Auto Press Junkets, Part 1

There was a time when I got invited on auto press junkets. That was a heady time. Truthfully, I always felt like I was a fake, that sooner or later "they" would find out I didn't belong. It did finally happen, but not because I didn't belong; more likely because budgets were cut.

I did get a big head, but only for a very short time. In 1984, tacked onto the end of an American Motors Canada Inc. trip to Southern California (more on the trip later), I stayed on to visit a friend in Laguna Beach. Shortly before the AMC trip I had been at what was known as the General Motors long leads (long leads are product previews for the timelines of magazines). I was acting all "it's no big deal." My friend asked how many journalists were there, and I told him maybe a couple hundred. My friend asked where they were all from. "All over the world" I replied. He was stunned that I, Bruce Hotchkiss, was among such an elite group. I'd honestly never thought of it that way until then. It really put me in my place.

There have been good times, and OMG! times on some of these trips. Here's some that stand out for me. 

On a Ford long lead to Michigan for 1988 models (this would have been the summer of '87), we spent a day at Ford's Romeo Proving Grounds. There is an oval track, a road course, and other parts. I don't remember what we were there to "evaluate" but there was a Mercury Capri XR2 (not yet for sale) doing laps on the oval. Lincoln was showing off the computer-controlled suspension on the Continental. 

There was also the '88 Thunderbird V8. A special version with a manual transmission was available to drive on the road course, or you could ride along with Bob Bondurant. A French Canadian writer, Marc Lachapelle, went out by himself and did a few timed laps. His times were faster than Bondurant's! A little back and forth was on but I think Marc ended the day with the fastest lap. Marc is still an active member of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (I was a member at that time). I'd add that I always found the French Canadian writers the friendliest, always greeting me and others they knew with the warmest "Bonjour!"

Usually, when I went on the auto makers' junkets, I hung out with two Canadian writers with far more experience than I had, Bill McLauclan and Richard Russell; Bill wrote for the Canadian Automobile Association-Toronto magazine, and Richard for the Halifax Herald (I think he was the business editor). Richard also raced. Between the two, I was introduced to some great writers. A couple of memorable occasions come to mind.

One evening during the G.M. long lead week, we were all drinking in the mezzanine bar of the hotel where we all stayed. We'd been knocking them back, telling jokes, just having a good time. We were joined by a Finnish writer. Yuka is the only name I remember. Yuka spoke a little English; we didn't speak any Finnish, but Yuka told a long joke in Finnish. We all about fell on the floor with laughter at the punchline, even though we had no idea what he said. You had to be there.

On another night, the bartender in the mezzanine bar made Richard a Tequila Slammer. We were all startled when she covered the glass with a napkin and slammed it on the bar. Fizz, fizz, fizz, and all the ingredients came together. The next night we were at dinner, and Richard decided he'd demonstrate a Slammer to the others at the table. Except he used a glass with a stem. BAM! The base broke off the glass. 

Everything wasn't always fun and games. A couple of trips had some rather scary and stupid driving incidents. How there were no collisions was just dumb luck. I won't use names for these except mine.

The 1984 AMC trip to California involved a lot of back-road driving. I've always said AMC put on the best trips. We flew into L.A., stayed overnight, and drove north to Avila Beach in Alliances and Jeeps. On a side note, the AMC media guy, Alan McPhee, introduced me to fine wines during this trip, ordering a couple bottles of a Chateau Margaux during a dinner.

Somewhere near Ojai I was the last car in a 3-car Alliance train. We were going along at a fairly good clip on a nice, curvy road. I am glad I brought up the rear. The road jinked to the left, crossed a narrow bridge, and then went right. The lead car went in too fast and went wide. It passed a stopped car with what looked like a mom and daughter on their passenger side. The second car was able to slow enough to make the corner on the right side of the road but came awfully close to mom's car. Being third I was able to slow to a near legal speed. The look on both mom and daughter's face was of sheer terror. 

Another trip, this one was a one-day thing in Ontario with Ford. I'm pretty sure it was for the '85 models. It was a purely Canadian trip, driving up to "cottage country" (north of Barrie, Ontario). It was a pretty nice drive; we weren't driving race cars, but as is often the case with auto writers, we drove over the limit. I took my normal position of following others (let someone else get the ticket). One writer, I didn't know him, decided he was going to race. Strange thing was, he was driving a 4-cylinder Taurus. On a two-lane road he passed me on the right, squeezing between the Taurus I was in and a rock face. I watched him weave in and out, passing on blind corners, as I held my breath. Thankfully, he didn't wreck or hit anyone. 

These are just a small sample of my experiences. For the most part, they were good. I met some great people. Maybe I'll write more another time.