The Lemon Chronicles, Part 1
December 22, 2009 by Elmer Ploetz · 1 Comment
You’re stuck with an automotive lemon, so what do you do?
Well, I write about it. Just what the heck is wrong with the 2004 Mercury Monterey? Why does the transmission suddenly stop working when the tranny shop can’t find any problems?
Why are thousands of other owners of Montereys and Ford Free Freestars having the same problems? And just what the heck does a NHTSA investigation mean, anyway. And what do Ford dealers tell me? Will I ever buy a Ford again?
Goal: I plan to break down the various issues with the car in a series. The first story will look at how bad this problem is, just what the car does, and what has happened to people. From my experience, I think the car is pretty dangerous. I’m looking to find out what other people have to say, and to pinpoint what the potential problems are.
Subsequent stories will be detailed in following pitches, but will cover more of the subjects listed in the above pitch.
Reporter Needs: $100
Deliverables: 1,500-2,000 words of text, plus some photos, perhaps video, audio.
About the Reporter: Elmer Ploetz is a former Buffalo News reporter who now teaches journalism. I’ve written news, sports, arts reviews. One of my strengths is researching.
I’m psyched to get this started! I was thinking about this as I was driving down the road today and thinking I don’t dare get this vehicle further than 30 miles from home — when the reason we got it was that we could fit the whole family in for longer trips!
So if you have a Monterey or Freestar, what have your experiences been? There seem to have been a lot of problems. In fact, it’s apparently under investigation by National Traffic Safety officials.
Elmer