The Ottawa Journal from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • Page 18

18 Tuesday, April 3, 1973 The Ottawa Journal Motorsport 31 Need stronger consumer laws By ROBERT AJERY Latest report on the Firenza controversy has thing sort of up in the air. Bob Bennett of the local branch of the Automobile Protection Association said General Motors has been contacted by the group of about 50 frustrated Firenza owners. But, according to Bennett, OM has said it won't meet with the owners. The Firenza owners joined together after they found they had something in common countless breakdowns and regular visits to the local garage. "They also claim a big depreciation in trade-in value.

Because of this they want GM to reimburse them for what the owners are calling a "fault ridden product." Bennett, who points out the APA has acted as an organizing group to bring the owners together, says that the group is continuing to grow and is not being put off by the latest news from GM about the meeting refusal The whole Firenza thing brings up an interesting question. What sort of recourse does the consumer have in the car field? Bennett points out there aren't very strong consumer protection laws in tills area in this country. When you think of the money that people pour into cars there should be. In the Firenza case there is not only the loss of money in trade-in value but also the inconvenience of having the car to the garage most of ttie time. After talking to some of the Firenza owners, the impression is that they are just ordinary car buyers Vho have had anything but ordinary trouble with their new cars.

The list of the visits by one Firenza owner to the garage bay reads like a rewrite of a calendar. All that said it seems that any sort of compensation in the Firenza case will only be motivated. by the good will of the company. The cars are being fixed under warranty and technically GM is living 5Ji to its part of the bargain in that way. But a car is no good if its in the garage most of the time.

The Firenza case, aside from receiving wide publicity, could become sort of a milestone to Canada. The question is to what point is a car firm expected to back its jproduct beyond the warranty (f at all? In the Firenza case it seems the warranty isn't keeping the cars out of the garage so it would seem something else is needed. Like that good will we mentioned earlier. GM makes some pretty good cars but from the rash of complaints backed up by garage bills it appears that the Firenza isn't up to the usual GM standard. Or at least not the standard that other GM owners have become accustomed to.

Taking GM's point of view the handing out of cash compensation could be a tricky precedent to deal with later on. But the Firenza case calls for some sort of action. The best way to decide bn that action would be a meeting between the company and the Firenza owners with some neutral third party like a representative from a consumers department from government. The Firenza owners certainly have been trying to establish some dialogue. And these owners aren't screaming fanatics.

They are average car buyers who have run into a problem and believe they are on the short end of the stick. There are a lot of them, they have taken their problem seriously enough to get organized and to approach the company. It would be good public relations for GM to meet with the group and thrash Dave Knight picked coach of the year The coach of the Waterloo Lutheran "Golden Hawks" David "Tuffy" Knight has been named Canadian University Football Coach of the Year. The award, in its fourth year, is presented by the Old Crow Society, a group of Carleton University Football DAVE KNIGHT Alumni and it is based on the recommendation of sports writers across Canada. The chairman of the Selection Committee, Bruce Mac-Gregor said "Knight was selected for the excellent job he did in developing the first triple option attack to be- seen in the Canadian game." Jill MacGregor went on to say "that in reviewing the various coaches end team, records across the country, it was interesting to note that Lutheran was third in their Division with a 4-2 record." However, their losses were early in the season and even in defeat they dominated the statistics.

Once in the playoffs, the triple option running attack spear-headed by the ptey calling end Individual work ijt, their quarterback, I i 1 out the case. Wayne Allison lead Lutheran to the YateS Cup, emblematic of the Ontario Universities Athletic Association Championship. In the Atlantic Bowl they dominated St. Mary's 50-16. However, ultimately, they were defeated by the University of Alberta for the college crown.

The selection committee and the sports writers across the country felt Knight had done an exceptional job in developing this team to championship calibre. As in the past the award will be presented at the Old Crows' annual banquet to be held Friday at the Hunt Club. Knight accompanied by his wife will be in attendance for the dinner-dance. Bom in West Virginia end educated in the Unked States, Knight has been at Waterloo Lutheran University seven years as head coach and director of Athletics, during which time his football teams have been national finalists on three occasions. By looking at the statistics Lutheran's performance over the past year, it can be seen that Knight's philosophy of run first and pass only out of dire necessity has prevailed.

For example two of the top three rushers in the Western Section of the OUAA are from Lutheran and they averaged 6.4 and 8.3 yards per carry respectively. Also the Golden Hawks led the league In team rushing, but were last in team passing. An interesting sideline to the "Coach of the Year Award" is that the coach selected for the past two years, namely Jim Donlevy for 1971 and Frank COsentino for 1970, have won the National Intercollegiate title in the next season. -Dave Knight hopes this quirk will prevail a third' time. 1 "I think we have fallen in love with you again," said Prime Minister Trudeau, and Karen Magnussen cried Monday at a luncheon given by the Canadian Figure Skating Association.

Between sobs, the petite 20-year-old blonde from Vancouver beamed nervously as Mr. Trudeau presented her with an abstract Eskimo carving iimiiimiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiMiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiNH if I 1 1 7 -XI I GARY 67s balance Ottawa 67s coach Leo Boivin knows that it takes three solid lines to win most hockey games, most playoff series and to have any designs on a league championship. All season long Boivin knew he had to but it wasn't until the final couple of weeks in the regular schedule that he got a reliable third unit going for him. 67s tonight can sweep their OHA Major Junior A Hockey League quarter-final playoff series against Sudbury Wolves in the Civic Centre. Face-off is set for 8 o'clock.

At the rate Sudbury has been performing, 67s may be ahead in this series with Denis Potvin, Ian Turnbull, goalie Barry Ashby and Blake Gloucester A special meeting of the Ottawa District Hockey Association has been called tonight to discuss an appeal by Gloucester Astros, after the Ottawa Valley Junior League, disqualified the team from the playoffs. At a OVJHL meeting Sunday morning called by presi- Exhibition baseball iy Tht Canxfl Prau PlrMwral) Philadelphia 1.. Kanxa CHy 7, St. Loud I Montreal Beaton 1. CWcooo A Txc 4.

Oakland totlfornlo Um York i. Nw York A 0. San Dtaeo 5, Mltwautaa a. Oatrelt 4. Cincinnati I.

MOmtxrta Houston 0. CMcago Id Clavatond J. Boltlmora 7, Atlanta ui Sao Francisco Los.AnoMaaZj Emotions overcome Karen McADAM Dunlop, Paul Sheard and Jim Cowell playing the-full 60 minutes. 67s are ahead 3-0 in games on wins of 9-2 here in the opener and then back to back 7-2 wins at Sudbury. Wolves have some fine individual players but they've never shown any cohesion at all in any of the three And while 67s have had some individual standouts one of the main reasons they've enjoyed such a whopping edge in this series has been the balance along the forward lines.

Boivin's late season shuffling has had Dale Ross at centre and Gary McAdam, on left-wingl and Bruce Baker on right on the third line and appealing dent Rick to discuss the eligibility of Gloucester player Joe Nash, the nine league members voted to disqualify. Astros immediately from the finals and award the series to Gatineau Volants. Nash, had been a 'high school hockey player, and joined Astros, the league ruled, after the final deadline for registration. However, Astros have the right to appeal the ruling to the ODHA and their hearing is set for tonight If the suspension stands Gatineau will play either Gana-noque or Metcalfe 'for the ODHA junior champiorn ship. At the time of their ban-shment by the league, Gloucester and Gatineau were locked 1-1.

in games lb the (I A 1 1 I 1 1 fc Ol'jb- DALE could mean sweep tonight they've more than, held their own against the' Wolves'. Boivin will not dress Glenn tonight. McLeod worked out with the team yesterday and the Ottawa coach said he looked "a little Swedes upset Czechoslovakia MOSCOW (AP) The So-( viet Union scored four last period goals Monday night en route to an 8-2 victory over Finland in world hockey championship play. The second Soviet victory of the tournament followed a Sweden's upset of defending champion Czechoslovakia, 2-0. Only 47 seconds into the Soviet-Finland game, Vladimir Petrov dashed, down the ice and passed to Valery Kharla-mov, who flipped the puck past goalie Jorma Valtonen.

Vladimir Shadrin and Petrov added first-period goals as the red-shirt ed Soviet side put on unrelenting pressure. The Finns could mount only a few ineffectual counter-attacks that were fended off by goalie Alexander Sidelnikov. ANISIN A HEADACHE In the second period, Vya-cheslav Anisin made it 4-0 when he stick-handled through a pair of Finnish defenders and scored. But Finland came fighting back when VeU-Pekka Ketola beat Sidelnikov, halfway through the period. Four and -line-half rninutes-later Henry.

n4 iv xCJ Sfi x.xi ft3 on behalf of the people of Canada. He referred to her "courage and persistence" in winning the championship in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, after her sixth attempt. It's a wonderful honor you have brought Canada it's something that is reflected in all of us," the prime minister added. fr ii itOSS woozy" so he's going to give him a few more days. McLeod was injured in the series opener.

If 67s win tonight they'll open the semi-final series this weekend against Toronto Leppa picked up his own rebound and scored to pull the Finns to within two goals of the Soviets. When the Finns seemed to have momentum, Seppo Ahokainen drew a five-minute charging penalty. Then in the final period the hard-charging Soviet team got two goals from Alexander Martynyuk and single goals by Boris Mikhailov and Alexander Gusev to wrap up the victory. The Russians now have won two and lost none while Sweden is also 2-0. Czechoslovakia is 1-L Sweden scored two late goals in its Victory over Czechoslovakia.

The first goal came when Mats Ahlberg had the puck to the rkht of Czech goal. He whlrleS and fired at Jiri Holo-cek and the Czech goalie pushed it to Dan Soderstrom who slid it into the unguarded net. Three minutes later the Swedes scored again when Tord Lundstrom wheeled out from behind the net and faked Holocek I mmmt fei'C Magnussen 'V feRUCE Marlboros. Dates are still tentative but it seems Ottawa may open at home Friday against the pennant cham-' pions, play the second game in Toronto Sunday 'afternoon, the third back in Ottawa. Then a foourth and fifth games would be played in Maple Leaf Gardens and, on the surface, that doesn't seem too appealing, if Ottawa were to ever lose the opener on home ice it could have a truly demoralizing effect' on the players.

General manager Ross Ty-rell claims though "I'm confident we can win at home against them and that first game is always a big one. It could work to our advantage. In any case the dates aren't Riders sign Bruce McMillan, a big running back from Mount Allison University and Ottawa Rough Riders' first round, choice in the Canadian college draft, has signed his contract McMillan has been voted the' most valuable player at Mount A. For the past three years. He stands six feet even, weighs 205 pounds and Gananoque Gananoque Gee-Men doubled up on Richmond Royals 4-2 on the weekend to win the Rideau-St.

Lawrence Junior Hockey League championship series four games to two. The winners will now ad vance against 'jjletcalfe Jets I A BAKER confirmed and we still have a hockey game-to-win." If Sudbury gets everything going for mem tonight and manages to escape elimination than a fifth game will be played here Friday night. News of the near certain departure from the city of the Ottawa Nationals means 67s could be in fine shape for seasons to come. "There's no question their presence here hurt us," president Howard Henry said, "but our crowds are about the same on the average, of last season for the schedule (approximately 7,000) so they really didn't hurt as much as I and the other owners thought they would." draft picks has been clocked in 4.7 seconds for the 40 yards. Two college choices signed with the Riders.

Jim Budge, a S'U" safety from Western University, and John Lipsett, a sixfoot, 235-pound guard or offensive tackle from the University of Toronto, have agreed to terms and will also be reporting to Ottawa's June camp for rookies. wins junior who annexed the St Lawrence Junior championship laste week. -J Gary Running paced OSna-noque with a two-goal effort with Tom Mangon and Jim Johnson adding singles. Tom Hill and Danny Brown replied for Richmond with one TP ftrilaW it..