Akkam’s Razor

In October 2008, there was a moving article in the Philadelphia Inquirer about Scott Eckenhoff’s dealership’s valiant yet futile attempt to save his family business through individual sacrifice by the entirety of the dealership’s employees:

Eckenhoff’s business [link], a General Motors dealership that had been relatively healthy just months earlier, was suddenly a credit-squeezed enterprise holding on for dear life.

So two weeks ago, after praying with his family and pulling an all-nighter in front of his computer, Eckenhoff drew up a rescue plan. Half his employees, including a stepbrother, would have to be let go. It was awful.

The day of the layoffs, though, something unexpected happened: The mechanics who had not been fired marched into Eckenhoff’s office. “What can we do to help?” asked the men in grimy work gear.

With that, the lines that had long separated manager from minions, khaki-clad salesmen from grease-smeared mechanics, vanished. The survivors - the salesmen, associates and receptionists spared the ax - had become a single crew trying to save their ship.

At the time, I instinctively knew he was only delaying the inevitable. 

After the atrocious sales figures for the month of November with sales are at their lowest point in 26-years with per capita sales at their lowest levels since the 1950s, its fairly easy to forecast what comes next - widespread dealer liquidations.

I have no idea whether they will be successful or not, but Carbon Motors has an interesting take and re-imagining of the business model for sales to law enforcement.

Federal, state, local, and private security and law enforcement entities had for generations been solid and steady consumers of Detroit’s legacy body-on-frame automobiles, up until recently purchasing rear-wheel drive Ford Crown Victorias and Dodge Chargers.  Other models included Chevrolet Tahoes, Dodge Magnums, and a handful of front-wheel drive Chevrolet Impalas.  The imminent demise of the Crown Vic, the only model with no relevant consumer market, leaves a quandary for the  institutional consumer but an opportunity for entrepreneurism.

Enter Carbon Motors.

Long story short?

photo credit: Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Yes, bail them out.

2008 marks the 25th year of Mopar’s minivan(s) - the Dodge Caravan, Chrysler Town & Country, and the no-longer produced Plymouth Voyager (unofficial history here at Allpar), to be celebrated by a 25th Anniversary Edition with a (much-needed) revamped interior.

It’s a damn shame, the things that we’re left to wonder.  Can you safely assume there was no shooter on the grassy knoll?  That ‘DC Madam’ Palfrey committed suicide?  Or that alleged anthrax-attacker Bruce Ivins worked alone?  Or that the heroic passengers of Flight 93 brought the plane down, and not a US missile?

Did you see this story in the Post (and reprinted today on page 2 in the Inky)?

• How To: Turn your car into a drive-in theater - Autoblog
  Instructions for turning your car into a drive-in theater…
  (tags: automobile DIY entertainment video tv movies)
• Ford dominates J.D. Power and Associates 2007 Initial Quality Study - Autoblog
  “Still, even without including the MX-5, Ford’s four segment leaders is still more than any other automaker. Mercedes-Benz and Toyota each had three.”
  (tags: Ford FoMoCo JDPower Awards)
• NBC to let other Web sites post NBC video | Tech&Sci | Technology | Reuters.com
  Independent Web Site and blog owners can add short NBC video using software widgets — small bits of code that function as dynamic applications when installed on a Web page.
  (tags: NBC syndication)

"The question remains, why did Buchen and President Ford change their minds? The available documents do not provide a definitive answer, but notes from key meetings in September and October provide clues to Ford's priorities - and these were far from government transparency. For example, handwritten notes of the first White House senior staff meeting presided over by Donald Rumsfeld and his deputy Richard Cheney (September 30, 1974) show Rumsfeld's rising concern about leaks, a discussion that takes up a major part of the meeting. Similarly, notes from the National Security Council meeting on October 7, 1974 reveal Ford himself opening the session by complaining about leaks for a full two pages of the transcript, asking for 'recommendations on how to tighten up this system,' and telling his advisers that 'I could have ordered an FBI investigation on this, but Don and I thought it would be better to see what you could do first.'"