WASHINGTON, D.C. – Just off the headlines. The massive shutdown of dealers ordered by the Obama administration was a massive failure. Not that you couldn’t have noticed by just talking to some of the dealers themselves. I recall running into a group of repair guys from Sarasota Chrysler-Plymouth, which isMORE HERE
LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. – I recently attended the NHRA Winter Nationals and noticed that the most popular body for those outrageous funny cars seemed to be Pontiac. So when I asked another spectator why, he simply said “they have the best aero-dynamics.” My horse sense told me this was likelyMORE HERE
There is one type of job you can’t export. The repair man. Companies in recent years have ignored the repair man; before the Great Recession it was almost cheaper to buy a new lawn mower than to fix the old one. So you just threw the old one out, withMORE HERE
When a car company kills off a longstanding brand, it never ends up well. Marketing people and analysts always believe that killing off the brand will help the other brands in a company’s portfolio, but the reality is that companies that kill off longstanding brands (as opposed to models) areMORE HERE
A rather good advertisement talking about the new Jeep Cherokee. Building things in America is good. BrandlandUSA.com is the website of business and travel writer and editor Garland Pollard. Visit his personal website at GarlandPollard.comMORE HERE
Today’s Wall Street Journal has an article on Goodyear, and what it plans to do with its Model Room. It will eventually move headquarters, and it doesn’t know what to do with it. Already, the World of Rubber has closed, and there are fewer visitors. Bruce Weindruch, of the HistoryMORE HERE
Elizabethville, Penn. – Carriage brands that might have been around during, say, the time of Little House on the Prairie would be gone. Perhaps most are, but one wagon brand is still around. It’s the company Swab Wagon Co., makers of fire and rescue trucks, pumpers and animal transports. SwabMORE HERE
COWLEY, England – Due to the popularity of the Mini, BMW is saying that it might need to expand production at its plant near Oxford. According to the Financial Times, the plant at Cowley builds 240,000 cars a year, and could be expanded to 260,000 to 300,000. But it mightMORE HERE
Pickup collecting is gaining favor as 1970s muscle car prices have gone too high for new collectors. The Wall Street Journal has profiled the top 25 collectible pickup trucks, though any older pickup is now hot, including, at right, the Chevrolet 3100. Brands include the early British Morris Minor pickups,MORE HERE
Some items from the headlines, and files: The Plymouth brand has been getting an “Old Fashioned” bit of exposure in the new Bacon & Blue ad for Wendy’s. The ad is getting some great airtime, pleasing Mopar fans to no end. It looks to be a 1969 Belvedere in theMORE HERE