Rattnered-Out Beauty

Former Obama car czar Steven Rattner (not to be confused with destroyer of films Brett Rattner) is set to cash in on his six month experience under an administration tasked with bringing the American auto industry back from the brink.

Titled Overhaul: An Insider's Account of the Obama Administration's Emergency Rescue of the Auto Industry, it's meant to tell the story of how the US government reacted in at a time when automakers the world over were hit by a global economic crisis and surviving on a wing and a prayer.

Instead of boring you with all the blah blah blah, here are some interesting facts that have already been revealed:

- After Obama gave former GM CEO Rick Wagoner the boot, Rattner offered the General's top position to one Carlos Ghosn, who turned it down due to his loyalty to Nissan-Renault.

- In a meeting after being elected, Obama asked "Why can't [GM and Chrysler] make a Corolla?"

- That $85 Billion is actually less than planned. The White House initially agreed to $100 Billion.

- White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel's soon to be infamous comment, "Fuck the UAW."

- The ever-calm Obama was shocked to hear that Rick Wagoner, "the man who had brought [GM] down", got to deploy a $7.1 Million golden parachute. Join the club, Mr. President.

- Obama spent more time deciding if it was right to pay Wagoner than deliberating whether or not to fire him.

- The government wanted money from Fiat up front for its 20% stake in Chrysler. Needless to say, they didn't get it.

- In a spat between Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne and UAW President Ron Gettelfinger, Marchionne thought workers should "embrace a 'culture of poverty' instead of a 'culture of entitlement'" when discussing retiree health-care. Rattner says "no one in the Obama administration ever asked us to favor labor for political reasons."

- Former GM CEO Fritz Henderson thought executives should become more involved in research and product planning. To do so, he wanted to move GM headquarters from the current location to the Tech Center in Warren, Michigan. The idea was vetoed under the assumption that GM's leaving would wreak havoc in Detroit. Rattner says, "Fortunately, this unique intervention into a specific GM matter was never leaked to the press, saving us from having to explain how it comported with our policy of letting GM and Chrysler manage their own affairs."

If anything, it's interesting to see who was having which discussions at a time when the future of companies like GM and Chrysler looked extremely bleak. GM, on the other hand, isn't interested in the book. Spokesman Greg Martin says, "The book is history. We're a new company and we have too much work to do and no time for book reviews."

GTO Car Beauty

Car auctions always have some interesting product to show off. Hell, I'm going to have to pick up my Boss '9 at one somewhere down the road, but that's beside the point. The one-of-one Pontiac GTO Judge convertible seen here is about to hit the block in a few weeks at Mecum's St. Charles Auction and here's a little something about it.

It's a triple-black 1969 GTO Judge convertible that's been documented - by the Pontiac Historical Society, no less - as a one of a kind vehicle out of 108 Judge convertibles built in the big 6-9.

Riding on redlines, this mack daddy comes with a Ram Air III-equipped 400-cubic inch (6.6-liter) V8 putting down 366 horsepower through a 4-speed tranny. Its option list includes a wood rim steering wheel, Rallye gauges, a hood-mounted tachometer (these need to come back, aerodynamics and legibility be damned), and an 8-track player.

For value's sake, the car's been through a complete restoration with almost all NOS (New Old Stock) parts and has zero miles on it since.

Man, I feel like I need to go haze some freshman just writing about this. Anyone got a case of beer and a paddle?

Cruze Hatchback Beauty

The Cruze sedan has been on sale in other markets for a while now. With it finally coming to the States, GM hopes to keep what momentum it has going by debuting the Holden-designed Cruze hatchback in Paris (full details in our previous post). A production version of the damn-fine hatchback is just around the bend, so it's no surprise that Holden will also get its own sleek 5-door Cruze.

Look no further than right above (and below for a larger image) for what a Holden Cruze Hatchback should look like. Holden's Cruze simply gets a different nose, badges, and right-hand drive to make it stand out from its Chevrolet brethren, meaning this pic we photoshopped (pound it down) should be fairly spot-on.

The Cruze Hatchback show car, designed and built by Holden at its Port Melbourne design studio, is the result of a year's worth of work using input from GM designers worldwide.

Richard Ferlazzo, Holden's chief designer, says, "Our brief was to create an alternative body style to the traditional sedan that retained the same dynamic proportions that has made Cruze such a success around the world. We are very proud of the result which will be tailored further for the Australian market and given an appearance consistent with the rest of the Holden portfolio next year."

Thankfully, this one looks so good and so production ready that GM would be hard-pressed to screw it up as much as they did the Orlando MPV.

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2010 Acura MDX wallpaper automotive

2010 Acura MDX

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Auto Car Automotive Beauty

the wood buck for an Alfa Romeo Guiletta Sprint

Fiat Turbina

the winner of the Paris to Peking race

Hooniverse love Otomotive Beauty

The 1907 ITALA mod. 35/45 HP won the prize of a magnum of Mumm champagne. The race went without any assistance through country where there were no roads or road-maps. For the race, camels carrying fuel left Peking and set up at stations along the route to give fuel to the racers. The race followed a telegraph route so that the race was well covered in newspapers at the time. Each car had one journalist as a passenger, with the journalists sending stories from the telegraph stations regularly through the race.

The 9,300 mile race was kicked off by a challenge by a newspaper "What needs to be proved today is that as long as a man has a car, he can do anything and go anywhere. Is there anyone who will undertake to travel this summer from Peking to Paris by automobile?"

It was held during a time when cars were fairly new, and went through remote areas of Asia where people were not familiar with motor travel. The route between Peking and Lake Baikal had only previously been attempted on horseback. The race was won by Italian Prince Scipione Borghese of the Borghese family, accompanied by the journalist Luigi Barzini, Sr. He was confident and had even taken a detour from Moscow to St Petersburg for a dinner which was held for the team, and afterwards headed back to Moscow and rejoined the race. The event was not intended to be a race or competition, but quickly became one due to its pioneering nature and the technical superiority of the Italians' car driven by Count Scipione Borghese, winning by three weeks. These sporting successes helped sales dramatically, the company continued to grow. The company experimented with a range of novel engines such as variable stroke, sleeve valve, and "Avalve" rotary types

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