21 February 2007

An Anecdotal Case Against GM




The Truth About Cars is a thoroughly interesting shit-tossing automobile-loving website that's been running a General Motors deathwatch for 110 posts and counting.

My dad cursed General Motors after buying his last American car--a '79 Seville that had gaps so large between panels that you couldn't slam your hand in the car door. And let's not discuss the shockingly crooked rear tail light. From that point, he would only look at Toyotas, Datsuns/Nissans, and Hondas.



I recall JVL's metallic brown Oldsmobile self-immolating after he lent it to a friend at Johns Hopkins. (That's not him in the picture, nor a pre-fire shot of his car.) Granted, the car may just have had too much of Baltimore and chosen the quickest path to the automotive afterlife.

As a New Yorker, I don't own my own wheels. So I drive Avis-provided GM and Ford crap-o-ramas. They remind me of my old '87 Acura Legend, except that these fine cars are often '06 and '07's. I expect a bit more automotive evolution over a twenty-year span.

Anyway, if I had listened to TTAC's anecdotes and thought about my dad when making an investment decision regarding GM over the last year or so, I'd me much poorer. Yes, yes, it's quite the shocker that GM was the best performing Dow component of 2006.

All the better then--that recent performance gives a put option investor that much more room for the stock to fall.

There was quite a bit of volume today on the March 35 puts (GM OG). That's what I'm looking at tomorrow.

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