Runde Auto Chat

Roy Brock is one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet. He came in to Runde’s after doing some research for a new truck with his daughter. He ended up with a great truck and a great experience which resulted in him being in a great mood and a willingness to share that experience to the world.

What brought you into Runde’s Today?
My daughter was looking for a vehicle for me on the internet and she ran across the 1500 Chevy Silverado Crew Cab that was perfect for me. She called up here and talked to Al a few times and told me that I should check out the truck. So I looked it up on the website, thought it looked great and now here I am.

How did you like your experience here at Runde’s?
I enjoyed it. They treated me right and I really appreciate it. I’d give them a 10 out of 10.

How did you like Al?
He knows how to do it right. Perfect. He gets a 10 out of 10.

Did you need the truck for a particular reason?
I do, mainly because I can’t haul anything in my car. I traded in my Chrysler 300. It’s a nice car but I just needed a truck for the space and hauling capabilities.

Are you from the area?
I’m from Clinton, IA, a little over and hour away.

Oh! They opened up a chicken place by some famous rapper guy there…
Oh, what’s his name… oh yeah, Flavor Flav. Yep, didn’t last too long. I think the guy next door kind of got into it with the owners and they ended up having to leave. They opened up for business at around 4, which was really late I thought, but they always had people lined up all the way around the corner waiting to get in.

Not one of their customers?
No, we eat at home most of the time. We make our own food, only every once in a while we’ll go out to a Culvers, Hardees or McDonalds, something like that.

Who is “We”?
Me and my wife Julie. We’ve been together for about 13 years.

What kind of meals do you make at home?
Steak and Pork-chops. I’m really bad on the grill with steak I always find myself saying “Woah, this is going to be a little crispy, honey”. My wife makes goulash and we cook a lot of chicken dishes because the dogs love it. They aren’t very good at eating dog food.

Do you remember your first date with Julie?
Yep. Her kids and my kids set us up on a blind date at the bowling alley. We got there then the kids took off and let us be alone. It turned out pretty good… pretty unusual but it was great.

Do anything special for your recent anniversary?
No, nothing special, she had to work and we didn’t have anything planned. Just another day at the house, but every day is a good day.

How many kids do you guys have?
I have a boy and a girl and she has 3 girls so we have 1 boy 4 girl’s total. They are all grown up and now we have grandkids, three boys, and one girl - the complete opposite of what we had.

Al Kloft and Roy Brock

Do you all get together for the holidays?
Oh yeah, we do the holidays and birthday parties for the grandkids in our finished basement. Most of the family lives close to where our house is.

Go on many trips as a family?
We used to go to Florida but now everyone is busy all the time so we don’t really get a chance to. We went down there once in September, man is that a bad time to go, it was way too hot.

Do you and your wife go out much?
No, not too much. She’s working and I’m retired so I stay at home with the dogs most of the time.

What kind of dogs?
I have a Bichon-Shih Tzu mix and a Yorkie. They are both about three years old. We’ve had them both since they were puppies. They are great company. Wendy, the Yorkie, she tries to talk… she lifts her head up and starts to make this gargling noise, it’s fun to watch.

Are you looking forward to winter?
Oh sure, I like the winter. I don’t do nothing much anyway so I don’t mind the snow. I’m looking forward to it actually now that I have my four-wheel-drive truck.

What do you like to do in your spare time?
Fish. My son-in-law and I will go out and fish from time to time, we like to fish catfish and walleye. We haven’t caught many this year because of the weird weather. 

Have a football team?
I like the Hawkeyes.

If you were to win the lottery what would you do with the money?
Probably pay off my bills, get a bigger house then help out my kids.

Did you grow up during war time?
I graduated in ’64 during the Vietnam War. I served in the Marine Core as a combat engineer which mostly deals with demolitions. I swept rows for mines, diffused mines and bombs grenades and so forth as well as blew up gates. I actually really enjoyed doing what I did.

How did you find the mines?
We used to see if the dirt was shuffled around at all, and if we couldn’t spot them with our eyes we’d make sure to bring the mine detector. It seemed like right after you take one out another one would be laid in its place. We scanned the routes every morning before the troops would go out. We’ve seen some nasty booby-traps.

Anything else you’d like to add Mr. Brock?
Nope, just that everything was great. I enjoyed my stay here and am looking forward to riding my truck around!
Thank you Roy! We appreciate your business and we hope you have some fun this winter with your new truck!

Good things come in three as they say, and groups of three stand strong… The Three Stooges, Three Musketeers, Three Wise Men, Three Little Piggy’s, and now the three Chevrolet vehicles awarded the IIHS Top Safety Pick! The Chevrolet Volt and Cruze have now gained a brother in their recognized defense of human life on the road with the Chevrolet Sonic. Just awarded the IIHS Top Safety Pick, the Sonic brings home the third 2012 vehicle awarded with the honor of Top Safety Pick for Chevrolet. 

The IIHS puts vehicles through four different, rigorous, tests: front and side crash, rollover and seat/head restraint tests for protection against neck injuries and rear impacts. To earn the IIHS Top Safety Pick a vehicle “must have good ratings in all four Institute tests. In addition, the winning vehicles must offer electronic stability control.” (IIHS.org) So what keeps the Sonic safe? In addition to 10 air bags with sensing and diagnostic modules mounted into the Sonic’s structure, it has a body structure with a single welded side ring unit. Over 60% of the vehicle safety cage consists of high-strength steel. To top it all off, the Sonic comes standard with Hill-Hold technology which helps drivers (especially manual drivers) maintain breaking control while on a hill.

Joaquin Nuño-Whelan, Sonic vehicle line director and vehicle chief engineer stated; “We developed Sonic to exceed our customer’s expectations of the subcompact market, both in the fun-to-drive performance characteristics and the segment-leading safety features. This designation by IIHS confirms that Chevy customers can buy a subcompact with top safety performance.”

 Check out some of the tests below!

When Michael Jordan originally stepped away from basketball to pursue his dream of playing pro baseball, Chicago Bulls fans cried out in a collective agony that was heard and felt around the globe. When he returned to the Bulls a year and a half later, he picked up where he left off and helped to provide Chicago with three more NBA titles.

In the same accord, when Ryne Sandberg announced his initial retirement from the Chicago Cubs in '94, Cubs fans collectively grieved like they had lost one of their own sons. A few years later when Ryne had his life back together and returned to the team, the Cubs turned the ship around and won three straight World Series titles. (We can all dream, can't we?)

Today General Motors announced that Bob Lutz will return to work with the company and that his new role "will extend beyond new cars and trucks". GM fans should definitely feel overcome with a sense of jubilation knowing that Mr. Lutz is back on the job again.

He had stepped away from the company for the past 16 months to devote more time to his family and person life and I imagine that both he and GM came to the mutual consensus that his ultimate place is behind the wheel steering the ship of Product Development at GM.

Lutz has had a long and successful run in the automotive industry and he is one of the most respected men in his field. (A modern day Harley Earl for X & Y Gen people). Over the last few years, he's had a hand in the design of overwhelmingly popular new GM models like the Chevy Equinox, Chevy Cruze, Buick Enclave, and the Chevy Volt (all of which are far cries from the 1996 Buick Skylark and Olds Achieva). And the Lutz navigational compass of design has helped to guide GM back into profitability and industry leadership status once again.

I imagine, Bob Lutz's situation was akin to that of both Jordan and Sandberg. Each man had other things that they wanted to do with their lives for a spell even though they were still in their primes and producing stellar results for their respective organizations. However after awhile, each was ultimately drawn back to their "sport of choice" and they were all welcomed back with open arms.

We at Runde Chevrolet would like to say, "Welcome back Bob!!! We missed you. And please know that we expect great thing from you in the future."

(*Please note that there was no mention of Brett Favre in this article even though he also retired from and then returned to professional football many, many, many, many times. )

An interview by Popular Mechanics with Bob Lutz at his home in Ann Arbor, Michigan after his initial retirement.

Ward's is one of the most respected names in the Auto Industry. This organization has covered the industry for more than 80 years. They produce widely distributed publications such as Ward's AutoWorld and Ward's Dealer Business and their website www.wardsauto.com is one of the most visited sites among professionals in the auto industry. Each year, Ward's Auto picks out vehicles that possess interiors that stand out above their direct competitors. This year, they presented Best Interior Awards to a total of just 15 vehicles and among them were the Chevy Cruze, the Chevy Volt, and the Ford Focus. The following is the video review of the Volt that was presented by a Ward's Review Department staff member:

Below are some shots of the Chevy Cruze and Ford Focus interiors. Personally speaking, we've been very impressed with the Cruze and Focus interiors so far -- both of them display a nice blend of ergonomics and innovation. Actually we were kind of surprised that no Honda or Toyota vehicles made it into

2011 officially marks the 100th year for Chevrolet. 100 years is quite a bit of time for any business to stay up and running. But boy, is it running smooth. Through the years Chevrolet has become a leader in the automotive industry and only shows signs of growing stronger. Lets take a look back to see how it all started.

GM was started by automotive marketer William C. Durant in 1908. Through the years Durant took notice of the engineer, mechanic and famous racer, Louis Chevrolet, as he set the land-speed record in 1905 for reaching 111 MPH in a special open race car. Durant hired Chevrolet to do big races and promotional drives for his company.

Being cast out from the company he founded, Durant left GM in 1910 and got together with Chevrolet and some of his partners to make a new car. Believing that Chevrolet's fame as a racer would help sell the car, the name "Chevrolet" was used and the Chevrolet company was introduced in 1911 and its first car, the Series C Classic Six was produced as a higher end (price comparable to $50,000 in today's market) vehicle with a 4.9L, six-cylinder engine producing 40 horsepower.

To appeal to a broader segment, the Chevrolet company produced the "Little" (later renamed as the Model L) which was a more affordable, entry level vehicle, yet had great features for it's price. This is the strategy that put Chevrolet ahead of the competition even today; great value. Getting more than you would think possible for the amount you are spending.  The first steps of success to an industry that has, so far, lasted a century.

Since then Chevrolet has always been on top of advancing the vehicles in the automotive market. Take, for example, the Chevrolet Volt - the first of it's kind to offer the consumer a safe, enjoyable ride while not having to worry about the rising gas prices thanks to it's hybrid of battery operation and extended range gasoline. Proof that even after 100 years Chevrolet has even more than before to show the world.

Random Fact: Chevrolet first used its "Bowtie emblem" logo in 1913 which is said to have been inspired from wallpaper Durant saw in a French hotel.