The crazy car business stories are excellent heres just one from Michael Satterfield of Gentlemen Racer com

Your tax dollars at work:

I was working as the Internet Sales Manager for the dealer group that included Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, and Kia when a phone call came in from a local state assemblywoman’s office. The staffer was frantic and looking for a Lincoln Towncar Signature L. These had been discontinued from regular production at the time but had been available for special fleet orders, but production was done so they were few and far between. The staffer told me that he needed two Black on Black Towncars. One for the local office and one for the Sacramento office. I put him on hold and did a search find that there were none within 500 miles and with Southern California being the hub of the automotive industry and the largest market if we did not have it, no one did.

So I google the assemblywoman’s name and find countless bills, speeches, and articles on her green legislation, hybrid car bills, and other general tree huggery. I pick the phone back up and tell the staffer “good news I have the cars you are looking for in stock. Black on Black Ford Escape Hybrids”…. Complete silence on the other end. “Well seeing as the assemblywoman is so concerned about the environment that she keeps passing laws regulating the cars we should drive and the types of cars we should have in California, I thought she would like a car that gets double the gas mileage of a Towncar, and costs about $15,000 less” the staffer flies off the handle. “She cannot be seen in something like that she needs a prestigious car for entertaining dignitaries… if you are not willing to help us we will go to someone that will” At that point I was just laughing a the idea of a state assembly member “entertaining dignitaries”. They wanted to spend almost $100,000 for two Towncars so some hack can be driven around in by a staffer like she was the president….they did find them from a dealer in Nevada that orders them for the casinos…your tax dollars at work.

the others are just as good, and can be read at http://www.thegentlemanracer.com/2014/01/crazy-car-business-stories.html

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The BMW X4 just isnt a proper off roader

THEY don’t make ‘em like they used to. It’s probably the most overused cliché in the classic car book, but in the case of one off-road encounter last weekend it’s definitely true.

The car in question was an old Land Rover – specifically, a 1969 Series IIA of the ex-military variety – which I encountered at a garage in Lancashire, which I couldn’t help but swoon over just slightly. When you’ve been raised around old Range Rovers and brought up to believe anything vaguely old from Lode Lane is cool, you can’t help it.

At least one mate of mine (you know who you are) just doesn’t get my fascination with old off-roaders but the great thing with old Land Rovers is they acquire a patina over decades which the new ones just don’t have. Whereas it’s right for someone with an MG or a Triumph to spend hours on end polishing their pride ‘n’ joy, a Series IIA without a thin coating of muck is like an Arctic explorer who doesn’t have a craggy face and a light helping of stubble. Yes, old off-roaders are slow and noisy and corner like ocean liners, but the important thing is that they’re hard as nails.

Or at least, they used to be, because when I got in that night I saw BMW’s latest take on the off-roader – the X4, which is a bit like an X6 and about as up for a spot of Arctic exploring as Gok Wan does. Yes, I know I drove an X3 last year and found it annoyingly brilliant, but deep down I’d still rather that old Series IIA be on my driveway.

Land Rover’s own 2013 offerings are still capable mudpluggers, of course, but judging by BMW’s evidence, at least, they definitely don’t make off-roaders like they used to.

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