This Just In...
*We just learned that Alcoa Forged Specialty Wheels signed an agreement to be the national sponsor of the Professional Rockcrawlers Association's 2004 Superlift National Series and Superlift Women's National Rockcrawling Championship. We need to get out more...
*Sad news from the world of finance: More and more people shopping for a new vehicle are finding themselves "upside down" in salesman-speak. That means the money they owe on the vehicle they want to trade in is more than its value, so they're starting the new-vehicle purchase in the hole. As a result, the negative balance-which averages almost $4,000, says Edmunds.com-is being rolled into the new vehicle payments. According to Edmunds, nearly a third of new-vehicle buyers were upside down in 2003, compared to a quarter of them the previous year.
*Cause for celebration: Penda Corp. sold its 10-millionth bedliner earlier this year.
*Though we're looking forward to driving the diesel-powered Touareg (can you say "550 lb-ft of torque"?), Porsche has announced there will be no diesel Cayenne, says Automotive News. The reason: Half of the Cayennes sold annually are for the U.S. market, where there is no demand for diesel, says Porsche. Yeah, but who could have predicted any sort of demand for a Porsche SUV, either?
*GM's first gas-electric hybrid fullsize pickup trucks will carry a $2,500 premium when they're made available to fleet and commercial customers later this year. That number is consistent with prices Toyota and Honda charge for their hybrids compared to conventional versions of the same or similar vehicles. What's different, though, is that GM's system is considered a "mild" hybrid, with limited assist from the electric motor, while the import cars are full hybrids.
*CNN reports that the most stolen car nationwide in 2002 was the '89 Toyota Camry, followed by the '94 Honda Accord and the '00 Honda Civic. But before you start snickering about the import owner's rotten luck, read this: When the most-stolen data was broken out by state, the fullsize Chevy pickup topped the theft list in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas.
Douglas Wins in Pure-Stock Explorer
We know, it doesn't look "pure stock" to us either. But that's the name the Best in the Desert racing organization gave to Class 3100, which mandates that the race truck maintain the factory body, chassis, engine, transmission, differentials, and front and rear suspension components. Working within those parameters, Ford/Rancho Suspension pilot Scott Douglas has developed a late-model Explorer that dominated the class at the Parker 425 earlier this year, beating his next closest competitor to the finish line by nearly an hour.
Because of the class's suspension restrictions, "the shocks were the only component we could really work with," said Douglas. The Explorer was equipped with 3-inch i.d. DMS/Rancho prototype race shocks built by Ted Kendall, Douglas' crew chief. The truck needs a lot of damping control, as Douglas shod it with massive 35-inch BFGoodrich Race T/As.
Douglas' win at Parker was his 52nd career victory and put him in the points lead for the class.
GM Launches Huge Recall
General Motors is recalling nearly 4 million fullsize trucks built during the 2000 to 2004 model years because of problems with-of all things-the tailgate support cables. The Chevy Silverados and GMC Sierras (plus a few Avalanches and Cadillac Escalade EXTs) were built with galvanized, braided-steel support cables that, as it turns out, are prone to fracturing if they become corroded. Should the corroded cables break while the tailgate is down and loaded, the tailgate would come to rest on the back bumper, or slip to a lower position if there were no rear bumper, and potentially spill its load (or the person sitting on the 'gate when it happened).