GM's New "Green" Car Turns Out To Be '73 Nova With A Maaco Paint Job

General Motors took a huge step backwards in its quest to acquire 'green credibilty" when its new Chevrolet Green, offered as a high-mileage hybrid vehicle, turned out to be a '73 Chevy Nova with a green paint job from Maaco.

"We're disappointed," GM CEO Rick Waggoner told a hastily assembled Detroit, Michigan news conference. "We really thought we had something special here."

GM, Waggoner said, had devoted "tens of billions of dollars--okay, tens of dollars" to creating a truly "green" or environmentally friendly vehicle. "We went through hundreds of prototypes--okay, a couple of prototypes. Okay, a couple of sketches on the backs of some Tigers programs. But we really thought we had a car that could change the world."

GM's total investment in the Chevrolet Green, Waggoner admitted, was "just under $200, the cost of painting a '73 Nova over at the Maaco in the Cass Corridor here in Detroit. They had a coupon in the paper."

Waggoner said sheepishly that he thought that the market really would accept the '73 Chevy Nova as a "sustainable, environmentally acceptable vehicle, but I guess people saw through it."

When asked how many miles the freshly painted '73 Nova got to the gallon, Waggoner turned red and admitted "I don't know. We actually weren't able to get it started."