_______________Inside the Mind of Uncle Doreen

Too little to late vs before its time…

The “Big 3″ auto makers, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, are on Capitol Hill for a bailout during this economical downturn.  The first time they appeared on Capitol Hill they chose to fly their private jets which did not sit well with the general public.  CEOs using their private jets to ask congress is the equivalent of average Joe showing up at soup kitchen office wearing an Armani suit.  It doesn’t make one want to whip out a checkbook.

This time the mighty CEO’s chose to give the illusion of being frugal by carpooling with their PR staff in their company’s hybrids.  Learning from their previous mistake it appears they are trying to say “See, you can teach an old dog new tricks.  Give us money we have learned our lesson.”  The American public is not buying it.  I am still ticked off about the $700,000,000,000.00 bailout for the banks.  That is a hell of a lot of zeros!  Sure the car guys are only asking for $34,000,000,000.00.  That is still a hell of a lot of zeros.  I am an atheist but still praying to the gods unknown that Congress sticks by the decision that was made two weeks ago.

The clamor of global warming, dependency on oil companies and fiscal responsibility is not new.  However, the American automakers chose to continue with building SUV’s and offering little in the way of a more economical alternative.  Honda and Toyota saw the light years ago and chose to take advantage of the changing tide.  Now after years of producing monstrosities like the Excursion, Navigator, Aspen, Hummer, and Escalade, they actually have the nerve to beg for us to finance their mistakes. 

We should be furious that with all the technological advances over the last 100 years the Ford Explorer gets the same mileage as the Henry Fords original Model T!

In spring of 2002 I saw an unusual car sitting in the parking lot where I worked.  I did an Internet search and was intrigued by the cars and the concept cars of Corbin Motors in Hollister, California.  Between 1999 and 2002 Corbin motors designed and built single-seat electric commuter cars that reached a top speed of 75 miles and had a range of 50 miles.  They were designed looking like as a car, they were classified as a motorcycle.  The Sparrow model was often referred to as the “jellybean” because of its body type sold for $13,900. 

Corbin Motors was way ahead of its time.  Unfortunately, they were only able to put 285 Sparrows on the road before they had to file for Chapter 7 in 2003.  I wonder how far that little company had gone if they had their own bailout.  I am still holding out hope that one day Corbin’s concept car Merlin may one day come to be.