The Lounge

I was talking to my mom tonight, who is a 2nd grade teacher, and she was telling me about an episode at school today where a special needs kid starting throwing a tantrum. Under No Child Left Behind and Iowa state laws, special needs kids who would normally be in a special education classroom must be part of the regular classroom per inclusionary policies. When this kid was having a tantrum and throwing things around the room, my mom basically had to make the entire rest of the class leave until the episode was over as part of the policy. The teacher cannot physically remove the kid from the classrom, so the rest of the class suffers lost learning time. And apparentl…

Motoring Memories: 1964 Chevrolet Corvair Greenbrier van. Click image to enlarge Chevrolet Corvair Greenbrier, 1961-1965 Story and photo by Bill Vance DaimlerChrysler often claims that Chrysler invented the minivan when it brought out its "Magic Wagons", the 1984 Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager. Such was not the case, however, as this was at least the third coming of the minivan. The original concept came from Volkswagen in 1950 when it installed its Beetle powertrain in what was essentially a metal box on wheels. To give their Transporter, as they called it, commercial-use pulling power, the little rear-mounted, four-cylinder, air-cooled, horizontally opposed…

Yesterday on my way back from a delivery traffic was slowing down, and moving into the other lane...it was to avoid a guy on a bicycle...but not just any bicycle. This guy was riding 8 feet or so in the air. I got a look at it as I was driving by. Apparently he welded 2 bike frames together, one on top of the other, and then mounted the seat on a 2-3 foot pipe. How he maintained his balance is beyond me. Today as I was delivering to a store in a strip mall, i noticed a gold mid 90's Cavalier parked awkwardly in the Bank of America parking lot. It had a flat and there was no one in it. I thought it was odd how it was parked, but figured the owner had gone to get a help f…

I've wasted about 8 hours of my life trying to create a slideshow only to have the damn thing fail and disappear after each round of hours of work. WTF is wrong with that site?

Enjoy! http://www.rkmotorscharlotte.com/sales/inventory/active#!/1971-Plymouth-Cuda/133269

Well on its way to becoming the highest-grossing film of all time, James Cameron's Avatar is bulldozing all the competition. Have you seen it? I took my mother to see it yesterday at her request, and I must say, even with the heavy-handed message(s) and well-worn love story angle, it was beautifully done. We saw it in 2-D, and I'd go back to see it in 3-D, wow, what a way to light up the screen.

... go up?? WTF... http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=38317 I really want to give whoever invented insurance a big swift kick in the nuts with my steel toed boots.

So, what's goin' on in Shirleysburg? Have a good one out there.

I made this punkin pie today, with a crust made of ginger snaps, almonds, and butter.

i got a few hard drives from old computers laying around. one of them in fact has a bout 30gb of music and pics that i would like back. i dont want to send them off to get restored or transfered and found this little doo hickey looking around. anyone used one or know anything about them?

A conversation with a fellow Monte Carlo enthusiast prompted this query. Ruffling feathers is NOT the intent ... just kinda curious if others have noticed this, too.... We were talking about how some events are well attended ... and others aren't. It seems that the well-attended ones are those that offer some type of trophy/award/reward for participation; the ones not-so-much-attended are the gatherings/drives/spur-of-the-moment plans that are "just for fun", with no awards/plaques/etc. Yet, many times, we hear/read people note that the gatherings really ARE about the people, the friendships, etc. ... the awards are secondary. Sssooo, if this IS the case, why is it s…

Besides 1 Cadillac CTS smaller lease ad, a small Hummer ad, and a sliver of a dealer saying they'll sell any 05 over $150 over invoice, there are no other new GM products being advertised in this weekends edition of the Autos/Drivetime in the Portland, OR newspaper (the Oregonian). In comparison; honda = 7 (not inc. acura) toyota = 7 (not inc. lexus) Mazda = 4 Subaru = 5 VW = 4 (not inc. Audi) nissan = 6 (not inc. infiniti) Chrysler = 15 (not inc. Mitsu & Mercedes) Ford = 8 Note to GM; If you want to sell cars you need to advertise. You will continue to loose market share if you don't tell people about your great products, and not about the latest…

I'll post a response later. for those that respond.. care to say something about it?

happy 35th man....have a good day

I finally took the time to sort through all the pictures I've taken thus far this year. Click to enlarge the thumbnails. -From a light display in Altoona, Pa. -The last two pictures of my Jetta, taken a week before the accident. -Taken in Dubois H.S., Dubois, Pa. -Millenia. -Random shots from around Ramsaytown. -Aftermath of a fire that destroyed the Perkins restaurant in Dubois, Pa a few weeks ago. -Sunset from around Dubois, Pa.

A gem of a transportation museum in Wetaskwin, Alberta, Canada, not far from Edmonton. It's very interactive, with streetscapes, drive-in theaters, avaiation museum on site etc. http://www.machinemuseum.net/index.htm

Just food for thought, this si not exactly very scientific but it does prove a point: why bother with B-pillars when push come to shove they're all pretty weak... I do not beleive a B-pillar saves lives more often than sheer luck does. http://www.crashanalysis.com/crash_test.htm

Used GM cars a great deal. Especially those that are just a year old. They don't depreciate much from the 2nd year to the 4th year. GM could possibly move alot of metal in their pre-owned program with a good lease program. Using a sample from my local dealer here is what I see; 2007 Impala LT 6500 miles for $14,999 (a decent deal for a used Impala) Using KBB and assuming 12,000 miles per year, the same car is worth $8,500 as a trade in (good cond) This is around $180 per month in depreciation. A subvented lease could bring it to $225 per month with no money down. 2007 Cobalt LS 23,400 miles for $9,995 miles (standard going price for such a vehicle) …

Happy Birthday to CSpec! Wow, what a milestone, you're 19.

Anyone who has a subscription to Just-Auto: I'm looking for a reprint of ONE article. It can be found at: https://www.just-auto.com/features_detail.asp?art=32 If anyone can help, I'd appreciate it! Thanks!

Did the Astro and Safari vans have a lot of issues with build quality. I was at work at Canadian Tire and in 4 hours, 3 people called to ask if we carried a replacement mirror for an Astro. First one I thought was a coincidence, then the second one was on the phone and it started to get me wondering. I had about 2 cases of that last Tuesday I worked. I asked everybody if they had already been in or sent somebody in looking for that but they said no. This is kind of odd because that was just 5 cases in 2 weeks or technically 2 work days. But we didn't carry them so I told everybody to go to the dealer for the new mirror. Has anyone else heard of this happening? The driver'…

Happened across this earlier... http://www.classicresto.com/mambo/content/view/96/43/ Basically, its not finished, but its step-by-step restoration of a '86 Grand Prix 2+2... except they are modifying the car to have an Escalade drivetrain (6L80!), GTO seats and to make the rear window part of a hatchback. Very cool... will be nice to see the finished result.

Cadillac: one of the coolest brands in all of automotive history... certainly my favorite luxury brand hands down. Sure I love BMW and have the utmost respect for Deusenbergs, Bugattis, Packards, Auburns and Pierce Arrows... I even like certain M.B.s and Lincolns but in the end Cadillac is my favorite by a far. So I thought I'd share some of my favorites through the years: 1928 Cadillac Imperial Cabriolet 1930 Cadillac V16 (Al Capone's personal armored ride) 1930 boat tail V16 1931 one of one tripple red V16 1931 V16 roadster 1932 Cadillac Dual Cowl Phaeton V16 1936 Cadillac Imperial limo V16 1948 Caddy Ragtop …

I was over to the Barnes & Noble today, looking at magazines of different genres, and the September, 2009 issue of Hot Rod caught my eye. They have a big tribute article to Pontiac, and some really cool artwork involving new ideas for customizing older Chevys. I am primarily thinking of Camino with this thread, but of course I think everyone else here would love it, too. Check it out. Also, for behind-closed-doors Design Center photo hounds like me, the newest issue of Collectible Automobile has a fantastic spread on the '73-'77 Pontiac A-body cars, LeMans, GTO, Can Am and Grand Am. Some of the design proposals are damn scrumptious!

They looked mighty cozy at an Emmys party in September, but later denied being in a realtionship. Now, “Heroes” stars Hayden Panettiere and Milo Ventimiglia finally seem to be a real item. And, regardless of the fact that Ventimiglia is technically old enough to be Panettiere’s dad (he’s 30, she’s only 18), Panettiere’s family has given Ventimiglia the thumbs up. “Hayden’s mom adores Milo. She thinks he’s so cute,” a family friend told People. "She tells her friends that he's her boyfriend. She's very proud.” The mag reports that during a December trip to New York City, Ventimiglia hung out with the entire Panettiere family. “He's even met her grandparents. He fits …

...THIS?

http://louisville.craigslist.org/cto/1952860302.html Uh, okay? How can you own a car or truck and not know it's a fucking diesel during the duration of your ownership of the vehicle? Jesus.

I don't know how many have ever had this happen before or what it is even called, but a few minutes ago I was reading our local newspaper and it has a section called "Peekin' in the Past" where they print headlines from 20, 50, and 75 years ago. Anyway, one of the stories from March 12, 1986 read: That's not the weird part. A few minutes later I went back to checking out C&G and discovered this post by Flybrian on the Hyundai Azera: I was shocked to see the same description only two minutes later, even though I had never heard it used before in my life. A similar thing happened to me over a year ago. I was at a family get-together for Thanksgiving when someh…

I was just on the western cruise on the Royal Caribbean cruise ship, Mariner of the Seas. This was my 2nd time on this ship, as well as my second cruise, and I had a blast, what with the amazing shows/performances, entertainment, appearence, crew,ect. Has anyone been on this ship before? To give further details, it has a miniature golf course, basketball area, rock climbing wall, five-story theater, ice-skating rink, three-four pools, four+ hot tubs,........ I went to Labadee, Haiti (Royal Caribbean's private island). My excursions were the AquaPark and the Waverunner tour. Next was Ocho Rios, Jamaica, and I climbed the Dunns falls (you hold hand and climb this MASSI…

Is it me, or does there seem to be little to no fan fare coming out of GM for this years LA auto show at this time. It seemed like the weekend before the auto show last year we knew atleast a little bit of what was going ot happen. Anybody care to speculate what will show up at this years show?

Autoweek subscribers will know what I'm talking about. Each week, Toyota puts some blatant bulls*it, folksy ad in the magazine, extolling their many virtues. Hehe (I can't stop snickering), this week it's headlined "Bonding on the Trail: Going Off-Road to Find the Spirit of the New FJ Cruiser". "When Toyota decided to move forward with the production of the FJ Cruiser in 2005, it charged the development team with two important missions. The first was to bring young (and dumb?) customers into Toyota showrooms; the second was to reinvigorate the Toyota truck lineup with a vehicle that was fun to drive, stylish and tough (all italics are mine)." "Styling would be ano…

This could very well be something I'll start doing monthly...or even bi-monthly. You see, I have over a decade of old "Car & Driver" magazines stored in a Rubbermaid bin in my closet, and I need to put them to good use. Here's the idea I had: every month, pull one random issue out of mothballs and scan something random from the issue I select. It could be an ad, it could be an article. Every page is fair game. To start us off, I decided to show off a bunch of random junk. Since this is the first -- or last, I'm not sure -- it's deserving of a light boom. Those Crazy Chrysler Executives Try To Save Plymouth At the Mall (1996): The Crystal Ball Comes Close (1992):…

http://www.solsticeforum.com/forum/f35/off...ondition-58623/ BTW, meant to say at the Tail of the dragon... Chris

Fascinating! I'm amazed at the ideas these scientists come up with.

Happy Boxing Day to all of my fellow Canadians!

So found this on Motor Trends web site, the top 10 concepts that should have been built. I have to say I really like most of them and the one Chrysler did, while the first time seeing it for me, this should have been done from day one. Talk about pure sex on wheels. http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/g6565/10-concept-cars-we-wish-had-made-it-to-production/?slide=1 My Favorite two are as follows: Chrysler Atlantic Concept Cadillac Sixteen Plenty of other cool auto's but these two are my fav's.

if you have direct tv and like anything ed roth there is a show airing tonight at 8pm eastern on OVTV channel 274 about him.

remember playing oregon trail in school. when you got to the big rivers you could get a guide, ask advice, caulk your wagon and float or if you were brave enough, forge that bad boy. taking the forging to the extreme... cant we not get these here? onward.... Haoooooooo!

lincolcn concept just thought it would have a good place in our car market now . . .

Well, its here, college football season gets in full swing in a few hours. We've got #2 Notre Dame-Georgia Tech, #1 Ohio State-Northern Illinois (blowout?) and #6 USA-Arkansas (I'm predicting upset city).

Saw this dork on the way to the Chicago Auto Show.

Remember these cute little guys?

Trivia number two...I am thinking about a race car driver... Race car driver was an SCCA member...and the first race they ran was in a Ford Pinto...which was promptly sunk into an on course lake during the drivers first ever race. Driver towed the P{into home and actually used the oven to dry out the windshield wiper motor and a bunch of other parts...and then drove it to work the Monday after it was totally submerged. This driver was most noted for racing Mustangs....but also ran at the Indy 500. Driver qualified well, and won an award...but never won the race. Driver set a track record at Talledega in a NASCAR prep Thunderbird that to this day the Monte Carlo has n…

Just thought id throw another thread out to discuss the Alpha Platform We have two threads about the MT article about pontiac not getting an Alpha... i call especially since Lutz discredited it.... Im really interested in the platform, as it may signal a return to cheap, fun RWD cars What i know so far... Cadillac is the obvious reciever of the platform, sub CTS car Pontiac should and almost definatley will get at least one variation of the car Alpha uses Kappa as a basis and the Kappa twins may eventually move to Alpha What i want to know.. Besides the possibility of the Sky/Solsitce on Alpha, will the Ponitac/Cadillac Alphas be Sedan only? or will mul…

I posted back in March about a possible surgery to repair an incisional hernia (above my belly button) that developed from my 2003 open heart surgery and made itself known in September 2008 at the NMCOA Mini Meet in Stillman Valley IL and then even more so in mid-February 2009. In March, I had decided to NOT get it repaired, since it was, according to the surgeon, small. However ... as some of you know ... that hernia had started to act up a bit more regularly the last few months (once, while I was visiting friends in Freeport IL in April) ... and with "car" and "road trip" season here, I decided enough was enough. So, Thursday, May 28, 2009, the incisional hernia was…

happy birthday, tmp... maybe you'll see this.

went to a local gun show this morning and picked up a new toy. Got a Taurus PT 24/7 PRO Compact. I had looked at one before and almost got it, but backed out cause the show was coming up. the only thing i dont like about mine is that its got the factory sights, the other had heinke straight eights on it, but that will be fixed soon. i'll post some pics later. after taxes and all it came to $445. they had an XD .40 sub-compact for $519 but i backed out cause i like the fact that the taurus is a SA/DA. the XD also seemed a little too... little. Anybody else picked up something nifty in the shooting world lately?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Zqog1nPVh8 Discuss.

Just completed the transaction. But, it will be hanging around for a day or three before he comes back to get it.

I just spent several hours on the phone with ebay support, jumping through hoops and repeating myself. Would someone do me a favor and click on this link to see of my listing is actually there? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330701073521&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649#ht_522wt_907 I hasn't shown up in an ebay search after I listed it this morning, then ebay thought I was not who I said I was so I had to re-list it. Now, I'm waiting (again) for "up to 8 hours" for it to show up in a search. I'd just like to know if you see it when you click the link. I'll check the search (again) later.

I was so happy to see this: http://news.yahoo.com/s/eo/20060624/en_tv_...HNlYwN5bmNhdA-- Futurama will be back (with Billy West, John Dimaggio and Katey Segal) on Cartoon Network in 2008. While the Simpsons have really lost their bite, Futurama was just hitting its stride when FOX assured that it would fail by pre-empting with crappy football, changing dates and times to a point where fans had no idea if it was going to be on or not. All right! It's Saturday night, I have no date, a two liter bottle of Shasta and my all-Rush mix tape, let's rock!

using the asus OC'ing program on a "mild' setting http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=574274 almost a 600mhz OC ordered an hd4770 other parts are corsair 650W-tx antec 300 case WD black 640gb ocz ddr3 1333mhz reaper HPC ram after everything comes in should be a ~$700 machine after MIR

The launch of the 2010 xB Release Series 7.0 is officially here - so I wanted to let you guys know that Scion is introducing the Murasaki Street Racer online game! I tried reaching out to oldsmoboi but never heard back, so hope it's cool to share this info with you all! Competitors are called to challenge each other for the highest score and unlock special achievements within the game – including the Murasaki Purple xB. Invite friends and build your crew to race for glory on the high score leader board. Want to get in on the action? Become a fan of the Scion Release Series Fan Page on Facebook! Furthermore, the new xB Release Series 7.0 is up for grabs at Scion deal…

My mom is looking for a new car (SUV) and we found this... http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?car_...7500&cardist=52 Is there's something I'm not seeing in this for it to be selling at that price? Carfax doesnt have anything major on it

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=8312724 BANGALORE (Reuters) - A U.S. federal court's ruling in a patent infringement case could threaten sales of Microsoft Corp's popular word processing application. microsoft (ABC News Photo Illustration) A Texas district court on Tuesday ruled in favor of Canadian software firm i4i Ltd and filed an injunction preventing Microsoft from selling the 2003 and 2007 versions of Word. The patent relates to XML, or extensible markup language, which is used to manipulate a document's content and architecture separately. Apart from Microsoft's Word, XML is used by other word processing applications such as OpenOffice. Th…

Happy Birthday to one of our little brothers, Charger4U, or as I like to call him, Chicken. I hope you're having a good one.

Your sig pic is driving me crazy! It has to be the finest-looking '59 Camino I've ever seen, and the color is pure perfection. Where did you find that pic?

Came across this story about Ferrari beating Bugatti and it is very cool to watch. Interesting is that in the quarter mile you do see that the Ferrari is a couple car lengths ahead but as they hit the finish line and keep going the bugatti closes the gap. Makes one wonder who would really win in a mile long race. https://fr.news.yahoo.com/laferrari-demolishes-bugatti-veyron-drag-race-video-135004475.html

I'm home and have the time right now, so I thought I'd finally share this since it's still effecting me. On my way home from Detroit last Thursday after my English Placement Exam, I got to Chelsea on I-94 when my car died. Now, it wouldn't be quite so bad if this was the first time that it had happened, but it was about the fifth time that it's done it to me, and what pissed me off above everything else is that what the dealership thought the problem was turned out not the be the problem at all. I maintain that it's the fuel pump. On a long drive (I got to Detroit fine) it just eventually fizzles out on the Interstate. It gives a hiccup, and then the car just starts…

What if an upcoming session of congress were dedicated to repealing laws rather than making new ones? They could start with the truly absurd ones which would make for easy agreement and work their way toward the more difficult issues.

Parking in rear.

but i am jealous... a more entertaining way to use "clunkers"

Not work safe (well it's borderline) I'd love to own this bad boy, check out that spedometer. :wub: just to be abl;e to say the name to people would be worht the price of admision. It's like: "I went for a ride in my Classic Cadillac today..." {oh, what do you have? waht year & model?} "It's a 1947 Cadillac Scoville and Sayers hearse..." {blank stare} I think these are the "Suicide Girls" posing wiht it, I saw an HBO special on them once. Checked the website but if it was them the pics with the car are not up yet... (read the auction writeup if you're scratching your head) http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...bayphotohosting …

You guys have no doubt heard me talk about my friend "Duffy" he's the one who moved out to AZ almost 5 years ago. Hes one of my closest and best friends, we met in college 8 years ago. I ment him when I found out that he was doing a wicked awsome senior project. It was THE longest (280 pages) senior project in the history of the Business Department of our college. The topic? "A Business Case for a 5th Gen. F-Body from GM" So that's how me and Duffy met. After years of driving his 1991 Pontiac GTA, it was a steel roof hunter green TPi350/700R4 powered car with a tan interior, he sold it and now drives (as his only car) a 1961 Rambler Americ…

It's been modified a bit, a fixer-upper.. http://jalopnik.com/for-6-999-this-is-why-we-can-t-have-nice-things-1177320209?utm_campaign=socialflow_jalopnik_facebook&utm_source=jalopnik_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

When you've just completed your bouncing-off-the-rev-limiter, lame-ass drift in your riced (or is that sauerkrauted) BMW, no matter how many extra points you think the judges may award you for it or how cool you think it looks, it is usually a really bad idea to get out of your car while the back tires are still spinning. not for the overly sensitive

Hope this is ok to post here. I figured its not "GM News" worthy, but a little more laid back here. Does any Canadian dealer have an idea what GM is rolling out next? IE September 1st? My salesman have been mum on the subject. I looked at the board from this time last year and saw very little. I'm (sadly) giving up my 2004 Av in about a month or so when its off lease. The wife and I have decided on the HHR as a replacement (her Optra car is up in 15 months...so this will be hers then, then me, back to an Av or something else a little more substansial) Thanks to a few dealers, its clear there's not a lot left for 2006 in the HHR LS with options we want, in Canada…

Well, I did. I must say, I was/am pissed, dissapointed, extremely shocked (yet slightly expected based off of how people vote, but never actally expected it.) For those of you who do watch American Idol and missed the show: Melinda Doolittle was dismissed. For those who don't: Melinda Doolittle is a 29-year-old (previous) backup singer. She has gone throughout the entire competition with only one 'not-so-hot' comment. Other than that, she was unbelievable! I honestly am really hating Blake, considering that he was the reason Melinda left, and here is the reason: Blake is from Seattle, and beatboxes. His town is obviously well-know and has a large population. So th…

Post your pictures of the worst winter damage you have ever seen to an auto!

I guess now would be the perfect time to admit that I am only a 15 yr. old boy and the breeze and saturn are my parent's cars, but I have a great deal of care for them.... Anyway, my dad was driving home from work(its raining) and he went to turn off of sunrise highway at our exit and some guy in a little toyota ramed the breeze in the rear passenger side door....the whole door is caved in(luckily no interior damage or window damage) but the panit is all scraped up and I cant even call it a dent it is so big...Thank god for insurance! The police said that the accident was the other guys fault. *pics coming soon*

if you got a geo you better clean her up and put it for sale! insanity knows no gas price! geo = cash?

http://members.aol.com/hearseq/grimrides.htm

http://calgary.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehicles-cars-trucks-Purchase-cheap-Escalade-from-some-rich-person-W0QQAdIdZ237595710

By Jonathan Adams and Max Hirsch Newsweek International Aug. 20-27, 2007 issue - China's recent rise has brought with it a new conventional wisdom: that everyone must learn Mandarin. But no one's told South Korea yet. Though Chinese is increasingly popular here, the nation seems to be suffering a profound case of English fever. South Korea now boasts at least 10 "English villages"—mock Western communities complete with post offices, pharmacies and the like where kids can practice their language skills. An entire English-only town is due to open on Cheju Island in 2010. And one Internet-based company here even offers English courses for fetuses in the womb. Next door, m…

I just realized that as of New Year's Eve, I will have been a member of C&G for an entire decade. Wow!

Is the $199 lease per month for the nissan altima special edition a good deal? I was thinking about going for it....

Link

Happy birthday to the only Angeleno I know brazen enough to take on the name of the city. Enjoy! I'm filing my taxes today... and I'm including a check. Happy birthday, Los Angeles!

My '67 Delmont 88:

I went kayaking yesterday for a couple of hours on a calm, peaceful lake. Well, my kayak doesn't have a backrest, so to get paddling decently I hold myself in a semi-reclined position, I find it works better than sitting straight up or laying mostly reclined. The problem is that it kills the abs. In facts, here is the text I sent a couple of people last night as I was floating around the fishing access before I pulled out: One of the replies I got was from my friend Brandon: I didn't even know what to say, I have to admit it was a kinda funny thing for him to say.

Science has discovered the heaviest element yet known to man. The new element is Governmentium (Gv). It has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lefton-like particles called peons. Since Governmentium has no electrons or protons, it is inert. However, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A tiny amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction normally taking less than a second to take from four days to four years to complete. Gove…