February 2012 - Page 2 of 2

Fun. Fun. Fun. Fun.

Consider this kind of like the old TS/SU Snippets posts….

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It’s been a week since I’ve last blogged. I think this is quite possibly the longest unenforced break that I’ve had from writing in seven years. It felt a little strange, yet somehow quite relaxing.

That’s not to say I’ve been idle the whole week. Not at all!

I’ve actually been working hard on another automotive website. It’ll be launched in the next few weeks and it’s been a pleasure to work on. I didn’t create the content, but the people who did aren’t native English speakers so I’ve been helping them out with some editorial work that’ll hopefully make the whole site comes across a bit better to the English speaking audience.

A fun job.

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The title of this post comes from the Question of the Week: Why the hell was Rebecca Black at the Grammys?

If you’re asking “who’s Rebecca Black” right now, then consider yourself fortunate enough to have never heard this (and I urge caution before you hit ‘play’):

Ms Black got her 15 minutes of fame by recording something so bad that it became popular, mostly for its “eew!” value. There were a lot of cruel remarks made, stuff that a young teenage girl shouldn’t have to bear, to be honest, but it is a mediocre performance of a terrible song. Her notoriety is based mostly on the negative reception given to her ‘work’.

So why did she score an invite to music’s premiere awards night. Aren’t there boundaries for this sort of thing? Can anyone just write in and request a seat or is it actually for people in the music business (as opposed to people in the Youtube business).

Some will opine that the Grammys became a cliche some time ago but we’re still usually happy to see one of our favourite artists lauded there. And for good reason, too. There should be something like the Grammys to reward musicians who are gifted and do their best.

I wish the girl well, but I’m also thankful she wasn’t nominated for anything.

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I feel kind of dirty now, having written that. But after hearing that she was there, I just had to get it off my chest. Some institutions should retain a minimum entrance level, shouldn’t they?

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Back to more familiar ground….

I went and had a look at my first prospective 2012 car purchase this evening – a Subaru Brumby. It’s fairly agricultural compared to what I’m used to driving, but that’s part of the attraction. This is meant to be a purchase with a purpose, to get something cheap, basic and utilitarian for the dump-run, etc.

Not the Brumby I looked at. This one is much redder:

It’s quite basic – no power steering and a flat-four carby engine. The tray is actually quite a bit bigger than it looks and whilst I wouldn’t want to drive it for hours on end, it’s comfortable enough for the short runs I do around town here in Hobart.

I’m looking at another one this weekend and will decide between the two after that.

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And finally, the conclusion to the Sanding posts!!

I actually completed the cabinet some time ago. The intention was to use some other furniture here at the house as a base for it, but that turned out to be too much of a compromise, so I had to make a base with the leftover timber, one that would suit the cabinet itself and enable it to sit at a more appropriate height.

It’s actually still a little unfinished, but it’s probably as finished as it’s going to actually get (and yes, I ran out of Huon Pine, which is why the pattern on the base is missing one piece).

For those who might be wondering, the big box is made from MDF on an oak frame and covered with a veneer made of individual lengths of Huon Pine and Myrtle (both native to Tasmania). The base is made of Tasmanian oak, three lengths with simple butt joints, and then veneered with the same timbers. The legs are 3/8th-inch threaded rods with tee-nuts in one end and standard bolts in the other, with square aluminium covering the threaded rods (for looks and to provide a standard length).

It’s not perfect, but I made it myself. And that feels good.

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And now for the bad news – I’m back at my regular 9-to-5 this week.

It’s good to be home and I’m very fortunate to have had a job to come back to, but geez it’s boring compared to my work with Saab. I’m going to miss Saab and the car industry in general, very much.

Un-resolutions update

Back at the start of this revolution around the sun, I made some New Year’s Un-Resolutions. I’m pleased to say I haven’t faltered on any of them yet, though one’s looking a little shaky.

I’d like to report on one in particular, not because I think it’ll be of particular interest to anyone, but mostly to put on record my satisfaction with the company that has provided the service.

Whilst I’ve used an iPad this year, I’m pleased to say I haven’t bought one. That might change due to work requirements, but associated with that un-resolution was a commitment to not buy an iPhone. Well, today I took possession of a nice, shiny new Sony Ericsson Experia Arc courtesy of Virgin Mobile.

So why pick this one?

I went for Android over iOS simply because I wanted to keep my options open in terms of handsets and because I didn’t want to tie myself in completely with Apple’s infrastructure. I’m an Apple user and I absolutely love their stuff, but I also like Google’s ecosystem and am very comfortable with that.

I picked the Sony Ericsson partly due to their historical connection with Saab (I’m a little sentimental) but mostly because one of my mates at Maptun had one and it looked pretty impressive when he showed it to me.

And finally, I went with Virgin Mobile because their plans were hands-down the absolute best I could find in terms of suiting my phone needs. I’m not a heavy user at all and the company plans I saw during my research all seem to be geared towards heavy users. The $29 caps I could find (with a phone supplied) all had very minimal call credits included. In fact, the Virgin plan had more than twice the call credit than my next favourite plan ($450 with Virgin vs $180 with Optus).

Virgin use the Optus network so coverage shouldn’t be a problem at all. AND thanks to a web deal they’ve got on at the moment, I save $10 a month off my account for the first 10 months.

The Virgin Mobile setup process couldn’t have been easier. I signed up online yesterday and the phone arrived by courier at my home late this morning. I assembled the phone, completed the start-up process online and my phone’s been working ever since.

It’s not often that I praise a company publicly. I don’t know if every mobile phone company makes it this easy to get going, but I’m very impressed by Virgin Mobile’s setup and service so far.

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Now…… anyone got any good app recommendations for Android? 🙂 🙂 🙂

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Other resolutions:

Not compromising on my next car purchase – I haven’t bought a car yet, so this one’s OK for now. I’ve come very close to buying an old Subaru Brumby small ute but have not pulled the trigger (yet). It’d be quite handy for carting stuff around. I’ve also made some enquiries about another vehicle I’d like to buy, but talks on that one are still ongoing.

Not neglecting my family – I think I’m going OK on this one. You might need to ask them.

No internet snark – Going well, though TTAC aren’t making this one easy. The site has deteriorated so much (further) since Ed Niedermeyer took some time off.

Not dying – I haven’t exactly improved my health, but I’m not dead. Score!

All the car ads from Superbowl 2012

Here they are….. all the car-related ads from this year’s Superbowl.

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Bridgestone I – Bridgestone usually do some good stuff and they even featured a Saab a few years back IIRC. This one features a football.

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Volkswagen – The Dog Strikes Back – No, it’s not Vader Kid, but I still enjoyed it. And the preview ad The Bark Side as well (below)

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Chevy Sonic – Big stunts, small number of views. Silk purse, sows ear, etc.

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Cars.com – Annoyingly fun, but maybe it’s just me

Continue reading All the car ads from Superbowl 2012

Ford hands GM a win in Superbowl ads game

It’s not that often that three of my favourite things converge in such a significant way, but The Superbowl is just such an occasion, combining sports, cars and advertising in a way that few other events can.

I haven’t watched all of the car ads from the 2012 game yet. Unlike the locals, we Australians don’t get the ads in our broadcast of the big game. We have to scour the web to see what the various manufacturers are offering. Of the ads I have seen so far, the VW ad was a hit (I love dogs and Star Wars), and high-brow brother Audi’s vampire ad was pretty good, too. Hyundai overwhelmingly underwhelmed with the Turbo Veloster ad and to be honest, I found the reprise of Seinfeld (for Honda’s NSX, which is still a few years away), Motley Crue (for Kia) and Ferris Bueller (for the Honda CR-X) a bit tacky.

The biggest conversation hasn’t been about any of these, though, it’s been about the GM/Ford controversy regarding GM’s Silverado ad, shown below:

An average ad IMHO, but GM will come out as winners on this one because of Ford’s response.

If you haven’t heard about it yet, Ford wrote to NBC ‘demanding’ that the ad be pulled from the Superbowl broadcast. They also presented GM with a cease and desist with regard to commenting negatively about Ford durability. One Aussie newspaper even said they’re ready to sue over it.

Jalopnik has the full summary.

All this whining has brought Ford into the Superbowl advertising headlines for all the wrong reasons. Yes, Ford has had the #1 selling vehicle in the US for the last millenium or so with the F150 and yes, they should defend their vehicle’s honor. But I’m not sure that spitting the dummy and acting like a crybaby is the way to go about it. GM’s Joel Ewanick found it all quite amusing, too:

“We stand by our claims in the commercial, that the Silverado is the most dependable, longest-lasting full-size pickup on the road,” said GM Global Chief Marketing Officer Joel Ewanick in a press release. “We can wait until the world ends, and if we need to, we will apologize. In the meantime, people who are really worried about the Mayan calendar coming true should buy a Silverado right away.”

Ford left themselves wide open for that one and Ewanick cleared the fences (please pardon my mixing of multiple sports metaphors).

So what should Ford do?

If I were them, I would have said something about it, but I’d have stopped well short of getting myself in the headlines due to having filled my nappy.

Instead, I’d have whipped my own ad team into action. GM left themselves slightly vulnerable by including a character not seen in the ad, a guy named Dave. Why not make the Silverado guys look misinformed and show Dave living the highlife in his F-150 while his buddies are battling toad plagues back in the wasteland?

Here’s a picture – The tail end of the GM ad is showing on a portable TV. Pan out to show Dave and his Mayan buddies enjoying a few brews at a tailgate party with some pumping music and some pimped out Mayan laydeeez adding some color in the background.

“Joke’s on you, boys…..”

I’m sure it could be made to look great and instead of coming across as a bunch of sookie-lala’s, Ford could take both the high road and the upper hand.

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Addendum….. Companies don’t just spend $3million per 30 seconds for Superbowl ad time. They also spend millions just making the ads themselves. They Jerry Seinfelds and Matthew Brodericks of the world don’t work for free, you know.

Fiat saved some money by not producing a new ad for the Superbowl. Instead, they just ran with what is undoubtedly the best car ad of 2011 – the ad for the 500 Abarth:

For the curious, here’s what she says:

What are you looking at, yeh!?
What are you looking at?
Are you undressing me with your eyes?
Poor guy… you can’t help it?
Is your heart beating?
Is your head spinning?
Do you feel lost thinking that I could be yours forever?

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A must-read story about the Saab Museum

Pierre from Charles River Saab has posted a wonderful story on the CRS weblog today.

Having been the recipient of a similar favour in the last few years, I found myself smiling non-stop as I read this. And as a post-script, if I’m guessing the dates correctly, this might well have happened on my last day in Trollhattan, too.

It’s a highly recommended way to pass a few minutes on a Sunday. And Pierre – yes indeed, you do need to get to the museum some time. I can only wish I was still there to introduce you to Peter and accompany you both on a tour.

Dan and a visit to the Saab Museum (CRS Blog)

Greetings from Sydney!

Heading home

It’s time to head back to the Land of Oz. I’m not sure when I’ll be back close to Sweden, but hopefully it’ll be sooner rather than later. I miss the place already.

My thanks to everyone who’s been so kind to me on this trip. I have a lot to write about when I get back home, all because so many people were so generous with their time while I was here.

Thanks to: Predrag, Ann-Marie, EVERYONE at Saab, Mats, Ingvar, Christian, Mike, Hilary, Mr Saab and Britt-Marie, Nic, Johan, Stefan, Ben and Dave. You’ve all made this trip extra-special and leaving is all the more difficult because of your friendship and generosity.

And with the teary farewell stuff out of the way, I can tell you there’s lots of good stuff to come. Time to go home and get down to it……

Lunch with Erik Carlsson

I haven’t even scratched the surface of everything that’s happened on this trip. It’s been one highlight after the other and I’ve been so busy that I’ve hardly had any time to update the site. I’ll get around to sharing (almost) all of it here in due course.

I had to take a little time out, though, to share some of what happened today. Thanks to the kindness of friends, Mike and Hilary, I was able to spend a dream afternoon with Saab’s ace rally driver, Mr Saab himself, Erik Carlsson.

Right now, we’re smack-bang in the midst of a whole range of 50th anniversaries for Carlsson and he’s loving every minute of it. The party started back in 2010 with the 50th anniversary of his first-of-three consecutive wins in the RAC Rally. It’ll continue this year with the anniversary of his first Monte Carlo win in 1962. The sixties were a golden era for Saab racing and much of it was down to the deft touch of the kid from Trollhattan – Carlsson ‘On the roof’.

I’m very happy to report that Erik was in fine form – happy, energetic, healthy and with his formidable sense of humour fully intact. He was fresh back in England from a weekend event in Stockholm for Bilsport Magazine, which the Bilsport guys will be happy to hear he thoroughly enjoyed.

We joined Erik at his home, where he’s accompanied much of the time by his cousin, Britt-Marie, since the passing of his wife, Pat Moss, a few years ago. His daughter Susie lives just down the road and it’s obvious that Erik enjoys having his loved ones close to him.

He greeted me with a strong handshake and his thanks for the work I’d done for Saab over the years. It’s stating the obvious to say that it was an honor for me to meet the great man at his home but to be welcomed in such a way lifted me beyond words. It’s not the first time he’s done that, though. When I first started at Saab, my friend Mike emailed me a message from Erik, welcoming me as a co-worker at Saab Automobile. It’s a message I still treasure today.

After a brief chat inside the house, we went outside to what was a highlight of the day – his ‘replica’ rally car. I use the word replica lightheartedly because whilst it has some replacement panels and other bits and pieces, much of the car is original spec, just as he raced it back in the early 1960s.

The car was rebuilt as a gift to Erik for his 70th birthday a few years ago. Right now it has decals to recreate the look of the RAC Rally car from 1960 but the vehicle specification is actually closer to the Monte Carlo winning car from 1962-63. The 96 has an 850cc, three cylinder two-stroke engine matched to a wonderfully smooth, column-shift 4-speed gearbox.

The engine started on the first turn of the key and it still sounds magnificent.

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My apologies for the wide-angle skewing but it was the first time I’d used my new GoPro Hero2 and I didn’t have time to adjust the settings. You get the picture, though.

Just seeing this classic Saab fire up and listing to the pop of the stroker engine was reward enough. Seeing it in Mr Saab’s hands was an even bigger bonus. He absolutely adores this car and he knows it inside out. His pride in having this machine was obvious and every touch was a tender one.

He told me about the oil cans in the trunk, which were actually bought by him during an event many years ago, just as a precaution. He unscrewed the top of one can showing how it was still sealed underneath, laughing that the oil would probably be more valuable than the car nowadays (hardly!).

We adjourned for lunch at the local pub and Erik was like a king in his castle, sweet-talking the staff and commanding the conversation with his booming baritone. He stands a little smaller today than in his dominant days behind the wheel. Age has taken a toll, but his health has improved in the last few years. He’s in top form today and looking forward to a Saab Owners Club event on the weekend where he’ll speak to the gathered crowd and once again and have them on the edge of their seats and laughing at his stories from days gone by. As we exit, Erik talks at length with the chef, thanks him for his skills and promises to be back. The chicken curry was a hit.

We return to his home and chat at length, seeing some of his considerable collection of memorabilia. Over an afternoon fika in his kitchen, he asks a lot of questions about what’s happening at Saab. He’s already well informed, catching up with friends and colleagues in Sweden on a regular basis (both he and I spoke with his former navigator, Gunnar Palm, by phone during the afternoon). Like everyone else, he’s both anxious about the future of the company and relieved at the fact that at least the Saab Museum has been saved. He shares his opinion on what’s happened, expressing both his admiration and exasperation at various elements of the drama in a very forthright manner.

Our visit eventually comes to an end and we take our time saying our goodbyes. Erik was kind enough to inscribe and sign a copy of the Mr Saab book for me. Hands shaken and photos taken, we get back into Mike’s car and relive the whole afternoon over again during the hour drive back to his home. Mike and Hilary see Erik regularly but I think today’s been one of those special visits for them, too.

I sat at the great man’s table and felt like I could do little more than just drink it all in. The stories, the experience, the good fortune I’d had to simply be there. Erik Carlsson quite possibly did more than any other individual to put Saab on the map and the chance to spend some quality time with him is a rare one that I will always hold dear.

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