To the Royal York Hotel for the Annual Meeting of the Toronto Port Authority who manage, among other things, Toronto Island Airport, this year celebrating its seventieth anniversary. The suits on the platform were attempting the impossible - that is to satisfy the congenitally dissatisfied. One hour was set aside for questions and answers - it seemed like three.
Prematurely-aged Councillor and former hack, Adam Vaughan (Trinity Spadina) was soon on his feet with an obscure technical point. He lapsed into saying "we" - that is not the Royal "we" but as in me and my claque. Assembled were Toronto's finest rentamob intent on sneering, heckling, barracking, interrupting and generally tormenting the TPA directors. All the tired old tactics of these clapped-out lefties were on display. The debate veered schizophrenically between points of detail about current operations and a more general wish to return to the days of the horse and cart. The lady moderator struggled, without much success, to contain the ersatz indignation from the floor.
The announcement was made that the TPA had reported a profit for year 2008, with promises of more to come. This was greeted as a serious setback as only abject failure would do. The proposed tunnel to the airport, shovels in the ground, was viewed with suspicion. Surely vehicles would travel through it sooner or later, jets would be flying, armageddon was just around the corner.
Further the name of the airport was to be changed to the Billy Bishop Toronto City Centre Airport. We were assured that this was welcomed by the surviving relatives of this famous military aviator - whether the new name will stick or not only time will tell.
Adam Vaughan was later seen spouting to the gentlemen of the press to satisfy his narrow constituency. I pointed out that it ill-became him attacking the TPA, as his stewardship of the city-owned Canadian Maltings site, rotting and derelict, spoke to his management capabilities. See: PunchBuggy passim. Billy Bishop must be turning in his grave.
Enjoy the Toronto Airshow this weekend!
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Surviving in the sun
This Renault 4 was one of many that we saw in Portugal. The picture was taken on our recent tour at Monchique in the Algarve.
Detroit Tried to Squash the Beetle
The idea that Detroit did nothing when faced with competition from Volkswagen in the fifties is nonsense - see previous post. In all the weeping and wailing over the collapse of Detroit this myth is taking hold. Nothing could be further from the truth.
By chance I have been reading Morgan: Performance plus Tradition by Jonathan Wood, about the British sports car. Writing about the alloy Buick V8 from General Motors, later the Rover V8 fitted to the Morgan, he says:
At 215cu in (3.5 litres), the new GM
engine had a small capacity by
American standards, and had been
conceived to power a trio of GM's so-
called compacts, produced in
response to European imports such as
- in particular - the Volkswagen
Beetle. American Motors had quickly
come up with its Rambler and this
had been followed in 1959 by the
Chevrolet Corvair, Ford Falcon and
Plymouth Valiant. It was now the turn
of GM's Buick, Oldsmobile and
Pontiac marques to produce their
compacts, and the Buick Special,
Oldsmobile F-85 and Pontiac Tempest
were duly introduced in the autumn of
1960 for the following season,
complete with the new V8.
The Chevrolet II of 1961 came with four and six cylinder engines aimed squarely at the Volkswagen. Later import-fighters were the AMC Gremlin (1970) and Pacer (1975). The Dodge Omni and the Plymouth Horizon were imported by Chrysler from 1978 (sold as the Chrysler Horizon in the UK). The root cause of the failure of all these efforts was the quality issue which opened the door to Japanese imports. When Volkswagen stumbled over quality with their U.S.-built Rabbit cars, the Datsun (later Nissan), Honda and Toyota marques moved in and cleaned up.
By chance I have been reading Morgan: Performance plus Tradition by Jonathan Wood, about the British sports car. Writing about the alloy Buick V8 from General Motors, later the Rover V8 fitted to the Morgan, he says:
At 215cu in (3.5 litres), the new GM
engine had a small capacity by
American standards, and had been
conceived to power a trio of GM's so-
called compacts, produced in
response to European imports such as
- in particular - the Volkswagen
Beetle. American Motors had quickly
come up with its Rambler and this
had been followed in 1959 by the
Chevrolet Corvair, Ford Falcon and
Plymouth Valiant. It was now the turn
of GM's Buick, Oldsmobile and
Pontiac marques to produce their
compacts, and the Buick Special,
Oldsmobile F-85 and Pontiac Tempest
were duly introduced in the autumn of
1960 for the following season,
complete with the new V8.
The Chevrolet II of 1961 came with four and six cylinder engines aimed squarely at the Volkswagen. Later import-fighters were the AMC Gremlin (1970) and Pacer (1975). The Dodge Omni and the Plymouth Horizon were imported by Chrysler from 1978 (sold as the Chrysler Horizon in the UK). The root cause of the failure of all these efforts was the quality issue which opened the door to Japanese imports. When Volkswagen stumbled over quality with their U.S.-built Rabbit cars, the Datsun (later Nissan), Honda and Toyota marques moved in and cleaned up.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Wanted: An 'American People's Car'
This article in a Florida newspaper takes the biscuit for historical inaccuracy. Talking about the rise of Volkswagen in the United States the writer, one Nick Iannone, says: "Throughout this assault, Detroit neither responded with revised product nor adjusted market perception."
The writer must be unaware of the frantic efforts in Detroit to beat off the imports. The strategy was to offer a bit more car at a competitive price. The most obvious example is the Chevrolet Corvair from 1959, which copied the Volkswagen in concept with rear-mounted air-cooled engine. There were many other responses besides - in the early sixties compact cars like the six-cylinder Ford Falcon were designed to attract economy-conscious buyers although perhaps appealing more to little old ladies than college kids. The original Pony car, the Ford Mustang from 1964, was introduced to fix that problem. The later Ford Mustang II and Maverick likewise. In the early seventies the Ford Pinto, 1970, and Chevrolet Vega, 1971, were further flawed attempts to compete.
Many of these efforts lacked credibility. The Corvair was killed off by Ralph Nader who attacked the car in the book "Unsafe at any speed." The Pinto went down in history for bursting into flames in a rear-end crash. The Vega was lampooned as "made from old slot machine parts in Youngstown, Ohio." The quality of the Vega and Pinto was awful. The big three couldn't catch a break.
The Chevrolet Chevette of 1975 had a good run being the top-selling small car in the U.S. in 1979/1980. There was even a diesel version, with Isuzu motor, to go up against the Volkswagen Rabbit. VW's attempt to build cars in the U.S. ran out of road.
Remember the Saturn, another small-car GM brand, from 1985. Other efforts resorted to rebadging imports such as the Chevrolet Metro, the short-lived Geo brand and, more recently, the Pontiac Vibe. Your small Government Motors car likely came on a ship from South Korea nowadays.
The brutal truth is that the U.S. has never been much damn good at building small cars, Model 'T' excepted. Even now when cars like the Ford Focus offer credible basic transport nobody takes much notice. When you are late to the party who cares?
See also: Crosley "crackpots", Kansas electric.
The writer must be unaware of the frantic efforts in Detroit to beat off the imports. The strategy was to offer a bit more car at a competitive price. The most obvious example is the Chevrolet Corvair from 1959, which copied the Volkswagen in concept with rear-mounted air-cooled engine. There were many other responses besides - in the early sixties compact cars like the six-cylinder Ford Falcon were designed to attract economy-conscious buyers although perhaps appealing more to little old ladies than college kids. The original Pony car, the Ford Mustang from 1964, was introduced to fix that problem. The later Ford Mustang II and Maverick likewise. In the early seventies the Ford Pinto, 1970, and Chevrolet Vega, 1971, were further flawed attempts to compete.
Many of these efforts lacked credibility. The Corvair was killed off by Ralph Nader who attacked the car in the book "Unsafe at any speed." The Pinto went down in history for bursting into flames in a rear-end crash. The Vega was lampooned as "made from old slot machine parts in Youngstown, Ohio." The quality of the Vega and Pinto was awful. The big three couldn't catch a break.
The Chevrolet Chevette of 1975 had a good run being the top-selling small car in the U.S. in 1979/1980. There was even a diesel version, with Isuzu motor, to go up against the Volkswagen Rabbit. VW's attempt to build cars in the U.S. ran out of road.
Remember the Saturn, another small-car GM brand, from 1985. Other efforts resorted to rebadging imports such as the Chevrolet Metro, the short-lived Geo brand and, more recently, the Pontiac Vibe. Your small Government Motors car likely came on a ship from South Korea nowadays.
The brutal truth is that the U.S. has never been much damn good at building small cars, Model 'T' excepted. Even now when cars like the Ford Focus offer credible basic transport nobody takes much notice. When you are late to the party who cares?
See also: Crosley "crackpots", Kansas electric.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Spain, Switzerland and Sussex
Peter Flanagan sent these pictures taken at the recent Goodwood Festival of Speed. In keeping with our summer Spanish theme these show a luxurious Hispano-Suiza.
Soggy bottom boys in Montreal
NASCAR Nationwide cars are in Montreal this weekend, at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, with Aussie Marcos Ambrose qualifying on the pole in the wet. NASCAR doesn't normally run in the rain - see PunchBuggy passim.
Ex-F1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve qualified sixth in a Toyota. Villeneuve finished fourth in the recent Canadian Tire Series race at Trois-Rivieres on August 16th.
Picture by Ron Stockey.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Let's Go to the Ex II
We took the special express bus from Dundas West to the Ex on opening day. We queued in the sunshine to pay our $1.75 entry fee (normally $15). The city are bribing us with our own money but we pocket the insult. I wanted to see this Ford Tractor, with seventies-style clamshell body, which tows a road train around the exhibition grounds. We also noted the very politically correct bicycle parking.
Next up Canned Heat, here a six-piece. They open with "Bullfrog Blues," "On the Road Again," and "Time Was." The light-hearted "Let Me Drive Your Automobile" follows with the band working both drumkits and the audience - you'd book this band. As the flute signals the opening bars of “Goin’ Up The Country” the hair is standing up on the back of my neck. The instrumental "Wade in the Water" is next featuring Harvey Mandel on guitar, a "psychedelic gospel" or sonic trip which draws a standing ovation. Mandel's second, or was it third, gig with Canned Heat was at Woodstock. These battle-hardened veterans give us "Work Together" then John Lee Hooker's "Boogie" with alternating drum solos to close out the set. With their heavy touring schedule these boys certainly put on a show.
A three-piece Mountain take the stage with "People Get Ready" as various members of Canned Heat are watching off. The band play with no guitar leads and move about the stage. Leslie West the front man is a shadow of his former self in size but still a formidable performer. Rev Jones on bass camps it up by twirling a long topknot as he spins around like a whirling dervish. "You don't play the bass, you play the hair" says West calling him a "F***ing maniac." Drummer Corky Laing has a finely developed shtick of launching drumsticks into the audience. The roadie looks like he's escaped from Noggin the Nog. I lose track of the set list as the opening tune morphs into "Blowin' in the Wind." A sample of "Paint it Black" was in there somewhere and we eventually get to their signature song "Mississippi Queen."
By now it is dark and we hang on for Johnny Winter who is assisted on stage and remains seated. Is this a gig too far? He starts with "Super Cool" and Jimi Hendrix's "Red House," then "She Likes to Boogie Real Low." A duet with Leslie West doesn't really chime. He warms up eventually and is the bluesman of old with "Miss Anne," and Ray Charles' "Black Jack." I wish my old friend Pat Barton was here to see him. After some five hours we leave the Texan to the late crowd and head for the bus before chucking out time. Far out man.
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