Lock those gates.

This may or may not be news to some of you, but there is an alarming rise in pickup truck tailgate thefts in recent months. The Detroit News ran an article a few days ago that shows just how alarming it is. Tailgates can be removed easily in a matter of seconds from a pick up truck and as easily as a minute for locking gates. No one is really sure why there is such a spike in thefts. Though prices can range from $1,000 to over $3,000 for one tailgate. While the average hovers right around $1,200. So maybe thieves are seeing easy dollar signs when they see your pickup in a parking lot or in your driveway at night.

In the state of Michigan and probably the pick up truck capital of the world, tailgate theft is considered a felony that can land a thief a $10,000 fine and up to 5 years in prison, but this hasn't slowed the rate of thefts at all. Thefts are so bad and so rampant now, that new and used dealers have taken to removing the tailgates from vehicles in their inventory and storing them indoors until the vehicle sells. Some owners have now taken to backing their trucks up against walls to reduce the amount of room thieves would have to operate in.

The full article can be found here.

Source: The Detroit News

Niel's oval

Showing off our friend Niel's oval window. Niel's is the editor and publisher of an absolutely awesome Volkswagen bookazine called AirMighty. Check out his site and subscribe to his mag if your a VW nut like me.

airmighty.com

23 to go

A perfectly restored 23 window Deluxe Microbus. Even with VWs new Bulli concept, it's still no substitute for the original.

Rumble down under

Welcome to Murray Country from Bandit Films on Vimeo.

Very cool video from our friends in Australia featuring an American car collector and his 1970 Plymouth Superbird. 

Flame on !

Similar

But very different.

Spotted in Long Beach.















And the original built by Bill Steele in Pittsburgh.

What affect does the crisis in Japan have on the auto industry in the U.S.?

Actually, a lot more than you may think. As if the dealer and plant closings and the unfortunate bankruptcies were bad enough. Here comes news from Japan of an Earthquake followed by a Tsunami followed by the now extremely good chance of a nuclear meltdown. How does this affect the U.S. auto industry you might ask. Well here's how it does. The factories in Japan that produce U.S. bound cars for Honda, Toyota, Nissan, and Mitsubishi to name a few are offline entirely. Secondly, due to the tsunami, billions of dollars (with a B) worth of vehicles were lost or destroyed. That's going to hurt dealers world wide, not necessarily in the immediate short term as there is a supply of cars already at dealers, but in the coming months this will start to become a major issue for dealers.

The next issue that comes into play are the suppliers. Here's where it starts to become a much larger issue. Not only to the Japanese manufacturers get components from suppliers in Japan (some still haven't been able to be contacted for status updates), but U.S. and European manufacturers also get some components produced in Japan. This has already affected General Motors which has had to shut down production at their Shreveport, Louisiana factory which produces the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon. While this GM plant is the first to stop productions, others have scaled back production. So we'll have to wait and see now, what further issues arise.

Lastly comes the new scare of a possible nuclear meltdown. With each passing day, this is starting to look more and more likely to happen. Which is terrible in its own right. If a meltdown happens, the plants that produce vehicles and components in the projected radius (and it is many factories) will essentially become useless for decades. That means new factories will have to be built to take up the demand and get the industry back up and running.

We are monitoring the news closely in the wake of this tragedy and our thoughts and prayers go out to the people of Japan in this tough time.