Cheers and Jeers for 2008

[bobo]

2008 was a year of few cheers. There was an abundance of misery to go around. The continuing mortgage meltdown led to the credit crunch and the sinking of the stock market. Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns went bye-bye. Madoff’s $50 billion mother of all Ponzi schemes further shook investors’ confidence. Jobs disappeared. Politics was big this year as Obama’s hope and change resonated with the country, and Sarah Palin’s “you betcha” shtick grew old. The price of a gallon of gas exceeded $4 and resulted in people’s wallets being cleaned out and the sales of SUVs decimated. And then the price of gas plummetted to $1.50 due to the sinking economy. In the land of cheap imports and melamine-tainted food, Michael Phelps won eight gold medals. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan went on. President Bush was assaulted by a pair of loafers. O.J. was sent to prison. Prominent passings included Paul Newman, Charlton Heston, William Buckley, Tim Russert, and Mark Felt, aka Deep Throat.

Amid the country’s financial problems, the entire automotive industry took a dump. Even mighty Toyota took a fall. The Big Three pleaded their case for survival to Congress, and they were given a reprieve, but how much longer will they last?

Here on the boards, armchair-CEOing remained a favorite pastime. Should Pontiac go? Or Saturn? Or Saab? Or Buick? Or GMC? Or all of them? Should Wagoner stay or go? The Camaro is finally on the cusp of arriving at dealerships after a long gestation period. The pesky server problems persisted—C&G would not be C&G without server problems. FlyBrian decided to get a life and largely stayed away. The amount of traffic on the board slowed, and actual industry news has been spotty.

And now, time for the Seventh Annual Cheers and Jeers for Cheers and Gears and all things automotive, with an emphasis on cheers rather than jeers:

Cheers to the Poster of the Year, dwightlooi. He can explain away the intricacies of complex mechanical systems and offer rational drivetrain suggestions.

Honorable mention goes to longtooth for his perspective from the factory.

Cheers to the Best New Poster, gmpartsgirl. The female posters have been few and far between (hi jessi chan, 01LightingGal, and staceface!), but they provide some needed balance to the unbridled testosterone that permeates the place. And who can’t appreciate someone with a love for G-body Cutlasses?

Cheers to the Insiders and Industry Folk such as thegriffon and evok for offering their professional perspectives to counter the blather. evok and AH-HA stopped by a few times over the year to offer some kernals of wisdom. Back in 2006, evok was right about the “Death of the V8” for mainstream cars, but few wanted to listen.

Cheers to GM for the Most Significant Introduction of the upcoming Volt. GM is milking the Volt to convince everybody that the company has a future, and the promise still needs to live up to the hype. Will GM finally deliver the goods in 2010?

Cheers to the Best Post by Makfu about fear, posted on January 1 of 2008. link

Honorable mentions: Dodgefan on accountability link

and Balthazar on automotive design link

Cheers to the Best Non-Automotive Thread, Word Association, by Charger4U (nee Chicken4U). link

When there’s nothing else going on, the trusty Word Association thread will be there, and it offers a glimpse into the psyche of board members.

Jeers to the so-called Cheers and Gears Curse. It doesn’t afflict all members, but it seems to pick on certain members, and Dodgefan experienced more than his share of wrecks.

Cheers to Ford for developing the Best Family Hybrid, the Ford Fusion Hybrid. The insufferable Dan Neil of the L.A. Times got 52 mpg in his test car. Also, some of the styling updates to the Fusion may be questionable, but Ford deserves credit for trying to keep its vehicles fresh.

Cheers to the Moderator/Admin of Merit, Camino LS6. He’s been doing a good job filling the void left by FlyBrian while having trials and tribulations in his own personal life to work through. We’ve been intrigued by his project cars, and he’s kept a very even hand in the moderation.

Cheers to PlumCrazy for Best Concept, a retro Chevelle. PlumCrazy’s contributions are few and far between now, but each drawing remains a treat.

Honorable mention goes to none other than the mostly vilified MRDETROITMETAL with his often misunderstood auto art. But he did make one chop of a Lincoln MKS wagon that garnered quite a bit of respect:

Jeers to the Worst Poster/Troll of the Year. There’s only so much kvetching one can take. The same post over and over and over. Who can that be?

Cheers and Jeers to Satty for Worst Thread, “I have horrible gas.” link

And finally, Cheers to the C&G staff and members who continue to make C&G an enjoyable place to spend our time, talk about cars, and also share our joys and sorrows.

Hope everybody has a healthy, prosperous and Happy New Year!

[ocnblu]

Cheers to bobo, for providing stability and adhering to tradition with his always-excellent year-end summations. Pin!

[A Horse With No Name]

Cheers to Harley Earl and Sixty Eight for keeping the memory of our older stuff alive...

Cheers to Camino for his posts on the Mothertruck and the wagon...it's nice to see project cars.

Cheers to CMG for his pro-Chrysler viewpoint and his project car.

Cheers to Carbiz for keeping on posting here, keeping us abreast of the showroom scene.

Cheers to Dodgefan for his excellent posts. Reading his stuff keeps me coming back.

Cheers to Oldsmoboi for his posts about politics, energy and the economy. Good luck to you as you seek to move yourself and your boyfriend to Germany.

Cheers to Future of GM for his rational, confrontational, honest posts. I love them also.

Cheers to gm4life for being such a big GM nut and such a big patriot. I sense reading his politics posts that he really really deeply loves our nation, and I am VERY proud to have him as a poster here even if we don't always agree.

Cheers to GM for trying to stick it out in tough times...

Cheers to Ford for really showing us that a domestic can start to pull it together.

Cheers to you also, ocnblu, for posting here regularly...that goes for dave87rs also.

Cheers to knightfan, for having and keeping a garage full of old cars I'd love to own. He hasn't been posting here as much, but I enjoy it when he posts.

Cheers to everyone else that posts here also...even if traffic is down, it is one of the coolest forums on the net IMHO.

Sixty-Six

[trinacriabob]

The female posters

provide some needed balance to the unbridled testosterone that permeates the place. And who can’t appreciate someone with a love for G-body Cutlasses?

Will GM finally deliver the goods in 2010?

Best Non-Automotive Thread, Word Association, by Charger4U (nee Chicken4U).

When there’s nothing else going on, the trusty Word Association thread will be there, and it offers a glimpse into the psyche of board members.

And finally, Cheers to the C&G staff and members who continue to make C&G an enjoyable place to spend our time, talk about cars, and also share our joys and sorrows.

Thank you. Befitting 2008, the write-up was more succinct, it seems, than others in the past, but you covered all the bases.

Yes, gmpartsgirl, is welcomed with open arms and, like many of us, carries a torch for the Cutlass. Whether or not she can defuse all the testosterone remains to be seen.

Yep, the Volt et. al. As I start "recharging" my GM Card for the next purchase (cough), I am certainly hoping it won't be a transversely mounted internal combustion V6 engine.

Charger4U has practically grown up on this board. Word Association is in the vicinity of 72,000 views. Will there be a Y2K of sorts when that "odometer" approaches 100,000? Thanks to Charger4U, we have this immensely popular thread.

Thanks, bobo, and Happy New Year everybody!

[loki]

Nice Bobo.

happy 09 everyone

[Charger4U]

Success!!!! haha 2 years ago i asked if i would ever get a mention in one of these. The time has come!

Cheers to the best automotive forum on the net! (It still exists right? Im usually in the lounge)

[gmpartsgirl]

Thanks guys!! I love this forum, I love GM and I love my beautiful G-bodies. I'll be around a long time.

[VenSeattle]

Bobo is more reliable than a Buick! Cheers to you for keeping up a tradition that all of us look forward to!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope 2009 treats all of us better than 2008. This has been an extremely difficult year the world over. At this moment, change is as desirable as a complimentary Diaka martini adorned with gold flakes.

I look forward to all of us gathering here next year relishing the accomplishments 2009 brought us!

[Intrepidation]

I made it in twice! Although I don't think I'm proud to be mentioned the curse...

Anyway, Happy New Year one and all, let us hope 2009 brings some good stuff.

:

[Delta Force79]

Lol I still have yet to make it on the list 3 years in a row, here's to 4

Congrats everyone, long live C&G.

[Satty]

Should I be proud or ashamed?

Just glad to have another Cheers and Jeers where I wasn't troll of the year.

[vonVeezelsnider]

Ah Ha, two years in a row neither a Cheer nor a Jeer. I'm hugging the center quite nicely

[daves87rs]

Hmm ....very good stuff there...

Good or bad, I like reading everyone posts, as quite often they do offer some great insight....

It helps when you have good people on here.

[daves87rs]

Ah Ha, two years in a row neither a Cheer nor a Jeer. I'm hugging the center quite nicely

Center of what?

[knightfan26917]

*grins*

Bobo ... this is one of the threads I was HOPING to see when I visited tonight ... he he. Believe it or not, I look forward to this post every single year ... because it is always informative, cool, humorous and downright awesome!

Cheers to knightfan, for having and keeping a garage full of old cars I'd love to own. He hasn't been posting here as much, but I enjoy it when he posts.

Ah, THANK YOU! Ya know, if you are able to join us on July 25 for the 2nd annual Chitown gathering, you could see all of 'em ... might even let you drive one or two .

And, I haven't been posting anywhere much lately. Lots going on right now (some not so good) that require my attention ... so I try to visit at least once a week or so....and keep up as much as possible.

Cort | 35swm | "Mr Monte Carlo"."Mr Road Trip" | pig valve.pacemaker ...Chitown #2 = 07/25/09

WRMNshowcase.legos.HO.models.MCs.RTs.CHD = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort

"Live right now" ... Jimmy Eat World ... 'The Middle'

[gm4life]

Cheers to Harley Earl and Sixty Eight for keeping the memory of our older stuff alive...

Cheers to Camino for his posts on the Mothertruck and the wagon...it's nice to see project cars.

Cheers to CMG for his pro-Chrysler viewpoint and his project car.

Cheers to Carbiz for keeping on posting here, keeping us abreast of the showroom scene.

Cheers to Dodgefan for his excellent posts. Reading his stuff keeps me coming back.

Cheers to Oldsmoboi for his posts about politics, energy and the economy. Good luck to you as you seek to move yourself and your boyfriend to Germany.

Cheers to Future of GM for his rational, confrontational, honest posts. I love them also.

Cheers to gm4life for being such a big GM nut and such a big patriot. I sense reading his politics posts that he really really deeply loves our nation, and I am VERY proud to have him as a poster here even if we don't always agree.

Cheers to GM for trying to stick it out in tough times...

Cheers to Ford for really showing us that a domestic can start to pull it together.

Cheers to you also, ocnblu, for posting here regularly...that goes for dave87rs also.

Cheers to knightfan, for having and keeping a garage full of old cars I'd love to own. He hasn't been posting here as much, but I enjoy it when he posts.

Cheers to everyone else that posts here also...even if traffic is down, it is one of the coolest forums on the net IMHO.

Sixty-Six

You made my day 66Stang I always have enjoyed you as well. We can respectfully disagree on politics, but both of us love this great country and wonderful GM cars. You sir a true patriot being able to acknowledge someone for something they do or believe in even if we disagree. You are a person I am proud to post with and call a friend on C&G. We all have our differences and that is part of what makes our country great. After all we live in the one great country, believe in one great company (GM) and our domestic cars, and post on the best forum on the net C&G, that is worth something to me. Happy 2009 everyone.

And a few comments...

XP- I always enjoy your view and you make alot common sense when others don't.

68- I always enjoy reading your posts many of which I agree, and truly love the fact you like true hard-tops, big V8's and right wheel drive I mean RWD.

Camino- Thanks for doing such a great job and keeping this place running smoothly, you do a great job. I also enjoy watching your classic projects come along.

P.S. 66Mustang you are right I do love my country, and my General Motors cars even more. I am truly a GM nut, hell someones has got to be these days. I wish more American's had a level head like you.

Edited January 5, 2009 by gm4life

[2005 EquinoxLS]

There certainly has been a lot of things happening this year. Those of us that still have jobs should be greatful and we should all give a round of support for those that lost theirs. We are with you 100% !!!! Too many people here to pick as for who contributes to this forum the most. I figure we all contribute something and thats what this is all about. Almost time to shower and get to bed. Thank you all for all the interesting conversation.