anyway."

If you go to the play, here's a tip: buy tickets in the back, way back, and enjoy the show.

Photo credit: PBS.org

Buyout Time at Chrysler again
Almost all Michigan Workers to get $100,000 offers

Chrysler announced that it is offering $100,000 buyout to all of its Michigan assembly workers who have at least 1 year seniority. Chrysler will offer the buyout to about 14,000 wokers with a goal of cutting 10,000 unionized workers. Also, about 4,600 workers will be getting early retirement offers. Chrysler spins this as being the implementation of the buyout plan announced with the new UAW contract in November. Source: Reuters

Tesla Uncoiled

The press embargo has been lifted on driving reports on the Tesla Roadster electric sportscar. Most of the auto-websites have reports. Here's a link to the Autoweek coverage. The insert is the Autoblog Green coverage via youtube.com.




I've held back in commenting on the Tesla over the past year, not wanting to waste time on a car that could end up being vaporware. It's highly possible that the first owners may actually take delivery of their steeds in the (now) promised March/April time frame. The car even passed its crash test. It's a cool car, and I'll take one if they want to give me one.

Ford Cuts Quarterly Loss in Half
Also to Offer Buyouts to ALL UAW Workers
Product line could use an Ecoboost
Ford Motor Company announced that its 4th quarter loss for 2007 was $2.75 billion, much less than the $5.63 billion in 2006. Ford predicted continued losses in 2008 with a return to profitability in 2009.

Ford also announced that it was going to offer buyouts to its remaining 54,000 United Auto Workers employees. It is unknown (after previous buy-outs) how many of the workers would be likely to accept the buyouts. Many of the workers would be replaced by new, lower-paid workers under the two-tier contract that Ford negotiated with the UAW last fall.

Primary Source: Routers

One technology that Ford is counting on to help it with the turnaround is the new EcoBoost engine family. EcoBoost is a new family of twin-turbo-charged, direct-injection gasoline engines. The EcoBoost engine is set to debut on the Lincoln MKS sedan in 2009. The new engines are touted as being clean, efficient and powerful. Ford claims 275 horsepower for the2.0 liter version. This is 75 more than Volkswagen/Audi's current 2.0 liter turbo-di engine, one of Ward Automotive's 10 Best Engines. Ford plans to couple these transmissions with a computer-shifted manual transmission (similar to Volkswagen's DSG) for economy gains exceeding 20%. Ford is planning on installing the Ecoboost engine in 500,000 cars per year by 2012. (For background information on gasoline direct injection, click this link to the Wikipedia article on the subject.)

It will be interesting to see if Ford's new engines are docile enough, durable enough and reliable enough from the get go to make tech-phobic Ford-owners happy. Historically, many people have refused to buy turbocharged cars for fear that a turbo failure will ruin the entire engine. It should be noted that the ecoboost design relies not on one, but two turbos. Secondly, turbochargers tend to increase an engine's optimal octane requirement. That's a natural byproduct of the turbo's purpose of cramming more air into less space. The higher pressure causes engine knocking. Octane is an indirect measurement of a fuel's resistance to knocking. If Ford says the horsepower ratings that it has published are based upon regular fuel, then in theory, with higher octane fuel, or even e-85 or methanol, hotrodders should have a field-day with these engines, perhaps even doubling their output.

Here's a Youtube Video of Ford's technical presentation on the Ecoboost engine.

Fred Thompson Pulls Out of Race

Republican candidate Fred Thompson announced yesterday that he was pulling out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Now, all his hard work pursuing the nomination has all come to naught. There's 4 hours that he'll never see again.

GM to Offer Buyouts to Most Hourly WorkersAccording to the Detroit News, General Motors is putting together a plan to offer buyouts to most of its 72,000 hourly workers. Included in the plan is an early-retirement offer to 46,000 workers. Some of these workers would be replaced with new, lower-paid workers under the two-tier wage system that was installed under the new UAW contract last fall. Nevertheless, the final outcome could be a larger net loss than the 36,000 worker buyout that GM undertook in 2005.

The VW Minivan Gets a Name

According to Autoweek.com, the upcoming VW minivan, a reskinned Dodge Grand Caravan, now has a name. THe name is Rotten. I mean Rotund. I mean Routan. Yeah, the last one.

Okay, quick, what's the name of the thing? I didn't think you'd remember. Apparently Volkswagen found a product name genius that couldn't hold a job at Lincoln by coming up with names at least as good as MKT or MKX.

Still no pics yet. Smart money bets that they keep the Chrysler powertrains. It's cheaper that way.

From the "You Can't Make This Stuff Up" File:
Fake Jessica Simpson Rattles Romo

The New York Post planted a fake Jessica Simpson in the third row for the Dallas Cowboys/New York Giants game. The hope was that seeing Simpson would rattle Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, Simpson's boyfriend, into having a bad game.

The plan may have worked, because the underdog Giants defeated the Cowboys 21-17, thanks in part to a late interception thrown by Romo.

(I refuse to make any quips about "fake" Jessica Simpson being redundant. It's just not going to happen.)

Photo and Story - via ABC NEWS at this link.

Chrysler is Bullish on the Detroit Auto Show



To show off it's restyled Dodge Ram pick-up, Chrysler drove a herd of cattle through downtown Detroit. Apparently there's 10% more bullsh** at the autoshow this year than last.