Quality Weenie

Friday Dog Blogging

Friday Dog Blogging

Today in Automotive History 1951

Today in Automotive History

1951 Birth of The Intimidator

Dale Earnhardt, one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history, was born on this day in Kannapolis, North Carolina.

Like Richard "The King" Petty, the only man with career credits comparable to Earnhardt's, Dale had racing in his blood. His father, Ralph, was an auto mechanic and champion driver of late-model stock cars. Dale Earnhardt knew from an early age he wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and become a racecar driver and he eventually dropped out of high school to pursue racing.

In 1979 Earnhardt was named Winston Cup Rookie of the Year. The following year he won the first of his seven Winston Cup Series championships. Driving the black No.3 Chevrolet, perhaps the most recognizable stock car of all time, Earnhardt earned his nickname, "The Intimidator," as a result of his tough, uncompromising driving style. He become a legend in the sport and racked up a career total of 76 victories.

Earnhardt's life was cut short on February 18, 2001, when he was fatally injured in a last-lap crash at the Daytona 500. Earnhardt, age 49, died instantly of head injuries. He left behind a wife, Teresa, four children, and legions of fans. Earnhardt's two sons are racecar drivers and his younger son, Dale Jr., has established himself as a star in the sport.
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Fear My Intelligence qualityweenie is

Fear My Intelligence

They Got To My Blog

They Got To My Blog How?

In looking through my referals I found that I am #14 in Yahoo for:

Frats Peeing on Floor

Then I checked Google and I am #10 for Frats Peeing on Floor

Impressive!
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Today in Automotive History 1939

Today in Automotive History

1939 Crosley's Miniature

Powell Crosley produced America's first miniature or "bantam" car.

Crosley led a remarkably scattered life which included, in his own words, 50 jobs in 50 years. A born entrepreneur blessed with family money Crosley engaged in everything from selling novelties to owning the Cincinatti Reds. His greatest love was automobile making, however, and he considered the production of the Crosley Miniature his greatest achievement.

Mass production of the car was stalled until after WWII, but, in 1948, he produced 28,000 cars. The Crosley was a foot shorter and a 100 pounds lighter than the pre-war Volkswagen Bug and far smaller than anything offered by American manufacturers. Unfortunately Crosley was never able to lower the price of his cars to his intended sticker of $500.

His $800 price tag wasn't low enough to convince consumers to purchase a miniature car when they could by a full-size car for a few hundred dollars more. The Crosley Car Company failed badly and even the injection of Powell Crosley's personal money could not save it. Crosley sold out of his endeavor and retired to dote on his beloved Cincinatti Reds.
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Sneak Peek - 2007 Volvo

Sneak Peek - 2007 Volvo S80

Volvo flagship gets a facelift for 2007

Volvo is testing prototypes of the next-generation S80 sedan. Ford Motor Co.'s Swedish subsidiary expects to begin production of the redesigned four-door in mid-2006, with the U.S. version reaching dealers sometime in the fall as a 2007 model. The S80, as Volvo's flagship, will be offered again in front- and all-wheel-drive variants. The company expects to provide customers with a range of engine choices, and is rumored to be considering the new 4.4-liter V-8 as a top-of-the-line option. A turbo-diesel might also be available for the first time in North America. The S80 is expected to share its underpinnings with an all-new range-topping wagon, known internally as the V90, which also would borrow some components from the XC90 sport utility vehicle. The V90 isn't expected before 2008-09.

P.S - It kind of looks like a pontiac grill on the front.

Hatip to Detroit News
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On The Road Again I

On The Road Again

I will be traveling to Georgetown, Kentucky tonight for a meeting tomorrow morning (departing tomorrow).

Blogging will be light the next couple of days.

At least it isn't "that" customer!
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Today in Automotive History 1906

Today in Automotive History

1906 Birdcages To Bankruptcy

The George N. Pierce Company purchased a 16-acre plot of land that had been the site of the 1901 Pan American Exposition with the intention of making the site their new production facility.

In 1872, George Pierce of Heintz, Pierce, and Munschauer, a houseware manufacturing firm whose products included birdcages, bought out his two partners and reorganized the company as the George N. Pierce Company. By the mid-1890s, the company had begun manufacturing bicycles; and when car production began in the late 1890s, company executive Charles Clifton began investigating the possibility of entering the industry.

The summer of 1900 saw the company's first car produced, a steamer that turned out to be a dismal failure. Clifton traveled to Europe, and returned insisting that Pierce purchase DeDion gasoline engines for car production.

Pierce's first production car was the Motorette. The car enjoyed great success in reliability trials, and it established Pierce as a dependable brand in the early car market. In 1904, Pierce took a giant leap forward when they produced their first Great Arrow. The four-cylinder Great Arrow sold for $4,000, making it a luxury car. Pierce rode the success of the Great Arrow for the rest of the first decade of the century, and, in 1909, the company changed its name to Pierce-Arrow.

Pierce-Arrow established itself as the only car company to exclusively produce luxury automobiles, and for the next few decades it would battle Packard in that marketplace. The company is credited with being the first car manufacturer to bring aesthetics to the forefront of the marketing race. Pierce-Arrow employed major working artists including N.C. Wyeth and J.C. Leyendecker to render their cars on advertisements that were literally works of art.

By 1915, Pierce-Arrow had established itself at the highest echelon of the luxury car market. Its cars brought with their fine aesthetics a 6-cylinder 824.8 cubic inch engine, America's biggest production engine ever. Pierce-Arrow remained a profitable name throughout the 1900s and 1920s, although sales fell steadily due to the company's unwillingness to modernize its 6-cylinder engine.

The Depression buried Pierce-Arrow. Thus, when Time Magazine published their piece on the company they entitled it "From Birdcages to Bankruptcy." Still Pierce-Arrow enjoys a prominent place in car history as America's first great luxury marque.
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You Know Your From Michigan

You Know Your From Michigan When ...

You define summer as three months of bad sledding.
You think Alkaline batteries were named for a Tiger outfielder.
You can identify an Ohio accent.
Your idea of a seven-course meal is a six pack and a bucket of smelt.
Owning a Japanese car is a hanging offense in your hometown.
You know how to play (and pronounce) Euchre.
The Big Mac is something that you drive across.
You believe that "down south" means Toledo.
You bake with soda and drink pop.
You drive 75 on the highway and you pass on the right.
Your Little League baseball game was snowed out.
You learned how to drive a boat before you learned how to ride a bike.
You know how to pronounce "Mackinac".
The word "thumb" has a geographical rather than an anatomical significance.
You have experienced frostbite and sunburn in the same week.
You expect Vernor's when you order ginger ale.
You know that Kalamazoo not only exists, but that it isn't far from Hell.
Your favorite holidays are Christmas, Thanksgiving, the opening of deer season and Devil's Night.
Your snowmobile, lawn mower and fishing boat all have Ford big block Chevy engines.
At least one person in your family disowns you for the week of the Michigan/Michigan State football game.
You know what a millage is.
Traveling coast to coast means driving from Port Huron to Muskegon.
Half the change in your pocket is Canadian, eh.
You show people where you grew up by pointing to a spot on your left hand.
You know what a "Yooper" is.
Your car rusts out before you need the brakes done
Half the people you know say they are from Detroit... yet you don't personally know anyone who actually lives in Detroit
"Up North" means north of Clare.
You know what a pastie is.
You occasionally cheer "Go Lions- and take the Tigers with you."
Snow tires come standard on all your cars.
At least 25% of your relatives work for the auto industry.
You don't understand what the big deal about Chicago is.
Octopus and hockey go together as naturally as hot dogs and baseball.
You know more about chill factors and lake effect than you'd EVER like to know!
Your snowblower has more miles on it than your car.
Shoveling the driveway constitutes a great upper body workout.
When giving directions, you refer to "A Michigan Left."
You know when it has rained because of the smell of worms.
You never watch the Weather Channel - you can just assume they're wrong.
The snowmen you make in your front yard actually freeze. Solid.
The snow freezes so hard that you can actually walk across it and not break it or leave any marks.
All your shoes are called "tennis shoes", even though no one here plays tennis anyway.
Your major school field trip includes camping and cross-country skiing.
Half your friends have a perfect sledding hill right in their own backyard.
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Bestest Place For Me To

Bestest Place For Me To Live

American Cities That Best Fit You
80% Atlanta
75% Austin
70% Honolulu
70% Las Vegas
70% Miami

Which American Cities Best Fit You?

The only places I would consider would be Honolulu or Vegas, bring on the heat baby!

Hattip to: Jennifers History and Stuff
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Today in Automotive History 1901

Today in Automotive History

1901 New York Tags

New York became the first state to require license plates by law. Owners of automobiles were obliged to register their names and addresses along with a description of their vehicle with the office of the secretary of state. The state sent each owner a small license plate, at least three inches high, which bore the owner's initials. The fee to register an automobile was one dollar. In 1901, the state received $954 in registration fees.
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Summer Was Nice While It

Summer Was Nice While It Lasted

Earlier in the week we had an 80 degree day, guess that was summer cause the weatherman is predicting 2-4 inches of snow tomorrow. So I guess that means winter is back.

If it does snow this will, at least I think it will, be the lastest I ever remember having snow.
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Today in Automotive History 1970

Today in Automotive History

1970 Earth Day

The first Earth Day was held in communities all across the country. Earth Day was the creation of Senator Gaylord Nelson. As he describes it, a number of senators were concerned about the state of the country's environment in the early 1960s.

In a move intended to bring national visibility to the issue of environmental deterioration, the Senators persuaded President Kennedy to take on a nationwide conservation tour, "spelling out in dramatic language the serious and deteriorating condition of our environment." The tour was a failure. Senators Hubert Humphrey, Gene McCarthy, Joe Clark, and Nelson himself accompanied Kennedy on the first leg of his trip to Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.

Though the tour failed to rouse interest of any significant level in the environment as a political issue, Nelson credits the mission with being the seed from which Earth Day would eventually flower. The idea for a grassroots effort gestated in Nelson's head until July of 1969, when, according to Nelson, the anti-war teach-ins of the Vietnam era inspired him to conceive of a nationwide environmental "teach-in." Nelson returned to Washington and began to raise funds for the event. In addition, he and his staff sent letters to 50 governors, and to the mayors of all major cities requesting them to make Earth Day proclamations. In a speech in Seattle in September of 1969, Nelson formally announced that a nationwide environmental teach-in would take place in the spring of the coming year.

All of the major wire services ran the story, and the response was dramatic. From that point on, says Nelson, Earth Day was the product of the populace. By December, the response of inquiries had so overwhelmed Nelson's Senate office that an Earth Day Clearing House was set up in Washington to plan for the event.

In the end, an estimated 20 million people participated in Earth Day events of some kind. Ten thousand grade schools and high schools, 2,000 thousand colleges, and 1,000 thousand communities across the country held official events. Earth Day is responsible for establishing the efficacy of grassroots environmental advocacy. A by-product of Earth Day that directly effected the automobile industry was the public's heightened awareness of the environmental dangers of gasoline exhaust emissions.
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The Meme Goes Round and

The Meme Goes Round and Round

Sissy of And What Next tagged me with the meme going round. I am obliging of what I would be if I were not fully obsessed with the Automotive Industry.

So here are the rules that Ogre invented,

Immediately following there is a list of 24 different occupations. You must select at least 5 of them (feel free to select more). You may add more if you like to your list before you pass it on (after you select 5 of the items as it was passed to you). Each one begins with "If I could be..." Of the 5 you selected, you are to finish each phrase with what you would do as a member of that profession. For example, if the selected occupation was "pirate" you might take the phrase "If I could be a pirate..." and add to it "I would sail the 7 Seas, dating lasses from around the world.

See how easy that is?

Here's the list:
If I could be a scientist...
If I could be a farmer...
If I could be a musician...
If I could be a doctor...
If I could be a painter...
If I could be a gardener...
If I could be a missionary...
If I could be a chef...
If I could be an architect...
If I could be a linguist...
If I could be a psychologist...
If I could be a librarian...
If I could be an athlete...
If I could be a lawyer...
If I could be an innkeeper...
If I could be a professor...
If I could be a writer...
If I could be a llama-rider...
If I could be a bonnie pirate...
If I could be an astronaut...
If I were a dog...
If I were an inventor...
If I were a programmer...
If I were a genius...

Here are my picks:
If I could be a scientist... I would invent a cure for Chavanism

If I could be a painter... I would paint with my body by rolling around in paint and then roll around on a canvas

If I could be a librarian... I would do the High School boys in the aisle containing National Geographic Magazines

If I could be an innkeeper... I would only allow men to stay and throw in a free night of sex if a week stay is booked

If I could be a professor... I would trade sex for grades, but only with the guys that wore boots!

If I could be a bonnie pirate... I would have an all male crew and make them follow my every order, and make them all wear shorts and boots.

If I were a dog... I would hump the legs of UPS guys!

I am tagging:
Denise of A Peak Inside My Mind
James from Ramblings of An Ordinary
Gebiv of There's One, Only
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Till Death Do You Part

Till Death Do You Part

I was over at Bane Rants and he has a posting up on how to pick a women that you would marry.

And while amusing there is an underlying realism to the post. Here's the part that really struck me as being something one really needs to think about before getting married.

And I think that's the key word, right there...commitment. If you cannot see yourself wiping this woman's ass when it looks like a dried apple and shits a fresh burst of pea soup over your fist,
while her teeth float in a glass on the bedside table, you didn't have a fucking
clue as to what 'til death do us part' meant, now, did you?

Today in Automotive History 1985

Today in Automotive History

1985 Senna Center Stage

The late Ayrton Senna won his first of 41 Formula One Championship victories driving a Lotus-Renault at the Portuguese Grand Prix in Estoril.

Senna's uncompromising driving style made him a hero to many and a villain to almost as many. Throughout his eight-year career, he established himself as the sport's greatest qualifying racer, winning 65-pole positions.

Qualifying is a measure of how far a driver can push himself without competition, and this quality was one of Senna's trademarks, "Sometimes I try to beat other people's achievements but on many occasions I find it's better to beat my own achievements. That can give me more satisfaction. I don't feel happy if I am comfortable."

It was his drive for perfection that made Senna such a great racer. But Senna's drive often threatened the lives of his fellow drivers. And his unapologetic off-track demeanor was often seen by his detractors as inflammatory. Just before his death in 1993, Senna appeared to be softening to the public. Still competitive, he assumed a calmer, less antagonistic persona on the Grand Prix circuit.

Always a pleasure for the press, Senna often delivered more thoughtful responses to questions than did his fellow drivers. In one of his most spiritual quotations Senna explains the relation of the racer to his public, "In many ways we are a dream for people, not a reality. That counts in your mind. It shows how much you can touch people, and as much as you can try to give to those people somehow it is nothing compared to what they live in their own mind, in their dreams, for you."

The tragic accident that cut short Senna's career remains an object of mystery, and the investigation is not yet closed. Those close to Senna indicate that the Catholic driver had a premonition of his impending death. A haunting comment from the year before his accident reads, "If I ever happen to have an accident that eventually costs me my life, I hope it is in one go."

It is, arguably, the danger of F1 racing that makes its leading personalities such captivating figures. Like boxers they exist closer to death than do ordinary citizens, and they, thereby, achieve a stature that is larger than life. It is only fair to mention, however, that Senna's death was just the second such fatality in F1 since the late 1970s.
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Today in Automotive History 1931

Today in Automotive History

1931 Woman On Board

Matilda Dodge Wilson, the widow of John Dodge, was named to the board of the Graham-Paige Motors Corporation, becoming the first woman to sit on the board of a major American auto-manufacturer. Graham-Paige was founded by the Graham brothers, whose initial car-making endeavor, Graham Brothers Truck Company, had been purchased by Dodge in 1926.
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Today in Automotive History 1955

Today in Automotive History

1955 American Volkswagen

Volkswagen of America, Inc. was established in Engelwood, New Jersey, as a sales division for the German car company. 1955 was a banner year for Volkswagen as the company produced its 1,000,000th car and exceeded, for the first time, the production benchmark of 1,000 cars per day on average.

1955 also saw the introduction of the Karmann Ghia Coupe, a joint venture between Volkswagen and Karmann. The sporty Karmann Ghia enjoyed great success in the United States. It wasn't until almost a decade after the formation of Volkswagen of America, that Volkswagen provided serious competition for Detroit's Big Three.

The establishment of an American sales group paved the way for the success of the VW bug in America. By the mid-1960s, the VW Bug had almost single-handedly ended the years of "virtual monopoly" that Detroit manufacturers had previously enjoyed.
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My Furbaby! Meet my Furbaby,

My Furbaby!

Meet my Furbaby, Lance!

Isn't he just the cutest!

So far his hobbies are sleeping and squeeking his squeeky toys.

Today in Automotive History 1927

Today in Automotive History

1927 "I Roll"

The first regular production Volvo, nicknamed "Jakob," left the assembly line in Goteborg, Sweden.

Volvo was the result of a collaboration between Assar Gabrielsson and Gustaf Larson. Gabrielsson was an economist and a businessman who began his career at SKF Manufacturing in Goteborg. As head of SKF's subsidiary in France, he discovered that, due to the comparative labor costs, it was possible to sell Swedish ball bearings in France more cheaply than American ones. The realization planted the seed that it was also possible to supply cars to continental Europe at a lower cost than American car companies could.

Enter Gustaf Larson, engineer and designer. He had been a trainee at White & Poppe in Coventry, England, where he had helped design engines for Morris. The two men met in 1923, and by the next year they already had plans to build cars. Larson gathered a team of engineers, and began work on a car design in his spare time.

By July of 1926, the chassis drawings were complete. Meanwhile Gabrielsson had aroused the interest of SKF in his project, and he obtained guarantees and credit form the parent company to build 1,000 vehicles, 500 open and 500 covered. SKF provided the name, AB Volvo.

Volvo is Latin for "I Roll." It wasn't until the 1930s that Volvo made a mark on the international automotive world. Volvo purchased its engine supplier, Pentaverken, and began production on a variety of car models, including the PV651 that enjoyed great success in the taxicab market.

After weathering the lean years of the early '30s, Volvo released its first "streamlined car" the PV36, or Carioca, a car heavily influenced by American designs, in 1936. Also in line with American marketing strategies was Volvo's decision to release new car models in the autumn, a tradition it began in 1938. Volvo's fortunes would mirror those of the American car companies after the war. Because of Sweden's neutrality during the war its production facilities were left undamaged, allowing Volvo to meet the demand for cars in Sweden and Europe after the war.
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No, I Don't Have A

No, I Don't Have A Peni$

No, I don't have a peni$ but it shouldn't f*king matter cause a peni$ does not make one smarter than the other.

I am getting so fed up with men and there god damn peni$ waving. And no one should ever rely on an operator to do the right thing or not do the wrong thing. One should take out all variables possible as not to give the operator a choice, that is the number one rule in the manufacturing bible.

Jesus christ has nobody in manufacturing ever hear of the f*cking word pokie yokying the system.

I am just about ready to bitch slap anything with a peni$. But just wait 3 days, some small peni$ed man here at work will suggest just exactly what I was saying today and everyone will think he cured f*cking cancer.

God, I hate my f*cking job right now.
Agh
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Today in Automotive History 1925

Today in Automotive History

1925 Elwood Haynes Of Kokomo

Elwood Haynes died in Kokomo, Indiana, at the age of 67. Haynes, the founder of the Haynes Automobile Company, led a remarkable life that began in Portland, Indiana.

The son of pioneer farmers Judge Jacob and Hillinda Haynes, Elwood thirsted for education at an early age. He eventually received degrees in engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and from Johns Hopkins. He returned to Portland to become a high school teacher in his subjects. His career and life turned around as the result of the discovery of vast natural gas deposits near Portland.

Forever curious, Haynes familiarized himself with natural gas containment and piping methods. He became the architect for the Indiana Natural Gas Company's pipe network that provided most of Chicago with natural gas. Haynes was the first man to suggest that natural gas should be dehydrated before it was piped, a principle still in use today.

From his laboratory at the Indiana Natural Gas Company, Haynes began tinkering with internal combustion engines. He completed his first car in 1894, one year after Charles Duryea is credited with having built the first American car.

Such was the dissemination of information at the time that Haynes, even until his death, was credited with building the first American car. After creating his prototype, Haynes started his own car company, which he ran for nearly three decades. He is credited with a number of automotive innovations, including the rotary engine. But Haynes' greatest achievements came as a metallurgist.

He was the first American to pioneer the oxidization of steel and the use of chromium to retard nature's oxidization process. He eventually received a U.S. patent for "stainless steel," although the invention first surfaced in England under the name "rustless iron."

Haynes' biographer, Ralph Gray, described the man succinctly, "Neither exceptionally bright nor a fast learner, Haynes had the capacity to absorb completely that which he had learned... He had an uncanny ability to be at the forefront of the most exciting new industrial and technological breakthroughs in his state during his lifetime." In our age of specialization, it is hard to imagine one man making such an impact in such diverse fields of exploration.
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Today in Automotive History 1977

Today in Automotive History

1977 GM Stops Wankel

General Motors (GM) announced it had dropped plans to produce a Wankel rotary engine. The rotary engine is an old engineering principle originally pioneered by Elwood Haynes in 1893. Felix Wankel is credited with inventing the modern design in 1955.

The Wankel rotary engine dispenses with separate pistons, cylinders, valves, and crankshafts, and its construction allows it to apply power directly to the transmission. The miracle of the rotary design is that a rotary engine can produce the same power as a conventional engine of twice its size comprised of four times as many parts.

There is a tradeoff, however. The Wankel rotary engine burns up to twice as much gasoline as a conventional engine, making it, among other things, a heavy polluter. Proponents of the engine argue that its smaller size would allow carmakers to install anti-pollution devices where they wouldn't fit in a car carrying an ordinary engine.

The basic unit of the rotary engine is a large combustion chamber in the form of a "pinched oval" or epitrochoid. Within the chamber all four engine functions take place in the three pockets formed by the rotor and the walls of the combustion chamber. In the same way that the addition of cylinders increases power in a conventional engine, the addition of pockets increases power in a rotary engine.

GM, after having considered the production of a rotary engine for a decade, finally decided against the innovation on the grounds that its poor fuel economy would be prohibitive to sales.

P.S. Ok, who didn't think of a peni$ immediatly upon seeing the word wankel? Harvey put your hand down.
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Just Call Me Mommy Yep,

Just Call Me Mommy

Yep, that's right I'm going to be a Furmommy!

We pick up our little boy up on Friday morning!

He's an Italian Greyhound, they are a lot smaller than regular greyhounds but can run as fast as them.

We got the baby's room all ready over the weekend and went shopping, it was then when my hubby realize that dogs do cost money.

Here is a fuzzy picture. Dog blogging to begin on Friday!

His name?

Lance

We wanted to name him something that would fit the breed, they run fast so we were thinking of an athlete who is fast. So he is named after ..

Lance Armstrong

And once he gets neutered he will have something else in common with his namesake (ok, ok I know, that was bad)
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Today in Automotive History 1888

Today in Automotive History

1888 Power Marriage

Henry Ford married Clara Bryant Ford in Greenfield, Michigan, on her 22nd birthday. Clara described her intended to her parents as "quiet, pleasant, keen-minded, and sensible." When Clara Bryant married Henry Ford, he was living on a 40-acre plot of land that belonged to his father.

Instead of farming the land Ford had it cleared and sold the lumber. Once the lumber was gone, he took a job as an engineer at the Edison Illuminating Company. The move was the beginning of Ford's precipitous rise through the ranks of the engineering world, a career that saw he and his wife move 11 times between 1892 and 1915, always to finer circumstances. Not many wives in that day would have approved of such a migrant lifestyle, but Clara Bryant Ford did.

She is credited with backing her husband in all of his endeavors. There was a time when Henry Ford's success as a maker of cars was dubious at best. Indeed, Ford spent the years between 1895 and 1901 as a virtual unknown and unpaid tinkerer.

In 1896, Ford met Thomas Edison for the first time. Edison encouraged him in his car-building mission, exhorting Ford to continue his work, "Young man, that's the thing. You have it. The self-contained unit carrying its own fuel with it." Ford wasn't the only man "to have it," but Edison's words affected him. "No man, up to then," Ford explained, "had given me encouragement." But his wife had.

The union of Clara and Henry would reach its most celebrated stages after Henry had become a success. Clara Bryant stood by her man, it's true, but there were times when she objected to his practices, and on those occasions she intervened. She is often credited with forcing her reluctant husband to finally give in to labor negotiations. In 1941, most of the workers at Ford's colossal River Rouge Plant walked out on their jobs. Even after a successful strike, Henry Ford refused to negotiate with the UAW. He believed that Ford workers were essentially loyal and that the union had bullied them into striking.

The stubborn Ford said, "let the union take over," meaning he wouldn't run the company if they were a part of it. The government informed Ford that they would take over were he to close the plants. Ford was immovable. He insisted the government, by backing the unions, would hurt the American auto industry and not Henry Ford. Finally, though, Henry capitulated. Apparently, Clara informed him that should he close the plants, he would have to seek a new wife.

P.S. - The Ford Family is rich with historical marriages and friends. For instance, William Clay Ford Sr (Henry's Grandson) married the Firestone Heires.
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Today in Automotive History 1916

Today in Automotive History

1916 Corona Boulevard Disaster

Racer Bob Burman crashed through a barrier into the crowd at the last Boulevard Race in Corona, California. Burman, his riding mechanic Eric Scroeder, and a track policeman were killed, and five spectators were badly injured.

The boulevard race started in 1913 as part of the AAA national championship schedule. The race was run on Grand Boulevard, a street that formed a perfect three-mile circle. Bob Burman was coming off an attempt at the world land-speed record at Brighton Beach, New York, where he had run 129mph.

Burman led most of the race at Corona before his blue Peugot broke a wheel, sending the car over the curb and into a pole. The tragedy ended racing in inland Southern California for almost 40 years.
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Today in Automotive History 1969

Today in Automotive History

1969 Jim Clark Tragedy

Jim Clark, one of the greatest grand prix racers of all time, died in a tragic accident during a Formula 2 race in Hockenheim, Germany. Clark, widely regarded as the most naturally gifted F1 racer of all time, competed his entire career on behalf of Colin Chapman's Team Lotus. He won two World Championships, in 1963 and in 1965. Clark's 1965 season is undoubtedly the sport's greatest individual achievement. Clark led every lap of every race he finished, and he won the Indy 500. Known for his soft-spoken manor, Clark was known for his ability to win on all types of courses, including those that he personally detested. He won four straight Belgian GPs at his least favorite course, the arduous Spa-Francorchamps circuit. Clark died in a meaningless race at Hockenheim, when his car mysteriously left the track and collided with a tree. His death shocked the racing world. Chris Amon, then with Ferrari described his own feelings about the accident, "If it could happen to him what chance did the rest of us have? I think we all felt that. It seemed like we'd lost our leader."
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Just To Shut Contagion Up

Just To Shut Contagion Up

The Meme questions answered:

1) You strike me as a hard working, intelligent person. We’ve established that VW is on psychotropic drugs, but why are you volunteering for this, are you a closet masochist? (If so call me)

Hell no, I'm not a closet masochist. I am a out in the open and proud of it masochist, why do you think I chose Quality as my profession. It's the only profession where I can openly pratice masochism and get paid for it.

2) We know you have some dark fetish for the automotive industry. You claim to work quality control in that industry. Why is it then that I keep having problems with the brakes on my van? What did you do them?!?!?! Don’t lie, I know it was you!

Van? As in Mini-Van? Well that explains it right there Soccor Mom. God is trying to tell you something by having the brakes act up in a Mini-Van.

Oh, and God drives a Ford Truck.

3) You keep telling people to buy Ford vehicles. Why are you fascinated with them when their cars suck so horribly? I had a 95 Ford Contour SE that was a complete heap o’ shite. It kept falling apart and having to have work done on it. Wait… was that you as well? I didn’t know you then! Why are you persecuting me?!?!?!

I think I keep telling people to buy Ford Trucks. Cars suck, well except their luxury cars they rule. And to add insult to injury, I mean a Ford Contour? Why not just buy a Pinto. The whole Contour, Mystique line was nothing but trouble from design phase. Really, you need to consult me before buying a vehicle. I know the poop, the whole poop and nothing but the poop for quality on every vehicle out there.

Oh, and God drives a Ford Truck.

4) Regarding your Ford fetish. Let’s say a blog buddy was going to buy a new truck and they got a Chevy would you disown them, strike their blog from your blog roll and start a campaign to have the scourged from the internet? How about if it was a Toyota?

I can not help other people and their lack of sense. I mean God drives a Ford Truck, I don't understand why anyone would want to drive anything else.

I mean, F-250 Powerstroke Diesel. There is nothing else in this world that can get a girl all hot and bothered like that truck!

Toyota Trucks? Toyota Trucks are for Pussies.

5) When I was in Michigan 2 weeks ago how come you didn’t offer to meet with my wife and myself? Is it because I’m buying a Chevy? Why do you hate me so?!?!

Well if I knew your wife was going to be there I would have made an effort!

I will cut you some slack on buying a Chevy, I mean we all have our senior moments. And well, you are from Wisconsin so that explains a lot.
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Today in Automotive History 1923

Today in Automotive History

1923 Tires Balloon

Firestone Tire and Rubber Company of Akron, Ohio, began balloon-tire production. The company had previously experimented with large-section, thin-walled tires with small bead diameters for special purposes, but none had been put on the commercial market.

Firestone had become the country's largest producer of tires when it received the contract to supply Henry Ford's Model T's with tires. The company remained on top of the tire industry, challenged for supremacy only by Goodyear.

Balloon tires provided better handling and a smoother ride for car drivers. In balloon tires an inner tube is fitted inside the tire and inflated.

With Firestone's innovation came the era of the flat tire. Sure, people had problems with their cars before 1923; but none had yet enjoyed the pleasure of standing by the roadside watching their hissing tire deflate along with their hopes of arriving on time.
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If It Doesn't Fit, Get

If It Doesn't Fit, Get A Bigger Hammer

Unfortunatly that is not a solution to a problem in an assembly area. If it doesn't fit, the first thing one should think is that they are doing something incorrectly.

But nooooo, not at my place of employement. And especially not on the line in which I have repeatedly told them last week that those parts have to be better than perfect.

Because this is THAT customer.

Boy am I glad it's my Boss going to Indiana this week and not me. I may be on the chopping block next week to go though.
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If It Doesn't Fit, Get

If It Doesn't Fit, Get A Bigger Hammer

Unfortunatly that is not a solution to a problem in an assembly area. If it doesn't fit, the first thing one should think is that they are doing something incorrectly.

But nooooo, not at my place of employement. And especially not on the line in which I have repeatedly told them last week that those parts have to be better than perfect.

Because this is THAT customer.

Boy am I glad it's my Boss going to Indiana this week and not me. I may be on the chopping block next week to go though.
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Today in Automotive History 1996

Today in Automotive History

1996 A New Jag

Jaguar introduced its new SK8 convertible at the New York International Auto Show. The SK was the sports car version of the XK car released a few months before. The two models were Jaguar's first entirely new designs since the company became a Ford subsidiary in 1989.

Powered by the Advanced Jaguar V-8 coupled with a five-speed automatic gearbox, the SK lives up to Jaguar's historic line of powerful sports cars.

However, Jaguar purists argue that the lines of the car body itself are not Jaguar lines. Ford executives claim that they have not meddled with the integrity of the Jaguar marque, and so any lines that don't look like they came from Jaguar designs still came from Jaguar designers. Judge for yourself: would Sir William Lyons turn in his grave to see the new look of Jaguar?
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Godspeed Pope John Godspeed Pope

Godspeed Pope John

Godspeed Pope John Paul II, Godspeed
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Pope John Paul II My

Pope John Paul II

My thoughts and prayers go out to Pope John Paul II, with heavyness in my heart but allso rejoyce knowing that he will soon meet the lord.

For certain is death for the born
And certain is birth for the dead;
Therefore over the inevitable
Thou shouldst not grieve.

Bhagavad Gita
Chapter 2
(250 BC - 250 AD)
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Party At My House Detroit

Party At My House

Detroit police are preparing to burn nearly 1 ton of confiscated drugs, Local 4 reported.

Police displayed Friday morning about 6,000 packages containing marijuana, cocaine and other drugs that had been seized in narcotics raids.

Authorities will burn the drugs to make room for items confiscated in future raids, the station reported.

Detroit police said more than $85 million worth of narcotics was seized in 2004.
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Profit and Pigs My trip

Profit and Pigs

My trip to Indiana was interesting to say the least. We went down for a 1 hour meeting, requested by the customer. We ended up sorting parts and staying for 2 days.

The customer has an attitude about something, were not sure if they get this with all suppliers, new suppliers or just our parts suppliers. We never did learn what their problem was but when we left on Wednesday we not only turned around their attitude towards us but also installed confidence in us.

We told them that someone would be down the next day to sort the incoming parts we sent, since we couldn't stay (ran out of underware) and we thought it would continue the warm fuzzy feeling we had installed.

It literally took a phone call to the President of our company from us to get someone to go down the next day and look at the incoming parts. It's not hard work and it would only take a couple hours maximum.

Why so difficult? Well a little background on my company. It use to be a small company, but it's growing. Growing to a tune of 12 times it's revenues in the next 2 years.

In the past they had a product that would basically never present a quality problem, so much in fact they never had a Quality department until 2 years ago when they brought on a new product. So they never had to do customer service, in fact unless they were launching an updated part they never talked to the customer. Yes, the product was that defect free.
Fast-forward to the present.

They have no customer service skills to speak of and are still in the "I don't see why we have to do customer service" mindset. So it's very hard to convince management that this needs to be done to salvage our reputation with the customer. I just hope they don't screw up what we accomplished this week.

Now, onto the customer. The man we had to deal with was the rudest, chevuanistic man I have had to deal with in a long time. He tested my patience a lot. My co-worker was women also and he treated us like stupid women who didn't know a drive-shaft for a steering wheel. And to top it off everytime we were talking with him and a man would come up he would interrupt us and walk off with said man and come back 30-60 minutes later with no apology or explaination and just resume the conversation where he ended it.

Christ I wanted to kick the shit out of that man. And the kicker, the other workers under this man told us that he was doing it on purpose but they had no reason as to why he was doing it and they even thought he was being as ass to us.
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Today in Automotive History 1970

Today in Automotive History

1970 Gremlins

AMC, the company that first introduced the compact car in the 1950s, introduced the Gremlin, America's first sub-compact car.

AMC was the only major independent car company to survive into the 1970s. AMC's success relied heavily on the vision of the company's first President George Romney, who strongly believed that to compete with the Big Three his company must offer smaller, more fuel-efficient alternatives to their cars.

The AMC Rambler, a compact car, accounted for nearly all of AMC's profits through the 1950s, the era during which the company enjoyed its most substantial success. AMC's fortune faded rapidly after Romney left the company in 1962, and by the end of the ' 60s, the company's output had dropped to a dismal 250,000 sales per year. The release of the Gremlin in 1970 marked the company's return to Romney's vision. Designed to compete with the imported Volkswagens and Japanese sub-compacts, the Gremlin was essentially the AMC Hornet with its back end cut off.

AMC President Roy Chapin attempted to re-create the vigorous personal campaign that Romney had used successfully to market the Rambler in the 50s. He appeared before the American public in advertisements to extol the virtues of the "first sub-compact" car.

Unfortunately for AMC, the Gremlin was out on the market for only a short time before the Big Three released their own sub-compact models.
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