Word: stillness
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Most car owners fret about how to coax another year out of the heap in the driveway, but there are still customers aplenty for the expensive, high-precision toys known in the automotive trade as exotic cars. Most of the buyers are men in their early 40s who are lured by names like Aston Martin, Maserati, Ferrari and Lamborghini that whisper freedom and promise sybaritic luxury. Oil-rich Arabs are big buyers: a member of the Saudi Arabian royal family this year paid $114,000 for two Lamborghini Countach-Ss lovingly built in Bologna. Sheiks and wealthy Japanese are queuing...
...makers of these low-slung models report substantial backlogs, with customers on a waiting list of up to 20 months. Maserati could double its production rate of two cars a day and still not fulfill all its orders. This year Aston Martin will sell 320 models (vs. 287 in 1978) and increase production next June from six cars a week to seven...
...Still, there is an amber light flashing caution in the industry. Even with the substantial customer demand and profit margins that average from 8% to 10%, automakers fear that some of these high-strung dream cars may be speeding down the road to extinction. They will hardly be done in by soaring gas prices. A West German dentist earning more than $100,000 is unlikely to quibble over an extra 50c or so a gallon. And in fact the graceful sprinters with the impeccable pedigrees sip gas daintily, considering their performances: a Maserati Quattroporte gets 16 m.p.g...
Although the U.S. still has far to go to reach parity with Japan, the new mood was based on encouraging statistics. Says Mansfield: "In the first half of 1979, our exports to Japan were up 46% compared with a year ago. Our imports from Japan were up too, but only by 8.8%." Last year the U.S. ran an $11.6 billion deficit in its trade with Japan; in 1979 the figure is expected to drop to about $9 billion, a 25% decrease...
...Still, it is entirely possible that . . . And Justice for All might yet advance the worthy cause of decent justice. Just watch what happens if the city fathers of Baltimore decide to hire a good libel lawyer. - Frank Rich