Celebrating The First Anniversary of Our Online Presence

Syd's Eastside Auto Parts, Used Cars & Rebuilders has now been online at http://www.SydsAutoParts.com for over a year. Our website has grown and expanded with our business.

Syd's Eastside Auto Parts, Used Cars & Rebuilders had previously been online for 8 months or so prior with a packaged website that allowed visitors to search our inventory, but didn't allow e-commerce and wasn't customizable. Interest in our auto parts offerings quickly grew and that's why we created our own custom professional website with full search capabilities cross indexed for interchangeable parts and full, secure e-commerce capabilities.

In the past year we have added website functionality and expanded our business:

1. Added licensed Hollander Interchange cross-indexing to show all available interchangeable parts across makes, models and years in our Online Auto Parts Search Results.
2. Continued to keep and maintain an up-to-date catalog of our available Used Cars and Trucks For Sale offers online through the website.
3. Added E-Commerce functionality with a secure Shopping Cart for online auto parts shopping.
4. Offered New Aftermarket Auto Parts through our toll-free ordering service.
5. Added a Featured Parts & Products Showcase to allow us to highlight some of our available tools and products, as well as showcase our new and used auto parts.
6. Expanded our business to offer Aftermarket Caterpillar Diesel Engine Parts.
7. Added a section for our Heavy Equipment & Machinery offerings.

Remember that we are no longer just a salvage yard and now offer new aftermarket automotive parts and aftermarket Caterpillar diesel parts.

We look to further expand our product and service lines further to better accomodate our customers in the future. We certainly hope that you will be pleased with the results.

Thanks to our customers and suppliers for our past and continued success!
-SydsEastside

Chelli's Bentley

Yesterday, on Southfield Road, I pulled up next to a shiny black Bentley Azure convertible, like this one:


Driving it, slowly, and chatting on a cell phone was (if I recognized him correctly) Chris Chelios, the senior defenseman from the Red Wings, and owner of Chelli's Chilli Bar restaurants.

It doesn't really matter to me what our local celebrities drive, as I don't care much for celebrity one way or another, but it was neat to see a Red Wing and his wheels.

Japanese Precision Auto Stunts

From Break.com.


The Japanese Are Very Talented - Click Here for more great videos and pictures!

Spotted In Birmingham: Holden Crewman

I stopped by the Border's Books in Birmingham the other day, and found myself parked next to one of these, sporting an M-plate. Sorry for the stolen pics, I dont' have a cell phone camera.















It is a sharp looking car, outside and in. Some lucky engineer from GM probably got to drive it for evaluation purposes.

Why Side Air Bags (Protect Children)?

A number of car manufacturers now offer side-mounted air bags as standard or optional safety equipment for front seat passengers. Side air bags protect drivers and front seat adult passengers in certain side-impact collisions. A much smaller number of manufacturers offer side-mounted air bags in the rear seat as standard or optional equipment. Take a moment to read your owner’s manual and identify where the side air bags are located in your vehicle. The following table briefly describes the different types of side air bag:

Roof-mounted systems	Curtains and head tubes come out from the roof line along the upper edge of the doors. These air bags come down along the window to protect your head and neck.
Door-mounted systems	Door-mounted air bags break out of the armrest or the door just above the armrest. When fully inflated these air bags are about the size of a plastic grocery bag filled with air. These air bags protect your chest.
Seat-mounted systems	Seat-mounted air bags come out through the side of the seat back cushion closest to the door. Some air bags will inflate to the size of a small cushion, while others can inflate to the size of a large pillow. The smaller air bags protect your chest, while the larger ones protect your chest and head.

How to Protect Children in Vehicles with Side Air Bags

Keeping Children Safe in Your Vehicle

Air bags save lives. However, children must be properly seated and restrained at all times. This fact sheet tells you about the four stages of child safety in vehicles equipped with side air bags. No matter what the age of your child, it is important to follow some basic guidelines when travelling with children in your vehicle.

Sometimes, We Need Big Brother

Today, I had a near miss because an idiot in front me of me had exactly one of three brake lamps working. He also had near-black tint on his front windows (technically illegal in MI) and non-functioning hood pins. On a battered Mercedes 200-series!

I would not advocate emissions testing to qualify for vehicle registration, but I am thinking now that mandatory safety inspections may be a good idea.

Should we let people drive with bald tires? Dead brake lamps? Dead headlights? Undamped, bouncing wheels? Worn out brakes? Ridiculously high lift kits that could result in decapitations in a collision with another vehicle?

I'm all for individual freedom, up to the point when people's poor maintenance or poseur engineering endanger the others on the road.

Slip-sliding away, slip-sliding away...

"Domestic" auto sales (Chrysler + Ford + GM) have fallen below 50% market share, and are not likely to recover any time soon, if ever.

But market share doesn't so much matter; the important thing is for the domestics to be sustainable, profitable businesses at the size they wind up at.

How likely is this? It is hard to say. I personally think that GM and Ford are large enough that they might pull itoff, with concessions from the UAW, product updates, and relocating production of low-margin vehicles to low cost countries.

Chrysler, I think, is a tough problem, because they aren't strong enough to stand on their own. Whoever winds up with Chrysler will have to join into alliances with other automakers to keep Chrysler's product pipeline full. If Chrysler's new owner is only interested in making a quick buck, there is a real chance that most of the company will simply evaporate, as the valuable pieces are sold off.

The "elephant in the room" is the massive legacy cost of the pension and retiree health care obligations. These costs mean that the domestics are significantly underwater--for each vehicle they build, they have less money available to put into content. The problem seems intractable, and at some point it will have to be dealt with. Either retirees will be thrown under the bus, or we will see some of the largest bankruptcies in American business history.

Either way, it will be excruciating.