Getting a taste of how the other half lives, three middle-aged multimillionaires parked their Gulfstream jets and opted for an eight-hour drive from Detroit to Washington DC on Wednesday. They can be forgiven for not carpooling as the bosses of America’s sagging Big Three are, if anything, very brand loyal and accustomed to being in the driver’s seat. But this is no joyride for the chiefs of General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, whose newest aid request to Congress has swelled by a third to a total of $34bn in two weeks.