It’s been a rough few years for anyone trying to buy a car. From supply chain shocks during COVID to elevated prices and the disappearance of base models to how all of that affected the used car market, the road back to anything resembling normal has been rocky to say the least. While we’ve spent nearly two and a half years trying to get back to a decent place, setbacks occur, and a rail strike in Canada has the potential to cause another new car shortage.
At the same time, NHTSA has closed an investigation into Cruise, the controversial autonomous vehicle division of GM. It’s a minor win for the company in troubled times, but it certainly isn’t out of the woods yet, for it has a whole lot to answer for.
Oh, and not only is the Aston Martin Heritage Trust looking for any remnants of the firm’s first ever car, Cadillac has rolled out a line of shoes with each pair costing nearly as much as an entire Cimarron. All this coming up on today’s edition of The Morning Dump.
Blame Canada
Canada builds an enormous variety of extremely popular cars for the North American market, and a smaller variety of less popular ones. We’re talking about hundreds of thousands of Toyota RAV4 crossovers, a buttload of Lexus RXs and NXs, half-ton and heavy-duty Chevrolet Silverados, Honda Civics and CR-Vs, oh and that’s before we even get into engines and parts. General Motors builds both the fifth-generation V8 and the gearboxes for its C8 Corvettes in Canada, Ford builds the 7.3-liter Godzilla V8 and five-liter Coyote V8 in Canada, Honda builds engines in Canada, the list goes on. However, Automotive News Canada reports that a huge number of rail shipments on that nation’s two largest railways are on pause due to a labor dispute that could cause a small yet significant shortage in the new car market.
In the culmination of months of increasingly bitter negotiations, Canadian National Railway Co. and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. (CPKC) locked out 9,300 engineers, conductors and yard workers after the parties disagreed on a new contract before the midnight deadline.
Obviously, this could be resolved if CN and CPKC paid workers more and gave their workers better benefits, but depending on how long this lockout lasts, it could have some serious effects on America’s new car market, up to and including a car shortage. Since cars are shipped long-distance almost exclusively by rail, supply of new models from Canada may, at least temporarily, result in a shortage. It’s the same deal with parts, and with major components for popular models like the Ford Super Duty potentially affected, even some American plants might not be able to build the vehicles Americans want. It’s a delicate situation that may keep new and used vehicle prices slightly elevated for at least a short period of time, and in an era where affordability is a huge concern, anything that may slow progress on price reductions and cause a shortage is something to be taken seriously.
NHTSA Declares Cruise All Good
Cruise, GM’s autonomous car unit, has been in all sorts of shit over the past few years or so. From blocking streets to having issues turning left to dragging a pedestrian 20 feet and pinning them underneath the car with serious injuries, GM’s robotaxi experiment just didn’t seem ready for prime time, but instead packed with inherent flaws. Well, it seems like one of those flaws may have been fixed, because according to NHTSA, it’s all good, man.
That’s right, Reuters reports that NHTSA is dropping its investigation into hard braking and immobilization in Cruise autonomous vehicles because a recall has met the agency’s concerns during hard braking and in events of immobilization. You know, the newfangled software update kind of recall. Anticlimactic, yeah? Well, if you’re looking for something a bit more amusing in this part of the arc, well, I’ll just drop the quote in here.
The regulator also said none of the immobilization incidents it analyzed had resulted in a crash or injuries.
Well, it’s a bit difficult to hit something while you’re standing still, but someone’s welcome to give it a shot. In any case, while this is one hurdle cleared for the embattled AV brand, there are absolutely several more to go, such as DOJ and SEC investigations for last year’s pedestrian dragging.
Have You Seen The First Ever Aston Martin?
It’s relatively rare for history to go missing. However, a vehicle that can be considered the proto-Aston Martin was sold for £50 back in 1924, then disappeared completely. The 1914 Bamford & Martin A1, nicknamed the “Coal Scuttle” after its resemblance to the receptacle, hasn’t been seen in decades, and now the Aston Martin Heritage Trust is launching a global hunt for the car that started it all.
Trust Treasurer, Garry Taylor, said: “We are very fortunate here at the AMHT to have the oldest known Aston Martin in existence, now known as A3, along with extensive records from the earliest days of the company and priceless artefacts from across the history of the brand, but, to date, ‘Coal Scuttle’ has eluded us.
“Now, as we prepare or our annual festival when hundreds of Aston Martin owners from across the world will join us for our annual celebration of the brand, we are appealing for car enthusiasts to help us find that very first car, or discover definitively what became of it.”
If any of it survived, any of it at all, and you happen to know where it is, drop the Aston Martin Heritage Trust a line. The team there would love to know what became of A1, whether it was damaged and parted out, rebuilt into something else, or less likely, has simply spent decades rotting in a barn.
Cadillac Wants To Sell You A $5,000 Pair Of Shoes
When Cadillac unveiled its electric Celestiq flagship, people had doubts as to whether or not customers would pay Rolls-Royce money for a Cadillac. Today, similar doubts surround a line of products Cadillac commissioned to go on your feet. Automotive News reports that Cadillac has teamed up with sneaker designer Dominic Ciambrone to roll out a line of $5,000 pairs of shoes, and my, is that price tag ever dear.
Now, I like shoes. I custom-ordered my latest pair in my own colorway, but for $5,000, I think I’d rather spend an extra $100 and buy that pristine Cimarron I wrote about the other day. Those who can drop six figures on a new Celestiq can definitely afford the matching shoes, but the rest of us? Five grand on some kicks is a bit of a stretch.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
Does genre have meaning in the age of streaming? Sure, you still have major categories like pop, country, rock, gospel, what have you, but when the majority of tracks are listened to as parts of playlists rather than parts of albums, why have such rigidity? As someone who grew up on such varied influences as the Burnout 3: Takedown soundtrack, the thundering beats of the dirty south, and the ethereal shoegaze of Cocteau Twins, Diveliner’s particular brand of genre-bending scratches a certain itch. It feels like the logical evolution of the softer side of Warped Tour in the solo, bedroom, electronic production age. A lot of it’s not melodramatic in a largely pointless way like many acts branded emo rap, but rather, actually emotive and reflective. Here’s “Basketball.”
The Big Question
In the spirit of Cadillac’s $5,000 pairs of shoes, what’s the most ridiculous piece of automotive merchandise you’ve ever seen?
(Photo credits: Toyota, Cruise, Aston Martin Heritage Trust
Not ridiculous but I bought this to match my car seat belts: https://additionals.polestar.com/us/product/rain-duffel-50l-us/
Waterproof, I noticed the other day when a water bottle opened inside the bag and not a single drip.
Ngl, that’s pretty sweet, actually!
That bag looks nice enough.
While I was looking at that, I saw they offer a Polestar basketball for $101. Why is this needed? https://additionals.polestar.com/us/product/basketball/
The old Dodge/Mopar branded Guitars were very odd, but I arguably say that the Jeep Crates were the most ridiculous thing ever sold. Its literally a wooden box. And they sell everyone they made after people started reselling the ones they got from their lift kits.
This thing is pretty weird:
https://shop.porsche.com/us/en-US/p/puma-x-porsche-mens-basketball-jacket-P-P5060-93/4056487059532?queryID=44e8739add021024c692e6c4e42d90b3
I seem to remember that Porsche had a jacket that made its way around the internet being made fun of mercilessly but can’t find anything on it. This one in the link is pretty odd. Basketball, 911 Turbo and… is that a mouth with fangs scribbled across the belly?
I’m sure it’s all in reference to… something? Maybe? But looks like a 13 year old threw up three of his favorite things randomly on a jacket and called it a day.
Alright, I guess I’m going to have to buy a Chrysler product with an extended warranty. It will apparently be the only thing left to buy if something happens to my cars.
Isn’t the Pacifica made in Canada?
It’s a Chrysler. They probably have enough inventory to last till proton decay.
Does Harley count, cause I mean….
Car-automotive wise, $5,000 sneakers is fairly crazy, are they at least made in America to justify some cost? Cause if those are some classic Chinese sweatshop made style that’s some 80s cocaine level high right there.
Both CN and CPKC own vast stretches of American rail stock and treat the communities that their lines cross through like dirt. Worse than dirt, actually.
I say more power to the lockout victims. Bring the robber barons to their knees.
The problem here is that it’s not the Railroad “owners” that will be affected. It’s the farmers and the manufacturers of goods that need shipping. At some point they run out of room to store stuff, and will need to halt work as well, which means many more employees not getting checks. It causes chaos in many industries.
So, are you saying that the freight rail network in the United States is of such importance and criticality that it should be nationalized? Like the DOD?
I’m with you if that’s the case.
That’s a whole other conversation that really has no right answer, considering the competency of either option.
There is no shortage of American Socialism.
Police, fire, water & sewer, national defense, court system, strategic nuclear defense, post office, airports, ports, the Green Bay Packers.
If all of those things can be nationalized, so can the rail system.
Not a chance I’m going deeper on this topic here. Have a nice day 🙂
GM should absolutely sell shoes but the Cadillac shoes aren’t it. They should have an option when you buy a Corvette to get a set of crisp New Balances with the Corvette logo and the VIN embroidered on them.
1 of 854 in blue with black interior and the Z51 package.
Built on a Tuesday!
Coordinate shoe liner and shell with the car colors. And match the tread pattern of the tires on the soles.
That would be kind of cool.
Cadillac should sell shoes but they should be two-tone white/tan leather wingtips with the crest embossed on the side.
And a pair or relaxed-fit cargo shorts to go with the white New Balances.
I started wearing cargo shorts in the 90’s, and will continue so until the day I die. Cargo shorts rock.
Same here…what the hell else kind of shorts are there? Besides Jorts which is actually the Corvette stereotype
Chubbies.
Because cargo belongs in the bed of your truck.
They’d probably retail for a much more reasonable price, but the secondary market would be just as bad as these $5k monstrosities.
“I KNOW WHAT I HAVE”
From what I understand, the rail strike isn’t about wages. It’s about PTO, hours of work, forced long-term relocation, and just general being run ragged.
The audacity of not wanting to consistently work 80 hour weeks and actually use the vacation they’re entitled to has led to this. Damn people wanting to be treated like humans!
Ironically this wouldn’t be a big issue for American consumers if we had a halfway decent public rail transit system.
Also workplace safety, which is tied to fatigue as well. This really shouldn’t be a labour dispute issue. A government with some courage should be setting these standards through regulation. If the railways want public right of ways to operate, they have a duty to public safety, or GTFO of the business.
Since it doesn’t matter anymore because he stopped mattering to people…
Biden didn’t show much “courage” when he screwed US freight workers over about 1 1/2 years ago. Shawn Fein sure forgot.
In this case Canada, which makes it more of a surprise. The public up here is far more open to regulating for public safety and workplace standards. Of course, corporate lobbyists still ply the halls of parliament like some primal slime, so nothing works as well as it should here either.
Canadian National is also plurality owned by Bill Gates, through both his investment company and his foundation (a bit over 14%), he owns about 13x more of CN than he does of Microsoft
After reading some of the TCRC union releases to the membership, it appears the biggest sticking point is that while the Companies have offered higher wages, they want to effectively remove seniority in job bidding (or the ability to chose at all), any choice of working Yard v. OTR, among other things.
Basically, they want workers to just show up for twelve-hour shifts, do any duty assigned, go home and get the minimum rest allowed, and work again. All while not guaranteeing when/frequency/consecutively of rest days.
That’s a big problem. 100% with the TCRC on this one. They already make good wages. the Companies trying to up it by a percent or two is insulting, considering the trade-off asks.
They also want to be able to relocate them for up to 3 months with minimal notice.
Correct. I guess I could have been more specific with the “do any duty assigned” part, but yep.
Did they not read the conditions they agreed to within their Disney+ membership?
“The audacity of not wanting to consistently work 80 hour weeks and actually use the vacation they’re entitled to has led to this. Damn people wanting to be treated like humans!”
That is par for the course for many white collar professions, in most (all) cases with zero overtime pay.
Not saying whether it’s right or wrong. It just is.
Which sucks. I moved from blue collar to white collar, but I’m unionized. So I actually dropped from a 40 hour to a 35 hour week. Plus, management is big on disconnecting and using out PTO.
“Cruise, GM’s autonomous car unit, has been in all sorts of shit over the past few years or so. From blocking streets to having issues turning left to dragging a pedestrian 20 feet and pinning them underneath the car with serious injuries, GM’s robotaxi experiment just didn’t seem ready for prime time, but instead packed with inherent flaws
…
while this is one hurdle cleared for the embattled AV brand, there are absolutely several more to go, such as DOJ and SEC investigations for last year’s pedestrian dragging.”
Lets not forget that said pedestrian was knocked into the path of that AV by a hit and run HUMAN driver who AFAIK is still at large. The AV moved 20 feet or about 2-3 car lengths to pull over which is a lot better than many human drivers, especially the aforementioned douchebag manage to do.
Those Cadillac shoes are the dumbest way to spend $5k. Why does the toe cap end right where the extra leather is necessary for skateboarding tricks?!?! What useless items. Maybe I would be interested if they were Catera inspired shoes with Ziggy on them. Now that would be a shoe that zags.
Hold on. Are you suggesting there is some overlap between Cadillac buying, Sneakerhead, Skateboarding venns? I’d like to meet that person.
If he were real, you definitely wouldn’t.
Ken Block was never sponsored by Cadillac, but he did create DC shoes. He likely would have been that person. If I could find a Purple 1974 Eldorado Convertible, I would also be that person.
Maybe if he was going to hoon a V or something. He would be the one.
Man that guy lived quite a life.
Sign me up for Ziggy merch!
You got a thing for re-runs of quantum leap?
I’ll be honest, I buy new shoes every 2-3 years, and haven’t paid more than $100 for shoes except maybe three times in the last 40+ years, so the idea of dropping $5k on shoes that bland just doesn’t compute for me. I get that I’m obviously not the target demographic for those Caddy shoes, but with the design being bland sneakers instead of fancy wingtips means I also can’t figure out who is?!
Yeah, that’s near what I saw for Italian bespoke leather shoes made from molds of one’s feet.
Automotive accessories are like clothing styles. They’re cool for 10 minutes when new, everyone hates them for 10-30 years, and then they’re just cool and desirable, no matter how stupid and impractical they may be.
Examples include: Hummer Cologne, Ronal Teddy Bear wheels, Mercury Marauder Leather Jacket, 1st gen Cayenne rear tire carrier, OEM branded roof boxes (my personal favorite), VW VIN matched guitars, and probably a lot of things I’m forgetting.
I had a coworker, now retired, who wore his leather jacket anytime he drove his Marauder to work. Honestly, it was a nice jacket that didn’t stand out too much, unlike those silly teddy bear wheels.
Oh, and don’t forget those insanely overpriced Jeep bicycles.
We had a Jeep baby gear backpack that was pretty solid. It was a really ugly green color so it was easy to find, and got it on sale for like $15.
Hummer Cologne is a thing? Wow, just wow. I bet it smells just like a guy who’s been dodging child support payments.
It’s been a thing since like the H2 at least. It’s in the cheap 20$ cologne rack at Shopper’s Drug Mart, so you haven’t missed much. (Your characterization of the consumer must be spot on)
Jay Leno should look under his couch cushions, he probably has that Aston somewhere and doesnt know it
I could see that coming up casually on a garage tour “there’s my Duesenberg room, over there is the Bugatti room, that’s the break room, that’s my Martin A1, and over here is a drawer where I keep assorted lengths of wire”
Range Rover made an autobiography key chain, now on ebay for $350, but I think new was $500.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/185503161417
“Cadillac-ack-ack-ack”
– Sound of me choking on my coffee at the sight of those shoes.
I nominate this for COTD, perfection.
“…..You oughta know by now
And if he can’t drive
With a broken back
At least he can polish the fenders…..”
I can’t wait for Rose Anvil to get his hands on those shoes and cut them in half to show how shoddy the construction is for 5K.
I also saw that the base price for the VW ID Buzz was $60K. By the time you add the options, TTL and dealer markup, you’re looking at a $75-80K vehicle. That’s too much for a minivan!
The rail strikes are more about quality of life than pay – fatigue management has been of particular note in the negotiations.
I thought the Ferrari Adidas were a weird and dumb flashy cash grab back in the aughts when I first saw them, but as a lifelong Adidas man who somehow actually owns a Ferrari, I wish to high heaven I had them now. Not just because of the branding, but because they were actually designed for the narrow pedal box, and skinny shoes for normal feet are a rare thing. (Now Ferrari works with Puma so that’s right out.)
I had a pair of the generic Goodyear Adidas they were an amazing pair of driving shoes, and just general great pair of shoes to wear. I wore through the soles.
I mean the Hummer Cologne is up there with most ridiculous, but the Porsche Design $235.00 Polo shirt is quite insane
Disagree.
A shirt like that could even make Don Jr. look cool. Wait I bet he and Eric already each have one.
Seriously though I come from a PORSCHE fam, just can’t see it myself.
But I will lay money that between my two bros with multiple PORSCHES each probably have several. lol
Why did that site default to 2xl for me? I’m solidly down to an XL now. Lack of faith in my willpower Porsche? I’m going to keep the weight off just to spite you.
Also, what’s with golf shirts made of awful uncomfortable fabric costing so much?
Hummer cologne: Smells like victory! *Cue the chorus of “Rock the Casbah”*
Too bad you can’t get a Cadillac in that color.
(Opulent Blue Metallic is not this bright)
To be fair (to be fair), it’s not hard to GET hit if your ride suddenly becomes immobilized in traffic.
Thank goodness for the Canadian rail strike, I was worried how auto dealers were going to keep justifying sky high mark ups on their inventory. All good now.
Those ridiculous shoes? Cadillac can shove those where the sun don’t shine. That’d be a kick in the ass.
Are they opening a custom mold for the soles of each pair? If they are I can see how you being to arrive at those prices, tooling costs are extremely expensive. You can get bespoke shoes made with custom carved lasts probably for within that price range if not a little less? Sneakers really just don’t make sense…
I will say outside of these Cadillac is stepping up its merch game, which is good, but why not just make the cashmere robe with the embroidered gold Cadillac crest on the pocket that Burl Ives wears in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof? I’d buy the hell out of that one!
There’s an old Italian guy near me who does custom dress shoes from about $4,000 and up. My understanding is carving the last is not an insignificant part of that and subsequent pairs are somewhat cheaper if you reuse the same one
Yeah that honestly checks out. There’s likely a few revisions when doing a last by hand as well. Shoes, especially dress shoes, are very complicated and expensive to make at any scale, and if your scale is 1 of 1 then there sin’t much room to spread the costs. (I’ve designed shoes, if you can’t tell haha)
They’re a wee bit out of my price range, but I’ve seen some of his work, and there’s no question they are beautifully made and very clearly a buy it for life type of product. Hell, even much lesser dress shoes can still be that, I had to get a pair of Allen Edmonds resoled after a decade of regular use, and the cobbler said there’s enough material to stitch to that I could have that done 4 more times, which would probably be about the rest of my life
Good, high quality, well made things cost the amount they cost for a reason sometimes!
The exact sales pitch used in showrooms for the Maserati Biturbo, and now to move lease special Ghiblis!
The weirdest brand extension still has to be the Bentley Residences condo tower. I mean, shoes are sort of involved in transportation, can be made of materials used in cars, and can be used while driving a car, but what does a glass and concrete condo development in Florida have to do with a British automaker?
Easy! The connection is money and profit!
Shockingly enough, luxury brand housing projects across tons of industries have been massively on the rise the past few years, and have been really successful for the brands. Sure it may be a stretch, but a lot of new-money crypto bros and oil barons are loving the gauche branded living complexes. I don’t get it either, but it’s working I guess.
Well, you’ve got to have a place to put the rest of your Bentley furniture for the times when you’re not aboard your Bentley-furnished yacht or staying at one of the Bentley Hotels.
And when the distances in between these are too far to drive, you can just rent the Bentley Gulfstream from Flexjet
A: ID.Buzz