WISHFUL THINKERS, DELUSIONAL “IT WON’T BE LONG NOW!” DREAMERS, THE USUAL SPINELESS WEASELS AND ENOUGH “REGRETS AND APOLOGIES” TO PEG THE AE STUPID METER. YES, IT’S TIME FOR THE AUTOEXTREMIST YEAR IN REVIEW! – Rants
By Peter M. DeLorenzo
Evidently, the Parade of Fools by no means appeared to finish in 2024. Take “St. Elon” Musk, as an illustration. Please. Earlier than the election, we have been compelled to endure the nation’s most relentless bloviator as an annoyance who wouldn’t go away. Now? He really thinks he issues within the grand scheme of issues and has surreptitiously been given semi-official energy, which can show to be a large bowl of Not Good for the whole nation.
The phrase tedious doesn’t even to start to explain the type of false guarantees this man has unleashed on the general public. In terms of “Full Self Driving” and now “robotaxis” Musk has managed to serially overpromise and underdeliver each rattling time. Which is why I – and also you – shouldn’t anticipate any totally different this time round. It’s like that drained outdated signal over the bar that claims “free beer tomorrow,” however, in fact, relating to Musk and his varied types of driverless programs for vehicles, tomorrow by no means, ever comes. So, when St. Elon suggests “It received’t be lengthy now!” please don’t get your hopes up.
I predict that the tons of of billions of {dollars} spent on the event of autonomous automobiles will develop into the largest monetary catastrophe – this facet of The Nice Recession – in automotive historical past. (Musk needs to be used to that, after his gross mismanagement of Twitter/X -WG.) The concentrate on autonomous conveyances and the promise of a Utopian way forward for no-involvement experience sharing and rent-by-the-minute utilization will devolve into lawyered-up tech firms frantically combating over just a few large municipal fleets, contracts with the U. S. Submit Workplace and really narrowly-focused utilization for the aged. And, The Masters from The Valley of Silicon will stay incredulous that customers simply didn’t purchase into their all-encompassing brilliance.
However that’s the world we discover ourselves in immediately. Whereas inundated with half-truths or flat-out lies throughout the spectrum of our every day grinds, we’re compelled to kind by the unmitigated bullshit consistently spewed out by myriad hucksters like Musk.
As for Carlos Tavares, we witnessed one other “I’m a genius simply ask me” automotive govt go down in flames, rattling close to taking all of Stellantis’ U.S. operations down with him. Tavares, one other one in every of these “parachute in, helicopter out” executives who depart chaos of their wake at each flip – aka “The Farley Methodology” – began taking note of the true points dealing with Stellantis’ U.S. operations when it was far too late. The end result? One other automotive “genius” obtained canned.
Not that U.S. operatives weren’t complicit within the firm’s close to – and nonetheless attainable – implosion. The execs in Auburn Hills relentlessly jacked up costs, taking a web page from the Greed Retailers at Porsche, pondering that $70,000 Jeep Wranglers have been really a sustainable enterprise mannequin. This simply in: It wasn’t, and lo and behold Jeep piled up nearly two years of declining gross sales. However the stumblebums out in Auburn Hills aren’t completed, apparently, not even shut, actually. Now, they’re pushing the Charger Daytona EV, a 5,800-lb. “muscle” automobile with an excellent fake sound observe that’s allegedly the best factor since sliced bread, a minimum of based on some auto journos. (Is a free journey to Phoenix in December all it takes to elicit a glowing overview? Get a grip, people. -WG) And whereas Stellantis execs are touting their new EV, they’re frantically working extra time to push the ICE model of the automobile forward, which is powered by a turbocharged inline 6-cylinder. Don’t child yourselves. The ICE model is the important thing car right here; the EV model is an ongoing pipe dream of “authenticity.”
Talking of “The Farley Methodology” the persistent mismanagement authored by Jim “Electrical Boy” Farley, the Ford CEO, continues. (“The Farley Follies” was a very fashionable column this 12 months – WG) And the recurring query I get requested consistently is, “Why is he nonetheless there?” Farley’s rumblin’, bumblin’ and stumblin’ conduct was a litany of dangerous information for the Dearborn automaker. To whit? Ford’s third-quarter internet earnings fell 26 p.c. This was largely attributed to Ford delaying a few of its EVs – (Cue Johnny Carson: “Gee, I didn’t know that.” -WG), but it surely resulted within the firm additionally reducing its full-year adjusted EBIT to “round $10 billion” after beforehand saying it may earn as a lot as $12 billion. However wait! Farley Apologist-in-Chief – CFO John Lawler – mentioned it was all good, as a result of the corporate’s complete adjusted earnings – earlier than curiosity and taxes – rose 16 p.c to $2.6 billion, with a income enhance of 5 p.c to $46 billion. Huzzah! “It’s an excellent proof level of our product technique and our total Ford+ technique,” Lawler mentioned on a name with reporters Oct. 28, as reported by Automotive Information. “We grew the highest line, we grew the underside line, our steadiness sheet’s in nice form, so it was a strong quarter.” Actually, John? That is all you bought? Lawler went on to say that Ford has lower $2 billion in prices this 12 months, however these reductions are being offset by inflation and better guarantee bills. (Italics mine.)
“We’ve obtained an ideal technique, however price is holding us again,” Lawler mentioned. “It’s a possibility for us to actually unlock the complete potential of Ford, and that’s why we’re targeted on enhancing prices not solely this focus however each quarter.” Lawler, with out specifying an actual greenback quantity, based on AN, mentioned Ford’s guarantee prices have been barely decrease than on the similar level a 12 months earlier. That follows an $800 million year-over-year enhance within the second quarter. That is Farley communicate writ giant. Pay no consideration to that ol’ bugaboo backstage! Ford’s abject failure to cope with its crushing guarantee prices, which Farley promised to get a deal with on from Day One, has completely scarred the corporate, and that is immediately as a result of Jimbo’s serial incompetence. The Backside Line for Ford? The Farley Follies proceed unabated, and it’s wreaking havoc on any of the goodwill accrued by Invoice Ford and his fabulous resurrection of the Michigan Central station.
And now, an unsightly actuality is looming for Invoice Ford, as a result of he has no succession plan for After Farley, which needs to be a lot sooner fairly than later. I wish to level out to our readers that Farley “has loads of cash” as he took it upon himself to remind me repeatedly. (Yeah, he is a card-carrying Unctuous Prick, in case you have been questioning.) So, there isn’t any purpose to stress about his future After Ford. He’ll simply retreat to California and spend cash like water on his classic racing behavior. In closing, in fascinated with the persistently underwhelming efficiency by Farley, I am reminded of the distinctive – and memorable – quote by Joe Pesci in On line casino when describing an underperforming smart man: “He may fuck-up a cup of espresso.” That is an apt and painfully correct description of Farley.
However wait, there’s extra. As if proper on cue, Ford introduced on Halloween that it might idle its F-150 Lightning EV plant in mid-November for the remainder of the 12 months. And it will get worse. Ford additionally agreed to pay a advantageous of as much as $165 million — the second-largest civil advantageous ever levied by NHTSA — for failing to adjust to federal recall necessities, based on Automotive Information. NHTSA decided that Ford did not recall automobiles with faulty rearview cameras in a well timed method and failed to offer correct and full recall info. Only a reminder: Ford has led the auto business in U.S. remembers for three consecutive 12 monthss. It’s main the business once more this 12 months with 58 remembers, tied with Stellantis. Ford executives in October cited price issues, particularly warranties, as a important purpose for lowered earnings expectations. And the hits to the underside line simply carry on comin’ underneath Electrical Boy’s watch.
For Invoice Ford, the urgent query is: How lengthy is that this sustainable? I’ll reply that query – it merely isn’t. Recollects are severely impacting Ford’s backside line, and this example has not improved one iota since Farley was handed the reins of the corporate in 2020. Ford’s efficiency on this space has been under mediocre, shockingly so, actually. And now the subsequent query for Invoice Ford turns into: What value mediocrity? And, the reply, apparently, is what Farley has been paid since turning into CEO, which is approaching a jaw-dropping $100 million. This simply in: The clock is ticking on Farley’s reign.
However that’s not all.
It wasn’t all that way back that sure Detroit automakers have been awash in optimism whereas predicting an EV Future brimming with blue skies and limitless profitability. The automakers in query have been fairly sure that they’d ace “The Grand Transition” to EVs by turning into tech-savvy titans, creating digital surprise wagons that permit them to monetize all the things that strikes, multitasking their technique to a New Period for the car business. Detroit would develop into America’s new shining metropolis on a hill, rivaling Silicon Valley in technical wonders and American exceptionalism. In flip, the 2 firms in query firmly believed that they’d create a brand new breed of plugged-in, turned-on, shiny glad shoppers scurrying about their day with broad smiles, whereas basking within the glow of the surprise of all of it.
Properly, a humorous factor occurred on the way in which to creating automotive nirvana. The 2 automakers in query – Ford and GM – screwed up big-time, and now they’re paying for it in no unsure phrases.
I’ve already coated Farley, however what can presumably be mentioned about GM CEO Mary “Zero Crashes, Zero Emissions, Zero Congestion” Barra? She wager the soon-to-be-torn-down Silver Silos that GM may flip the proverbial swap and develop into a big-time participant in EVs actually in a single day, solely to find that it is one factor to venture confidence whereas touting lofty objectives, but it surely’s fairly one other to truly be capable of ship on them.
GM’s True Believers cranked flat-out on these engineering targets, coping with problem after problem, whereas attempting to ship on Barra’s limitless boasts. However in the midst of doing do, quite a lot of lacking items have been uncovered, particularly the corporate’s lack of software program data and the elemental problems with EV manufacturing functionality. And, in fact, the issues mounted. The Ultium battery packs encountered severe meeting issues, important software program points shelved the highly-touted Chevrolet Blazer EV with a “cease promote” order. And the corporate’s class-leading Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon pickups have been parked at meeting crops as a result of extra important software program points.
And final however definitely not least, let’s not neglect Barra’s enduring fascination with GM’s Cruise autonomous car division, which Barra relentlessly touted however which has ended up costing the corporate billions – all of which was compounded by the truth that a pedestrian in San Francisco hit by one other car was thrown into the trail of a self-driving Cruise automobile and dragged about 20 toes. Barra jettisoned Cruise final week, saying that the expertise could be included into GM’s manufacturing automobiles when advantageous. This, in fact made the Wall Avenue-types giddy about GM’s new “ahead pondering” working mantra. My query to those so-called consultants is, actually? That’s all it takes to anoint Barra as “chastened” and say that we’re basking within the glow of a “new” GM? You’ve obtained to be kidding me. Final time I checked, “wishing and hoping” would not represent a viable technique. Speak about doubling down on “It Received’t Be Lengthy Now!”
And, in case you’ve been following alongside, the tone and tenor of the protection of the auto business has modified dramatically lately. Rapidly, the promise of the “Grand Transition” to EVs is choosing up steam once more – a minimum of the picture of it anyway – in sure circles of the automotive media. CEO Mary Barra stays bullish about GM’s place now and sooner or later relating to really getting cash on EVs. And it appears sure members of the automotive media lapped that up and at the moment are dutifully reporting that certainly “It received’t be lengthy now!” earlier than GM is on a roll with its EVs.
GM additionally introduced that it had dropped its “Ultium” model title off of all of its EVs, which was a little bit of a stunner, however then once more not. GM has a longstanding – and dangerous – behavior of spending big quantities of cash on issues after which simply strolling away when it turns into obvious that it’s not likely working all that properly. On this case it’s as a result of they’ve come to the conclusion that relating to EV programs, one method actually doesn’t match all. So, the thousands and thousands upon thousands and thousands GM spent on branding and advertising and marketing Ultium at the moment are simply gone with the wind. In different phrases, and all collectively now: By no means Thoughts.
To say I’m skeptical that “It received’t be lengthy now!” for GM to quickly begin making severe cash on EVs is an understatement. The legendary “swap” hasn’t been flipped, and though some auto journos are insisting that customers at the moment are keen to maneuver to EVs, that’s wishful pondering on a grand scale. What has modified, precisely? Extra EVs turning into obtainable? That’s true, as GM, as an illustration, is lastly trickling out its array of EVs. With the emphasis, I would add, on trickling out. However what else has modified? The supply of charging? Hardly, that’s nonetheless woefully underserved, particularly for residence dwellers. The pace of charging? If you happen to’re spending greater than $100,000, certain, it is perhaps spectacular, however for mainstream shoppers, it’s nonetheless a tough “not quick sufficient.” And oh, by the way in which, price continues to be a elementary difficulty. That there’s nonetheless a common client skepticism on the market concerning the pricing of EVs – though there are a number of “reasonably priced” choices obtainable – hasn’t modified one iota.
What’s being executed about that? Right here’s one native instance: Despite the fact that that is certainly the corporate city of firm cities, the aggressive promoting we’ve been seeing for months touting unheard-of low cost leases for GM EVs is stunning. The demand merely isn’t there but, and these outstanding lease numbers are indicative of that. So, GM’s Barra suggesting “It received’t be lengthy now!” doesn’t rely for a lot.
The opposite daunting difficulty brewing includes the onslaught of Chinese language-sourced EVs that threatens to disrupt not solely the market right here however the world auto business as a complete. The U.S. automakers – and the bigger U.S. economic system – are merely not ready for the unfettered imports of Chinese language-made EVs, and the way this shakes out will decide the long run stability of the U.S. auto business, and that’s no exaggeration.
And by the way in which and in case you have been questioning, to these anticipating Nissan to get better to develop into some semblance of an precise thriving automobile firm, please simply cease. The everlasting demise of Nissan is approaching quickly, and there’s no quantity of cost-cutting or product rejuvenation that can put it aside. Count on Nissan to finally be carved up and parted out – there’s no turning again.
So, “It received’t be lengthy now!”? Sure, it will, actually. Only one instance? I’m already seeing one other couple of years earlier than the new-generation – and entry-level – Chevrolet Bolt shall be obtainable. (GM is saying will probably be 2026, however that means to me that will probably be 2027.) That’s simply the way in which this enterprise rolls proper now. And I get the truth that GM operatives are jacked concerning the Escalade IQ EV and the large profitability it represents, however till the corporate will get that new Bolt out in severe numbers, “It received’t be lengthy now!” shall be an ongoing fallacy.
This “Grand Transition” to EVs is already an all-encompassing grind that’s consuming all the things in its path. Predictions and suppositions proper now rely for precisely nothing. Nobody is aware of how lengthy it will take, or how it will in the end shake out (though wake me up when it’s 2035; we’ll know significantly better then). It’s clear that some firms are going to be left like a home on the facet of the highway; they’ll be used up and in the end swallowed up within the chaos.
The one factor I’m completely certain of is that our nation will not find yourself with an all-EV fleet. We can have a kaleidoscope of propulsion programs at our disposal, together with ICE, hybrids and hydrogen-fueled automobiles.
That mentioned, it’s time to show over the column to WordGirl, as she graces the proceedings along with her rigorously curated Prime 13 Rants for 2024.
Editor’s Be aware: We laughed, we cried, we wished to name it quits. And that was simply January. To say that 2024 was a downer is a little bit of an understatement. And as soon as once more, with apologies to the 1993 film Groundhog Day, which was really poignant and humorous, the 12 months 2024 within the auto enterprise proved to be a a lot bleaker present – a sobering and sometimes downright miserable view of a actuality that performed in an limitless loop, mind-numbingly the identical, day after day. However that does not imply we put the brakes on the Excessive-Octane Fact. Fairly the other, really. There was lots to Rant about – after which some. And so, right here they’re – my high 13 Rants for 2024. Highs and lows? It was extra like lows and lowers. Though, it should be mentioned that Peter’s impassioned plea to only get on the market and go for a drive is a sure-fire technique to maintain us within the darkness. -WG
When all else fails, blame the advert businesses. Right here, Peter particulars some of the evident examples of GM’s serial incompetence – the administration of its promoting and advertising and marketing features (which they blew up actual good final June).
A blistering expose of GM and Ford as their CEOs backpedal and make excuses for poor selections and defective assumptions on the highway to the Grand Transition.
An unforgiving tackle the dismal state of our nation.
An eloquent rebuttal to the swift and searing backlash to Peter’s non-car Rants.
After Peter’s non-car Rants crashed with a convincing thud on the arduous deck of actuality, full with a lot hand-wringing and hate mail, we try to maneuver on.
The car enterprise is seemingly being distilled right down to a elementary want for electrical juice, however there are numerous defective assumptions being made within the course of.
A sobering have a look at the crossroads we’re confronting, as we wrestle with that almost all elementary of freedoms – independence.
Nothing brightens up the relentless slog towards the Grand Transition like a go to with “the boys” at Fu-King Motors!
The newest in delusional pondering and false guarantees within the limitless march towards our EV Future.
An impassioned argument for a return to driving – for the pure, unvarnished hell of it – as a result of, properly, at this level, that is principally the very best antidote for the chaos.
An in-depth have a look at the most recent and best inductees that peg the AE Silly Meter.
As a result of Peak Stupidity wants multiple Rant.
Refusing to go quietly into the ICE Twilight, Peter reveals his ICE Dream Storage.
And so, right here we’re. I bear in mind September 17, 1999, it prefer it was yesterday. It was a sunny Friday morning in Warren, Michigan, and I had packed up my workplace at Campbell-Ewald, Chevrolet’s promoting company – which constituted precisely one field – as a result of I had been paring down my footprint for months, and I walked out the entrance door of my final advert company and the top of my advert profession.
I had been writing Autoextremist.com since June 1, 1999, underneath an assumed title – Michael Paratore – which was a mix of my center title and my Mother’s maiden title, and it was apparent that I couldn’t proceed, as a result of in my final official assembly, the CEO of C-E ended the assembly with the next: “Hey, do you guys find out about this web site, Autoextremist.com? I do know that man is within the advert enterprise as a result of he simply is aware of too rattling a lot – about all the things.”
Three days later, I used to be gone.
We – Janice (aka Wordgirl) and I – had launched Autoextremist.com the earlier and aforementioned June 1st. It was one thing that had been percolating in my thoughts since 1986, when, as longtime readers know, it was initially speculated to be a print automobile journal. However my advert profession obtained in the way in which, and by the spring of ’99, after I had lengthy grown uninterested in the spineless weasels, the recalcitrant twerps and the senseless go along-to-get-along hordes on each the consumer and company sides of the ball, I made a decision it was time to go in a brand new route.
I had so much to say about quite a lot of issues, clearly, having grown-up in Detroit’s heyday with a ringside seat as a result of my Dad’s 22-year tenure as Vice President of Public Relations for Common Motors (1957-1979), adopted by my very own 22-year stint within the advert biz. I grew up with business legends in our driveway and across the nook in our neighborhood. It was a heady time to say the least.
Ed Cole would ship his private drivers over to our home for the weekend for my brother Tony to drive, together with his 409 Chevy – the one one in existence on the road on the time – and his stunning fuel-injected ‘63 Corvette Sting Ray coupe in Silver, earlier than any of them had even been seen on the road.
Bunkie Knudsen, deep within the throes of resurrecting the Pontiac Division from being an afterthought, would ship the most popular Pontiac of the second to the home for my Mother to drive for the summer season, normally a brilliant crimson convertible filled with the largest engine Pontiac supplied in the meanwhile.
I had the chance to experience in each vital GM Styling idea automobile of the period, as a result of GM Design legend Invoice Mitchell lived down the block and would let me experience with him as much as the nook retailer whereas he did his errands. These machines included the XP-700 “bubble high” Corvette; the unique Corvette Mako Shark; the Corvair Sebring Spyder; the Corvair Monza SS and GT; the Pontiac XP-400 (powered by a supercharged 421 cu. in. V8 constructed by Mickey Thompson) and, in fact, the unique 1959 Corvette Sting Racer, which, to at the present time stays my all-time favourite automobile.
One of the best factor about all of that is that I understood what was taking place within the second. These aren’t fond recollections punched up and glamorized. These recollections are the true deal, and I fortunately soaked-up each full-throttle second because it occurred.
After I graduated from Michigan State, I attempted promoting vehicles at an Oldsmobile-GMC-Datsun supplier in Lansing, Michigan. To say I wasn’t suited to this endeavor is such an understatement that it’s past laughable, to the purpose that the Common Supervisor referred to as me in after eight weeks and mentioned, “You simply march to a unique drummer,” earlier than firing me. Which turned out to be a blessing.
I returned to the gross sales coaching agency the place I had been their hippie errand driver – one other job I had after I was avoiding going again to highschool – and I began as a junior copywriter, for the wage of $6800 yearly, in 1977. The corporate, Regan Productions, allowed me to rise up to hurry earlier than becoming a member of MacManus, John and Adams, to work on the Pontiac promoting account.
Engaged on the Pontiac account at that time limit was about the perfect expertise you could possibly presumably have within the advert biz. We have been all younger and thrown in with the grizzled veterans – a few of whom labored on the glamorous and memorable Pontiac campaigns of the previous – and it was powerful, but it surely was additionally an absolute blast a lot of the time, as a result of partying was half and parcel with getting the precise work executed. That’s the place I developed my copywriting chops, and I used to be capable of work on the entire efficiency promoting, which turned my specialty.
From there it was off to William Esty in New York and L.A., to work on Nissan, again to Detroit to work at BBDO on the Dodge account and finally ending up at Campbell-Ewald in 1990, to work on Chevrolet.
For the whole time throughout my advert profession, I used to be accumulating data about how this enterprise was really run, and because the enterprise – and Detroit – was beginning to go south in a decisive means, my observations grew extra pointed and pressing, and that was after I knew that I may now not hold silent, that I had so much to say and I wanted a discussion board to say it.
Thus, Autoextremist was born on that blazing scorching summer season day again in June of 1999. It was like nothing else on the market. We mentioned what the opposite journalists would solely focus on in “deep background” conversations or in late-night bar discuss. We named names, we referred to as out the poseurs and the dilettantes, and I particularly went after the serial incompetents who have been working the auto enterprise – as practiced right here within the Motor Metropolis – proper into the bottom.
I mixed my deep properly of data about Detroit’s heyday with a bracing dose of acerbic actuality and understanding about how issues had gone off of the rails. My opening column was entitled “White Boy Tradition,” which was a devastating evaluation of the elements contributing to Detroit’s demise. This was adopted by “The Unhappy Saga of Saturn,” the place I detailed the prolonged historical past of how GM snatched defeat from the jaws of victory with its egregious mishandling of the Saturn model. It was particular, it was lethal correct, and it was the column that obtained all people speaking.
A few of the feedback have been memorable as in: “Who the fuck are you and the place are you getting your info?” Or, “You’re so fucking correct it hurts.” And “Lastly, somebody really telling the reality.” And so forth.
The thrill about Autoextremist ratcheted up exponentially. The journos went loopy with hypothesis as to who I used to be, and GM operatives particularly have been incensed that there was a rogue journalist “on the market” who nailed the ugly actuality of how GM botched a golden alternative with Saturn.
The Naked-Knuckled, Unvarnished, Excessive-Octane Fact had certainly arrived.
Most of you might be accustomed to the remainder of the AE story. Once I left C-E and my title appeared on the web site the next week, a wholly new spherical of chatter was unleashed. Some journalists insisted that they knew it was me, and others mentioned they wished I had saved my actual title off of the location. And, in fact my shut buddies within the advert biz mentioned that they knew it was me all alongside; the fiery and passionate tone of the writing was unmistakable.
To say that Autoextremist.com has been a rocket experience like no different is an understatement for this or every other 12 months. Janice and I snort (kind of) by saying, “It was the very best of occasions, it was the worst of occasions.” That it was certainly. The highs have been outstanding and gratifying; the lows have been excruciating and debilitating. (I’m usually reminded of my favourite Cameron Crowe quote from Jerry McGuire: “It’s an up at daybreak, satisfaction swallowing siege.”)
However one factor you’ll by no means hear from us is that the years have flown by, as a result of that’s merely not true. We now have curated every phrase, sweated each final element and deadline, refused to cellphone it in and introduced the type of distinctive journalism to life each single week that pleases us, as a result of we’ve all the time been our harshest critics.
But it surely’s no secret that the enterprise has modified irrevocably. And I clearly don’t have the abdomen for what this business has develop into. Sure, the True Believers are nonetheless being true to themselves and doing excellent work, however the “Grand Transition” to EVs has left me chilly and uninterested. And sure, Design nonetheless issues (and all the time will for that matter), however the remainder of the enterprise has turned unmistakably ugly. Executives who’ve been anointed as “The One” for no obvious purpose are nonetheless making huge errors with little or no accountability, and the enterprise continues to churn on by the Swirling Maelstrom with little rhyme or purpose for optimism. Sure, the EVs of immediately shall be made painfully out of date in brief order, and newer, higher, lighter and extra environmentally pleasant EVs will exchange them to nice impact, however the headlong rush into autonomous automobiles would be the death-knell for private mobility, as the power to go and do as we see match shall be massively curtailed. And that needs to be a wakeup name for everybody.
Which brings us to immediately, 25 years and 6 months or so later. That feeling I had means again when that pushed me to lastly create Autoextremist.com has returned. It’s been gnawing at me on and off for months now, and it by no means actually goes away. Again then I mentioned, “I don’t need to get up 5 years from now mumbling to myself “woulda-coulda-shoulda,” so, if not now for Autoextremist, when?
Now? It’s the sensation that it’s time for me to do some writing for myself apart from AE, writing that has been percolating in my thoughts for years now. After listening to concerning the premise, my cousin Victor (the founding member and authentic drummer of the Violent Femmes) enthusiastically inspired me to start out writing it, as in, if not now, when? As a result of in spite of everything, it’s all the time later than we predict.
So, as an alternative of writing for AE at 3:00 a.m., I’ll now be writing for myself, ably abetted by Janice (aka WordGirl), my longtime pal and editor. What does it imply for the web site? We now have determined to elongate our annual break into the brand new 12 months till February fifth, at which level we’ll determine what occurs subsequent. Within the meantime, I’ll proceed to look in “On The Desk” and write “Fumes” and compose “The Line.” I simply received’t be doing a brand new Rant each week. As an alternative, working with Janice, we’ll run a collection of “Finest-of” Rants as we see match.
I want to think about it as The Finish of the Starting, as a result of I’m removed from completed.
I’ll depart the final phrase to Keith Richards:
In any case is alleged and executed
I gotta transfer, it is nonetheless enjoyable
I am gonna stroll earlier than they make me run
And that’s the Excessive-Octane Fact for 2024.
Editor’s Be aware: You possibly can entry earlier problems with AE by clicking on “Subsequent 1 Entries” under. – WG
