Motor Head {road scholar}: Driven by the truth

LOCAL AUTHOR SARA LEE MARKS ON CARS, CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND CONSUMER ADVOCACY

By Newt Briggs

Sara Lee Marks is a company gal, and she has been ever since she joined Las Vegas' Desert Automotive Group almost a decade ago. Still, her corporate allegiances do not prevent her from spouting far-out conspiracy theories about the automotive industry and its shameless manipulation of fuel standards and mileage requirements for American vehicles.

"Believe me when I tell you that there have been technological advances that could have changed this industry, that could have freed us from our addiction to fossil fuels," says Marks, a Henderson resident. "The technology was actually developed and brought to the United States back in the late '70s, but it was intentionally driven off the market by gasoline producers and automobile manufacturers."

To bolster her claim, Marks offers a description of a platinum engine component that could be fitted into a crankcase and "would completely change the output of the conventional combustion engine." She says she has been in contact with the people who pioneered the technology and they were systematically silenced by the industry powers that be.

"It's not unusual to see corporate greed take away something that would have been good for the public," Marks says. "As far as alternative fuels and technological offshoots for improving fuel economy go, you have to keep in mind that profitability is these companies' primary concern. Does big business want to wean us from tobacco? Do they want to wean us from alcohol? They don't want to wean us from gasoline, either."

Whether or not she's right, Marks' candor betrays her Michael Moore-esque suspicion of bureaucratic authority. Although it often vexes her colleagues, Marks is a diehard consumer advocate--an automotive lodestar who provides safe passage for defenseless buyers through the "treacherous waters" (her words) of Las Vegas car sales. She has even translated this knowledge into a self-published book, The Complete Internet Car Buying Guide, and by spring 2005, she plans to release a second, The Smart Girls Guide to Everything Cars: How to Buy, Sell and Live With Your Car.

Says Marks: "Most car salespeople are not going to sit you down and say, `Where are you going to be in three years? Where are you going to be in five years? Is this really the best allocation of your money?' No, most salespeople are going to size up how much you can legitimately spend or finance, and they're going to try and max you out at that number. The only thing that will stop them is a credit problem, which is the one and only true deal breaker. After that it's like, `Wait a minute. We wanted to treat you to caviar, but it looks like you'll have to settle for this hot dog.'"

Marks' first book, available at Amazon.com, offers plentiful advice on credit issues as well as Internet resources, lemon laws, automobile warranties and what to look for in both used and new cars. According to Marks, the follow-up, which she's currently shopping to different publishers, will be a how-to guide for the country's most important car consumer.

"Eighty-five percent of all decisions about automobiles are made or controlled by women. Wife, girlfriend, mother, daughter--it's not simply a matter of what color they want anymore. More and more frequently, women are making the automotive decisions for the entire family."

As Marks is quick to note, though, women--particularly single women--are often intimidated by the car-buying process. She will address this as well as a host of other issues on Monday, April 12, from 7-9 p.m. at the Las Vegas Library. For more information, call 507-3524 or visit www.lvccld.org.

Holy hot rods, Batman

Custom car king George Barris--designer of TV-land hot rods such as the General Lee, Dragula, the Munsters' Koach and the Green Hornet--will display his pride and joy, the Batmobile, at the Viva Las Vegas car show on Saturday, April 10, outside the Gold Coast. Fashioned out of a $250,000 1955 Ford Futura concept car, the Batmobile was built by Barris in less than three weeks and still sports all the expected amenities: the Batscope, the anti-theft Bateye switch and the Batray reactors. In fact, the only thing missing may be a middle-aged man and his pubescent colleague in a matching pair of form-fitting tights.

Also on hand for the show will be Gene Winfield--master of the custom chop-top and car crafter for Hollywood blockbusters, including Blade Runner, RoboCop, Back to the Future II and Trancers. This year, Winfield returns with "The Thing"--a 1927 Model T coupe he originally modified for drag racing in the 1950s.

The Viva Las Vegas car show is free and is open to all owners of vintage hot rods and custom cars built before 1963. Placement is first-come, first-served, so get there early and don't be afraid to let a tattoo-covered rockabilly girl stretch out on the hood for a pinup photo. It is art, after all.