GM to exit bankruptcy - but no move for Lutz

Today at 9am EDT, it is expected that GM will sell all of it's assets
to a new GM erasing a substantial portion of it's debt and setting the
stage for a smaller better capitalized company to go forward. Though
the models will be fewer the business is not substantially different.

In perhaps the most outward sign of this business as usual, Bob Lutz,
former head of Global Product Development, has announced that instead
of retiring, he will re-up as head of Global Product Development.

It is not that I don't respect Maximum Bob, in fact I do, but why he
would not share his skills with one of the more forward thinking
Companies when he had the clear opportunity to break free, is a mystery.

1930 - When design ruled and American cars were to be admired

Today I fell in love with another car. Here is a taste:



















My 1994 former Viper RT/10, My 1971 280SL, the Bugatti Type 57 Atalante, the Ford GTX-1, the Lambo LM002, these have been some of the members of my fantasy garage...to which today I added another member.

452 cubic inches (7.2 liters), V16, powered, 1930 Cadillac Roadster.

A "Playboy's Car" in the Truest sense.

Turned polished dash, dual vacuum-assist fuel pumps, Golf Bag cubby, oak canopy struts, Running board puddle lamps, Triple fender steps, porcelain hood emblem, Rumble seat that could seat an elephant, articulating front lamps, and dashboard lights of stainless bullets. These are just a few of the elegant features.

But it is perhaps the body work and fenders that go on for MILES that made me fall hardest. This is a car who is from an era when design was alive and American cars truly were at their zenith. There was, at the time, nothing that an automotive connoisseur could have desired more. No excuses, no embellishments, this was the pinnacle.

We have lost that in this country - it is almost too obvious to even point that out - but one visit to a car like this, and I am doubly determined to bring it back responsibly.

A recent friend of mine, bought this in Florida several years ago and has had it lovingly restored.












































































And if seeing is not believing, then perhaps you will get the vibe when it is cranked over! It has been said that the only thing you should hear when a Cadillac V16 is running is the sound of the fan blowing air into the carburetor air horns. Judge for yourself...

Gut in my throat...with excitement and anticipation - an entrepreneur's note

In the last week, this is the third time that I as the CEO of Local Motors have had my gut in my throat, bound up with anticipation.

The first was when we spent the first dollar of investor capital. At that moment, I knew in my gut that I was committed. It was great and scary all at once. I was alive with anticipation.

When it is your money, it is always easier to spend, but when the fiduciary responsibility steps in, you are bound to a higher standard, and you KNOW it.

The second time was when we declared a winner in our first design competition and I had to call the guy in Australia, tell him, and hope that he would be satisfied with the contract of several thousand dollars in exchange for a limited - but meaningful - set of rights to his precious design.

We were setting the market clearing price for distributed car design in this transaction. It had never been done in this way, and many people tried to convince us that it couldn't be done. If it couldn't be done, then we would not have succeeded. We did it.

Each of these two memories came rushing back this week during a third and equally momentous event. On July 15th, we launch the "Buy Button" that changes the face of American Automotive and takes Local Motors to the next level: we elevate from planting and watering to harvesting value...we start selling product. In advance of that event we have begun to receive a great deal more attention and several customers have begun to express their intent to place a deposit. Today I was explaining to a future customer the path that the purchase will take for his owning a Rally Fighter, and it suddenly hit me full force that I was having a third moment. I have always dreamed of making cars, but somehow the enormity of being responsible for placing such a complex and magnificent product in the market struck me with a great dose of sobering introspection.

We are ready no doubt, or perhaps I should say "you are never ready" but we have prepared fully. In any case, we are up to the challenge and look forward to seeing our charter customers drive away.

That will likely be a fourth moment in time for me.

I am honored to be able to be involved in such a Company and to feel so alive. I worry some times that I will never have such feelings again in a Company...at least not for a long time. So, time to savor.

Rearranging the Deckchairs

www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk

For the last 10 months the global automotive industry has been in a nosedive. Interestingly throughout the hubbub, the crew of the greater OEM family has been working hard to rearrange the deckchairs while many of the rest of the hijacked passengers have looked on in amazement. I think that we are all supposed to believe that this reshuffling is a signal of value-added and refreshing change, but I would submit a different take. Let's recap the scorecard.

Fiat has taken hold of Chrysler.
Tata has burdened itself with both Jaguar and Land Rover (now JLR)
Magna has taken on Vauxhall and Opel
Penske has absorbed the weight of Saturn
Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industries is trying desperately to win approval for its bid to buy Hummer
Koenigsegg has stolen the defeat of Saab from the jaws of victory
Prodrive has hold of Aston Martin
and on and on

But under the surface is there really any magic going on? Penske is trimming and hoping to wait out the storm, Magna cannot sell into the US, Fiat won't dare put any money into Chrysler, Tata must raise 1BN GBP before September, etc etc. and for what? If there are innovative plans going on under the surface of any of the mergers, those ideas are so distant and hidden that no one is privy to their impending attack on the status quo.

I sadly believe that inertia is at work, and we are idly watching as deckchairs are being rearranged in grim resignation with those farther aft holding a hand out to those closer to the water, only ignoring the fact that the whole ship is headed to Davey Jones.


(www.scholarsandrogues.com)


- Unsustainable US Oil end use.
- Strategic dependency on foreign petroleum.
- Global balance of power hinged on places like Russia, Venezuala, Nigeria, Iraq, Iran.
- Petroleum based externalities (CO2, NOx, particulate emissions).

To name a few, these disadvantages of the old-school car economy are gasps of a dying breath and harbingers of worse things to come.

It is important to remember that there was a day when the status quo was made routine, before which customers searched for a new way of doing business. The "service station", the "dealership", the "OEM", the "Tier 1 supplier"... These were not preordained entities with some inalienable right to exist. By force of habit we permit them to ride on even if their original intended purpose is long gone from the executive summary of their pitch deck.

Just look at Baltimore in 1910. A population of 550,000 and yet there were 17 American Car Companies all doing business in the heart of the city! Seventeen. Hup, Lozier, Paige, Ford, REO, Pierce-Arrow, Poehlmann, Trumbull, Oldsmobile, Beehler & Ogden, Cacteccar, Marmon, Nash, Auburn, Maryland, Lambert, and Babcock. The industry was in explosion and many prized segments were up for grabs. Coachbuilders, bicycle factories, light machinery, home delivery, luxury purveyors, all were positioning to get into the limelight. The GM and Fords of the day were the Ohio Carriage Manufacturing Company run by H.C Phelps and the Durant-Dort Carriage Company of Willy Durant. In 100 years most of these names are a distant memory.


(Mt. Royal Dealerships, Baltimore, MD circa 1910, Kilduffs.com)

If we had to start again, given the building blocks we have at hand? We probably would use many of the pieces that currently exist, but changing an owner and trying to rebuild the ship to look the same, is destined to fail. Think about personal transportation; where vehicles come from; and how they make it into your home and heart.

Happy Birthday America! From the Whole Team at LM

Andy Grove - Intel Maven and 1997 Man of the Year may have made his finest commentary yet - A New Vision for Cars

(Andy Grove, image: portfolio.com)

Speaking across a flurry of forums (magazines, conferences, interviews, etc.), Grove's message is simple and compelling....AND tailored to LM. He is touting the shift to electric cars in this country, but perhaps even more appropriately is his forecast of the method of adoption....

This passage from the Associated Press 7/1/08 and a talk reiterated at Stanford Graduate School of Business just yesterday, both make a clear statement of his bias.

Grove says the fledgling plug-in hybrid movement offers parallels to the Homebrew Computer Club from the mid-1970s that helped electronic hobbyists in Northern California set the stage for personal computers. Plug-in hybrid conversion shops could spread the technology in similar ways.

"The personal computer ... went to individuals first before it went to corporations. The conversion goes to individuals," Grove said. "Electric cars ... the corporations are sitting, wishing this whole friggin' thing to go away. Which is exactly what the computer companies' attitude was to personal computers."

Unfortunately on the opposite side, the intransigence perpetuates. Listen to the big auto industry's attempt to coopt this revolution.

Automakers have urged the government to provide more consumer tax incentives and research aid to develop advanced batteries, but they have questioned efforts to retrofit the vehicles.

Any changes to the engine would void the warranty, and the alterations could undermine the vehicle's reliability and safety functions, automakers say.

"We strongly discourage consumers from retrofitting vehicles," said GM spokesman Greg Martin.

Who will win? the homebrew car modifier who doesn't take no for an answer? or the big company who only gives no for an answer? I am most tempted to trust the mind that brought us Intel.

Friends and LM supporters host their own Burgers, Cars, and Welding - California Style

Long time friends, car builders extraordinaire, and overall quality folks, Dave and Mary Borden, recently completed a picnic and welding clinic at their home where they:

-invited like-mined folks,
-set up 3 welding stations (2 MIG + 1 TIG),
-brought in a ringer (Matt Rogers - friend but no relation),
-provided the grub,
and voila.....

Fun, learning, and food was had by all.


















Here is the gallery for some more pics. Can you pick out the GTM that Dave so lovingly created?

Bravo team Borden and West Coast car folks.

Join us on July 10th, 2009 at 5pm at 16 Kendrick Road where we will try to replicate the experience of our West Coast family.

This stuff is contagious! Go Local!