Impressions from a visit to GM Powertrain, Pontiac, MI

Last Friday I had the opportunity to take a brief tour of GM Powertrain facilities in Pontiac Michigan.  I doubt I saw  more than 1/3 of the facility, but our group did get a sense of some of the work that is done there and one brief snapshot of a segment of the "new" GM. Nice and knowledgable folks, and good tour guides.  A very young workforce -- average age 28. We saw a demonstration of oil pump testing, and of course later on the dynamometer test facility with many bays and operations taking place simultaneously.
A good number of the technicians and engineers are contract employees.  If  one demonstrates ability, ambition, and commitment, a job offer from GM may be forthcoming, but I suspect there are few guarantees. Most testing is tedious and takes advantages of sensors and software.  This "drudge" work, however, is absolutely necessary for the development of an efficient and reliable product.  For many of the technical folks, it is looking at a computer screen and a long hallway with no windows, a tough job in terms of tedium. But at least this takes place in Michigan where the sun often does not shine for the winter months anyway!

 A air suspended pallet that is used to move engines in and out of dynamometer bays

A tilt engine apparatus

VW on the move! World's largest automaker by 2018?

April 28 news story from the Detroit News:

Volkswagen AG, Europe's biggest automaker, aims to offset plunging European demand this year by rolling out 60 new and updated models, including luxury cruisers like the Bentley Flying Spur.

"The European debt crisis remains a source of far-reaching turmoil," Chief Executive Officer Martin Winterkorn said. "Regardless of whether we are in an upturn or a downturn, our goal is to ensure the Volkswagen group reaches the top of the automotive industry."

VW is targeting higher auto sales and revenue this year as the revamped Golf, an updated Skoda Octavia and a new Audi A3 sedan help make up for a slowdown in Europe, where demand is heading to a 20-year low. Maintaining growth momentum is key for the company, which aims to overtake General Motors Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. by 2018 to become the world's largest automaker.

"Volkswagen will continue to do better than the market," said Juergen Pieper, an analyst at Bankhaus Metzler in Frankfurt. "March was relatively weak, but with rising Golf sales the group should perform better."

The manufacturer's growth all but stalled last month as sales edged up 0.2 percent to 864,400 cars, restraining the first-quarter advance to 5.1 percent as sales in its home German market tumbled 17 percent.

To further dilute its exposure to Europe's car market, the company will open 1,500 sales outlets in growth regions in the medium term, adding to its network of 20,000 dealers around the world, Winterkorn said.

Volkswagen is pinning its hopes for keeping up sales volumes on new models, such as the seventh generation of its best-selling Golf compact, introduced at the end of last year. The Audi premium brand, VW's largest earnings contributor, has been rolling out the revamped A3 hatchback and will add a sedan version of the model later this year to lure American and Chinese buyers seeking a small car with a separate trunk.

Luxury brands account for more than half of VW's earnings and the presence in this market segment will expand.

"The Volkswagen group's unparalleled know-how and strength in the premium segment is — quite literally — paying off," said Winterkorn. "We will further extend our excellent position in this highly profitable business."

Porsche will add the Macan compact sport utility vehicle at the beginning of next year and development of an ultra-luxury SUV for the British Bentley unit is "well under way," he said.

The Czech Skoda brand will double its lineup in China to six models, including the new Rapid compact sedan, which was unveiled at the Shanghai auto show last weekend. The Spanish Seat unit, VW's only money-losing brand, is rolling out a revamped version of the Leon hatchback in a bid to spice up its image and return to profit.

VW's presence in China, Brazil and Russia has enabled it to steer through the European industry gloom better than mass-market rivals PSA Peugeot Citroen, Europe's second-largest carmaker, and Renault SA. Peugeot is eliminating jobs and closing a factory to end losses as the region's auto market shows no signs of a rebound.

VW reported that first-quarter operating profit fell 26 percent to 2.34 billion euros, matching the average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The carmaker stuck to a goal for full-year operating profit to be on the same level as 2012.

VW's revenue declined 1.6 percent in the first quarter revenue. That compares with a 6.5 percent drop at Peugeot and a 12 percent plunge at Renault. Peugeot said additional cost savings may be necessary next year if the market doesn't improve.

Winterkorn said European markets will remain "extremely weak for the foreseeable future."

VW has ramped up investments to boost its manufacturing footprint outside Europe and roll out a new modular technology to speed up development and production of new vehicles.

It has seven new Chinese plants in various stages of planning, part of $19 billion in investments in production outside Europe expected by 2017. After spending $1 billion on a factory in Chattanooga, Tenn., the company may further increase U.S. capacity with production of a sport utility vehicle based on the Crossblue concept.

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130428/AUTO0104/304280308#ixzz2Rl8a7nEr

A Visit to the Sloan Museum Buick Gallery, Flint MI

Hi folks -- at the conclusion of the Society of Automotive Historians' spring board meeting we had a brief visit to the Buick Gallery at the Sloan Museum in Flint this morning (Saturday, April 27). We had the run of the place, and unfortunately my camera batteries died!  I took tow photos of cars that were a part of an exhibit that opened today on muscle cars, 1950-1969. The two cars have great personal meaning for me, as the Oldsmobile 88 was one of the first cars I remember riding in when I was a child, and my cousin's 1964 GTO convertible made a lasting impression on my during my teenage years. The GTO in the photo was nice but not totally original -- it did not have the proper hub caps or red-line tires, and the drivers side exterior mirror did not look exactly right.  But that said, some nice cars at the Buick Gallery, although I wondered why there was no GS 455 Skylark!

Two interesting photos from HST 344 Student Scott Adinolfi

I hope all is well in Flint!  I have dug through my files and found 2 pictures you might enjoy.  One is the Corvair Convertible I showed you on my phone after class.  The second, and most enjoyable, is a late 90's Chevy Caprice with an "Ice Cream" paint

job, and raised up on 26" rims.  I saw this car parked in the parking lot while interning in North Carolina and couldn't pass up the opportunity to snap a picture of it.

More photos from the GM Heritage Center, Sterling Heights, MI

 A recreated 1950 Cadillac Lemans race car

 A 1930s Cadillac V-12

 Maybe the most important photo of this group -- a Kettering copper-cooled air cooled engine form the early 1920s

 1959 Cadillac taillights

 The dash from a late 1950s concept car

 The Buick Y Job from 1938 -- note the boattail rear end

 The headlights pop up on the 1952 LeSaber concept car

 a Buick dash

The emblem from a 1950 Rocket 88 -- what could be better!

A Visit to the GM Historical/Heritage Center, Sterling Heights, MI

 This truck greets visitors to the GM Heritage Center.  It is a very difficult to find facility that is not open to the public.  In addition to the cars there is an archive that one can use by appointment.

 A wide angle shot of the floor with cars all around. About 150 are on the floor, many more in storage. One criticism -- this is all about thecars, but not about the people. Nice for the enthusiast, but asa histoical presentation it has a long way to go to reconstruct the past.  Most auto museums just throw cars on  the floor and think that is enough -- not so! people make history, not things.

 An electric Corvair project form the 1970s.

 A 1960s project car -- plenty of technology, not very much real vision.

 A classic 1955 Chevy dashboard. There were great GM successes, and in 1955 they hit the jackpot.

 Another economy project car -- with all that tlaent, they could not see the future.

My favorite -- taken from a Kentucky dealer, the fabulous Oldsmobile Rocket.  See the epilogue of my book, The Automobile and American Life.

5000 Kilometer Africa -- a 1940 photo book

5000 Kilometer Africa 

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Pictorial report on an early Egypt-Sudan car expedition. The route went from Cairo via Aswan to Khartoum and on about  Sennar, Gedaref and Kassala to Port Sudan at the Red Sea.  Irmgard von Opel and her husband Georg von Opel and  his friend Eric Phelps have been sent on behalf of an English  film company to this Egypt and Sudan expedition to gather material for a film. All photos have been taken with a Leica on Agfa-Isopan- und Agfa-Color-Film. Fantastic photographs of a past time, including Sultan-Hassan-Mosque,  Suez Canal, Nile, Karnak Temple at Luxor, Wadi Halfa area, died camel, Abu Simbel, nile cataracts, big turtle, market in Omdurman , girls, crocodile, eagle, tamtam man, Fuzzi-Wuzzi bedouins and more .... Hi folks -- this book is being advertised on ebayright now. I found it so fascinating and rare, Iwanted to share it with you. It is a $150, andout of my price range,  but perhaps one of youwill buy it.  A worthwhile book to won if you are into the history of road trips.

Alcon Rotors + Dyno + Sport Rims + Some Pictures @ April

Audi s5 Radio issue

Recently we had an AUDI s5 complaint that the radio cannot be switch off although the radio already switch off. This car is year 2010. Although the car is still new.. this problem did happened to this owner, Glad we managed to fix this :)

Lamborghini Monitor/Radio Problem

We noticed there's a few lamborghini monitor/radio problem out there. Normally the display it black out or the radio not functioning, Alhamdullilah we have a solution for this issue.  This problem normally encounter to the Gallardo/LP. Feel free to contact us.

1970 and lee Iacocca as a Prophet -- a critical Point in American Automobile Industry History

Hi folks -- now that the Stealing Cars book is in the hands of the publisher I am turning to the first stages of a new study, this time dealing with the end of the Golden Age. Drawing from a statement taken from John Jerome's The Death of the Automobile, I am looking at the years 1969-1972. Recently I found an interview of Lee Iacocca in 1970 that proved to be quite prophetic. The major point of the article was that the Auto industry had reached a point in its history and that how it responded in the months that would follow "could affect the business health of the nation for years to come."

Iacocca would remark that "Ten years from now, if we do this wrong...."

He saw potential mistakes coming from the manufacturers, labor and federal government that would increase inflationary pressures and open the door to foreign competition.

From Iacocca "that the new American minicars [the Pinto and Vega] coming on the market would be Detroit's one chance to defend its home market against the foreigners....If we don't win them [consumers] back now, we never will."

The Automobile as an Object of Desire: Kenneth Grahame, "The Wind in the Willows"

In Kenneth Grahame's "The Wind and the Willows," Mr. Toad, traveling with Mole and Rat in their horsecart, encounters his first automobile.
"Glorious, stirring sight!" murmured Toad. "The poetry of motion! the real way to travel! the only way to travel!"
"What are we to do with him?" asked the Mole. "Nothing at all," replied the Rat firmly. "He is now possessed."

As I explore the end of the golden age of the automobile and the love affair with the car, I also am looking at the origins of the affair.  Certainly this source raises important insights about the pioneering days of automobiling and the love affair  as it emerged.

Study Sheet, HST 344, Final Exam Spring, 2013

HST 344, Final Exam Study Sheet, Spring 2013

 Tuesday, April 30, 2:30-4:20 Dr. Heitmann

I Identification and Significance. (20 pts).  I will choose four of the following and you must answer two.

1.      Ralph Nader and the Corvair

2.      The Federal Government, the automobile industry, and the 1960s

3.      Bullitt and the automobile chase scene

4.      NASCAR in the recent past

5.      Women, Poetry, and Passion, post-1980

6.      Who Killed the Electric Car?

7.      The Revenge of the Electric Car

II  Essay. (40 pts.) Answer one of the following by writing a coherent essay harnessing factual evidence whenever possible.  Your answer should have both an introduction and a conclusion.  For the final exam I will choose two of the following three essays!

A.     It seems obvious that the current decline in the American automobile industry didn‘t happen during the past few years.  In your own words and using what you have learned in this course; trace the decline of the American industry beginning with the 1950s, making sure to discuss key aspects and developments in chronological fashion.  Do you think this decline was inevitable or not, and why?

B.     Culture, past or present, high or popular, is important.  Discuss the culture related to the automobile in America between 1950 and 2000, making sure to include examples from music, film, and literature (including poetry).  Broadly speaking, what does post-WWII car culture tell us about how automobiles contributed to being American during the second half of the 20^th century?

C.     In James Flink’s article, “The Three Stages of Automobile Consciousness,” the author remarks that “Automobility has had more important consequences for 20^thcentury American man than even Frederick Jackson Turner’s frontier had for our 19^th century forebears.”  Elaborate on this idea within the context of the second half of the 20^thcentury.

III. In a well-organized and factual essay that contains both an introduction and a conclusion, answer the following question. (40 pts.).  You must answer this question. 

Ben Hamper’s Rivethead: Tales from the Assembly Line is a remarkable tale focusing on the nature of assembly line work at General Motors during the late 1970s and early 1980s. It is among other things, quite an indictment of General Motors’ management practices, ironically coming from an unhinged worker.  At the same time, it is sorry depiction of UAW work ethic. First, being as specific and detailed as possible, describe Hamper’s portrayal of management style and managers.  Secondly, how did Hamper and others cope with their work environment? To what degree do you think that Hamper’s account is on target, or perhaps not?  

Seemingly another Mercedes 380SL Problem Solved

Hi folks -- this issue involved the door locks, which would not close. Or the gas flap and trunk either. So I did a lot of reading on this matter.  The master door locking system is one powered by vacuum, with its source ultimately being manifold vacuum that is routed to a storage tank.  From there the line goes to a "Master Element Switch" in the drivers side door, and then on to the passenger door and the rear of the car. Since the major culprit is the "Master Element Switch" according to internet reports, I just ordered one of those, replaced it, and "bam," the locks work!

This is a Mercedes vacuum system diagram, but not the one for my car.  The point is that there are lines running all through the car, rubber connections that can be disconnected, and diaphragms that can go bad.  The only way to diagnosis this is with a vacuum pump and patience, and I have neither. 

Replacing the Hirschmann Antenna on my 1982 Mercedes Benz 380SL

The first photo shows what the innards of the original unit looks like when you remove the cover.  Mine was pretty mucked up.  I disconnected the wiring harness and used it in the installation.  That way, rather than cut and splice, I still have the original connectors if sometime in the future  I go back to the original design unit. This is one sturdy and substantial device, unlike the new Chinese made Hirschmann unit. The second photo is taken from a M-B discussion board and illustrates the dilemma of the installation -- the wiring doesn't match up. Just follow logic, match red to read and white to yellow/green, and black to brown.  Don't worry about the two black wires that were a feature of the antenna switch on the dash.

This is what the new product looks like. Check around Ebay and don't pay more than $45 for one. Look at the parts several times before you start to install, and weigh the options concerning spacers and angled parts. 

This photo is taken from Mercedes Source where they will sell you a kit with instructions. A good information source, but you must pay for it.  Here the unit is about $90. Personally,  I would trim the wires and also save the connectors.
 So one of the problems on my 380SL that came from California in February was that the rear automatic antenna flopped up and down. That was a problem because it resulted in very poor AM reception, and I am a big fan of listening to the Reds on WLW and Colin Cowheard on ESPN radio.

OK so I needed a replacement unit. From what I read, don't even think about rebuilding the original Hirschmann unit unless you have more money than sense. The best strategy is get one of the Hirschmann replacement units, made in China.  If you buy a unit from Mercedes Source with instructions, you pay $90. I bought my unit new on Ebay for $45 including shipping. That is about right, as I installed one of these years ago on my 1971 Porsche 911. Taking the old unit off is easy -- look inside -- mine was all cruded up. I'll play with it sometime in the near future, but no hope of bringing it back to life.

The new unit isn't as easy to install as you might think. For one, the Hirschmann instructions are totally visual with diagrams.  So it took me a longtime to understand what parts to use to fasten the antenna to the body of the car.  The 0-35 degree set up has a rather cheap stainless top, so I opted for the all plastic set up. Play with the spacers, there are three and you can mix and match to suit your needs.

The other issue is wiring, made complex because Mercedes has a dash switch that on the original model enabled the owner to bring up the antenna to half full extension. What that means is that you have 5 wires on the original, but only three on the replacement antenna. I opted to take the wiring coming out of the original Hirschmann unit so I could keep the connector plug functional.  I connected black to brown (ground), Blue to yellow/green, and white to red, with the black wires just taped.

There are plenty of queries on the web but little definitive instructions.Whatever you do, take your time, work at a slow pace, always think of doing work on a level of quality that respects the Mercedes tradition.

ATS Automobile Cruize Penang

Last week we did another Convoy for our Beloved Customers. This time we hit to the Penang Island to meet some of our customers at that region + chilling over there.We managed to gather around 50 cars for this trip . We would like to say Million Thank You to the Mr Percy and Mr Ong for helping us to make this event happened. TO all of you who participate in this event we really really had lots of Fun !

Our Video will uploaded sooon