BLOCKQUOTE.org

You are looking at BLOCKQUOTE.org.

BLOCKQUOTE.org is a web site. The web site belongs to Justin Skolnick, who lives in Chicago. You may not have it.

Posts marked with a dog-eared corner (upper right) are subject to revision — sometimes heavy.

If RSS is your thing, have at it.

Give me Liberty, or give me a Ka

And as part of the huge bet it is placing on the future direction of the troubled American auto industry, Ford will realign factories to manufacture more fuel-efficient engines and produce six of its next European car models for the United States market.

"Ford to Make Broader Bet on Small Cars," New York Times

When a Ford dealer crushed my dream of importing a Ka, I settled on the two-door Escort Coupe I dumped within two years, on account of its epileptic speedometer, for a new Focus Sedan. The Focus’s relative agility on American roads makes an ironic reminder of the Focuses I saw labor through the sharp cobblestone tangles of Florence and Siena, where it was and no doubt remains a large vehicle.

Wandering a dealer’s lot last Saturday during an oil change, I learned the Focus is the current fleet’s smallest. Almost needless to add I was the only one wandering the lot.