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" Dear Bob, I&amp;#039;ve been looking at affordable used sports cars\u2014Solstices, Miatas, things like that\u2014but my wife isn&amp;#039;t sold on the idea. She says it&amp;#039;s not something we really need. Maybe it&amp;#039;s not, but I don&amp;#039;t think &amp;quot;need&amp;quot; should be the reason for everything. Do you have any negotiating tips? Sell her on its usefulness, try to make her see that &amp;quot;practical&amp;quot; isn&amp;#039;t everything, or tell her we&amp;#039;ll also get something else for the house (or whatever)if I can have the car? DAVID HARRIMAN, Milwaukee, Wisconsin You&amp;#039;re right! &amp;quot;Need&amp;quot; is almost zero reason to buy anything. Lust, joy, pride of ownership, &amp;quot;I have one, and you don&amp;#039;t!&amp;quot;\u2014those are what count. Surely she buys things she doesn&amp;#039;t &amp;quot;need&amp;quot;\u2014stiletto heels, designer jeans, spa visits. Offer to get her a snazzy skintight jumpsuit to wear on those open-air drives. Stay away from new vacuum cleaners or dishwashers. They don&amp;#039;t appreciate them.  Mr. Lutz, I&amp;#039;m at that part of my college career when I need to start making decisions about what I want to do with my life. Actually, I know what I want to do; I want to be part of a company that makes something. Long story short, I&amp;#039;d love to work for an automaker. I&amp;#039;m no engineer; I want in on the decision making, but business school sounds like living death. Word is you have no love for the standard MBA type, either. Any advice on where to go from here without turning into an empty suit? BRYAN JANNICKE, Brooklyn, New York Well, you&amp;#039;re where I was in 1959. A lot of &amp;quot;car guys&amp;quot; would be great for some auto company but can&amp;#039;t get in because they lack the aca demic credentials. Face it: You need that degree, either in engineering or an MBA in finance or marketing. Go at it with drive, determination, and the will to get a high GPA. Learn to speak the wisdom while remembering that most of it isn&amp;#039;t. Once you&amp;#039;re in a car company, exceed expectations, remember the value of common sense, and never lose passion for the product.   Dear Bob, I&amp;#039;m trying to get a lot done lately; I&amp;#039;m restoring an old Gran Torino, and I&amp;#039;d like to have it done by summer. But like most people, I wind up bringing my work home at least half the time, plus I have family to think of, and I just started seeing this new gal. There aren&amp;#039;t enough hours in the day. You must have some idea of how I&amp;#039;m supposed to find time to do everything without going nuts. CHET CLEMMONS, Miami, Florida If that Gran Torino were a thing of value, like a matching-numbers &amp;#039;63 split-window manual-trans Corvette, I&amp;#039;d say, &amp;quot;Get your priorities straight; find the time.&amp;quot; In this case, the Torino comes in last. Your psyche is trying to tell you something, namely that the job, the folks, and the girl are most important. Dump the Gran Torino before you take it apart; nobody wants a basket case.  Bob, Chevrolet has the Corvette, and my friend Tim has these cool little magic tricks he does, stuff with cards and coins that really get everyone&amp;#039;s attention. Everyone loves the Corvette, and Tim&amp;#039;s a hit everywhere he goes. How important is it for a guy to have a signature trick, or for an automaker to have a halo car like that? Some companies and people get along okay without, but the Tims and Corvettes of the world seem to be what everyone talks about.  STEVE VANDE ZANDE, Seattle, Washington Cars like the Corvette add glamour to lineups that have to appeal to a wide variety of needs. They also improve company morale and attract good designers and engineers. But the other products have to be good! Tim&amp;#039;s tricks get him an entr\u00E9e. The rest of him had better be interesting, too, or he won&amp;#039;t get invited again.  Bob Lutz has been The Man at several car companies, so your problems are cake. Bring &amp;#039;em on. Submit questions to Bob at AskBob@roadandtrack.com "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a3973/go-lutz-yourself-64-8-roa0513/>