Oracle of Delphi

My question is why is the US government giving tax money to Japan's Nissan Motor Co? The government of Japan would never give GM, Ford or Chrysler this kind of support, and the Japanese government would laugh in their face if they had asked for it. DETROIT (Reuters) -- Ford Motor Co will receive nearly $5.9 billion in U.S. government loans to spur development of more fuel-efficient vehicles, the Obama administration said today. Japan's Nissan Motor Co. will receive $1.6 billion, and startup green car maker Tesla Motors Inc. will receive $465 million in advanced technology financing from the Energy Department program. "By supporting key technologies and sound business plans, we can jump-start the production of fuel-efficient vehicles in America," Energy Secretary Steven Chu said at Ford headquarters. "These investments will come back to our country many times over by creating new jobs, reducing our dependence on oil, and reducing our greenhouse gas emissions," he said. The agency plans additional loans over the next several months to automakers and suppliers. The $25 billion Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program is only open to viable companies and the car must be manufactured in the U.S. The legislation passed in December 2007 and the money was appropriated last fall. Talks with Chrysler, GM Chu said the administration began talks with Chrysler Group LLC on possible energy technology loans immediately after the company stepped out of bankruptcy protection this month. It is also having "technical" discussions with General Motors, which is currently reorganizing in bankruptcy proceedings. "With regard to GM, we've already begun to review the technical side hoping they will emerge and be financially viable," Chu said. "So there is money there. I wouldn't say set aside. But I would say we are trying to stretch the dollars as much as we can. "We would like help all the automobile manufacturers manufacturing in the U.S. with these loans." Both GM and Chrysler applied for financing last year but their financial distress disqualified them from consideration in the first round of financing. Chrysler is operating in an alliance with Italy's Fiat S.p.A. Both Chrysler and GM rely on government bailout funds to operate. Ford, struggling like other companies with the industry's sharp sales decline this year, is the only U.S. auto manufacturer that did not seek bailout assistance. Ford will receive loan funds through 2011 to retool factories in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri in order to produce 13 models. Ford is focusing on electrification and improvements to conventional engines as well as converting two truck plants for car production. The loan is part of a $14 billion investment Ford plans in advanced technology vehicles over the next seven years, said Ford CEO Alan Mulally. The No. 2 U.S. automaker hopes most of that financing will come from government loans. Nissan's plans Nissan's North American unit will receive the funds to retool its Smyrna, Tenn., facility to build electric cars and an advanced battery manufacturing plant, Chu said. Nissan said the vehicles will emit no gases and will be powered only by electricity. "This loan is an investment in America. It will help us put high-quality, affordable zero-emissions vehicles on our roads," said Dominique Thormann, senior vice president, administration and finance for Nissan's North American unit, in a statement. "This project will expand our Smyrna plant and that's great economic news." Nissan said construction at Smyrna is scheduled to begin by the end of this year, after an environmental assessment is completed. The automaker plans to start production of the vehicles in late 2012. Tesla's Model S Tesla, based in San Carlos, Calif., will receive funds to build electric drive trains and electric vehicles. Tesla said it will use $365 million for production engineering and assembly of the Model S, which it described as "an all-electric family sedan that carries seven people and travels up to 300 miles per charge." Tesla said the Model S will have an anticipated base price of $49,900 after a $7,500 U.S. federal tax credit. Tesla expects to start Model S production in late 2011 in an assembly plant employing about 1,000 workers. Tesla also said it will use $100 million for a powertrain plant. The facility will supply all-electric powertrains to other automakers, "greatly accelerating the availability of mass-market electric vehicles." That operation will employ about 650 people, Tesla said. Tesla said it continues to negotiate for plant locations in California. Link: http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti...=27335791202208

My 1969 Pontiac Custom-S hardtop coupe of course, but sometimes I wish I had the convertible Custom-S ... I do have the 350 V8 and not the standard V6. The complete body styles of the 69 Custom-S

I prefer Taxodium distichum, the North American Bald Cypress. One of the few deciduous conifers of North America, Bald Cypress is a large tree to over 100 feet tall and a straight trunk to 8 feet in diameter, with numerous ascending branches. Young trees display a narrow, conical outline, but old trees have a swollen, fluted base, a slowly tapering trunk, and a broad, open, flat top. In swamps they develop distinctive woody growths from the root system called "knees." This tree is a native of the southeast United States, from Texas to Delaware. I have 3 on my property in Delaware because they remind me of Texas. I have noticed them creeping into Chester and Delaware counties Pennsylvania, I suppose that's because the climate is warming, not sure. Bald Cypress Tree Bald Cypress Cone Delaware has the Northern most Cypress Swamp

I've had you banned from all GM sites ...

2nd one looks like a Delorean Motor Car concept ...

Hurl

Need I say more?

General Motors softened its demands on its surviving dealers last week. The dealers, for example, won the right to meet with a GM representative next year to discuss sales objectives. And the company promises to negotiate reasonable sales improvement goals. GM is walking a tightrope as it tries to work out of U.S. Bankruptcy Court. To shed thousands of dealerships, it is using tough tactics that are angering many dealers. But GM needs dedicated and enthusiastic dealers to boost sales and work out of its deep financial hole. "They know they have to be flexible," says Dave Grundstrom, president of Marvin K. Brown Auto Center in San Diego, which sells Cadillac, Saab, Hummer, Buick and GMC. He got the original participation agreement that GM wants surviving dealers to sign. "The original agreement was really harsh," Grundstrom says. "This did a lot to clarify things and soften it up." GM asked the survivors to sign stringent participation agreements by Friday, June 12. They require dealers to significantly increase per-store sales, improve their stores, take more inventory and limit their right to protest GM's placing a store near them. Last week, GM CEO Fritz Henderson testified that nearly all the GM dealerships that received the participation agreement have signed or agreed to sign. About 96 percent of the 1,380 GM dealerships slated for termination have signed wind-down agreements. GM wants about 3,600 dealerships by the end of 2010, down from about 6,000 today. GM softens new agreement GM is demanding that dealers, if they want to continue with GM, improve their operations under new participation agreements. But last week the automaker softened the agreement by saying it will -- Meet with all surviving dealerships in the first quarter of next year to discuss specific sales objectives and store upgrades. -- Negotiate reasonable sales improvement goals and other objectives. -- Let dealers protest if GM adds a dealership to the market within 6 miles of their stores. Making nice GM sales chief Mark LaNeve says the company plans to be flexible in working with dealers on such things as goals for higher per-store sales, dealership upgrades and increased inventory. GM also will allow dealers to protest if the company adds a new dealership within six miles of a dealer's store. GM will concentrate marketing and product development money on only four brands: Cadillac, Chevrolet, Buick and GMC. That will lead to better sales and dealer morale, LaNeve says. "The risk is that in the transition, we'll lose [customers] before you get to build that base back up," he says. "We're hoping to mitigate that through the slow wind-down process we've set up." By Friday, June 12, GM wanted closing dealerships to sign a wind-down agreement that offers them a lump sum payment. In return, they would agree to immediately stop ordering vehicles and sell all inventory by October 2010. But some dealers say enthusiasm is difficult to muster. "For a guy like me who lost a store and kept another, nothing can help my morale or how I feel about them canceling one of my agreements," says a dealer, who wished to remain anonymous because he is keeping one GM dealership. Reduction math Here's GM plan to reduce its dealership roster. 6,000 GM's current total 1,380 Received letters to wind down by Oct. 2010 520 Expected to close via attrition 500 Will leave when GM sheds Saturn, Saab, Hummer 3,600 Goal for year-end 2010 After GM cut one of his franchises, Cadillac, and killed two of his brands, dealer Chris Haydocy says he'd "be lying if I told you my head is 100 percent in the game." Haydocy owns Haydocy Buick-Pontiac-GMC in Columbus, Ohio, and has a Chevrolet-Cadillac-Buick store in Bucyrus, Ohio. He will keep his Chevrolet, Buick and GMC franchises, but GM is cutting his Cadillac franchise. He sold about 50 new Cadillacs a year. About five years ago, Haydocy added a GMC medium-duty truck store and service center. He'll lose that now that GM is phasing out that segment by July 31. The wind-down of his Pontiac franchise and GMC medium-duty trucks hurts. Last year at his Columbus dealership, Haydocy sold 579 new vehicles. Of that, 270 were Pontiacs, 90 were Buicks, 71 were medium-duty GMC trucks and 148 were regular GMC trucks. "The loss of Pontiac, I still can't accept it. It was 40 percent of my business," Haydocy says. His GMC medium-duty truck business generated $512,000 in revenue last year in service alone. Says Haydocy: "We want to be a part of the new GM, but — I don't know how. How can we sell enough Buick and GMC trucks to make up for the loss of Pontiac and GMC medium-duty trucks?" Link: http://www.autonews.com/article/20090615/A.../306159958/1078

Happy Birthday!

Sexy

Goodbye Vibe, sniff, sniff.

Leathernecks

Che bella ...

Hmmmm, I feel slighted ...

I got mine today too, nice high grade thick envelope, premium stock paper for the letter too. Sent 1st class and not bulk rate, yeah they are lean and mean alright ... :rotflmao:

Frankfurt, Germany at night featured on my Desktop these days ...

Well they had to stick the Vue somewhere once the contract runs out with Penske ...

I think you just crave an Opel ...

When is the annual car show in Brookville? Who knows maybe I will go there incognito, I have too many stalkers in my life ... However I shouldn't be hard to spot when I drive through ...

I don't have any documentation from Pontiac Historical Services, what I have is the original documentation (Window Sticker and Factory Build Sheets) from the original owner in Florida, who happened to be a doctor's wife. The sticker if I recall was blue and white, but I will have to check it since it now resides in my safe deposit box in Delaware. The build sheets were found in the original 1969 Pontiac green owners manual that was in the glove box, according to the original owner, she found them in the glove box when she bought the car. I am keeping her as she was when she left the assembly plant as much as possible. I just can't live without XM, as it is now I stream it to Europe via the net. My car is a 350 V8, with power steering, air conditioning, and manual brakes which I thought would be an odd choice of brakes for a woman to use.

Are you willing to give GM another chance? I personally am not, other than the GM cars I currently own, I have no plans to buy another GM product. I take exception to GM closing the Wilmington plant, especially since it's paint shop had a 300 million dollar upgrade not long ago, it has a rail yard and a port nearby. I am content to sit back and watch an epic failure take place. So tell me, will you buy from the new GM? What are your beefs, what are your gripes with the old or new GM? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (AP) General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson says the new GM will be a leaner and quicker company that's more focused on its customers and its products, and urged consumers to not ignore the storied automaker. Henderson said it wasn't the end of the company, but "the start of a new and better chapter," after asking Americans to "give us another chance." Henderson spoke Monday at a news conference in New York after the fallen icon of American industry filed for bankruptcy protection. President Barack Obama says it is part of a "viable achievable plan" that will give the company "a chance to rise again." Henderson says the new GM will be built from the strongest parts of its business, including its best brands and best products. The company plans to focus on four core brands - Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC - and get rid of four others - Pontiac, Saturn, Hummer and Saab. Consumers, worried about the economy and the future of GM, shied away from the company's cars and trucks this year even after President George W. Bush promised loans and Mr. Obama followed through with billions more in assistance - plus a stiff set of new requirements GM was ordered to meet. When GM failed to do so by a March 31 deadline, Mr. Obama forced out CEO Rick Wagoner and replaced him with Henderson. Wagoner served at the helm since 2000 and was the face of GM when he first flew on the company jet to ask Congress for aid. After a firestorm of negative publicity, Wagoner rode in a hybrid Chevrolet Malibu from Detroit to Washington for a second set of withering questions before lawmakers. But that amounted to only a sideshow as the automaker's financial position worsened. Its revenues plunged almost 50 percent in the quarter ended March 30 and it racked up another $6 billion in losses. The Henderson-led GM faced a government-imposed June 1 deadline to restructure, slash costs and modify contracts with its union and dealers. But meeting most of those demands, plus a late agreement by many bondholders to swap portions of the $27 billion in debt they are owed for shares in a new GM, were not enough to prevent the court filing. In fact, it was an all-out sprint to Monday's filing, as GM quickly sought to nail down deals with its union, bondholders and sell off brands and along with most of its Opel operations in Europe in an effort to appear in court with a near-complete plan to quickly emerge as a leaner company with a chance to become profitable. Link: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/06/01/...usiness_5054598

I'm trying to keep it looking as much as it did when it left the Baltimore assembly plant back in 1968. I like to have all my cars look as they did when they left the plants they were built in. The PCS will get some modern electronics and fluid upgrades and XM Satellite radio installed, but the XM unit will be hidden in the glove compartment so the interior will look original. it will also be repainted in the original factory color (Midnight Green) I think it was called. The paint is original, and I still have the original window sticker and build codes from the plant ... It's not in bad shape to begin with, it has always been babied and kept in a garage, except for road trips. It has great sentimental value to me, since it was my 1st car. It's a good thing that car can't talk ... :AH-HA_wink: I'm anxious to see it when it is completed, but it's not like I'm in the USA anyway, so it can take as long as it needs to, to be done right ...

Kind of kills the reason to become a premium subscriber now or the reason to renew the subscription ...

Perhaps I can be of assistance ... However my heart belongs to the 1969 (the only model year for this car) Pontiac Custom-S, my 1st car that I bought when I was 14 years old in Tampa, Florida with some help from my uncle. I have it to this very day and it is going in for a full restore in July in Texas. My car was built at the Baltimore assembly plant in December of 1968.

Delaware