plus 4, Auto sector headed for repeat failures, report says - Automotive News |
- Auto sector headed for repeat failures, report says - Automotive News
- GM sues over millions spent on steering repairs - Miami Herald
- US auto sector headed for repeat failures - Fitch - CNN Money
- Hornaday, Busch looking at different sides of defense - NASCAR
- Get Free ACN Daily Headlines by Email - LIVE AUCTIONEERS
| Auto sector headed for repeat failures, report says - Automotive News Posted: 23 Nov 2009 01:00 PM PST |
| GM sues over millions spent on steering repairs - Miami Herald Posted: 23 Nov 2009 12:17 PM PST DETROIT -- General Motors Co. has sued a supplier, saying it has spent more than $30 million fixing problems in the steering systems of the Chevrolet Cobalt, its best-selling small car, and other vehicles. GM said customers have complained about unusual rattles, "clunks" and other noises. It pinpointed the flaw to "excessive gear backlash," which causes problems in the steering column when driving on rough roads. The lawsuit names JTEKT North America Inc., based in Plymouth, Mich., and an affiliated company, JTEKT Automotive Virginia Inc. of Daleville, Va. GM said it wants to be paid for replacing thousands of parts under customer warranty claims on the Cobalt, Pursuit, G5, HHR and other cars, starting with 2005 model year. By fall, the cost had exceeded $30 million, and "GM's damages are expected to continue to increase as additional warranty claims are made," the automaker's lawsuit said. "JTEKT contends the components all met the specifications and testing requirements that GM gave it," said Bob Haddad, a lawyer for the supplier. "The issues do not affect the operator's ability to control the vehicle. This is a noise issue." Changes were made at GM's request, and JTEKT continues to provide steering assemblies, Haddad said Monday. The steering systems are in tens of thousands of GM cars. It is not considered a safety issue, said Alan Adler, a GM spokesman. He said the lawsuit likely will be settled out of court. It was filed in August in Macomb County Circuit Court, amended there in October and moved Nov. 17 to federal court in Detroit. The Cobalt is GM's best-selling small car and its highest-mileage vehicle. The company sold 90,940 Cobalts through October, but sales are down 46 percent from the same period in 2008. The car, built in Lordstown, Ohio, is due to be replaced next year by the Chevrolet Cruze, which GM promises will get around 40 miles per gallon on the highway and be competitive with the best small cars in the world. This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| US auto sector headed for repeat failures - Fitch - CNN Money Posted: 23 Nov 2009 12:46 PM PST NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. auto industry may be caught in an "airline-style" cycle of repetitive bankruptcies because of weak sales and a glut of production capacity, Fitch Ratings said on Monday. High fixed costs, the lengthy periods required to develop new products and chronic overcapacity will leave the industry "littered with failures -- plants, product lines, brands and companies," Fitch said in a report. Like the airline industry before it, the auto sector, including suppliers, will grapple with "boom and bust cycles without the boom," Fitch said. Even in peak conditions, companies will not generate enough cash to repair their balance sheets, leaving them vulnerable to severe financial stress in downturns, the agency said. The Fitch report was one of the rating agency's starkest outlooks yet on an industry battered by recession, slow-selling products and crushing labor and retiree costs. Fitch is forecasting a 7.8 percent rise in U.S. light vehicle sales next year to 11.1 million units. Even that rebound, however, will leave much of the industry burning cash in 2010, the agency said. With about $125 billion in government support already doled out for the auto industry, more aid may be extended given the prospect for weak sales, Fitch said. General Motors [GM.UL] and Chrysler, which were both restructured with government capital, will not be in a position to access the equity markets in 2010, Fitch said. "A number of suppliers have emerged from bankruptcy with untested business models and capital structures, which have and may result in double-dip bankruptcies," Fitch said. "The manufacturers could also fall into the same pattern." Moreover, a double-dip recession or spike in gas prices could halt any market improvement, the agency said. Ford Motor Co <F.N>, the only automaker not to receive a government bailout, has improved its liquidity and addressed refinancing risk, Fitch said. Its access to bank loans, unsecured debt and the equity markets for now give it a competitive advantage over Chrysler and GM, Fitch said. "Ford is best positioned from a production and product standpoint to further strengthen its balance sheet," while GM and Chrysler are still restructuring and face a more difficult road toward independently access capital, Fitch said. Cash-for-clunkers, a government auto scrapping program meant to bolster sales, had a negligible impact on sales volumes this year but has helped improve the used car market by getting rid of older vehicles, Fitch said. The program also pulled forward some demand, generating some much-needed revenue for the crippled supply base, likely forestalling even more supplier bankruptcies, Fitch said. (Reporting by Dena Aubin; Editing by Kenneth Barry) This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| Hornaday, Busch looking at different sides of defense - NASCAR Posted: 23 Nov 2009 01:00 PM PST MIAMI BEACH, Fla. -- When it comes to defending their titles in 2010, for 24-year-old Nationwide Series champion Kyle Busch, it may be "one and done," while for 51-year-old Camping World Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday, it's "four and counting." At Monday afternoon's champion's luncheon at Loews Miami Beach hotel, both drivers chatted about what it took to get to this point, and where the future will take them. In the case of Hornaday, retirement is still well down the road. Four-time champBefore he got the call to come drive for Dale Earnhardt nearly 15 seasons ago, Ron Hornaday made his living building race cars. So he knows the importance of having quality equipment on which to place his trust. First-time champEven before the 2008 season ended, Kyle Busch already was making plans for the 2009 Nationwide Series campaign. Despite missing five of the 35 races that year, he still wound up sixth in the final standings, which got him and owners J.D. and Joe Gibbs to thinking ... "With the equipment Kevin and Delana's given me to drive, I'm sure we'll try to go for our fifth one," Hornaday said. "I still feel good behind the wheel. When I slow down and start riding around for my paycheck, my wife will tell me it's time to quit racing. We'll go out there and race as hard as we can until we're riding around. And when we're riding around, it's time to quit." On Sunday night, Jimmie Johnson joined Hornaday in the society of four-time NASCAR champions. But it wasn't that long ago that Johnson was sleeping on Hornaday's couch. "He was doing some off-road racing," Hornaday said. "I had seen him at a Chevrolet function. He was going to come up to Charlotte and try to rent a house and get into NASCAR racing. I said, 'If you do, call me and we'll get together.' And he ended up staying at the house. I said, 'Don't waste your money renting a house or anything, stay at the house and we'll find something.' We found him a little place around the corner and he moved in a couple of months later." There are two people who have been instrumental in Ron Hornaday's racing career: his father and Dale Earnhardt. Both will be on his mind at Monday night's championship banquet, particularly his dad, who died in December. "When I lost him, it was really tough," Hornaday said. "He always wanted to go to Daytona and run that race. I got to do it for him. It's extra special, the way everything's happened. I lost my mom the same year Dale got killed. It's pretty tough." And it was Earnhardt's decision to hire Hornaday to drive his truck starting in 1995 that propelled Hornaday out of the chassis-building business and into NASCAR's national series as a full-timer. "I got an opportunity to work with my dad for five years," Hornaday said. "Then we started our auto repair shop and got the chassis building business going, and then Dale called in 1994. It was a pretty successful chassis shop, where we were building cars for other people. But me and my wife were about out of money running my own race team and stuff, so it was a blessing in disguise when Dale gave us that phone call." For Busch, running a full-time Nationwide Series schedule in 2010 is highly unlikely. However, he still plans to run all of the companion races on the schedule, then hand off driving duties to Joe Gibbs Racing development driver Matt DiBenedetto. Also in the pipeline is 16-year-old Darrell Wallace Jr. "I'm not sure if we're having some one-offs here and there, along with a couple of travel weeks," Busch said. "I think it's 24-27 [races] is what we're planning. The races haven't quite gotten worked out yet." The only full-time Cup driver who has announced plans to run the entire Nationwide schedule next season is Carl Edwards, although Busch hinted that Kevin Harvick -- sitting at the next table -- was considering it as well. However, Harvick pretty much put that rumor to rest with his response. "I don't know about that," Harvick said. "That's not on the agenda." For Busch, running in NASCAR's developmental series is a chance to enjoy racing, and give back something to less experienced drivers. "To me, running in the Nationwide Series, what I love most about it is being able to go race kind of for less pressure," Busch said. "Go race for some wins, go race with the other Cup guys for some wins. There's a lot to race for. "I remember when I was a full-time Nationwide guy as a rookie in 2004, I loved it when I was racing against Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, Jeff Burton, Mark Martin, those guys who came in. You could learn so much off of those guys." But even though he'll be crowned series champion Monday evening, Busch would like to see NASCAR enact some sort of rule prohibiting Cup regulars from being eligible for the Nationwide title. "[Martin Truex Jr.] won it in '04 and '05 and then it went to the Cup regulars like Harvick, Carl, Clint and myself since then," Busch said. "I'd like to see it go back more in that direction where it's not the full-time guys, where we have the legitimate Nationwide guys racing for the championship. "I only did it because I'm allowed to right now and J.D. gave me the opportunity. But if NASCAR makes a change to where the Cup guys aren't allowed to run full-time, I think it would be for the better of the Nationwide Series." This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| Get Free ACN Daily Headlines by Email - LIVE AUCTIONEERS Posted: 23 Nov 2009 01:07 PM PST The 20th-century inventions of microwave and convection ovens and prepackaged foods have made it possible to make a 30-minute dinner. But 18th-century American family meals required hours to prepare. Food was caught or harvested and canned, smoked or carefully stored — but that was only the beginning. The fireplace was used for heat and cooking. Large iron pots were hung over or near the fire. Meat, fish and fowl were cooked on spits, and sometimes food, perhaps potatoes, were cooked in the hot ashes. The cookstove was introduced in the early 1800s and was used across the country from the 1820s into the 1870s. The black iron cookstove with nickel-plated trim usually had four or six openings with lids, a stovepipe to exhaust fumes and a low shelf in front that could temporarily hold a pot. Wood and coal were the favored fuels, but later kerosene and natural gas were used. In 1893 at Chicago's Columbian Exposition, the first electric kitchen was on display. By the early 1900s, stoves were being made with an enameled porcelain finish. By the 1920s, enameled stoves had long legs, an oven with a pull-down door and a top with four to six burners. It was not until after World War II that kitchens featured built-in ovens and countertop burners. The countertop microwave appeared in the 1960s, and within a few years a microwave that matched the oven could be built in. Children's toys mirror real life, and small cookstoves were made in every era. You can find toy Victorian iron stoves, 1930s toy enameled models and toy microwaves with stainless steel fronts. All these toys are collected today. So are full-size enameled oven doors, handles and nameplates. Full-size working stoves take up a lot of space and are bought to use, not usually to add to a large collection. Q: Is sterling silverware usually more valuable as silverware, or for its scrap value? I have several place settings of Kirk Stieff silverware that I would like to sell. I would hate to see it melted down, but I'm strapped for cash and need to get its maximum value. A: The value of silver fluctuates not only daily, but throughout the day, so the meltdown value of your silver depends on the price at a given moment. Silver prices were as high as $54 an ounce when the Hunt Brothers attempted to corner the market in 1980. Currently, silver is selling at less than $20 an ounce. A Kirk Stieff salad serving fork was recently offered for sale at $95. The fork contains 3 troy ounces of silver, which is valued at about $45 today. Last year a Stieff serving fork and spoon, 4.38 troy ounces of silver, sold for $67. Its meltdown value is about $50. These pieces were worth more than the meltdown value of the silver because the flatware pattern is popular. Sometimes the reverse is true, and sets of silver don't bring a lot of money. If you decide to sell your silver, expect to get about half the retail price that you find online at Kovels.com or in shops. The dealer must make a profit on the sale. Q: I have an art pottery pitcher with an iris on it. It's stamped "Rumrill." Can you give me some information about this maker? A: In the 1930s, George Rumrill sold Niloak and Camark pottery through his own firm, Arkansas Products Co. He changed the name of his company to Rum Rill Art Pottery in 1933 and started selling pottery he designed himself. Rumrill's designs were produced at the Red Wing Pottery of Red Wing, Minn., until 1938, when he ended his association with Red Wing. After that, Rumrill's creations were made by Shawnee Pottery of Zanesville, Ohio, and Florence Pottery Co. of Mount Gilead, Ohio. Florence Pottery burned down in 1941. Rumrill pottery was then produced by Gonder Ceramic Arts of South Zanesville, Ohio, until 1942, when George Rumrill died. Your pitcher is worth about $75. Q: In 1966 I bought an octagonal cabinet from Trader Joe's in Washoe Valley, Nev. The cabinet has 10 pie-shaped drawers on each side. Each drawer is labeled with a number. What do you think the cabinet was designed to be used for? A: Your cabinet is typical of those used in hardware stores in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The cabinet drawers held various sizes of screws, nuts and bolts. These hardware-store cabinets are popular now and sell for about $300 to $500. Q: When I bought my house in the early 1970s, I found an old lantern that the previous owner left behind. It's brass and has a reservoir for oil. The only mark on it is "Solar, Model No. 933, Pats. Pendg." How does it work, and does it have any value? A: Your lantern was once mounted on the side or tail of an automobile. Before World War I, automakers used oil-fueled lanterns for side and taillights because the lanterns were relatively inexpensive to produce. A single Solar auto lantern sells today for about $100. Tip: Use your lace and lace-trimmed tablecloths. It is more damaging to let the linens get dusty than it is to wash them. If you're really worried about stains, don't serve red wine or cranberries. Terry Kovel answers as many questions as possible through the column. By sending a letter with a question, you give full permission for use in the column or any other Kovel forum. Names, addresses or e-mail addresses will not be published. We cannot guarantee the return of any photograph, but if a stamped envelope is included, we will try. The volume of mail makes personal answers or appraisals impossible. Write to Kovels, Auction Central News, King Features Syndicate, 300 W. 57th St., New York, NY 10019. Need more information about collectibles? Find it at Kovels.com, our Web site for collectors. Check prices there, too. More than 700,000 are listed, and viewing them is free. You can also sign up to read our weekly Kovels Komments. It includes the latest news, tips and questions and is delivered by e-mail, free, if you register. Kovels.com offers extra collectors' information and lists of publications, clubs, appraisers, auction houses, people who sell parts or repair antiques and much more. You can subscribe to Kovels on Antiques and Collectibles, our monthly newsletter filled with prices, facts and color photos. Kovels.com adds to the information in our newspaper column and helps you find useful sources needed by collectors. CURRENT PRICES Current prices are recorded from antiques shows, flea markets, sales and auctions throughout the United States. Prices vary in different locations because of local economic conditions.
Just published. The new, full-color Kovels' Antiques & Collectibles Price Guide, 2010, 42nd edition, is your most accurate source for current prices. This large-size paperback has more than 2,500 color photographs and 47,000 up-to-date prices for more than 700 categories of antiques and collectibles. You'll also find hundreds of factory histories and marks, and a report on the record prices of the year, plus helpful sidebars and tips about buying, selling, collecting and preserving your treasures. Available at your bookstore; online at Kovels.com; by phone at 800-571-1555; or send $27.95 plus $4.95 postage to Price Book, Box 22900, Beachwood, OH 44122. © 2009 by Cowles Syndicate Inc. This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
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