SoCalCTS

The only people who think Mercedes is a quality car are people who never owned one. Recently, the LA Times wrote a decent review of the new C-class but half the article was devoted to trashing Mercedes on its dismal quality. I think MB needs to find a new customer base. A B-class is just what the doctor ordered.

So the infiniti beats the BMW by less than a second in most categories, big deal! The infiniti cost $7K more and doesn't have the prestige of a BMW. This should be a hollow victory for the guys at Nissan.

It looks like the first gen CTS with a hatchback.

- JalopnikIs Chris Doane a kept boy and Brenda Priddy a Sugar Mamma?

California is building the Tesla 100% electric car. Now that is forward thinking. Tesla

I think there is a secret deal between GM and the Union. The Union gets to flex its muscle showing that they will strike. GM gets to save money by shutting down its plants for a few days and reducing inventory. After a few days, they come back to the bargaining table work out some deal that was inevitable and walk away looking like winners on both sides.

This is such a non-story in Southern California. I think the newspapers around Sacramento and the bay area cover all of the minutia of state politics too closely. So the story is that the governor met with GM before he announced an open bid for flex fuel vehicles? hmmm.... and no other companies had the vehicles that the state needed? Wow, what a scandal!

It reminds me of an AMC Eagle. Its like a wagon on steroids.

That is something called the Dodge Dakota.

MSNBC - Newsweek Business - commentary Can Chrysler Turn Itself Around? With a new management team in place, the automaker is primed for change. And some of its big-gulp SUVs appear destined to become roadkill. WEB-EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY By Keith Naughton Sept. 12, 2007 - Bob Nardelli prowled the stage of the Detroit Athletic Club like a caged animal. Made famous by Michael Moore's documentary "Roger & Me," this was the same fusty, old venue that ejected Moore as he hunted down then GM chairman Roger Smith. But last Friday, all eyes were focused on Nardelli. The new 59-year-old CEO of Chrysler was out to show that he'd brought some of the intensity he learned as a protégé of Jack Welch at General Electric before going on to become Home Depot's CEO. Speaking without cue cards to a room full of automotive reporters, he was heavy on GE-speak, waxing on about his "vertical learning curve" and "granularity." And his pacing presence on stage evoked Welch's "management by walking around" technique. But near the end of his performance, he threw some red meat to the crowd with a hint that Chrysler's product line is getting an overhaul. "We just can't have emotional attachments," he insisted, "to some of the brands and products that are out there." That Chrysler's lineup needs a serious tuneup shouldn't come as a shock. After all, Chrysler is losing billions and has fallen to fifth place in sales in the U.S. market. Obviously, its big-gulp SUVs and pickups aren't exactly what America is after in these days of high gas prices and even higher anxiety. But here in Detroit, where the highways are still filled with American cars, denial runs deep. I recently brought up the 50th anniversary of the Edsel to a Ford exec and he started bragging about all the Edsel fan clubs that are still out there. Before the mercy killings of Oldsmobile and Plymouth earlier this decade, GM and Chrysler spent billions keeping those comatose brands on life support long after their vitals had flat-lined. For heaven's sake, Ford is still rationalizing the existence of Mercury. When's the last time Mercury came up with a must-have car? So Nardelli's suggestion that he might euthanize brands and models at Chrysler got the assembled auto writers revved up. When he descended from the stage, he was mobbed in a scene that reminded me of the rushing reporters knocking over the phone booths in the movie "Airplane." Does Chrysler have too many SUVs? What brands are you going to kill? Nardelli backtracked—slightly. No, he's not doing away with the Dodge, Jeep or Chrysler brands. But it's time to get Darwinian about what's sitting on showroom floors. "We have to look very hard at some of the products within those brands," he told the throng of jostling journalists, "and make some tough choices." Getting tough and getting real seems to be what Chrysler's new owner, Cerberus Capital Management, is all about. Stephen Feinberg, the brains and bucks behind Cerberus, quickly got down to business when he took over Chrysler on Aug. 3. Three days later, he brought in Nardelli to run the automaker and demoted CEO Tom LaSorda, despite earlier promises that the incumbent was his man with a plan. A few weeks later, Feinberg picked off Lexus's top marketer, Deborah Wall Meyer, to become Chrysler's chief marketing officer. And then the most stunning move of all: last week Feinberg lured away Toyota's top American executive, Jim Press, to become Chrysler's vice chairman. That was quickly followed by the hiring of GM's former top Asia executive, Phil Murtaugh. The conventional wisdom here in Detroit is that Feinberg and his $23.5 billion private equity firm are writing some mighty big checks to attract all this blue-chip talent. And the shadowy billionaire certainly doesn't expect his new crew to do business as usual. That's why Nardelli is signaling that he's breaking with the Detroit tradition of dithering over dying models. Read more at link. Gallery: Chrysler Models That May Be Killed

HEres the Caravan.

The obvious solution is to make all of the cars to the California standard and not manufacture the high pollution cars. Honda and Toyota do this on many of their models already.

The upgrade is like 15 bucks to go to digital plus you need to resubscribe to on star for a year. Its a pretty good deal and a no brainer if you use On Star.

The understated exterior gets a B+. The ugly interior gets a C-.

It might actually be cheaper for GM to BUY marketshare than earn it. I heard Chrysler was going for fire sale prices.

Chrysler Seems To Be On The Block FORBES Oh no... I hope they dont get sold to Renault. Parmy Olson, 02.14.07, 11:20 AM ET The nine-year marriage between Germany's Daimler, maker of the luxury Mercedes-Benz automobiles, and its more downmarket American partner Chrysler was never a comfortable one. On Wednesday, to the enthusiastic response of investors, DaimlerChrysler implied that it might seek a divorce. Just prior to the main news conference announcing its 2006 results, DaimlerChrysler (nyse: DCX - news - people ) said in a statement in German on its Web site that "no option would be excluded in order to find the best solution for Chrysler Group and DaimlerChrysler." It then announced plans to cut 13,000 jobs at the American maker of Jeeps, trucks and sport utility vehicles, whose gas-guzzling lineup is increasingly out of step with the recently elevated cost of gasoline. After the announcement, DaimlerChrysler shares jumped $2.67, or 4.1%, to $67.12 in morning trading in New York. The gain followed an entreaty on Monday by one of DaimlerChrysler's shareholders, the German investment fund DWS, that it would be "irresponsible" of Daimler's management to exclude the option of selling Chrysler. DWS owns just under 1% of DaimlerChrysler. Although the Chrysler job cuts were several thousand more than expected, Daimler's earnings results for last year were largely in line with analysts' estimates. Earnings per share rose 13%, to 3.16 euros ($4.15), from 2.80 euros ($3.68) in 2005, while revenue was up 1%, at 151.6 billion euros ($199.2 billion). Net income was up 14%, to 3.2 billion euros ($4.2 billion), from 2.8 billion euros ($3.7 billion) in 2006. Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche said DaimlerChrysler was "looking into further strategic options with partners," to help it "optimize and accelerate" its restructuring plan. One possibility would be a tie-up with another overseas automaker that wanted to bolster its U.S. operations, and traders told Forbes.com that there was such speculation in the markets in recent days. But one fund manager (who did not wish to be named) said that Chrysler would be an "unattractive partner to anyone." If Daimler instead plans to spin off Chrysler as an independent company, it could have a hard time getting a good price, said Roman Mathyssek, Global Insight's senior automotive analyst. "Selling it is one thing. Getting something for it is another," said Mathyssek. (See: " An Independent Chrysler?") Daimler paid $37 billion for Chrysler when it acquired the company in 1998.

Detroit Free Press DCX: No option is off the table February 14, 2007 While promising to address Chrysler Group’s losses and make it a healthier unit, parent company DaimlerChrysler AG vowed that no options would be ruled out. The statement was made in response to a report out of Handelsblatt, one of Germany’s leading business publications, said Chrysler Group spokesman Mike Aberlich. Advertisement Some German shareholders have demanded that DaimlerChrysler sell the Auburn Hills-based unit, though most U.S.-based industry analysts dismiss the idea as turning away opportunities for further cost-savings. “Now for the Chrysler Group: The tough competition and the adverse market conditions made it necessary to accelerate and expand the operational improvements implemented during the last years. “The recovery and transformation plan is designed to improve both: The cost position and the revenue side of the business, and we are therefore convinced that it will lead the Chrysler Group back to profitability. “In addition to that and in order to optimize and accelerate the presented plan, we are looking into further strategic options with partners beyond the business cooperation partners mentioned by (Chrysler Group CEO) Tom (LaSorda). “In this regard, we do not exclude any option in order to find the best solutions for both the Chrysler Group and DaimlerChrysler.” In a report to investors, Banc of America Securities analyst Ron Tadross said this morning that he would not be surprised if there was a good deal of interest in Chrysler. “We see Chrysler as a decent business, at least relative to other U.S. domestic manufacturers,” Tadross wrote in his report titled “Chrysler on the Table.” Tadross has neutral rating on DCX stock and a 12-month target of $58 a share on DCX stock. But he noted in his report Wednesday that DaimlerChrysler shares could be worth more than $80 a share – based on a sale of the Chrysler operations if Chrysler’s equity value is in the $5-billion range. “While such a disposition does not make long-term strategic sense to us,” he wrote, “we have generally underestimated high global financial liquidity and pressure on management teams to create short-term value.” Tadross said his target price is now under review. DaimlerChrysler Response to Query: Company Makes Statement Regarding Today’s Announcements Auburn Hills, Mich., Feb 14, 2007 - Today the Supervisory Board will reach a decision on the Board of Management’s decision to restructure the Chrysler Group. The Board of Management intends to consider other, more far-reaching strategic options with partners in order to support and facilitate the program. No option is being excluded in the interest of arriving at the best possible solution for the Chrysler Group and DaimlerChrysler as a whole.

Forbes Article This is interesting.... It says they have discussing splitting the company for 2 months! Market Scan Analysts Scoff At Chrysler Spin-off Parmy Olson, 02.12.07, 5:35 PM ET Like someone who has resorted to digging around the back of their couch for spare change, DaimlerChrysler is in such dire need of funds that it should now spin off its loss-making Chrysler unit for the extra cash it could bring in. DaimlerChrysler (nyse: DCX - news - people ) shareholder DWS said in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung said that Daimler, which divested part of EADS last week, should consider carving off Chrysler. "It would be irresponsible for management to exclude this option," DWS fund manager Henning Gebdhardt said. DWS is a German investment fund that owns 0.85% of Daimler Chrysler. But analysts think such a move is highly unlikely. "I think it's a bit late now in terms of their technical tie up and all the investment that's been done by the Daimler side of the business," said Global Insight analyst Ian Fletcher in London, who added that a split in the 6-year tie up it would be "devastating" for Chrysler. The idea of a split between Daimler and Chrysler began around two months ago, said New York-based analyst George Magliano of the same research firm. "It's not pie in the sky. There is dissatisfaction on both sides of the Atlantic." (See: "An Independent Chrysler?") However Magliano also believes a split would be a bad idea. "There's always been an issue of different culture and management styles and problems of merging an upmarket luxury brand with a volume, middle market brand," said Magliano. "But I think they're starting to come together and to break them apart would be a mistake." Spinning off Chrysler would also "be like peddling backwards" for DaimlerChrysler's chief executive officer, Dieter Zetsche, said Global Insight's Roman Mathyssek. "It's effectively saying that Chrysler is not worth the investment of restructuring." And Daimler could find it difficult to get a reasonable price for the division unless it made a big investment into technology. "Selling it is one thing. Getting something for it is another," said Mathyssek DWS's comments come just before DaimlerChrysler is due to announce its new restructuring plans on Wednesday. Analysts expect Zetsche to announce 10,000 to 11,000 job cuts and the closure of two North American plants. Germany's Daimler-Benz bought Chrysler in 1998 for $37 billion. The company now makes about 4.6 million vehicles a year including Chrysler's Dodge, Jeep, and Chrysler vehicles, along with the German-made Mercedes and Smart cars. Shares in DaimlerChrysler were 30 cents, or 0.5%, lower at $63.79, in the early afternoon in New York.

How much more HP will it have than the V-6's in the Ford, Chevy and Toyota?

International Herald Tribune story Skoda, a joke no more, joins Audi in driving Volkswagen profit By Chad Thomas and Andrea Dudikova Bloomberg NewsPublished: February 9, 2007 MLADA BOLESLAV, Czech Republic Volkswagen's executives used to consider Skoda cars so dangerous they refused to drive them, recalled Detlef Wittig, the former VW executive who became Skoda's chief executive. At a meeting 15 years ago, after Volkswagen took control of Skoda Auto, top managers sent the Czech carmaker's engineers home to design a better car. "We told them this is either the end of the story, or you do your job," Wittig said. Skoda executives heeded the criticism and returned months later with a better-engineered car. It was the first step in Skoda's decade-long transformation from an object of Communist-era derision into VW's most profitable unit after the Audi brand. That success is helping bolster VW's share price as the parent company trims jobs in Germany. "Skoda used to be seen as a poor car at best and at worst the butt of many cruel jokes," said Stephen Pope, head of equity research at Cantor Fitzgerald Europe in London. "This baby has come a long way." In response to the brand's growing popularity, Skoda will introduce an updated version of the Fabia compact at the Geneva International Motor Show in March. Skoda forecasts 2007 sales will rise at least 5.5 percent on demand for the Fabia and Roomster multipurpose vehicle. Wittig said stepped-up production in India and China would help increase sales by 45 percent to 800,000 vehicles within five years. Those expansion plans mean that Wittig can have the last laugh, amusing visitors with his collection of old jokes about the brand. His favorite: "What's the best way to double the value of a Skoda car? Fill up the tank." Skoda, based in Mlada Boleslav, 60 kilometers, or 37 miles, northeast of Prague, holds an outsized role in the fortunes of both its parent company and its homeland. In 2005, Skoda sold 492,111 cars and posted record net income of 7.9 billion Czech koruny, or $364 million, making the unit responsible for more than 25 percent of the profit of VW, based in Wolfsburg, Germany. In 2001, the first year VW wholly owned the unit, Skoda generated 2.3 percent of net income. In addition, Skoda accounts for about 3 percent of the Czech Republic's gross domestic product, said David Marek, chief economist at Patria Finance in Prague. The unit's newfound prominence has prompted some analysts to ask whether the lower-priced cars made by Skoda and VW's Spanish unit, Seat, are siphoning sales away from the VW brand. Patrick Juchemich, an auto industry analyst at Sal. Oppenheim Jr. in Frankfurt, said that consumers were increasingly turning to midprice Skodas to get features and engine quality usually found in more expensive VW models. In Germany, a Skoda Octavia costs €14,790, or $19,200, about €4,000 less than a comparable VW Golf, and its larger interior rivals that of the midsize VW Passat. "I don't believe the company's argument that there is no danger of cannibalization," Juchemich said. "I am not sure there is really a client differentiation between the potential customers for an entry-level Passat and the Octavia" from Skoda. Wittig said market research showed that Skoda and Seat cars appealed to different types of drivers. Few predicted that VW, Europe's largest carmaker, would face such a problem at the start of its involvement with Skoda. After the Velvet Revolution that ousted Czechoslovakia's communist government in 1989, the new government started selling state assets. At the time, Skoda made a single model, a family car called the Favorit. The government's search for a partner led to a venture with VW in 1991. Over the next decade, VW increased its stake in exchange for investments, gaining full control in 2000. In total, VW paid about 2.05 billion Deutsche marks, or $1.25 billion, for Skoda. In 1994, Skoda started making a redesigned small compact, the Felicia, with a sleeker look and a more responsive engine than the Favorit, in an effort to appeal to West European consumers. Skoda began selling its first all-new model — the Octavia hatchback — in 1996. The Octavia was the first Skoda to use a VW powertrain and frame, and it offered more interior space than the Golf, its Volkswagen equivalent. Octavia sales rose to 270,274 vehicles last year, from 47,876 in 1997. At the same time, Skoda began pushing workers to pay more attention to detail, offering bonuses for meeting quality standards. "Someone could push a little red button and halt the assembly line if something wasn't according to quality standards and quality levels," Wittig said. "The awareness that there is a button that I can push and I can stop the assembly line was something that never existed before." Skoda's profits are helped by labor costs that are about 20 percent of those in Western Europe, the company said. Competition for low-wage workers may grow now that Toyota Motor and PSA Peugeot Citroën have established a joint factory in the Czech Republic, said Marek of Patria Finance. Today, it is VW that is struggling to control production costs and trim its work force. Volkswagen-brand plants operate at just 80 percent of capacity, compared with 97 percent at Bayerische Motoren Werke and 93 percent at Toyota. VW factories in western Germany lost several hundred million euros in 2005, the company said last February, declining to be more specific. The company plans to cut 20,000 jobs, or 20 percent of its work force in western Germany, and has reached an agreement with employees to lengthen the workweek for no additional pay. Martin Winterkorn, VW's new chief executive, said in November that he aimed to beat a target of increasing the group's pretax profit to €5.1 billion in 2008 from €1.1 billion in 2004. Meanwhile, Skoda is expanding in emerging markets. It plans to start making the Octavia at a VW plant in China later this year, and will eventually produce the Fabia and Superb in China. In Russia, a joint Skoda-VW factory will help the carmaker avoid the 25 percent tax on imported vehicles. The production push, along with introduction of the Yeti, a sport utility vehicle to be rolled out in 2009, may help the carmaker meet its sales goals. Skoda's reputation for quality and reasonable prices are luring buyers like Mihael Stanic, a logistics company worker from Nersingen, Germany, who traded his Golf for a Fabia compact. "At Skoda, you get better service, the electronics are much better," said Stanic, 23. "At Volkswagen, you pay for the brand."

Chosun News Story - Korea As GM Daewoo Soars, Kia Crumbles After Korea suffered the financial crisis of the late 1990s, Kia Motors and Daewoo Motor, two of the top three automakers in the country at the time, changed hands. Kia was bought out by Hyundai, becoming Hyundai Kia Automotive Group in 1998 and Daewoo, which went bankrupt in 2000, was sold to GM of the United States two years later. Nine years have passed since Kia was sold, and seven since Daewoo went belly up. In that time these companies have traveled in opposite directions. Thanks to stable labor relations, Daewoo has grown rapidly as a production base for small and compact GM-branded cars. In contrast, with a strengthening won and chronic labor disputes, Kia incurred a loss in 2006 for the first time in eight years. ¡ß Work is Steady at GM Daewoo Plants Daewoo's fortunes have turned considerably since it was acquired by GM, netting a profit of W64 billion (US$1=W935) in 2005 and about W100 billion last year. GM Daewoo's management has been put on the normal track because it established the company as a global production base for GM. The company is regaining trust in the domestic market as it maintains stable labor relations and enhances both quality and productivity. GM Daewoo's market share was 9.5 percent in 2004, but rose to 11 percent last year. With the exception of small-scale partial walk-outs at provincial plants in 2004 and 2006, the company has experienced few serious labor disputes. GM Daewoo's affiliates are enjoying the success. "We're receiving increasing numbers of orders every year," said an official from an affiliate company. "We've already been put on the normal track." ¡ß Kia Motors is Wracked with Labor Disputes "After the company went bankrupt in 1997 all the union members left their worksites. But the company was just barely taken over to Hyundai Motor. Thank goodness! We now have jobs at Kia again... But should we keep waging a war of attrition almost every day? Foreign cars in the W20 million price range are being imported. Vehicles made in China will flood the market. How can we survive tomorrow...?" This plaintive message was posted on the Kia union's homepage by a union member late last year. Kia is now experiencing its worst crisis since it was handed over to Hyundai in 1998. Sales of its new models such as Lotze and Cerato have been sluggish. Due to the strong won, exports are also on the decline. Last year Kia incurred a deficit of W125 billion, its first since 1998. The loss was no surprise; experts had predicted the deficit given that Kia's profitability has decreased drastically since 2003 when it netted a profit of W805.5 billion. One reason for Kia's woes is the appreciation of the won. Another reason is that rising diesel prices have caused sales of SUVs, like Kia's Sorento, to dwindle. But it is generally believed that the core problems lie in Kia's chronic labor disputes and management's weak hold on the situation. Over the past four years Kia has seen the number of labor disputes increase year by year. There were just six days of labor disputes in 2003 but that number increased to 21 last year. Production losses caused by labor unrest amounted to W730 billion last year. Meanwhile, Kia affiliates are in agony. "Over the past months, we've gotten 20 percent fewer orders for car components than before," said an executive of a Kia affiliate. "There's a growing sense of crisis among us affiliates." ([email protected] )

Akron Beacon / Bloomberg News Story Nissan may modify Titans for fleet sales More affordable, less powerful versions could include V6 engines, fewer accessories, possibly by early 2008 By Alan Ohnsman Bloomberg News Nissan Motor Co., Japan's third- largest automaker, may sell a lower-price, less powerful version of its full-size Titan pickup truck as early as next year to increase sales to small U.S. business fleets. Nissan unveiled modified Titans with new interiors and a long-wheelbase version with a truck bed as long as eight feet at the Chicago Auto Show this week. More affordable versions are being studied, including one with fewer accessories and another with a V-6 engine, said Larry Dominique, Nissan's North American product development chief. Currently all Titans are powered by V-8 engines. ``We're looking for more opportunities, especially small fleets that need business trucks for landscaping and construction,'' Dominique said. The cheapest Titan now has a base price of $23,700, according to Edmunds.com, an automotive data Web site based in Santa Monica, Calif. General Motors sells ``work-truck-style'' versions of its Chevrolet Silverado pickups for as little as $15,840, excluding incentives, according to Edmunds.com. Ford's lowest-price F-150 is $18,275. When the Titan went on sale in 2003, Nissan touted it as the largest, most powerful Japanese pickup in the United States.

Well Renaults car sales were down 4% last year, its profits were down 15%.1 Nissan lost 8% of its market capitalization in one day and is expected to lose another 10%. Renault is claiming that they may start to grow again this year2 so unless ford drops a ton of market share I dont see Renault-Nissan becoming #3 anytime soon.

GM will end production of Buick Rainier Division down to handful of models February 7, 2007 Detroit Press BY GREG BENSINGER BLOOMBERG NEWS General Motors Corp. will end production of the Buick Rainier SUV in the second quarter to trim the division's product line and spend more to develop and sell its remaining models. The Rainier represents about 2.5% of the daily output at GM's Moraine, Ohio, plant, the only place it's made, spokesman Tom Wickham said Tuesday. It isn't clear yet what effect the change might have on employment, he said. Advertisement GM CEO Rick Wagoner is paring Buick to three or four models, about half as many as in 2005. The world's largest automaker slowed production after U.S. sales fell 8.7% last year. Buick sales slid 15%, and Rainier's sales were down 17%, to 12,691. "GM is trying to position Buick as a luxury brand, and I think the Rainier just didn't fit that mold," Dennis Virag, president of Automotive Consulting Group in Ann Arbor, said. "It's not selling well, and it looks more like a down-market SUV than a luxury one." By turning to new models such as the Enclave crossover SUV, GM hopes to lift Buick sales and help reverse $13 billion in losses in the seven quarters through Sept. 30. It has said about 40% of sales this year will come from new models. The automaker will increase production of GMC Envoy, Chevrolet TrailBlazer, Isuzu Ascender and Saab 9-7X SUVs made at the plant near Dayton, Wickham said. Shares of Detroit-based GM rose 72 cents, or 2.2%, to $33.43 in New York Stock Exchange trading. They have gained 43% in the past year. "There has been no determination on what impact the decision might have" on the workforce, Wickham said. GM employs about 2,700 at the plant, represented by the International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, Machine and Furniture Workers-Communication Workers of America. GM began notifying plant workers and dealers of its decision Monday, Wickham said.

Road Test: 1950 Oldsmobile Futuramic 88 - Rocket Launcher Did Oldsmobile inspire the first rock 'n' roll song? Possibly, but its Futuramic 88 was the first modern musclecar Ike Turner's Fats Waller-like stride piano sets off two minutes, 51 seconds that changed music and signaled a new age of automotive power in America. The fuzz guitar, reportedly the result of a speaker damaged while Turner's Kings of Rhythm were on tour, that quickly joins in is part of the new sound. Raymond Hill's tenor sax break, taking 56 seconds, could've come from blues or jazz. It's the beat that pulls this all together into something new, although the tune owed much to rhythm and blues songs of the era. Indeed, the tune made the R&B charts-after all, there was no rock-'n'-roll Top 40 at the time, since many consider "Rocket 88" the very first song of the genre. Whether you agree, there's no denying the impact of the opening line of "Rocket 88," sung by Jackie Brenston. One manufacturer, Oldsmobile, had successfully challenged the garage-built street primacy of the hot rod with a smooth, quick car, shiny and new and straight from the factory. The 1949 Rocket 88 came with the same high-compression (7.25:1) overhead-valve V-8 installed in the larger, heavier Ninety-Eight; thus, the Great American Musclecar was born. And it was launched with a high-compression, short-stroke power to match a postwar exuberance that had automobile styling mimicking the conveyances of the emerging space age. Motor Trend Story Read the full story at link above