Car Club Blog

Congressional watchdog Barney Frank added an amendment to the TARP Reform Bill to allow TARP money to be used to restore the commercial credit lines needed by our nation’s largest rental car companies to buy cars for their rental fleets. (They also, I believe, added a provision requiring the Secretary of the Treasury to keep a Microsoft Excel sheet tracking who is getting TARP money. Yellow sticky notes had been required by the original TARP legislation.)

Photo by Representative Keith Ellison on Flickr. Image Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Only License.)

The showrooms of many car dealers are tomb-like, and the rental car companies wanting to place large orders for such exotic cars as the Toyota Camry, the Ford Taurus, and the Chevy Malibu can’t find anyone willing to lend money to them.

According to a fine article by Kelsey Volkmann of The St. Louis Business Journal, Enterprise Rent-A-Car told employees in an internal memo: “The freezing of these lines of credit has in many cases crippled viable businesses that are simply unable to borrow the funds needed to run their day-to-day operations.”

In the same memo, Enterprise management indicated that they were not in the group struggling to get the credit to buy cars, which is great news. I received fine service from them last time I rented a Toyota Camry.

An amazing, although not exotic driving experience. I wanted to rent an Audi R8 but the insurance company of the guy who rear ended the OldsmoBuick me gave me a $27 per day rental reimbursement limit.

Anyway, Congressman Barney Frank is trying to make it right for the rental car companies by using TARP money to loosen up commercial credit markets so that rental car companies can get the credit they need to place orders for cars.

Maybe Congress will give the rental car companies relief with certain conditions. Perhaps the companies will be ordered to put all of their SUVs into luxury car storage and buy a mix of Smart Cars, Pastel Priuses, and Honda mopeds.

I just hope the rental car company CEOs have the good sense to hitch hike or carpool when they go to ask Congress for the help.

The New York Times calls the latest Internet sensation, “pig, pig, and more pig.”  So what’s the craze that’s sweeping the web lately?  It’s a recipe called “Bacon Explosion,” and it’s a supposedly tasty treat consisting of bacon and sausage.

Whether it’s crazy recipes like this one or fun activities like exotic car rental, it seems Americans are looking for a way to have a good time.

Despite the health concerns it raises, the Bacon Explosion might be just what the doctor ordered.

(photos courtesy of the the BBQ Addicts Blog… I have try this…)

Two members of a competitive barbecue team called “Burnt Fingers BBQ” are responsible for the new food craze.  Jason Day and Aaron Chronister developed the recipe shortly before Christmas and have already received almost 400,000 visitors to their barbeque hobby site.

The initial popularity of the Bacon Explosion was mostly limited to barbeque enthusiasts, but now hunters, those who love the outdoors, and regular people have embraced the concept.

Constructing the Bacon Explosion is almost as much fun as driving a Lamborghini, but it will get your hands a lot dirtier.  Apparently, the end result resembles a torpedo in shape and is made entirely out of only four ingredients:  bacon, sausage, barbeque sauce, and barbeque rub.

The first major step in the recipe guides the cook in creating a “5×5 bacon weave.”  That’s right.  You actually weave bacon to create a mat.  Then the bacon mat is covered in barbeque rub and sausage.  Then cooked bacon is added on top, along with barbeque sauce.  Finally, the concoction is rolled up, smoked, and grilled.

You may be wondering about the health impact of the Bacon Explosion.  The final dish contains more than 5,000 calories.  It also boasts more than 500 grams of fat.  This is not a recipe for the faint of heart.  Or the heart smart, for that matter.

“The bacon explosion is pure genius,” said Lutz FL mortgage broker Chad Lane. “I’ll have to try making one one of these days.”

“I think it’s gross,” said Nicole Liwosz of Wesley Chapel, Florida. “I don’t eat meat, so a Bacon Explosion has zero appeal to me,” said the art student.

What if the Bacon Explosion just isn’t for you?  Well, there are still a lot of other ways to indulge, and they don’t have to involve copious quantities of meat.

Driving an exotic vehicle is one way to entertain yourself without expanding your waistline.  Car enthusiasts have a lot of options for driving classic, exotic, or luxury cars without the hassle of ownership.  Alternatives include exotic car rental, car sharing clubs, and exotic car dream tours.

On the other hand, if meat is the only way you want to indulge, break out the bacon. Wouldn’t the bacon explosion make an excellent Superbowl snack recipe for meat lovers? This is even more silly than the cookie diet Eric wrote about yesterday.

Kate Miller-Wilson is a professional freelance writer living in the Twin Cities. Visit her website or email her for information about her freelance writing services.

Zipcar, a car sharing service the serves college campuses, now has an unlikely new competitor. U-Haul, the truck rental company, has entered the car sharing market and specifically is targeting college students.

Certainly, I would have loved to had a service like Zipcar when I attended Stetson University in the stone age. Many moons ago, car sharing was accomplished by means on posting on ride offered/ ride wanted board.

We used such high tech tools as paper, tacks, and pens.

Imagine the joy of signing up on a website and getting a smart card that you only have to hold up to a reader located on the windshield to unlock the car. Grab the keys from the glove compartment and you’re off. A lot of people agree as Zipcar membership has grown from 15,000 in 2003 to 180,000 in 2007, a feat partly accomplished by absorbing rival Flexcar according to a Boston Globe article on car sharing.

Back in my day….we walked uphill both ways when we wanted to run an errand…

According to those kooky cats at Contactless News, a website devoted to news for people who wear glasses, Zipcar is currently the market leader in car sharing for college kids. They provide car sharing to in excess of 100 college campuses.

Exactly how many colleges U-Car Share has deals with is unknown, but the company serves colleges in College Station, Texas; and Madison, Wisconsin. I believe the cars in Madison have been specially modified with a mandatory breathalyzer unit. (Just teasing, everyone knows they only study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison…) I mean is it a coincidence that the Badgers were the number one party school on Playboy’s party school list the last time it was issued?

(Playboy Playmate Photo by the Freewheeling Daredevil on Flickr and licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Only.)

For those wishing to share something more exotic, like a Lamborghini or Ferrari, you can. Exotic car sharing is the newest alternative to ownership. Such clubs as DFW Elite Car Club in Dallas TX have made sharing a paddock of exotic cars as easy joining the club. For less than $1000 a month, you can drive Lambos, Ferraris, and even the new 2009 Audi R8. Club members receive a monthly allotment of points based upon membership level and can use them to reserve seat time in some of the world’s most exciting cars.

To find a car club in a city near you, visit the #1 exotic car club directory at http://www.exoticcarclubs.com.

This article was written by SEO web copy writer Eric Anderson. His recent writing projects include writing a website for an entrepreneur offering small business strategic planning workshops and a website for a Tampa Florida mortgage broker.

I know this story is a departure from our usual coverage of supercar driving and performance car sharing clubs, but bear with me.

(Image licensed under Creative Commons attribution only and courtesy of Pcxhb.)

Yeah, I know it was a tough season for America’s team, the Dallas Cowboys. The Terrell Owens - Tony Romo drama, Pacman, etc., but nothing could be worse than the beat down that the Dallas Academy Girls basketball team recently endured.

Setting what surely must be a sports record for futility, they lost to The Covenant School, another private Christian school, 100-0.

Now, the Dallas Academy girls were not expected to win. After all, they have not won a game in four years. Sort of makes the 0-16 record of the Detroit Lions look good. It even makes Jon Gruden’s Tampa Bay Bucs playoff collapse look like a minor slump.

But the sad part of the story is that the Dallas Academy is a school whose primary mission is to help kids with ADD and concentration issues by providing them with a supportive learning environment.

While I usually take a just let ‘em play attitude toward sporting events, I just can’t see running it up on a team to 100.

Am I wrong here? I believe in the value of competitive sports but where is the fun in pounding the snot out of a team you outclass badly, particularly after the game is no longer in doubt?

The coach from Dallas Academy said that he was proud of his team for continuing to show effort even when they trailed 60 or 70 zip.

The headmaster of the Academy has decided to pull the plug on girl’s basketball. They have canceled the rest of the season of league play and are putting together non-league games. The headmaster said simply. “The hell with it.”

To quote my favorite cable guy: Now, that’s funny. I don’t care who you are.

Of course Covenant is taking some heat for what looks like a classless act.

I first read about it on the Sports by Brook blog. In comments one reader explains why The Covenant School might not have pulled its starters. They have a team of 8 or 9 girls.

In what will be a bit of a PR disaster for athletics at Covenant, the Dallas Morning News wrote a story on the game.

The boys from the Dallas Academy played following the game and put a licking on Covenant 50-38.

The Covenant headmaster has since apologized and sought to forfeit the game.

This post written by SEO web writer Eric Anderson. Eric’s recent projects include a Tampa mortgage broker’s website and a Dallas car storage website.

Loudon County Building Contractor Keith Bledsoe decided to diversify when the recession hit the housing market. He transitioned a long-time hobby of collecting and restoring vintage muscle cars into a business when he opened a classic car dealership.

(Image Courtesy of Knox News. See the other missing cars in the Knox news photo gallery.)

Among the most desirable cars on his sales lot were a red and black 1971 Chevelle Super Sport Convertible, a red and white 1972 Super Sport Chevelle, and an orange and white 1972 Pontiac GTO Judge Convertible. (American Idol Bikini girl not included…)

The theft of these three classic muscle cars took place about 5 a.m. on Thursday morning according to an article on Knoxnews.com by J.J. Stambach. Bledsoe’s place of business is called Smokey Mountain Traders and is located at 11840 U.S. Highway 321 in Lenoir City, TN.

Mr. Bledsoe estimated the value of the lost cars conservatively to be $80,000.

Security camera footage shows that at about 4:15 on Thursday three people pulled up to the business in a truck with a trailer. The three walked to a covered car storage area and about 45 minutes later, they drove the cars around a locked gate and were gone.

Having a collector car stolen is absolutely a nightmare for anyone who loves cars,” said DFW Elite Car Storage leasing manager Josh Davis. “I hope that all three cars are recovered soon,” said the Dallas car storage employee.

Bledsoe has upped the reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the classic car thieves from $5,000 to $7,500. Anyone with information can contact the Loudon County Sheriff’s Office at 865.986.4823 or Mr. Bledsoe at 865.988.8088.

This article was written by SEO copywriter Eric Anderson. His recent writing projects include copy for a company that provides strategic planning help for small businesses.

With all of the history being made on January 20th when President Elect Obama becomes el Presidente, car enthusiasts are focused on the incoming President’s new luxury limousine.

Car enthusiast website Jalopnik reports that the new Cadillac One is based, not upon the DTs, but upon the behemoth GMC Topkick medium-duty truck platform.

The limo certainly is GM’s way of saying, “Yes, we can!”

One cool feature of Obama’s new presidential limo is the “LED spotlights that illuminate the fender mounted flags at night,” according to Jalopnik’s post about Cadillac One.

Most of the security details and understandably being kept under wraps by the Secret Service, but you can bet that President Obama’s new limousine is on a par with the best armored vehicle rentals in the world.

As with most Jalopnik stories, the comments that follow are at least as interesting as the post itself.

One comment comes from a former White House employee and provides some interesting details about car storage for Cadillac One. If the comment is accurate, the car is stored in a secret Service garage in downtown Washington, D.C., code named…[cue theme music for West Wing]… headlight.

At least if President Obama authorizes more TARP funds to bail out GM, he will get priority warranty service for the new Cadillac presidential limo.

Photo of the new Cadillac One courtesy of the cool cats at Jalopnik who have nice photo gallery of Obama’s new Presidential limo and the original press release from GM’s Cadillac division.

This story was written by SEO web copywriter Eric Anderson. His recent writing projects include a Dallas car storage website and a website for a Tampa mortgage company.

If you collect 1950s classic American cars and happen to have a cool 17 million in your pocket, real estate developer Glenn Patch has a deal for you.

Glenn has placed his 57 Heaven classic car museum at Branson, Missouri’s Dick Clark American Bandstand Theater up for sale.

Image courtesy of artist Susan Roberts of Chicopee. Licensed under Creative Commons attribution only. See more of Susan’s photos in her Flickr photostream.

The classic car museum includes sixty-six 1957 creampuffs in mint, fully-restored condition. According to a nice post by Deidre Woollard, blog queen at Luxist, the collection includes “every convertible built in the United States during that year [1957].”

I have to confess a personal weakness for the chrome, fins, and dreamy styling of 1950s cars. I know the auto industry has made great technological strides, but nothing has the style of those 1950s era cars for me.

According to Deidre’s post, the most likely fate of the classic cars in the car museum is to be separated and sold off piecemeal to private collectors.

The world moves on, but there is a sadness in seeing such a fine and specific collection separated. The same sort of sadness I feel about the sale of parts of GMs Heritage Collection at Barrett Jackson—yeah GM needs the cash, but it is a shame to sell the cars from the golden age of GM to raise it.

At any rate, if you’re a true gearhead and want to visit a great toy museum in Fort Worth, TX, check out DFW Elite Toy Museum. While you’re there, you can also give yourself a thrill (and see just how far sports car technology has advance) by renting a Ferrari in Fort Worth. For those interested in more on the sale of Glenn Patch’s car collection, check out a good article on it from the LA Times entitled Dinosaurs of Motor City.

This article was written by SEO web copywriter Eric Anderson. Recent writing projects by Eric include a Fort Worth car storage site and a Tampa mortgage broker website.

Perhaps the member of the big three that is best at making cars that consumers actually want to buy, Ford revived the Taurus, a former mainstay in its sedan line, a few years ago.

For 2010, the Taurus is getting a complete makeover that should put it in good form to compete with cars in its class, especially at the same sticker price of the outgoing Taurus, 25,995.

Ford executives have high hopes that the Taurus will eventually become the flagship sedan in Ford’s line.

Marty Padgett of Car Connection notes flagship status will be hard to achieve for a model with “the current reputation as a rental fleet pariah and/or a retiree’s final vehicle purchase.” The other major market for Ford Crown Victorias and Tauruses is in the public sector. Both sedans are widely used as police cruisers, but even that market is threatened by Carbon Motors an Atlanta-based upstart car builder making purpose built police cruisers

OWWCH!

As a Florida resident, I can attest to the high concentration of white Tauri in the parking lots of St Petersburg bingo halls. The old Taurus certainly was a favorite with buyers for national car rental companies for decades.

The new 2010 Taurus has better, sportier styling thanks in part to its lowered roofline and sculpted hood. Padgett, a former editor for Car and Driver’s Up Front section, writes of the 2010 Taurus, “Thankfully the Ford design team eschewed the outgoing Taurus’s giant VW Passat roofline. There is not a hint of the dowdy old style to be found.”

Perhaps the Ford Taurus will resonate with the young at heart and those hoping for a sportier driving experience from their rental cars. The mechanics of the 2010 Taurus will be borrowed from the Lincoln MKS. The standard engine will be Ford’s Duratec 3.05 litre V6, an engine that generates 263 HP and 249 foot-pounds of torque.

Ford car club members and car enthusiasts can hope that Ford will eventually produce a SHO version of the 2010 Taurus. Indeed, Ford’s plans call for the eventual availability of a Taurus with a turbocharged and direct injected 3.5 litre V6 according to Padgett’s January 11th post about the 2010 Taurus.

This story was written by SEO web copywriter Eric Anderson. Eric’s recent writing credits include pages for a Dallas car storage company and copy for a Montana business sign company.

Looking for some automotive fun to start off the New Year with an adrenaline rush? Well, look no further than the Dallas area! Exotic car rental, the Texas Motorplex, and many other fun activities exist for those who enjoy driving exotic performance cars.

(Photo by Tom Margie. Licensed under Creative Commons. See more of his racing photos by visiting his Flickr photostream.)
The Dallas area is all about exotic cars, and whether you’re here on vacation or are a permanent resident, you’re bound to have a good time. Here are some great activities for car lovers:

• Visit the Texas Motorplex!  Located in Ennix, Texas, about 35 miles from Dallas, the Texas Motorplex is a drag racing facility that features a quarter mile of track. Drag racers compete in events for prize money and sometimes even exotic cars.

On March 21, the Texas Motorplex will be hosting Pinks All Out, a show on SPEEDtv. Two drivers will compete, and the winner gets to keep both cars. The event will certainly be something to see!

• Rent an exotic car in Dallas! There’s nothing quite like driving your dream car, and exotic car rental is the perfect way to achieve that dream. Whether you choose to rent a 2009 Audi R8 or drive a 1971 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia, exotic car rental is the way to go.

Exotic car rental is also a great way to try out an exotic car before you decide if you’re ready to commit to ownership. Can’t decide between a Corvette or a Dodge Viper? Drive them both, and you’ll know which one you want.

• Participate in a Drive Your Dream tour! Ever wanted to drive five amazing cars in a single day? The Drive Your Dream tour gives car enthusiasts that opportunity. And it’s not just any five cars. You’ll be behind the wheel of 2000 horsepower. It’s a day you’ll never forget.

Participants get to tour some of Dallas’ best roads while sitting behind the wheel of some of the world’s best cars. This experience is the ultimate activity for the auto enthusiast visiting Dallas.

• Visit a Museum! Whether it’s the Lakeside Auto Museum in Garland, TX or the DFW Elite Toy Museum in Fort Worth, there’s plenty to see when it comes to automobile history in Dallas. If the weather doesn’t allow you to rent a convertible for your Dallas vacation, you can still take in some amazing sights when you visit car-related Dallas museums.

Kate Miller-Wilson is a professional freelance writer living in the Twin Cities. Visit her website or email her for information about her freelance writing services.

For fans of Apple products, the New Year doesn’t really begin until the Macworld Expo is underway. This year’s conference begins January 5 and continues through January 9, featuring a celebration of Apple Macintosh products, as well as many other interesting exhibits. The 2009 Macworld Expo will be held in San Francisco.

PCs, Vista lovers, and Zune users not welcome. Only the kids with cool toys get in!

This year’s Macworld Expo offers some exceptional exhibits:

• Digital Photography Experience: Conference attendees will learn to take better digital photos, use new and existing editing technology to improve digital photos, and experience the latest printing equipment for digital photos. The Digital Photography Experience begins on Tuesday.
• Digital Art Gallery: After learning how to improve their digital photography skills, many Mac users enjoy visiting the Digital Art Gallery. Digital artists submitted work for a chance to exhibit during the Expo. A select few pieces were chosen for display, and those pieces will be at the Digital Art Gallery. 
• John Lennon Educational Tour Bus: Another fun exhibit at the Macworld Expo is the John Lennon Education Tour Bus. This is a mobile multimedia studio, allowing users to create digital art, record music, and experience hands-on learning for free. 
• Macworld Music Studio: For those who love to record and edit music in a digital format, this exhibit is sure to offer plenty of helpful information and exciting new software demos. Users will see how to use their Macs to create music, while also learning about the music business.
• Macworld Learning Center: This exhibit features classes on getting the most out of Apple technology. Mac users of all skill levels can learn new tips and tricks to be more productive.

These and many other exciting exhibits can be found at this year’s Macworld Expo. “Apple has done a remarkable job in making technology easy to use and appealing,” said DFW Elite Auto Rental GM Tom Warren. “Apple customers are fanatical about Apple products,” said the Dallas exotic car rental executive.

“The extend to which Apple sets the standard for digital is clear by the number of the luxury cars that come standard with I-pod connectivity, a feature which certainly adds to the exotic car driving experience for MacWorld Expo attendees,” said Warren.

Kate Miller-Wilson is a freelance writer living in the Twin Cities. Visit her website or email her for information about her freelance writing services.