The Lounge

Do you use it? Do you like it? I don't, and I don't. I think it robs some discussions of a bit of civility, makes things combative, and so on.

Top 10 recently canceled vehicles that should be brought back. We're going to get a poll going on this, but first we need some candidate submissions. Here are the rules: Each person can submit ONE vehicle (or vehicle model line if there are multiple body styles) It has to be from a brand that is still in business today (it can't be brought back if there aren't dealers to sell it at) It must be from within the past 10 model years. Include your submission and an explanation of why you think it should be brought back and why it should not have been canceled in the first place. I got this idea after seeing three in a row of a vehicle that will likely be my submission..…

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If your vision is blurred from too much eggnog, please don't drive. Just bundle up on the porch and post your car spots as they go by, right here. Happy Holidays!

`Tis the season! Post photos of your tree(s) and other decoratives. Our place is too small for the full size tree, so this year we got a little 3' one. It's small but cute, mostly done decorating, complete with a small town underneath and cars! 2010 Mustang GT, 2010 Dodge Charger SRT8, V8 Vantage,XK, Viper SRT10, Ram 2500. The only bummer is that my prize from the Eldorado competition is too big to fit on the tree!

Ignoring the debate about this for a minute, who else finds it interesting to know just how many Muslim countries want the US to bomb Iran?

After living with 1 vehicle for a few months, my wife and I decided to get a second car. After test driving a few cars this weekend, this is what we ended up getting: It's a 2005 Dodge Magnum RT! We pick it up later today!!!

So my brother was on his way to school and someone ran a stop sign. The Maxx is likely totaled, and an estimate of $10-11K is probably what it is worth. We don't get the official word until Monday, however. So, what newer (preferably 2006 or newer) are available in the $10-12K price range? We have also looked at possibly just giving my brother my mom's Trailblazer and using the money from the Maxx to buy her a new car; we went test driving quite a few cars yesterday. Anyone have any ideas here? He doesn't want a truck or SUV unless he's forced to take the Trailblazer.

You're sexy.

With the Cobalt's last payment nearing soon....I've been doing the usually "eyeballing" of cars... I plan to somehow hold out on a new car for a little while (I still want to see the newer models) Anyways, I've had a few friends pick up some late model SUVs " do them up"....The most recent bud picked an 02 Blazer in good shape, and is prepping it for his family. He is along the same line of thinking as I.....a family truck for trips and such, not a DD. I posted this idea a while back with a tahoe/burb.....but the ones I looked at had been pretty much rusted away at the prices they wanted for them... I nosed around, and seen some pretty decent deals on Blazers, early …

A little early Christmas present from my significant other. The picture quality is phenomenal. Time to start investing in new L-series lenses. Olds, I can be a real photographer this time around.

My brother Jeff does not understand what it is to be a car enthusiast,he asks me "What is the purpose of having a car?" "Why would you want a car?" he means besides getting from point to point, what does a car do for you? i tried to explain but i want to know your opinions on this

...And will I be receiving it now its been released? No. Despite pre-ordering it back in the beginning of August, Newegg can do no better than tell me the Collector's Edition I ordered is out of stock. Couldn't tell me when I could expect it or anything of the sort. Disappointing? Majorly, I'm not too please with Newegg's service right at the moment.

To all of you, Happy Thanksgiving. Me? I'll be hiding out, keeping my head down. Trying to avoid being lured into the oven, brushed with butter, and stuffed with bread crumbs.

Some of them like "Burban" and "Vette" are fine by me, but others like "Elky" and "Maro" really annoy me. Hey, I know it isn't rational, but they rub me the wrong way. List yours up and down.

So I drop my seventeen year old son off at guitar Center, and cruise through the local Ford dealer...look at a few cars while my son is looking at guitars...then I slide over to the Hyundai dealer because my son wants to spend some time playing one last guitar. I'm checking out the Genesis coupe, and some guy has his two kids in the back seat (young, perhaps about 6 and 8, boy and girl). Guys wife is test driving a Sonota, and this guy is telling me how a V6 Genesis is faster than a Camaro SS or Mustang GT, and how Hyundai is the most awesomist car company ever. I'm trying hard not to LMFAO at this point... He then says that Hyundais never break...at that moment, bot…

Nude model or groping victim? The Economist THE Transportation Security Administration, America's second-most loathed bureaucracy, has used its stimulus bucks to stock up on fancy ritual-humiliation scanners that electronically disrobe air-travellers. TSA officers are exceedingly unlikely to detect terrorist tools thereby, but they can always wince and titter at their victims' corpulence or unimpressive primary and secondary sexual characteristics. And if you are unwilling to surrender your dignity to a low-level security-state functionary in this way, you always have the option to surrender your dignity to a low-level security-state functionary in an "enhanced pat-down…

To do high speed rail...we would need to fund the system adequately. A recent estimate for a line between Milwaukee and Madison was $810 million....and that rate per mile...it would cost about eight or ten billion dollars just to put a basic system into Ohio. Not that I would mind spending the money...I'd spend it here rather than on another carrier group we are never going to use. But we can''t just cough up 7 and a half billion dollars out of an already short Ohio treasury to do so. Want to see what happens with the high speed trains on the coasts as this will get interesting.

Well I shouldn't have to continue to sell my stuff through Craigslist to keep some dough in my back pocket: I start at Guitar Center next week. I tried for a few parts houses and there and that's who wound up calling me back. Fine by me. At least I know this is one job I can do without a shadow of a doubt.

Happy Birthday man!

You're 32 years old today, Mr. Drewbert. Instead of WD-40 to ease your aching joints, how about some W-30 OLDSMOBILE lubrication?

Does anyone have "American Pie" mp3?

Headed out to vote right now.

Time for hot cider, logs on the hearth, and giant piles of car spots to jump into. Have at it, folks!

There could be a whole bit of research on this topic that would be strictly region-based; however, in our area, this holiday used to be embraced by every house in the neighborhood. Now, I took my own kids in the buggy for their first candy-beggar experience, only to be left feeling like somebody stole the baby-Jesus from the local nativity scene and asking, "What the hell is wrong with people these days?" When I was a kid, a small army of us would trek a 5 mile loop before we'd get home, unload our loot, then have my parents drop us off another 10 miles away in another community so we could circle their area. Every single house had some great spirit with their decorati…

Chevrolet, Ford and Dodge should all be ashamed of themselves. Suddenly, it's 2011 in the car world, and there is NO small, affordable coupe in any of the domestic lineups. So, I went looking and found this car. When I first saw the new tC, I was underwhelmed, it looked like the old car with Halloween costume muscles, but looking closer, I can see a nice stance, with a wide track, sporty ride height, and a masculine body with just the right amount of sinew. If it drives as nice as it looks, it should be a winner, AND it's the only game in town right now, except for the Civic and unfun-to-drive Forte, and I like this better than either of those. A lot of single people…

My parents are car shopping. They're looking at a lot of options, but I convinced them to look at an HHR, as they commute ~30miles each way daily, rarely have other people with them. So, fuel efficiency is a big plus, but they don't want to have to climb down into a small car, and my dad really likes a higher driving position like in a truck. Of course the HHR isn't that high, but it's better. They drove one and liked it pretty well. I'm under the impression that the HHR has been pretty well refined and a later model (they're looking at a 2010) should be really solid. Anyone aware of any key features to get or avoid?

For me, B 26 Maurader, One a day in Tampa Bay, baby. What a hot rod of a plane.... What would you all fly?

1991 Honda CRX $1500 It caught my eye, so I went to look at it... Solid body, solid interior, runs 100%. Just needs paint and inspection, both of which can be done easily. I may have another car come Friday. Oopsie.

For me: Richard Dawkins Carl Sagan Lance Armstrong Ellen Degeneres Jay Leno Mark Martin (esp. now that he is racing a Chevy!) Danica Patrick Paul McCartney Dwight Eisenhower George Patton Dan Barker Christopher Hitchens Barrack Obama James Taylor-Musician How about you all...who do you look up to?

This has been around a while, so it may have been posted before... but I think they've added to their work, and some of it is pretty interesting. Its not my thing, as I'm sure I could not actually drive these little things, but at least they are good for a laugh. I can't help but wonder if GM could do something like this for a retro Microvan... or Micro-SUV... Clever how the bowtie is reversed... I can't believe they copied the '68-'72 Chevy trucks... And some Dodge lovin'... website: www.blow-net.co.jp

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/world/asia/17japan.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp OSAKA, Japan — Like many members of Japan’s middle class, Masato Y. enjoyed a level of affluence two decades ago that was the envy of the world. Masato, a small-business owner, bought a $500,000 condominium, vacationed in Hawaii and drove a late-model Mercedes. But his living standards slowly crumbled along with Japan’s overall economy. First, he was forced to reduce trips abroad and then eliminate them. Then he traded the Mercedes for a cheaper domestic model. Last year, he sold his condo — for a third of what he paid for it, and for less than what he still owed on the mortgage he to…

Happy Birthday to you both.

The Devil Attempts to Mow-Down His Landlord With a Ford Windstar Friday 15th October, 2010 by "black-knight" They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Yeah. In this case, it makes what I'm about to write damn near worthless. Basically the story goes like this: The man you see in the photo above, who may or may not actually be the Devil himself sans the red-scaly skin and bifurcated tail, is Jesse Thornhill (quite ironically, he even has the word "horn" in his last name) of Tulsa, Oklahoma. He had some sort of spat with his landlord which resulted in him storming off of the property which he was renting ... only to return shortly in his '96 Ford Windstar. He …

@$^#@&^*^%#! My stupid cell phone battery dies in the middle of a conversation with a guy interested in the Mothertruck! The phone used to give me a few warnings before the battery died, now it beeps just about one second before going dead. And, It didn't save the number! GRRRRRRR!

Have a great one, man!

I live in a colonial style 4 bedroom two story house, the kind you find all over the midwest in Suburbia....anyhow... I've got hardwood flooring in the living room. Kitchen cabinets are Oak, but I got a good deal on Maple flooring, so I put down maple. I don't have a formal dining room, but I do have a nice, large living room. Here is my question. Stylewise, is it okay or just plain wrong to put down a different style, species, or color of wood in other rooms in the house? Part of me feels like its wearing one blue sock and one red sock style wise...and part of me loves wood and wants to put down a few different kinds of flooring. The rest of the trim in the hou…

A recent survey by a professor of his economics students finds the following: The median student believes that 35% of workers earn the minimum wage and a substantial fraction think that a majority of workers earn the minimum wage (Actual rate in 2007: 2.3% of hourly-paid workers and a smaller share of all workers earn the minimum wage) When asked about profits as a percentage of sales the median student guessed 30% (actual rate, closer to 4%). When asked about the inflation rate over the last year (survey was in 2009) the median student guessed 11%. Actual rate: much closer to 0%. Note, how important such misconceptions could be to policy. When asked by how much …

So, I have the slowstang as my daily driver. Pretty nice beater; 2001 GT convertible in true blue, but it's just not really my style. I have the oppportunity to buy either a 1999 Trans Am (high mileage, but well taken care of. Has C6 rims and is my favorite color- dark blue) or a 2004 3-door SVT Focus (mileage unknown, competition orange, needs a wee bit of body work) Here are the options: 1) "Keep the Mustang you fool. Eventhough it's an automatic and needs some work, it's a solid car and great cruiser. Plus you got a he'll of a deal when you bought it at 3-4K cheaper than BB." 2) "Dude! Buy the freakin' TA! You've always wanted a last gen TA and this one is your colo…

So, has anyone attended the AACA Eastern Region Fall Meet this week, or planning to head that way tomorrow? As of now I have all intentions of going there tomorrow morning. This will be my 21st year attending the show (rain, sleet, snow, not even MUD <anyone remember those days?> can stop me ). I will be sure to post a reply on my observations of this year's event afterwards. BTW, here's the link for the 2009 aerial shot of the event: http://www.hersheyaaca.org/images/arialphotos/2009.pdf

If so, if anyone has an idea what these old things might be worth, drop me a line. Or drop me a line telling me what a crazy a-hole I am for buying eight of them. I bought what I'm thinking will be my last one today. Anyway, the four lighters are: Chrome Standard Zippo from 1967 in worn but loved condition. The original hinge pin fell out and was replaced with a paper clip (works very, very well). Chrome Standard Zippo Mini from 1968 in beat to hell condition. I wonder if it found it's way to 'Nam, honestly. Chrome Standard Zippo from 1995 with a 2000 insert in used condition. This one is worth maybe $15 bucks, tops, so I'm not worried about it's value. Chrom…

Consumer Reports has long denied vehicles their recommendation based on crash test results by NHTSA. I wonder if they will stop recommending both the camry and sienna now that they both scored so poorly. Should we put money on this?

...kinda wish I hadn't. It has HVAC issues, and everything is electrical. I may actually pay someone else to figure it out...