What is an auto employee worth?
Well, if it is a top employee at Ford
Motor Company, that person is worth a veritable fortune.
$20.5 million dollars in the first year, which is more than
most Ford employees will make in a lifetime with the
company. Kind of staggering, huh?
Alan
Mullaly
I have been self employed almost all my life, so I have
never been a member of a trade union, but in this issue, I
would have to say that my sympathy is with the rank and
file. Nobody is worth 20.5 million, especially when that
person has been employed as a hatchet man, to work out how
many of the rank and file are to be killed off in the next
20.5 million dollars worth of 12 months.
The person under discussion is the new CEO of Ford Motor Co,
Alan Mullaly, late of Boeing, who turned that company around
financially by sacking thirty thousand workers there too.
Mind you, to be fair, his second year’s salary at Ford is a
paltry 2 million dollars, but he can get large share parcels
if he can influence the share price of FoMoCo in a positive
upward fashion over the next three years.
This is not an isolated issue, however, as across the
paddock at financially troubled GM, their CEO Rick Wagoner
gets a base salary of 2.2 million but actually took home 5.5
million it seems after bonuses. Glad to see the place is
going so well!
The econo car – and my family’s part in its history
With us all trembling as fuel reaches $100 a barrel, the
world is looking at technology to save the planet. We need
fuel misers, and so I felt it incumbent upon me to show my
hand early, and to stamp indelibly on the minds of those who
matter, that I am a trend-setter. I have been an econo-car
exponent for many years.
However, I should point out that my venturing into the
realms of inexpensive, gasoline sparing motoring, has been
both genetic and environmental. This nature and nurture
concept may have some of you doubting, but please read on.
My father was the first econo-car exponent in my family, and
indeed was one of the first to build one of these models
more than 60 years ago. It was war-time and Adolf’s on-going
bun-fight (AKA WW II) had left the north of Scotland a
little low in gasoline supplies. A petrol miser was the
obvious answer, but there weren’t any (even if you had the
readies to buy one, and my family certainly did not), but my
father was always capable of thinking outside the box, and
so he designed a cheap and economical car for two people,
which he was quite sure was going to set the motoring world
on its ear.
Starting with two bicycles placed side by side, he welded
them together. Coupling the handlebars was a little tricky,
but he managed with a rather crude tie-rod concept. Next a
body was made of some heavy cardboard (this was the
prototype, remember). Having constructed this, it was placed
over the twin bicycles, and the North of Scotland’s first
econo-car was ready to run. With my long-suffering mother
reluctantly seated on the second bicycle seat, they headed
off on the maiden voyage. Unfortunately for my father, Mr.
Ackerman and his steering geometry had been ignored by him,
at his peril. Rather than setting the motoring world on its
ear, the badly designed coupled steering set the econo-car
and its occupants on their respective ears at the first
corner.
As they were extricating themselves from the badly twisted
prototype, it also began to rain, and the cardboard
coachwork quietly and soggily enveloped the bicycle frames.
My mother refused to get back in, muttering dire threats,
including withdrawal of conjugal rights, and Scotland’s
first econo-car was dismantled. A triumph of intellect
killed by the pains of reality!
So for me, there was already this genetic inheritance of
econo-interest. There was also the environmental inheritance
that countless generations of Scotsmen before me had
implanted in my fertile brain. “Keep a hauld o’ yer bawbees”
being primary amongst these environmental messages handed
down from generation to generation, huddled around the
hearth for warmth. (For those readers with absolutely no
Scottish background, the phrase literally means, “Look after
your halfpennies” or even more plainly, “Be cautious with
your money.”) With these epithets being drummed into small
Scottish boys from birth, it is no wonder that Scots as a
race, are recognized by having long pockets and short arms.
In fact, the kilt has no pockets at all, explaining another
reason why Scotsmen are not known for their munificence! Or
put another way, are known to be tight-wads!
But back to today. Did I rush out and buy a hybrid? Or a
diesel? No, I turned my back on all this technological
nonsense, kept a hauld o’ my bawbees and bought a Daihatsu
Mira. Several years later, my fuel bill is still under B.
500 per week and maintenance costs are also minuscule. With
over 120,000 kays on the clock, the dearest bill was at
100,000 km when I had new CV joints, timing belt and
anything else I could think of and the bill was around B.
20,000.
Mira is the ultimate disposable motor car. If a motorcycle
bounces off it, do I care? No I don’t. You can park it
anywhere. Nobody wants to steal it, because nobody wants to
buy such a down-market runabout. But they don’t know what
they’re missing. For our congested roads it is perfect. I am
deliriously happy with my econo-car, and can’t see the sense
in spending mega-baht for a petrol miser. Sorry!
The best racing drivers of all time
The Classic Car Club members in Pattaya (meets at Jameson’s
Irish Pub on the second Monday of each month) were presented
with an Australian Auto Action magazine by Vic Garra, a
Melburnian (and late of GM Eastern Seaboard). In this
magazine they rated the 100 best Grand Prix drivers, and
there was certainly some discussion around the table. For
example, Michael Schumacher was rated at number 7, whilst
Juan Manuel Fangio was slotted in at position 6. The
frustrating part was that the Auto Action we had only went
from numbers 50-6. No 1-5! After a week it was all too much,
so I rang the magazine in Sydney Australia to get someone to
tell us their last five drivers! Their take on it was:
5 – Jim Clark
4 – Ayrton Senna
3 – Bernd Rosemeyer
2 – Gilles Villeneuve
1 – Tazio Nuvolari
Since that list produced some immediate reactions, I decided
to look carefully at their final five. The first factors to
spring to light was that Nuvolari was the only one to die in
his bed! All the others died with their cars. Jim Clark was
the only one of this five to drive totally with his head, no
fuss, no bravado.
Jim
Clark
Between the trio of Rosemeyer, Gilles Villeneuve and
Nuvolari, they must have used up the world’s complete supply
of brave pills. These were drivers who never gave up, with
Nuvolari and Rosemeyer being the only drivers to tame the
500 hp Auto Union mid engined racers designed by Dr.
Porsche. Rosemeyer was to unfortunately end his life when
thrown out of one while attempting the world land speed
record.
Ayrton Senna was a very complex character, being totally
aggressive on the track and yet totally compassionate off
the track. This was very similar to the mental make-up of
Gilles Villeneuve, the ultimate wheel-banger.
Jim Clark and Tazio Nuvolari were the only ones in this
quintet who could win in anything, be that sportscars,
sedans or GP cars, and Nuvolari was the only one to carry a
gramophone recording of his national anthem, just in case
the organizers did not have one (which did happen at a
German GP when Nuvolari beat the acclaimed Mercedes and Auto
Unions, in front of an outraged Adolf Hitler, who refused to
shake his hand)!
Nuvolari
Rosemeyer and Nuvolari were the only ones to start their
racing lives on motorcycles, Jimmy Clark starting
competitive life in a DKW, Senna in go-karts and Villeneuve
in snowmobiles!
Now whether these five were really the top five is still a
matter of discussion, but I would personally agree with
Clark, Senna and Nuvolari. I would also have put Fangio in
the top five, not number six. But it makes for interesting
discussions.
The stories about Nuvolari are the stuff of legends. Look at
the pic of Nuvolari, holding the steering wheel outside the
car. It had come off and Nuvolari continued driving using a
pipe wrench on the steering column like a tiller! Having had
a monumental crash on his motorcycle in practice and
breaking his back, he had himself plastered in the crouching
position to lie on the motorcycle, was carried to the bike
and won the race. He also followed arch rival Varzi in the
last night stages of the Mille Miglia with his lights off,
and at the last possible minute, flicked them on and drove
around the astounded Varzi to win again!
Autotrivia Quiz
Last week I mentioned that there is a
hill climb course in England whose name was incorporated
into a car company. By reversing the names of the founder
and the hill climb, you get the name of the car make, which
is still going today (and in fact, if you have deep enough
pockets, you can buy it). What is the name of the hill
climb? Clue, the founder sold the company to two gentlemen
called Renwick and Bertelli in 1926. The correct answer was
the Aston Clinton hill climb, and incidentally the make was
Aston Martin.
So to this week. What car had its headlights raised so that
it passed road registration regulations?
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be the first correct
answer to email [email protected]
Good luck!