All Cars, All the Time

Weekend Activities





One of the things that gets me about the weekends is that most auto related websites shut down in terms of new posts. Fair enough, everybody has to have some time to play, but what else is there to do?

On TV there are a number of shows that I like to catch. On PBS (and also on Speed Channel) there is Motorweek: a long running show that is hosted by John Davis. The show will never deliver hard hitting journalism—I don’t think they’ve ever disliked a car—but you do get to see new cars in a video format and it’s PBS commercial free.

Spike TV (formerly know as The Nashville Network) has Car and Driver Television hosted by the excitable Larry Webster. Although almost every major magazine is beholden to their advertisers, Car and Driver does take the occasional swipe at a car and that is refreshing. I’m going to get sidetracked here, but the idea of “independent journalism” has me thinking. I remember when Edmunds first came online. Edmund’s writers used phrases like “candy assed” and “top ten cars that suckers buy.” Boy that was fun to read! Unfortunately you won’t read that kind of prose on Edmunds today. We all know what happened when Dan Neil when he ripped on a Pontiac G6 and Rick Wagoner, GM pulled all advertising from the LA Times for several months in protest. Luckily Dan has a Pulitzer sitting on his shelf which can act as a get out of jail free card and everybody knew that GM would come back, but it was a warning shot fired over the bow. Very few editors are willing to take a chance on seriously offending a major automaker, so reviews are massaged to be less offending. Some publications do a better job at attempting a good balance between frankness and advertising dollar inspired ebullience.

The Speed Channel has Test Drive hosted by Tommy Kendall. There are no illusions that this is anything but an infomercial for the brand of the day, but with that in mind it’s great to look newly released cars going through their paces. Also on Speed is Autoline Detroit hosted by John McElroy. This program is actually produced by Detroit Public Television, but other PBS stations don’t carry it. Maybe it’s too specialized? This is a “talking head” program with only a small product segment on each show, but John gets all the big names and you can really find out a lot of useful information. I always look forward to hearing what John and his guests have to say. For those of you without access to US cable television, you can access his shows online! I think that’s absolutely great!

A huge tragedy in my mind was the loss of Auto Motor und Sport Television on PBS channels. The US distributor of the English version decided to stop offering the show and Deutsche Welle, the show’s producer, has to date refused to work directly with PBS stations. I loved the opportunity to see all those Europe only cars that we don’t have here: the compact hatches, diesels, French cars, etc. There were so many great segments on specialty manufacturers that would otherwise never get any coverage over here. Woe is me.

Do It Yourself Network has a great show called “Classic Car Restoration” that has covered the refurbishment of five cars: 1962 Corvette, 1938 Packard, 1969 Alfa Romeo, 1968 Chevrolet Camaro and 1962 Thunderbird. Mark Lambert is the best of the hosts, a gentle fellow who really knows his subject.

Well, this post has exceeded my original intent of naming a few TV shows to watch, so with that I’ll sign off. I may have more to say on this topic in a future post, so stay tuned.