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The Back End: October 2008
TALEPIPE Huffs
and puffs along the automotive road
Quotations are from press conferences and media reports.
Compiled and edited by managing editor Peter Craig.
‘ T ’ F O R T A R D Y
“When you’re on a Model T tour, you don’t go very fast, [so] you get a chance to look at things.”

—Model T confab organizer Jay Klehforth on a recent event celebrating that car’s 100th anniversary
C R A S H D I E T
“As you can imagine, much of what we had to eat this morning did not go down well.”
—NADA Washington Conference speaker Sen. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) on his breakfast with financial services reps, discussing Wall Street troubles
L I F E E X P E C T A N C Y
“Accounts of our imminent demise are not only premature, but also inaccurate and unsubstantiated.”
—GM worldwide product chief Bob Lutz upon introducing the maker’s 2009 product lineup amid reports of a $15.5 million second-quarter loss
W O M E N O F T H E S T R E E T
“We’re trading in the old program for a newer, more advanced model.”

—Transportation secretary Mary Peters on NHTSA’s new crash-test dummies, which will be used to represent women and large children
G O A L - D I S O R I E N T E D
“There are diminishing returns to underachieving. People will only accept that for so long.”
—Simon Chadwick, sports-business prof at Britain’s Coventry Business School, on how Toyota’s weak racing rep may ultimately hurt the automaker’s image
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