According to Automotive News, in that volatile melting pot called the American car market, the Koreans are smiling, despite the problems being experienced by the domestic producers.

Sister companies Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. piled up 569,956 sales last year in the United States, up 41 percent over 2000. And for the year to date, combined sales are up another 17.1 percent. Those are some impressive sales gains.

Mind you, down in the boonies, Daewoo Motors America Inc. has been blasted off the map by insolvency, forced out by the sale of the bulk of its parent company’s assets to General Motors and the suspension of vehicle shipments to the United States.

Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Hyundai has now come up with plans for a manufacturing plant in Montgomery, Alabama. (Perhaps I should have said “gift pony” - who remembers the Hyundai Pony of 1977?) This plant should be operating by 2005, building the Santa Fe sport-utility and the Sonata sedan. Kia executives are also talking about North American production for some of their vehicle range, so there is no slump for these Koreans.

Hyundai acquired control of Kia in 1998 through direct and indirect shareholdings, and the two brands will stagger their product introductions and have sheet metal differences so that their vehicles don’t look like clones. Comparable Hyundai vehicles will also be priced above Kia vehicles. In addition, Kia Motors America Inc. says that vehicles such as the hugely successful Sedona minivan and the 2003 Sorento, a mid-sized sport-utility, will not be shared with Hyundai.

Hyundai, meanwhile, is in a product lull. After introducing its Tiburon sports coupe in January (see the Pattaya Mail Vol. X, Number 33, for the Tiburon test), the company has not scheduled any formal vehicle introductions this year. Still, Hyundai Motor America Inc. President Finbarr O’Neill is optimistic, forecasting a 16 percent sales increase this year. So far, Hyundai is on the mark.

>From my side of the fence, there is no secret formula which has given the Koreans this marketing edge. They produce good solid (if unimaginative) motor cars that are keenly priced. From the family motorist’s viewpoint, they make excellent family vehicles.

Last week I mentioned another mascot - I wanted to know the car - and who designed the mascot. The only clues I gave you were that the designer was 25 years old and it is American.

The answer was Duesenberg and the designer was Gordon Buehrig, who was also the designer of the “coffin” nosed Cord 810.

So to this week. What was this car? They made only 37, but volunteer workers assembled another 14. The original design called for no gearbox, just two torque converters connected directly to the rear wheels, fore-running the CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission) concept current today. It had a converted helicopter engine. I want to know the name of the car and its builder. This is really too easy! For the Automania FREE beer this week, be the first correct answer to fax 038 427 596 or email [email protected]

Good luck!

The car (and bike) enthusiasts will be meeting again this Monday night (9th) at Shenanigans Pub at 7 pm. This is a totally informal meeting of like minded souls which meets on the second Monday of every month to discuss their pet motoring (and motorcycling) loves and hates. It is free to join and I suggest that you bring along magazines or photographs so that the group can get involved in the discussion. Generally we have something to eat while we are there and wash it down with something amber, hence the name, Natter, Nosh and Noggin. Just ask any of the lovely Shenanigans girls where Dr. Iain and the group are and they will point us out and give you a push. One lucky chap just recently purchased a Porsche Boxster - find out what they are really like, directly from the owner! See you Monday 12th.

Writing about the Korean family chariots made me think about the Toyota Corolla. I believe that the Corolla is the best selling car in the world, and there is no doubting the fact that Toyota have spent the last 30 years building a good reputation for these vehicles.

So what was the formula? Reliable, dependable vehicles. Not outlandish in the styling stakes, probably even “bland” would be a good description. Corollas held their value in the second hand market, so became good property, new or used. Of course, Toyota would give the owner of a Corolla great trade-in values to step into a new Corolla, thus “artificially” keeping the second hand value inflated. But it worked, and it (still) works well.

Personally I dislike the new Corolla Altis styling intensely. The high window line, narrow gutted and perpendicular look does nothing for me - but just look around at the number of them out there. I am a lone voice crying in the wilderness, I fear!

It always amazes me to find some incredible old cars in Thailand. Who brought them here? And in some cases, why? Take for example, this Morris 8, circa 1936, I discovered last week in Chiang Mai. It is sitting out the front of an amazing restaurant and museum, called the Hean Kha Joa. According to the owner, he paid 250,000 baht for the old dear, paying it off in 5,000 baht a month instalments. That’s a little over 4 years, for those who are slow in the mathematics stakes.

It is very original (for Thailand) and has not had the Toyota Corolla/Nissan Bluebird or Isuzu diesel engine swap, the tiny side valve Morris engine being still there, even though the dynamo obviously gave up being dynamic many moons ago and an alternator has been welded to the top of the dynamo and a longer fan belt used! What I call “bastard engineering” at its best.

Tyres corresponding to that vintage type are not freely available here either, and it has been kitted out with motorcycle tyres, but it is still a very original car.

The original small Morris’ had an even more interesting positioning of the pedals, with the accelerator being in the centre, the brake up to the right and the clutch on the left. I am sure there were many “moments” with this peculiarity, giving many drivers a deep and very meaningful religious experience if they were not used to the pedal placement. The first car I ever drove was a 1930 Morris Minor which had that arrangement. It used to get clutch slip fairly regularly because the rear crankshaft oil seal was defective (I think they even used leather or cork seals in those days) and I can remember my father sluicing petrol down through the inspection cover on the clutch bell housing to wash the oil away. Ah yes, those were the halcyon days of motoring, when every journey was an “experience” and just getting home again was an exciting event. It even had fabric Hardy-Spicer joints in the tail shaft - none of your modern universal joints in those days. The vibrations were horrendous! What my long suffering mother has had to put up with, in the name of family transport, defies description.