[s-cars] CEO car (Quattro... sort of)

[Rich Assarabowski]

Today at work we had an off-site "state of the union" meeting with the
president of our company (UTC Power), which makes fuel cells and other
on-site power products.  The highlight of today's meeting was a visit by
George David, CEO of United Technologies, the parent company.  David is one
of the highest paid executives in the U.S..  Several parking spots were
marked with cones to reserve a spot for his entourage.  I expected black
chauffeurred limos and bodyguards (this guy would fetch a handsome ransom!).

David showed up late, at the end of the meeting it was announced that a new
transit bus with a just-installed fuel cell power plant would be parked
outside for employees to see, it was a project that a lot of employees
worked on and everyone was looking forward to seeing it.

The bus was nice, but much nicer and more interesting was the car that
George David drove to the meeting -- a brand new Maserati Quattroporte in
silver.   About half the people ignored the bus and headed right for the car
to gawk at it.  David was nearby talking to someone, when one of the union
shop floor guys yells to David "Can I take it for a ride?".   To everyone's
amazement, David throws him the keys and says "Sure, take it for a spin".
Within two seconds the 3 closest guys to the car jump in and fill up the
seats.

The shop guy starts it up, it had just the nicest burbling exhaust sound
you've ever heard, people were ooh'ing and wow'ing.   But he was obviously
having a hard time getting it into gear, finally he yells out the window
"How do I put it in reverse?  It's not like an American car!".   The crowd
laughed as David patiently explained how to get it in gear.  

As he pulls out, the shop guy narrowly misses the curb as the crowd cringes,
leaving David behind on the parking lot with two briefcases, but didn't seem
too fazed by his executive decision to entrust these guys with his car.
They were only gone a couple of minutes, the Maserati deftly pulled into the
spot and stopped about 2 inches from the curb.  Again the crowd cringes.
The 4 guys jumped out with the biggest smiles I'd ever seen and politely
thanked the CEO.

Who says executives all ride in black limos with chauffeurs?  If you see a
silver Maserati on the road in the Hartford area, check out who's driving
it!  No vanity plates though...  no tinted glass either.

-- Rich A.
   '93 S4 Quattro non-porte