Adios mis amigos, Sayōnara tomoyo, Auf Wiedersehen meine Freunde, annyeong chingudeul, Goodbye my friends

 

Wow, this has been one hell of a ride. And a long one. 

I can't remember the exact year when I first wrote a car review, I think it was either 1983 or 1984. That's over 40 years!

It all started almost by chance. I was working for the Canadian Automobile Association, Toronto (CAA), the Canadian associate of AAA, in their Automotive Inspection Center. A spot opened up in their F.A.C.T.S. (Free Automotive Consumer and Technical Services) for a Technical Advisor; I got it.

Let me back up a bit, tell you my Ted Baxter ("It all started in a 5,000 watt radio station in Fresno ...") bio.

I grew up in rural Connecticut. By the time I turned 16, I was a total screw-up. I quit school (twice). I had a few dead-end jobs, but I always made enough money to have a car.

Thanks to my mom, who pulled some strings, I took the G.E.D. exam, and passed a month after my class graduated. Chalk one up in my favor. That was in 1967.

In July 1969, I went to Canada, took some college courses, and eventually became a Certified Automotive Technician. All of this led me to the CAA (Canadian Automobile Association).

My first writing at the CAA was their Autopinion, a two-sided "review" of new cars. It was very boilerplate; I basically copied existing Autopinions, plugging in new data. At first, I wrote by hand, but eventually I typed up my reviews (one-finger typing). 

The CAA job led to a few TV consumer shows, and some radio. I tried hard to find another outlet for my writing but back then just about every magazine, and newspaper had an auto column. 

Times were good for the auto industry at that time. Trips to test the new models were plentiful and mostly first class. 

In the Toronto area, no company delivered cars to journalists. You drove to the car company's offices, left your car, and picked up what they wanted you to drive.

There many memorable trips and cars back then. When the 4th gen, 1984 Corvette came out, I got a call from GM that I could have one for 24 hours. I hustled out to Oshawa, Ontario to pick it up, got home about 4 p.m., picked up my then wife, drove to Chez Piggy (a restaurant in Kingston, Ont. that was 155 miles from my house, and back home the same night. Stew Low, the GM media guy was a bit upset that I put so many miles on the 'Vette!

Another memorable trip was to Salon l'Auto de Montreal. The show was good but the highlight was being invited to a small get-together in Hector Dupuis' (Executive VP, Toyota Canada) suite in the adjacent hotel. Dan Gurney, who had helped with the suspension tweaking of the MR2, was there with a handful of other writers. I have a poster of the 1984 MR2 signed by Gurney. One of my first face-to-face meetings with a hero of mine. I was (still am) very chuffed!

After leaving the CAA I kept my hand in writing whenever and wherever I could. I even worked as an editor on Light Truck Guide for two years (a Canadian annual). Mazda Canada gave me heck because I used a picture of a US B2000. Oh well.

In 1985 Chevrolet held a fuel economy/scavenger hunt event for the new Nova (rebadged Toyota Corolla). John Arnone (another writer) and I won and shared the financial prize ($2,000?) that had to be donated to a charity. John gave his half to his alma mater (Ryerson Polytechnical College, now Toronto Metropolitan University), my half went to the Automotive Journalists Association of Canada's (AJAC) Tony Sloga Scholarship. 

I seemed to bounce around in my jobs, eventually ending up in 1988 working for American Motors Corporation (Canada) Inc., as the Owner Relations person in the Ontario Zone Office (a bit of a misnomer, as we actually covered Ontario, the prairie provinces, and the Yukon). If you have any knowledge of AMC in the '80s, you know I was a busy man. 

A few months after joining AMC, it was sold (by Renault) to Chrysler. My office was moved, but the job stayed the same. 

I really wasn't happy working in Owner Relations, always saying NO to what I felt were deserving customers, so I kept an eye open for something different, something better suited to my technical background.

That something was a position in Service Engineering for Honda Canada, Inc. That was a very rewarding job. Sometimes I think I should have kept it but a near death experience changed that (a slip and fall that broke five ribs).

I was never a winter guy. I hate the cold, the constant sickness, the salt-eaten shoes, and cars. A friend here in California alerted me to jobs at the Bureau of Automotive Repair. It was not an easy process; I needed to fly to Sacramento to take a four-hour or so exam consisting of many parts, including California laws. Somehow, I made it into the 7th rank, and in 1990, I was informed that I had been selected for a position in Hayward, CA. 

I sold the house in Toronto and moved over 3,000 miles to take a job that paid less than I was making (even taking into account the exchange rate).

From 1988 until 1997, my writing was on hold. In 1997, the editor of the Pacifica Tribune approached me about writing an automotive column. Thank you, Chris. I said sure. That year I begged cars, first from the auto companies, and they referred me to the agencies that handled their press fleets. Page One Automotive was the first company to deliver a press car to my house.

So why am I pulling the plug on this long career? There are a few reasons. First, I am getting old. My life has been full, but at this point, it is also complicated by health issues (not mine). The shrinking budgets of the car companies mean there just aren't that many press cars. Add in that my only outlet is my blog. I really don't have the audience to justify tying up a press car. At least when I wrote for the Pacifica Tribune, and later the Tracy Press, I could legitimately claim thousands of readers. 

I don't have any regrets about pulling the plug. "They" say that knowing when to stop is wise. It might be the first time I was called wise.

I'd like to thank all those who have helped me over the years. DriveShop, and Page One Automotive have been invaluable, as were all the other outfits that are no longer in the business. Michael Dobrin was always there, either with a word of encouragement or correction.

Then there are the car companies, or rather their media folks. A good - no great representative - can make the worst company better ; Alan McPhee was the reason AMC Canada got good coverage in my opinion (Alan McPhee was the voice for AMC (Canada)). I'm not going to list all the folks I've met because I surely would miss some. Just know that I appreciate everything you've done, even with a limited budget. 

I'm not going to quit writing, my focus will change though. As Phil Ochs said "That when I've got something to say, sir, I'm gonna say it now." I won't bombard your inboxes with what I write, but it will be out there. 

Thanks so much.