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Backseat Driver: Love for first car is supreme

Love at first sight. A 1955 Citroen Deux Chevaux (2CV)

After I graduated high school in England in 1968, I went to study in France for a year. And I fell in love … with the Citroen Deux Chevaux.

Described variously as “a tin can on springs,” or the “tin snail,” the small car was an iconic feature of post-WWII France along with Gauloise cigarettes and Bridget Bardot.

My first car was a 1955 model that I bought from a Dutch student whose family had a summer house outside St. Tropez. It had a dipstick in the gas tank and window wipers that were geared to the motor and supplemented by a hand knob when the car was stationary.

It was rudimentary and romantic – as are all things at the age of 18 – and I have an affection for the 2CV that I will take to my grave.

And it seems I am not alone. A recent survey of 2,000 people carried out by the British International Auto Show found that most remembered their first car better than they remembered their first kiss, first love or 18th birthday!

Certainly, a number of the stories I write are about people who have restored their old car or their father’s/grandfather’s car, or a car that is the same model as their first car. Others just have a car they dote on, or love their work in a car-related business.

That’s why I often say to people that while I may be the auto writer here at The Providence Journal, what I really write are love stories.

- Peter C.T. Elsworth

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 11:56 AM to commentary | Permalink | Comments 0

Nissan GT-R Waiting Game About to End

Hardly a model year goes by without the debut of at least one new car that sets off a frenzied run on dealers’ showrooms, according to The New York Times.

In the last decade, introductions for vehicles as disparate as the Volkswagen New Beetle, Chrysler PT Cruiser, Mini Cooper and Ford GT each resulted in months-long waiting lists, accompanied by gigabytes of Internet speculation.

So far in 2008 that must-have car seems to be the Nissan GT-R, a 480-horsepower sports coupe with all-wheel drive and a full-time cheering section. It will be available in the United States in June, starting around $70,000. Nissan plans to import 2,500 GT-Rs this year and about 1,500 annually in the future.

Typically, the cars that set off these stampedes carry names steeped in history or, at the least, a design that gestures to a beloved icon of the past. Why, then, is a car whose predecessors Nissan has never sold in the United States proving such a phenomenon?

The 2009 GT-R may be the first car whose reputation was forged primarily in the virtual world, at least in the minds of young American enthusiasts. The GT-R is a mainstay of leading video games, notably the Gran Turismo series that Sony PlayStation fans devote hours to, and was a featured star of a promotion that linked the introduction of the actual GT-R at the 2007 Tokyo auto show with the release of a special prologue edition of Gran Turismo 5.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 10:29 AM to Nissan | Permalink | Comments 0

Gas Prices Soar, Posing a Threat to Family Budget

Gasoline prices, which for months lagged behind the big run-up in the price of oil, are suddenly rising quickly, with some experts saying they could approach $4 a gallon by spring, according to The New York Times.

The increases could not come at a worse time for the economy. With growth slowing, energy increases that were once easily absorbed by consumers are now more likely to act as a drag on household budgets, leaving people with less money to spend elsewhere. These costs could worsen the nation’s economic woes, piling a fresh energy shock on top of the turmoil in credit and housing.

“The effect of high oil prices today could be the difference between having a recession and not having a recession,” said Kenneth S. Rogoff, a Harvard economist.

The depth of the nation’s economic problems became clearer Tuesday with the release of figures showing that prices at the producer level rose 1 percent in January from December, driven in large measure by energy costs.

Compared with a year ago, prices were up 7.4 percent, the worst producer price inflation in the United States since 1981.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 10:10 AM to Gas prices | Permalink | Comments 0

Oil Briefly Tops $102 a Barrel

VIENNA, Austria -- Oil prices briefly rose to a new intraday high above $102 a barrel Wednesday as a slide in the U.S. dollar prompted investors to pump more money into energy futures as a hedge against inflation, according to the Associated Press.

Light, sweet crude for April delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange spiked as high as $102.08 a barrel in electronic trading before slipping back. It was up 13 cents at $100.99 a barrel by afternoon in Europe.

Posted by Peter C. T. Elsworth  at 10:08 AM to Crude oil market | Permalink | Comments 0