Goodguys Rod & Custom Show

Last weekend was the 22nd Pacific Northwest Nationals at the Puyallup fairgrounds. I took Friday off so I could enjoy the day there and go to the Nostalgia drags up at Pacific Raceways Friday evening.

To say it was hot would be an understatement. For the pacific northwest it was positively scorching!!! As hot as it was, it beats rain on the weekend of a hot rod show.

Saturday I slept in a bit and Carole went back to the show with me for a few hours of browsing the vendors and cars. After an all too expensive hot dog and rootbeer float we relaxed in the shade for awhile then headed home.









Here's a slideshow of some of the photos I took over the weekend

Cars, Car Companies and Congress

Seems like Detroit is in a world of hurt right now. All the liberal lefties want to blame it the product line they produce. While the big three are in Washington lobbying congress for their share of the bailout pie, the left is crying that "they should be building hybrids and electric cars" or saying the reason they're in dire straits is that they build cars that "nobody wants".

Detroit builds the cars everybody wants. They don't have just a single line of cars, they build big, small and in between. Contrary to the perception the media and congress would have you believe, GM has more cars that get over 30 mpg than Toyota does. Yes, Toyota builds the Prius. A nice little hybrid car that meets the needs of some people. Toyota also builds the15/19 mpg Tundra, a huge full size pickup truck, and a line of seven SUVs that includes the 13/18 mpg Land Cruiser. All total, the Prius only accounts for about 5% of the units sold for Toyota.

A lot of things have led to the problems Detroit has, but building SUVs isn't one of them. SUV's are the one area where they really made money. Yes, the marketing people in the big three could do a much better job of market research and understanding what Americans want to drive but if they're guilty of anything it's trying to please everyone. In fact, Detroit probably will have to reduce the variety of choices it gives consumers in order to gain some efficiency.

Most lawmakers are lawyers, not engineers or businessmen. They're not the least bit qualified to provide management consulting to any business, let alone a business as complex as automobile manufacturing. They live in a world where the value of the product or service you produce has no direct correlation to the income received. Let's face it, nobody wants what congress produces. According to Rasmussen, only 12% of Americans think congress is doing a good job. The American auto industry on the other hand is actually getting pretty high marks from the American consumer. The Ford Expedition get's a 9.1 on a ten point scale, same for the Chrysler 300. The Corvette gets a 9.3. So now, we have lawyers who are getting a 12% rating advising companies who produce products that get 90% plus ratings that they need to change the products they produce. Now, the government wants all the automakers to move in the direction of smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles but they're very cars that make the least amount of money. Like I said, they're lawyers, not businessmen.

The big three CEO's will do their pandering to congress though. They'll present plans that focus on new lines of fuel efficient cars. The bozos in congress (sorry Bozo, no disrespect intended) will probably even buy the proposals. The average consumer of cars is going to be a tougher sell. In spite of all the buzz around the Toyota Prius, it's not really a huge seller and it's not a profitable car for Toyota. Toyota sells two to three times as many Camry's as they do Prius's.

If the American auto industry is going to survive it's going to need to continue to produce products that American drivers want and they're going to need to do it for a price Americans are willing to pay.

And they're going have to work extra hard to keep the left wing liberals in congress from running their car companies for them.

Year End Review

Well, 2009 is fast approaching so I figured it was time for a little review. Last year I made some new year's resolutions, something I rarely do. Upon further review, I now know why. Here are my 2008 resolutions and my comments about them.

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#1. This is the year I'll finally ride my motorcycle cross country. Taking a motorcycle trip across the U.S. is something I've wanted to do since I was a teenager. This year is the year!

NOT !! I didn’t even take a long trip on the bike in 2008. Even though I had the vacation time accrued, I wasn’t permitted to take a month off for a cross country trip because of the work schedule.

#2. Play golf. Yes, I know it's been 10 or 15 years since I played but I think it's time to start again. Back when I used to play, the game became a serious addiction that threatened to ruin my life. Now I think I'm old enough to handle it without becoming addicted.

Nope! I never even touched a golf club. They’re still up in the storage area above my shop.

#3. Shoot more. I don't spend nearly enough time at the range. This year I want to compete in some IDPA matches and maybe take up sporting clays.

Don’t I wish!! While I may have actually shot more rounds of ammo than I did in 2007, I never did compete in any IDPA or IPSC matches and haven’t shot a single clay target with my shotgun.

#4. Sell a vehicle. I don't know which one, but we have too much stuff and it's time to start getting rid of some of it. I think probably the camper will go, and maybe the boat.

Now isn’t this one funny. Not only did I not sell a vehicle, I bought a 1972 corvette and a 1961 Metropolitan! I did try to sell the camper and the boat but was unsuccessful.

#5. Finish the interior of the '57 Chevy. I made some real progress in 2007 and 2008 is the year I finally finish it!

OK!!! I may actually be able to claim success on this one. Although the interior still doesn’t have center console, it is effectively “done”. New carpet, new front seats, new upholstery front and rear with matching door panels, new steering wheel & shifter. It’s looking really “done”.

On the plus side, there's really no need to make new resolutions for 2009. I can just recycle the 2008 resolutions and see if I have more luck with them next year.