The Lounge

Here we go- wife & I have agreed it's time to go replacin' ... esp based on the fact I am looking at $4500 for my '94 F-150 (provided we use a dealer who participates, right?) - whose trade-in value according to KBB is $513. That's a travesty, IMO. The F-150 (as sad as it would make me to condemn it to crushing- my only new purchase) would go as the trade toward replacing her '03 GP SE. That's been a VG car and she still likes it, but the mileage is getting where I'd rather she was in something newer, and 1-2 more years withOUT the CARS cash is doing no one any favors here. She's not necc against some sort of smaller crossover/ SUV, but as a rule, they get worse…

Cheers & Gears Steam Group

http://longisland.craigslist.org/ctd/1783881887.html I'm smitten by this, and it's configured exactly the way I'd want a light-duty Home Depot/bike hauler. Well, tehcnically no - black is probably my last choice for paint color, but that's balanced out by the 5.3L FlexFuel (I'd have been happy with a 4.8L).

Maybe I'm one of the only ones, but I enjoy cruises that include _driving_ ... not just sitting & walking around looking at parked cars. The Sunday I returned from my road trip to the Eastern states (August 21), I attended the Elgin National Road Race Show, which included a "lap" that followed the old Elgin National Road Race. With that in mind...& knowing that high gas prices will be a factor, is anyone interested in doing a "weekend cruise" of sorts...? We'd drive a scenic route. One is in Illinois [I can plan routes for WI & IN/MI if anyone is interested]...people can meet up with us anywhere along the way... * IL RT 20 …

Post any strange artwork you may have seen here. I found this one today at another forum...somebody made the entire city of San Francisco out of Jell-O and then put lights under it! It's actually pretty cool.

I can not for the life of me figure out what this Pontiac is. I've narrowed it down to a '66, '67, or '68 model and I'm leaning toward a Catalina or possibly a Tempest, but every one has different headlights and taillights from this one. How many models did Pontiac have in the 60s?? I've counted GTO, Tempest, Firebird, Catalina, Beaumont, Laurentian, Bonneville, Grand Prix, Ventura, Parisienne, Strato Chief and probably others I'm forgetting. This is driving me nuts! The pics

http://n.ethz.ch/student/mkos/pinguin.swf Click once to drop the Penguin, click again to swing the bat. So far I've gotten 319.8 feet.

I gotta work today. HRMPH!!!! Oh well gotta pay the bills somehow. Yes, it's my birthday, you should all take a moment of silence out of your day for ME.

Pink Floyd certainly is a bizarre name for a band, isn't it? It is widely thought that the band is named after two American blues musicians, Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. There is an alternate story that Syd Barrett got the name from a flying saucer, but then again, Syd Barrett was drugged out of his mind. However, I have recently discovered that the name Floyd means "the hollow." Ponder that for a moment.

Alright... So we have a thread for pictures of how we look currently... but what about when we were young? Nope, don't see it. Well... I thought I'd start a thread for this. I love this pic... I look cute. Oh... and that's my cousin beside me. This was my aunt Cherry's wedding in 1997, I think. Also, I don't have any new pics of my cousin. Just thought I'd let you know... I'll post more, I just have to find them.

You might be from Long Island if: You live in the shadow of the greatest city in the world, but you almost never go there. When you're away from Long Island, you love it and when you're there, you don't. You think if you're not from Long Island or NYC, you're not really from New York. You know the exact point at which Queens turns into Nassau simply on intuition. You don't go to Manhattan, you go to "The City". You never realize you have an accent till you leave. Everything north of the Bronx is "upstate." New Jersey sucks. At some point in your life you've gone clamming. Either your parents or your grandparents lived in the city. …

Talking about my trip to China in the other thread: Buick bucks the trend reminded me of a question I had for Josh, or rather a kind of challenge. Now, I don't pick up regularly by any stretch of the imagination, but I was just wondering if I had one thing up on Josh: Have you ever picked up a girl who doesn't speak English? It's fun, you can't talk about anything, you just have to do it and hope she likes it.

Last night I saw a commercial for the Mazda 6, and it seemed as though one of their biggest triumphs with the car was that they were able to package six (6!) airbags into it. I giggled a bit as I told my parents that the smaller Cruze has 10 standard.

There is one for sale nearby. It looks like its all origional. From some time warp, just pushed out of storage. Its origional paint, origional interior. It does have some lower rust, not real bad at all. Cant speak for the undercarriage which must also be rusty. The interior is great except for the drivers back. Seat bottom looked great. Its licenced and inspected since July so apparently the brakes and all is working, so maybe the underneath is not too bad ? I just looked quickly at it from the outside and have not talked to anyone. I have a feeling its been in a barn or something, covered up because the old paint just looks like old paint, not trashed. The price is…

In case you missed it, this past Saturday (April 21) was Record Store Day. I hope you visited your local (read: non-chain) record store and perused their selection of new and used records (or CDs, if you must). Anything to enhance your music collection and spur the local economy. Saturday afternoon, I added my two-cents (or $20, I forget) picking up a few vinyl treasures and I can't wait for a moment alone in my house to listen to George Carlin's "Seven Words You Can't Say on TV" from the "Class Clown" record. Last fall, my buddy and I took out love of records to another level. In one fourteen-hour period, we traveled through three states and visited six records stores, …

I finally decided to get a job. I now start working at Canadian Tire in the Automotive Parts dept. on Monday. I am so excited. Anyone else remember their first job???

I bought something. Can't really explain why and not sure what the heck I'll do with it or how long it will be around. Busy day. Cash. Thought I'd try that for once, and old. But shockingly well cared for. To the extent the lady I bought it from typed and printed out an emotional "car history" story about it, in addition to the stacks of service bills. She was interesting. 199,575 miles as of today, parked outside under a tree until I get in trouble for having 2 cars in my development. Vroom. Now, what the heck am I going to do with this thing. Aye.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil%27s_Night Who had this where they grew up? The article says it's primarily around Detroit, but I definately experienced it growing up in Ontario. It was the night you could egg the house of the bully you hated. So, who else is familiar with it?

Disturbia It is one of those few films that is so much more than one that is meant to be scary, and at PG13, I am afraid that too many people would let this slip off from their radars as any sort of a "must see". Within the first 15 minuted of this film I laughed, cried *honestly*, felt rage, and sympathy. One is able to see how the characters are developed as one is introduced to them, learn about them, and see how they change. I would highly recommend seeing this production, but make sure you take someone with you, otherwise, the opening sequence is very hard.

It's interesting to see American automobiles in a different context and the fan base that exists in other countries. Here's Buicks in Sweden: http://www.buicksinsweden.se/

Let me set the scene for you a bit.... We (My girlfriend and I) live in the mountains of NC when we're not at school; it's very rural. In fact, we actually live up on a mountain that overlooks a valley, while on the back side of us is a national forest, water reservoir and black bear habitat. My neighborhood is basically built in a network of old logging roads (which were cut in when our mountain still housed mica mines) one of which has been widened and paved up to my cluster of 7 houses where the road (meaning paved part) dead ends. My family and I live in one house and my grilfriend and her family have been our next door neighbors for years. (Way before we were an "it…

HERE looks like it was an old stock photo put into another one.... ok it's obvious. i like the new cd. anyone else?

A7

i didn't see this anywhere else.. thought it'd be nice to have an official baseball thread. i'm a big orioles fan, and while we started out hot, everyone else isn't far behind. the o's just took two of three against the yankees this past weekend which was huge.. but i have a feeling we're in for a very long season. how are all your teams doing?

I am missing 68, where the heck is he?

I've been eying this 81 'Vette for a couple months, and he's lowered the price a couple times, without any bites. http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/cto/902101037.html http://www.buysell.com/root/detail/BC/Coll...blk_beauty.aspx The descriptions suck, and are off-putting, but I may give them a call to see it. I've looked at a couple C3 places to see what the story on these vehicles are in terms of rust, corrosion issues and the like. However, I'm wondering if there are any words from the wise here about anything I should be looking at/concerned about, or any pointed questions I should ask him over the phone?

You know... for the fun of it...

before (partially removed): after:

Browsing craigslist leads me to believe you guys are hogging all the plow trucks! Let me know if you find a really good one.

Classics ones, that is. I've always liked the classic vans (grew up around vans), and there has been a few driving around here lately.... I'm, actually pondering the idea of a classic van....something my whole family could enjoy. I'm thinking late 60s- early 80s. Any ideas? Good websites you know of?

At the usual you-pull type Junkyards, how much money can you expect to pay for a complete set of seats?

As I was emerging from slumber this a.m., I had a short movie flash in my head: I was driving my Cobalt here in Lancaster, PA. In my dream, Volkswagen's US headquarters is in my town. I was driving by the headquarters (a giant, non-descript brick and steel siding building without windows) when I noticed out of the corner of my eye a white, 4-door VW Beetle driving through the parking lot, flickering in and out of sight was it passed between parked cars. I instantly thought of photographing it for C&G with my phone, so I turned in to the restricted parking lot and made a loop, searching for the prototype. Then I saw it, parallel parked in front of the building by …

There's a new hookah bar in town. What's that all about?

They would actually think someone will buy this... http://cgi.ebay.ca/WINDOWS-KEY-CODE-VIEWER...1QQcmdZViewItem

I have a few others, took this while in a hurry today. This phone is HOT! It's a demo being tested so there are a few bugs but damn man, it's sweet. Also it's not too shiny, however it is a flat black color on plastic. The phone does however feel very, very rigid and stable.

So the other day while at a junkyard I notice a mid 70s Datsun pickup sitting there, sinking into the mud slowly but surely. And I noticed the old school obnoxious Datsun emblem was still attached to the frail plastic grille. Well, I've been waiting to find a big Datsun emblem so I could replace the NISSAN badge on the grill of the Maxima so this was the day. Check out the results below. Also, in another thread recently I said I'd post the pictures of the custom cut vinyl decals I affixed to the Datsun. Here they are... Clockwise from top left: Just below the passanger side headlight, driver's side fender & trunklid. Yes it's ric…

All that is left is to Rain -X her windows. Hopefully we're finished with the road salt for the spring.

So it's pouring and was for like 20 mintues before I checked on my car. Son of a bitch!

...has some damn fine women running around wearing very little on hot summer days. Its rather nice.

He's been suffering with terminal cancer for some time now and tomorrow the hospice care begins. It's going to be a rough time around here for a while and I may not be here so often. I have lots of things to get figured out and will need to be supporting my family in whatever way I can as things progress. I will update you when it makes sense to do so. I consider you folks my friends so I felt I had to post this.

I'd like to ask you guys if you know of a way we can can get a straight deal from a dealership for our next visit. Is there a way we can get what we want from the start of the deal? Is there any kind of research we can do? If you have a tip, post it here. Thanks guys.

Lesbian spokeswomyn Rosie O'Donnell has accused Oprah & her friend Gayle as being "a little bit gay". Ok, Oprah is 52 and has never married, hmmm, maybe she has something there. Not that here is anything wrong with that. She outs Oprah & Gayle and then Clay. Has Rosie O become the official gay outer now? And, what does a person like Rosie O, drive? I'll bet it's not a GM vehicle. Prius?..most likely...although it is a little bit on the small side.

Happy birthday, Mr. American Revolution 2005, since you pointed that out on my birthday thread. I don't know what that fetches in Canada, but I think it allows you to drive in most of the states down here in "the colonies." At any rate, have a great one! I'd put one of those bitchen' houses in your neighborhood in your combined birthday/Christmas stocking, but I don't think it would fit!

As my mother ages, she's gotten pretty frightened of thunderstorms, especially if there is a tornado watch involved. She lives in a trailer park, and keeps her little place neat as a pin. I guess having seen some of the destruction on the news over the years from storms in the midwest, has hightened her awareness. I usually use humor to try to calm her, and try to cite probability to show her that she'll be OK. Friday night, a tornado that was embedded in a thunderstorm, along with some destructive straight-line winds, blasted through her area, to within a mile of her home. She lost power, and said she heard a thunderous, constant roar for a while, but that she didn'…

In a factory downtown

For some reason, I have a random copy of the Home News Tribune, a New Brunswick NJ-based newspaper, date Nov 20, 1969. I found these used car ads interesting : • 61 Austin-Healey 3000, good condition, overdrive, $795 • 69 Camaro Z/28, Hurst, 3.73s, 6600 miles, $3300 • 63 Impala convertible, $600 • 67 Biscayne, 427 motor, best offer • 65 Impala convertible 4-spd, $1275 • 68 El Camino, SS396, 4-spd, 24,000 miles, best offer over $2000 • 62 Corvette, 340-HP 4-spd, excellent cond, $1450 • 61 Merc convert, new top, $225 • 66 Belvedere 2-dr Hemi 4-spd, exc cond, $1800 • 69 Road Runner, Hemi 4-spd 4.88s (no price) • 64 GTO 4-spd, loaded, exc cond, beast offer over $1…

First off, how's everyone doing? I still hang around, but unfortunately don't participate anywhere near the levels I used to. I'm sure I wasn't the only car geek out there that wanted to turn my life's passion into a full-time career. I've been fortunate enough to be involved in this business for quite sometime and have obtained all my auto related positions due mostly to my sheer enthusiasm and understanding vehicles and of the market. Now's here you're chance. There is an opening to work with me (trust me, no big thrill hanging with me) as a forecast analyst for the North American market. If you're interested and preferably live in Michigan and have a strong des…

So I was driving home on a two-lane road, and see a possum crossing the street. I slow down to make sure he gets across my side, and he successfully did. However, there was a car coming in the oncoming lane that he wasn't so fortunate to avoid, and I had the unpleasant experience of hearing its death. I was probably 15 feet from where he was hit as I was driving by. I hear a thud-caa-runch and then a second later a nasty splatter. Not something I ever want to hear again. Gross.

I thought I'd share, this was posted on Buick-59.com http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/19/automobi...nted=1&_r=2

I really like this guy's work, and he does more than just cars....check out his site. Lost America

The #Ford #Mustang #DriftersStitch video has been making the rounds and we couldn't help putting our own spin on it...Check out our teaser video at the blog and the full video on #YouTube and give #ChrisFix the props he deserves.

I went to the Nutmeg Chapter POCI Pontiac-Oakland show on Sunday. There were a lot of nice cars out and competition was pretty tough. So much to my surprise, I took home a first place in my class! Who knew... I've attached some pictures from the show. Most concentrate on cars I was competing with, but there are a few others I found interesting included too. I loved the wagon! He was robbed -- didn't place at all. He tied for 3rd. He kicks my butt often at these shows. My car. I think he took 2nd place (possibly tied for 3rd)

going on-what would you do? A sliding housing market, heating bills pricer by the month, a recession looming (wait-I think it's already here)... On the other hand-good prices.... I really want to get a house-BUT-I'm not getting a good feeling about it...(could be my local market)... Would it be smarter to wait- or consider diving right in?

Did you guys read that thing where Australian temp agencies, hiring Santas for the season, suggested to them NOT to say the beloved, intrinsically linked HoHoHo, but to say "HaHaHa" instead... to avoid offending women? This has got to be one of the stupidest, most lamebrained things I've read... like little kids would even know anything about hoes.

Quick question for the automtive history buffs...what was the last year of the 4-door hardtop and what model? Thanks!

So I was scanning eBay today and came across this: LINK I'll have to keep my eye on it. A far cry from the '85 Buick Skyhawk wagon I borrowed from my dad in my early driving years, but I still think it's cool!

It's been a long time...

What GM movie car do you like the best- To me it's the Impala ragtop in Boyz in the Hood. What's yours? Wasn't it a Pontiac Grand Am or something in that really wild chase in The French Connection? Also like... The 58 Chevy and 55 Chevy from American Graffiti, the movie Two Lane Blacktop, and theTrans Am in smokey and the Bandit. Non GM car things that were obviously cool were the chase in Bullet, but I loved watching Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry. The ending where the Charger slams into the train I saw when I was like 7 years old and it was my first real taste of movie violence involving a car. That scene has stayed with me for a long time. Chris

I have been doing some research into what GM was doing in Germany during the Nazi Years, I was surprised to say the least. I decided to post this article here in the lounge where only we members can view it and not the whole world. I was shocked on some of the things I learned. I try to have an open mind when it comes to issues involving GM, I like to see the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, of the company I work for. James D. Mooney thrust his arm diagonally, watching its reflection in his hotel suite mirror. Not quite right. He tried once again. Still not right. Was it too stiff? Too slanted? Should his palm stretch perpendicular to the ceiling; should his arm bend at …

They did sometimes ahve good articles...but Sport Compact car is dead. http://www.autoblog.com/2008/11/21/source-...laying-off-115/ I think the whole Japanese tuner thing is seeming to die down, at least outside of southern Cali. This may indeed point that direction. Chris

... signatures we have on the site these days? Works for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ozc70JPGRMQ some one gave me this dvd "stop making sense" and to me this looks totally lip sung. Is it me or does any one else think this? Talking heads Burning down the house. also just for a laugh what was devo thinking???? I can watch this without laughing gotta love the power hat. the 80's...

http://delawareonline.com/assets/pdf/BL133941430.PDF

Happy Birthday, Booyah.