Quick Shifts 

Each week I bring you the top stories in the auto industry along with my commentary or sometimes amusing thoughts about the craziness that goes on in the world of cars.  Here is this week’s edition:

Stories you’ll find today:

• The Secret Service has to get lessons on driving a stick shift
• Jeep Ducking Is A Real Thing
• California & Utah DMVs are mad as Hell and they aren’t going to take it anymore. 
• Grand Theft Auto, Real Estate Edition: Bronx Parking Garage Busted!

The Secret Service has to get lessons on driving a stick shift: 
In an era where most cars shift themselves and clutch pedals are rapidly going the way of rotary phones, the U.S. Secret Service is doubling down on an old-school skill: driving stick shift transmissions. And not just any stick-shift car—two fire-breathing, tire-shredding Cadillac Blackwings, which General Motors generously handed over so agents could brush up on their manual transmission skills. Apparently, knowing how to heel-toe downshift might someday save democracy. This unlikely tale of government meets gearhead unfolded at the James J. Rowley Training Center in Laurel, Maryland, the Secret Service’s driver training playground. Alongside the expected lineup of blacked-out SUVs and purpose-built pursuit vehicles, instructors can now offer lessons in "how not to stall a 668-horsepower Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing in front of your boss." That’s right—GM didn’t just give them a manual to learn on. They gave them two of the most powerful Cadillacs ever made. Why the sudden interest in three pedals and a shifter? According to the Secret Service, it’s all about being prepared. While most U.S. government vehicles are automatics, agents often find themselves stationed abroad, where vehicles with manual transmissions are far more common. Along with the two Blackwings, GM also loaned the agency eight other vehicles for training purposes, including a Chevy Suburban, a Colorado ZR2, a Tahoe PPV, an Escalade, a CT4, and even a pair of Corvettes—one of which is an E-Ray. That’s right, even the electrified sports car made the cut, ensuring that agents can be ready for any scenario, whether it’s outrunning villains on the Autobahn or awkwardly parking at the G7. The Blackwings themselves are an interesting choice. The CT5-V Blackwing boasts a supercharged 6.2-liter V8 that can rocket the car to 60 mph in 3.4 seconds—assuming, of course, you’ve mastered clutch modulation and aren’t riding the brake like a nervous driving school student. Meanwhile, the smaller CT4-V Blackwing still packs a 472-hp twin-turbo V6, making it anything but tame. These are not exactly beginner cars, unless your beginner lesson includes “how to fishtail through a parking lot while still looking professional.” Of course, it’s unlikely the Blackwings will ever make it into the presidential motorcade—unless Cadillac decides to spice up The Beast with a six-speed and a drag strip mode. But for now, they’re fulfilling a very important mission: preventing agents from embarrassing themselves overseas with an accidental stall at a roundabout. In the end, it’s a win-win. GM gets some good press, the Secret Service gets to play Fast & Furious for a few days, and Americans can sleep better at night knowing that if the world ever needs saving from behind the wheel of a manual, the good guys are ready to shift into action.

Jeep Ducking Is A Real Thing

 It began, as most great cultural revolutions do, with a tiny rubber duck. In the summer of 2020, a Canadian Jeep owner named Allison Parliament placed a yellow duck on a stranger’s Jeep in Ontario as a lighthearted way to spread kindness after a tense encounter. She included a note that said “Nice Jeep,” and just like that, Jeep Ducking—or “Duck Duck Jeep”—was born. What started as one woman’s act of kindness has since snowballed into a full-blown phenomenon involving thousands of ducks, millions of smiles, and more than a few confused mall security guards wondering why people are photographing rubber poultry in parking lots. The concept is delightfully simple: spot a cool Jeep (usually a Wrangler, because let’s be honest, it’s the prom queen of the Jeep lineup), leave a rubber duck on it, preferably with a tag or funny message, and scamper off like some sort of off-road Easter Bunny. The recipient later finds the duck, experiences a moment of irrational joy, and is then obligated by an unwritten, sacred Jeep law to continue the tradition. Social media exploded with ducking hashtags, entire duck-display dashboards emerged, and aftermarket duck holsters—yes, really—started appearing for sale. Jeep itself embraced the quackery, promoting it as a symbol of the brand’s famously loyal and slightly unhinged community. Ducking has become so common that some Jeep owners now keep bags of ducks in their glovebox just in case they spot a worthy Wrangler in the wild. Others collect them like bizarre little rubber trophies. The ducks come in all shapes: pirates, unicorns, zombies, American flags, glitter bombs—basically everything short of a duck dressed as another duck. And the puns? These are fun. “You’ve been ducked.” “Quacktastic ride.” “Duck yeah, nice Jeep.” If a dad joke and a toy store had a baby, it would look like a Jeep’s dashboard in 2024. Of course, the ducking community isn’t without its controversies—some non-Wrangler Jeep owners feel left out, while others worry about climate-friendly duck materials (yes, eco-ducks are a thing now). But overall, it’s harmless, hilarious, and possibly the only trend in modern history where unsolicited contact with someone’s vehicle ends in high-fives instead of lawsuits. So, if you ever return to your Jeep and find a tiny duck grinning up at you from the hood, don’t panic. You’ve just been welcomed into one of the strangest, happiest automotive clubs on Earth. Just don’t forget to duck it forward. I can’t wait until I get a Wrangler for review.    

California & Utah DMVs are mad as Hell and they aren’t going to take it anymore.  It turns out Montana’s most popular tourist attraction isn’t Glacier National Park or Yellowstone—it’s the state’s DMV. For years, wealthy car buyers have been taking advantage of a loophole that lets them dodge taxes by registering their supercars in Montana, even if their garages are in Beverly Hills or Park City. The trick is simple: set up a Montana LLC, buy your Ferrari, Lamborghini, or Bugatti through the company, and voila—no sales tax, no emissions inspection, and no need to ever actually set foot in Montana, unless you feel like it. It’s like financial yoga for the ultra-rich: bend the rules, don’t break them. But now, California and Utah are cracking down like a valet on a parking brake. California's DMV recently identified about 10,000 vehicles—worth a combined $2 billion—that were registered to Montana LLCs since 2022. One particularly bold driver had to cough up $307,000 in back taxes and penalties, which probably hurt more than scrubbing the wheels on a curb while driving a McLaren. Meanwhile, Utah has decided it’s done playing nice. Governor Spencer Cox signed legislation that will track down Utah residents cruising around with Montana plates using surveillance tech and data-sharing agreements, with the state expecting to recover up to $100 million in unpaid fees and taxes. And just to show how out of hand it’s gotten, consider this: in 2024, Montana had 5,281 Ferraris registered. Washington, a state with seven times the population, had just 837. As for Bugattis, Montana had 131, while Washington had zero. So, while Montana’s wide-open spaces might still be a dream for road-trippers, the dream of tax-free exotic car ownership from afar is quickly running out of road. If you’ve got a million-dollar McLaren and a Montana plate, don’t be surprised if a letter shows up from your home state demanding some very real dollars—no matter how far you tried to drive away from the tax man.

Grand Theft Auto, Real Estate Edition: Bronx parking garage busted!
It turns out the Bronx had its own luxury car dealership—except the inventory was stolen, the garage bays doubled as a showroom, and the salespeople were more likely to be wearing handcuffs than polo shirts. In a sting operation straight out of a Fast & Furious deleted scene, investigators busted a sophisticated auto theft ring that had managed to squirrel away 43 high-end vehicles worth $3.65 million into two unassuming Bronx parking garages. That was just the local haul—authorities say the full operation involved 72 stolen cars valued at $6.6 million, all spirited away from suburban driveways in New Jersey while their owners blissfully slept. The alleged masterminds weren’t just joyriding; they were running a full-fledged business. Key fobs were quietly snatched from homes during late-night burglaries, then the thieves would casually cruise off in everything from Range Rovers to G-Wagons like they owned the place. The vehicles were either sold off in cash transactions right from the garage—no paperwork, no questions asked—or packed into shipping containers headed for West Africa. Forget dealerships with marble floors and espresso machines; if you knew a guy, you could swing by the garage, inspect the goods, hand over a stack of cash, and roll out like you’d just financed a dream—minus the title or legal ownership. Authorities eventually charged eleven people, including one juvenile, with enough felonies to make even a career criminal flinch—racketeering, burglary, conspiracy, and other assorted misdeeds. If convicted, some of them could be looking at two decades behind bars, assuming they don’t try to trade a stolen Escalade for a lighter sentence. In the end, officials used the case to highlight how organized and international these theft rings have become, with stolen cars heading overseas before many owners even realized their ride was missing. So the next time you park your luxury SUV and think, “It’s safe, I live in a nice neighborhood,” just know there’s a guy in the Bronx who already has your VIN number, a buyer in Ghana, and a Craigslist ad that says “one-owner, gently stolen.”