GM FYI Blog

By Stephen Skojec
GM Consultant

Every day, I spend about three hours commuting. Fortunately for me, I spend the majority of that time on a shuttle bus, which gives me plenty of time to read. Lately, I’ve been eagerly pursuing the novels of bestselling author Vince Flynn. Known for his political thrillers surrounding the exploits of CIA operative Mitch Rapp, Flynn’s books are like something between a Tom Clancy novel and an episode of 24.

Today, as I was working my way through his latest, Act of Treason, I came across the following passage:

“There was one area where Garret really spent money, though. He loved to collect vintage muscle cars and rare motorcycles…
…He supposed they brought him back to his youth and his own father who had worked on the assembly line for General Motors. Back when they made great cars. Garret only collected American vehicles made before 1970. Everything made after that was sh*t. Although, Detroit had begun to turn out some decent vehicles lately. Ford had a new Mustang Shelby that was supposed to be out of this world, and Chevy was coming out with a new Camaro. If he caught another big fish this week he could buy one in every color.”

It’s fiction, and Garret is not one of the good guys in the story, but when it comes to his toys he seems to be a man with money and good taste. Who wouldn’t want a Camaro in every color?

I personally find it very cool that one of my favorite authors has taken notice that the cars coming out of Detroit are on a par with the glory days. More and more I’m seeing commentary that defies the old conventional wisdom — only foreign automakers make good cars. I can’t tell you how happy I am every time I see that perception is catching up with the facts about good car design, quality and technology, particularly at GM.

It may be that this insight comes through the character of one of novel’s bad guys, but after all, even the bad guys need nice ride.

If you’ve seen other mentions in popular culture that buck conventional wisdom about GM or the auto industry, let us know at editor [at] gmblogs [dot] com.