Fesler-Moss revives vintage Camaro package | detnews.com | The Detroit News
Sometimes you have to turn back the clock to go fast forward. First, we turn back four decades, to the birth of the Chevrolet Camaro and that very special souped-up version known as the COPO, that string of letters representing the abbreviation for how to work the order form to get what amounted to a factory-built hot rod. Next, we turn back just a few years, to when automotive engineer Jon Moss was head of what amounted to General Motors' toy shop, the specialty vehicles group that did things such as...

Dream Cruise cities feel pinch | The Detroit News | detnews.com
ROYAL OAK -- The cities that host the annual Woodward Dream Cruise may be out of luck this year. Nine communities make up the 16-mile strip that draws muscle and classic cars on a weekend in August. And it's those nine cities that pay for cleanup and policing, with hopes that once the exhaust clears, Woodward Dream Cruise Inc. will have money left over to help pay for some of those costs. This year, that likely will not happen. New features this year, including a pre-cruise party at Comerica Park in...

Consider residual value when buying car | The Detroit News | detnews.com
Consumers out shopping for a new vehicle should be commended for helping to restart the faltering U.S. economy. They should also be armed with the best information available to help them make a savvy choice in the showroom. While selling points like design and performance are easily discerned, a less sexy but still very important sales consideration is residual value. Negotiating a favorable price is just part of the financial equation in a new vehicle purchase. Even more critical from an accounting...

Levin unsure bailout can pass Congress | The Detroit News | detnews.com
WASHINGTON -- One of the auto industry's biggest supporters in Congress says he doesn't know if there are enough votes to pass a rescue plan. Sen. Carl Levin says he is confident that White House and congressional Democrats will complete a deal in the next several days on a $15 billion aid package. But as for passing that deal, the Michigan Democrat calls that a much more complicated question. Auto industry supporters fear an impending collapse of General Motors and Chrysler unless immediate government...

Commentary: Washington's whipping boys | The Detroit News | detnews.com
If the Midwest hadn't realized before there was a front and back door to Congress, we know now. Indeed, we know there's a side door, too, reserved for the country's lower castes, which apparently now includes American automakers and anyone remotely linked to them. Just call us the whipping boys of Washington's anti-bail-out backlash. While Wall Street was welcomed into the front door on a Sunday night and served a bail-out with hot cocoa, Michigan's auto chiefs have been publicly humiliated before the...

Steven Tyler's Red Wing Motorcycles changes name to Dirico Custom Motorcycles
Back in September of 2007, Steven Tyler, best known as the lead singer for Aerosmith, launched a custom motorcycle company along with his cousin, Stephen Talarico, and cycle designer Mark Dirico. The trio called the company Red Wing Motorcycles. That high-flying moniker may have seemed like a good idea at the time, but it turns out that the name was already taken. In fact, it's been taken a few times. This being the case, Tyler used the New England International Auto Show, which is running this weekend...

The Big Three's real union problem
If there is hope for the Big Three and for the UAW, it rests in unionizing the foreign automakers' U.S. plants.The Big Three are a mess, and there is plenty of blame to go around. Washington lawmakers pondering the bailout for Detroit have been grilling executives of General Motors, Ford and Chrysler about their role in the crisis. But sitting by their side Thursday on Capitol Hill was Ron Gettelfinger, president of the United Auto Workers.Even if a deal for a $15-billion to $17-billion preliminary...

Steven Tyler's Red Wing Motorcycles changes name to Dirico Custom Motorcycles
Back in September of 2007, Steven Tyler, best known as the lead singer for Aerosmith, launched a custom motorcycle company along with his cousin, Stephen Talarico, and cycle designer Mark Dirico. The trio called the company Red Wing Motorcycles. That high-flying moniker may have seemed like a good idea at the time, but it turns out that the name was already taken. In fact, it's been taken a few times. This being the case, Tyler used the New England International Auto Show, which is running this weekend...

Most Popular Automotive Brands on Facebook
You know you use Facebook , they are millions of people on this social networking site but what are the most favored brands on it? If your thinking Italian you are in the right direction.The research numbers compiled are from the Fan Pages and the top favored one on the Facebook website is no surprise at all with Lamborghini ringing in on the top of all automotive brands in fan page members. The same brand that hung up on your wall in poster form while you were a kid. In second place was Porsche , while...

Restricted loans still face resistance | The Detroit News | detnews.com
WASHINGTON -- Detroit's struggling automakers are in no position to balk at the bailout bill finally making its way through Congress, but it offers them far less than what they'd hoped to get when they appealed to Washington for a financial lifeline. It provides fewer than half of the loans they requested, sets onerous oversight provisions and, contrary to the U.S. automakers' assertions that they are victims of a global credit freeze, it states that the companies are at least partly to blame for their...