One hundred and sixteen years ago this week, William Crapo (yes, really) Durant founded General Motors in the hopes of creating a large conglomerate that could scoop up all the smaller automotive companies blooming in turn of the last century Detroit. While GM would eventually become a huge success, indeed one of the largest companies … Read more
Californians have had enough of self-driving cars running roughshod over two of their largest cities, and now their legislature is doing something about it. California Senate Bill 915 could allow cities to have a say in what happens on their own streets. Pretty novel idea, huh? People Are Relying on ADAS to Do Things it … Read more
Last week the 2024 edition of the Geneva International Motor Show took place in the halls of Palexpo, like it has for a 120 year-plus history. Except this time the show was fundamentally different. 200,000 visitors were expected over the course of the 2024 show. A few short years ago in 2019 roughly 600,000 visitors … Read more
In Detroit, it’s hard to escape the automotive industry, and that was even more true 50 years ago when the strangest team-up story happened in the Motor City. In 1975, Albert Brush Ford, great-grandson of Henry Ford, partnered with Elisabeth Luise Reuther, daughter of UAW co-founder and long-time president Walter Reuther, to buy one of … Read more
Photo: Matt Cardy (Getty Images) Carmaker names are not nearly as celebrated as carmaker logos but they’re just as rich in heritage, both good and bad. Automobiles have been around since the late 1700s, but they didn’t take off until after the Industrial Revolution. World Wars I and II would catapult auto manufacturing into what … Read more
A few weeks ago, I learned that most trucks get hopelessly stuck when they encounter snow, especially if they aren’t equipped with dedicated snow tires. As someone who has driven all kinds of cars, equipped with all kinds of tires in some pretty serious snow for decades, this came as something of a surprise. But, … Read more
Good morning! It’s Wednesday, January 17, 2024, and this is The Morning Shift, your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. Here are the important stories you need to know. The Chrysler 300C Ends Production 1st Gear: A Major Drought Is Causing Traffic Jams In The Panama Canal … Read more
“Auto racing began 5 minutes after the second car was built” is a sentence that most racing fans have heard at least once during their lives. It is usually evoked to illustrate humanity’s innate competitiveness and how racing was a natural use for automobiles. The quote is widely attributed to Henry Ford, except there is … Read more
Photo: Cruise Yes, both of my favorite posts this year are about sex, and maybe that makes me immature, but hey, a guy’s gotta have fun somehow. And trust me, this was a fun post to write. I mean, I literally got paid to work every euphemism for sex that I could think of into … Read more
I’m not sure if they torture kids like this still, but the worst four-week period of my 6th grade life was our unit on square dancing in gym class. And wouldn’t you know it? One of the worst experiences of my academic life — and possibly yours as well — can be blamed on Henry … Read more
