Thanks for the feedback. I have one that works at home, along with the sync cable for the iMac. This was one a guy at work has for his older iPod. Guess I won't be borrowing it...
You need to get a charger that works through the +5 V USB power line such as the Griffin AutoPilot (I have one and it works great not only charging my 3G iPod nano in the car, but I can use the true line-level audio output from the device to connect to the 3.5 mm jack auxiliary input found on many new cars. )