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Paul Clemens was out driving with his father in Detroit, Bruce Spring-steen’s "Darkness on the Edge of Town" blasting on the tape deck. Bruce sings, "I got a ’69 Chevy with a 396/Fuelie heads and a Hurst on the floor." Clemens’ dad is bothered by what he hears: "He’s got that wrong," says Clemens senior. "There was no such thing as fuelie heads on a big block … Now with the small block Chevy engine, the 327, you could have had fuel-injected cylinder heads. But with the big block, no."
Those were the days, when talk like that was on the lips of every coin-jingling dad who, more likely than not, was a Ford, GM or Chrysler loyalist. Clemens’ "Made in Detroit: A South of Eight Mile Memoir" (Doubleday) is about a love-hate relationship with the Motor City. The city that, in historian Arthur Pond’s 1940 words, "exists to build and sell motor cars," has largely stopped making them and its slow decline (from nearly two million residents in 1950 to less than 900,000 now) had paralleled Clemens’ youth there. �
"Detroit has had a rough go of it lately," Clemens lamented in a recent New York Times Op-Ed piece. So rough that some investors are worried General Motors, which announced the layoff of 30,000 workers Nov. 21, could seek bankruptcy protection within the next six months to a year. (The company points to its $19 billion cash on hand and denies the rumors.)
In total, Detroit-based automakers have announced the elimination of 98,000 jobs recently, so it will mean a cold Christmas in a state that already has a 6.4 percent unemployment rate. This is really sad and nobody wants the American auto industry to fail. But the companies have to start building cars that can compete with Japan. As the New York Times put it, "[GM] is now competing with prosperous automakers like Toyota and Honda that have clear identities, a commitment to environmentally friendly products and customers who do not need to be enticed with incentives."
One sign of the times is the 2006 Mitsubishi Eclipse I’m driving now. U.S. automakers long ago abandoned the concept of the "hot hatch," considering it passé. Meanwhile, Mitsubishi kept on improving its little road rocket long after the American clones known as the Eagle Talon and Plymouth Laser were deep-sixed.
The Eclipse has a fresh, very sporty design placing it in Audi TT territory. Based on a platform built expressly for the U.S., it is 2 inches taller than previous models (there have been three earlier Eclipses). The Eclipse is a "Grand Tourer" with smallish rear seats, good for short and compliant passengers (the "room for four adults" should be taken with a smile). Those rear seats make good storage, complementing a large bin and glove box. The door pockets are hopeless, however.
Mitsubishi trumpets the fact its 263-horsepower, 3.8-liter V-6 has more oomph than the V-6 Mustang. It is part of the package with the GT version, but you can also opt for a fuel-efficient 162-horsepower four. As tested, the Eclipse cost $28,864, and that includes a really cool Rockford Fosgate stereo featuring a gigantic subwoofer.
I would have preferred a manual transmission with this package, but the five-speed automatic is OK. One drawback of the Eclipse GT is its interior noise level – on the highway at 2,500 rpm, this little hatch is louder than a Who concert.
