Random Thoughts Thread

[balthazar]

^ Ford always gets their packages/availabilities right. I don't believe there is a more configurable/ more varied car or truck line going, present or past.
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Trash groupies ~ 

[balthazar]

One of these is a comparitive luxury car, the other you get to rest your arm on the edge of a map pocket ~ 

[balthazar]

Class of '66 ~ 

[balthazar]

Another graduate ~ 

[daves87rs]

19 hours ago, ocnblu said:

My yard seems healthier this year since I put my mower deck on the highest notch.  Plus, clover has really come on strong this year in my neck of the woods.  It's good to see bees on the clover blossoms. 

Same thing happened when I took the bag off my mower too...

[ocnblu]

3 hours ago, daves87rs said:

Same thing happened when I took the bag off my mower too...

Yup, I have a mulching blade, much better than dumping the bag or using a chute to blow grass everywhere

[balthazar]

[balthazar]

Boo!! 

[trinacriabob]

On ‎6‎/‎29‎/‎2019 at 12:54 AM, balthazar said:

Ideal FapTurbo 'cool whip', except not much room in the trunk for bags of onions. 

 

Ghetto looking Grand Prix.  I see the graphic even tells you which part of the Bronx it's in.  Doesn't seem too close to the Westchester County line!  If this is a GT, I'm wondering which engine it ran with.  I'd say the GP was the best looking RWD downsize from 1978-1980 but then the Cutlass Supreme overtook it from 1981-1987 when it shovel nosed the grille and narrowed its tail lamps.  The sleeker lines on the GP when the quadruplets all got refreshed in 1981 looked better.  Too bad they also got CCC (Computer Command Control) that same year and had to work through teething issues.

18 hours ago, balthazar said:

Another graduate ~ 

There was a term I saw used for the unique back lite treatment on these cars.  Perhaps it was finned rear back lite.  I think they were only featured on GM midsizes from '66 to '68, +/-.  And they definitely looked better when on a Pontiac.

[balthazar]

15 minutes ago, trinacriabob said:

If this is a GT...

Perhaps it was finned rear back lite.

• No 'GT' in this generation.
• 'Flying buttress' is what I've always heard it termed as. Room for that on a modern vehicle...

[balthazar]

[Robert Hall]

4 hours ago, balthazar said:

• 'Flying buttress' is what I've always heard it termed as. Room for that on a modern vehicle...

The current Dodge Charger and a generation of the Maxima back in the 00s had a slight version of that, where the rear window was recessed slightly between the c-pillars.  I'm sure there are others also. 

[ocnblu]

Still mad...

 

 

 

[balthazar]

A big truck isn’t for you, Billy. 🤪

[Robert Hall]

The US market wants 4dr pickups...2drs just don't sell enough anymore..and they aren't profitable enough, I guess...

[balthazar]

I actually agree with Bill - the American trucks are so varied and so profitable, the regular cab should be in regular production like any other model. Yes; even Bill's coveted RC/short box. 🤮 Frankly, it's the 'extended cab' that makes no sense- you can't put people in the back- so who's buying these, and at the very least- why isn't there a rear storage option that deletes the rear 'seat'?

Edited July 1, 2019 by balthazar

[daves87rs]

11 hours ago, balthazar said:

Boo!! 

That truly makes me sad and angry at the same time.....

[ocnblu]

7 hours ago, balthazar said:

and at the very least- why isn't there a rear storage option that deletes the rear 'seat'?

2019 Ford Ranger XL Super Cab has a -$200 rear seat delete option... so... once again, Ford has their finger on the pulse!

[balthazar]

Cool that you can save the 2 bills but where’s the OEM-engineered storage?

[David]

On 6/28/2019 at 8:39 PM, trinacriabob said:

Did you go medium-haul or long-haul on the Dreamliner?  JAL and ANA use them nonstop from Tokyo to Boston, probably bringing brainy folks to and from MIT and other brain trusts.  I believe they now fly them on the nonstop LAX to AUK/SYD/MEL route. That's some 14 hours. This route had always been a mainstay for 747-400s and A380s.  When I was a kid, the flights to Oceania would go LAX-Honolulu-Down Under, so 5 +9.  Yes, I really liked my flight.  However, I probably prefer the 2 (window side) in the back of the '47 where it narrows more so than 3 (window side), which is everywhere in the '87, though.  

Was long haul flight for work. One of the few times I actually ended up with a window seat, usually always isle, but last minute booking and I got no seat assignment till at the airport. Really sucked I thought till I was actually on the plane and realized just how cool those auto tint windows are. Wish they would roll them out to the 737 line.

[David]

Dude where is the freight?

Got Trade?

[balthazar]

What the net product flow; I assume a Seattle port runs 75% imports.
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[Drew Dowdell]

Don't let your last ride be your only ride in a Cadillac. 

5 hours ago, dfelt said:

Dude where is the freight?

Got Trade?

Here's a homework assignment.... find out if the traffic is the same at other major ports in the US. 

[ocnblu]

11 hours ago, balthazar said:

Cool that you can save the 2 bills but where’s the OEM-engineered storage?

Don't need any crap in there.  Just a wide open locked storage area with privacy glass.

[David]

19 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Don't let your last ride be your only ride in a Cadillac. 

Here's a homework assignment.... find out if the traffic is the same at other major ports in the US. 

Details of Terminal 46 and how many containers and refrigerated containers it can hold: https://www.nwseaportalliance.com/terminal-46

Seems we have had record breaking months of cargo shipments and an announcement of why that portion of the port is empty.

https://www.nwseaportalliance.com/stats-stories/cargo-stats

https://www.washingtonports.org/

Plans for Terminal 46 in Seattle: https://www.portseattle.org/projects/terminal-46-modernization-project 

Terminal 46 will become a new Cruise port for ships cruising the inside passage to Alaska.

https://www.portseattle.org/news/port-seeks-partnership-new-cruise-facility-terminal-46

 

[Robert Hall]

Been out enjoying nature today... photos from Brandywine Falls in nearby Cuyahoga Valley National Park. 

[balthazar]

Available buckets/console in '66 Cadillac (buckets first appeared @ Cadillac in '58). 

Edited July 2, 2019 by balthazar

[Robert Hall]

Went back out to another waterfall this afternoon, Great Falls of Tinkers Creek in Bedford.    Several waterfalls are within 20-30 minutes of home. 

Stopped at Tinkers Creek Tavern for a Lieneklugel and a pretzel on the way home..

Edited July 2, 2019 by Robert Hall

[balthazar]

[David]

Awesome Radio Flyer!

 

[balthazar]

I did this : raw Elm slab turned into live-edge countertop / bar.  

[trinacriabob]

5 hours ago, Robert Hall said:

Went back out to another waterfall this afternoon, Great Falls of Tinkers Creek in Bedford.    Several waterfalls are within 20-30 minutes of home. 

 

There are many Midwests, it seems.  The area (great photos, btw) is too close to the Pennsylvania line to feel that Midwestern.  It ain't Kansas or Nebraska, that's for sure.  South Dakota, though, would be a Midwestern state and the scenery in the Badlands is stunning and much more aligned with that of Colorado and Wyoming.  It's weird to drive over the Continental Divide in Wyoming in the summer and find that it's snowing very lightly at over 8,000 feet.

On 6/30/2019 at 11:21 PM, daves87rs said:

That truly makes me sad and angry at the same time.....

Was this done because the brand is gone, the image is no longer that relevant to way younger people, and/or due to political correctness?  I know that the Univ. of Illinois mother campus had to shelve the imagery of Chief Illiniwek in logos, sportswear, and communications because people are tightly wound and have to look for the worst in things.  

Edited July 3, 2019 by trinacriabob

[trinacriabob]

10 hours ago, balthazar said:

Available buckets/console in '66 Cadillac (buckets first appeared @ Cadillac in '58). 

Not sure if the 2007-ish DTS was available with buckets (or 40-40 seats) but I'm almost sure it was.  At that point, the flagship Cadillac became a boulevardier that anyone would have been proud to drive.  All the weird and exaggerated angles had been worked out of it and it had become an attractive full size vehicle.  I was pawing one at a closed Cadillac dealership in the Florida panhandle one evening when on vacation there back around that time.

I hate this:  you are driving along stretches of roadway where no one tends to walk ... or bike ... and someone is walking or cycling right in front of where you plan to turn.

When it rains, it pours.  Last month, this happened so many times that it was almost surreal.  Once, it occurred in a very spread out and blistering desert city.  SMH.

Edited July 3, 2019 by trinacriabob

[balthazar]

1 hour ago, trinacriabob said:

Was this done because the brand is gone, the image is no longer that relevant to way younger people, and/or due to political correctness? 

Are we tailoring the world exclusively to 'younger people'?? Seems weird if so, especially in connection with motor vehicles since they don't buy any.

Bit I read said there was a dealership employee that made an inappropriate comment to a female customer, and that was part of the reason it was removed. A lot of people petitioned to keep it, but you know how the world is today- one person is offended (or thinks another one person may be offended), and the thing in question is stricken from sight. Apparently the Chief was in deteriorated condition, but is getting restored and installed at the Pontiac Museum (I disremember where that is, but it may well be in Pontiac MI).

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A Green Slick Deal For Ocn ~ 

Edited July 3, 2019 by balthazar

[balthazar]

[ocnblu]

Oh myyyy....

 

[Robert Hall]

17 hours ago, balthazar said:

Available buckets/console in '66 Cadillac (buckets first appeared @ Cadillac in '58). 

 

Reminds me of a car a buddy in high school had...it was a silver '66 CdV with a black vinyl top.  Black interior..can't recall if it had buckets or not.   It was in decent shape for a 20 yr old S. Florida car, not too much rust IIRC.   Senior year he spray painted anarchy symbols on the doors (he was a huge punk rock fan...Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, etc.  He joined the Army after high school, was in the Gulf War and was killed when he was hit by a bus in Germany in 1994. 

7 hours ago, trinacriabob said:

 There are many Midwests, it seems.  The area (great photos, btw) is too close to the Pennsylvania line to feel that Midwestern.  It ain't Kansas or Nebraska, that's for sure.   

Yeah, I like geology and geography of NE Ohio..has more in common w/ PA and western NY...Appalachians/Allegheny Plateau meeting the Great Lakes Basin...glaciation and all that.  Lots of hills and valleys, gorges...not all flat farmland.

[balthazar]

[trinacriabob]

9 hours ago, balthazar said:

Are we tailoring the world exclusively to 'younger people'?? Seems weird if so, especially in connection with motor vehicles since they don't buy any.

Bit I read said there was a dealership employee that made an inappropriate comment to a female customer, and that was part of the reason it was removed. A lot of people petitioned to keep it, but you know how the world is today- one person is offended (or thinks another one person may be offended), and the thing in question is stricken from sight. Apparently the Chief was in deteriorated condition, but is getting restored and installed at the Pontiac Museum (I disremember where that is, but it may well be in Pontiac MI).

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A Green Slick Deal For Ocn ~ 

We are.  One person gets offended and that gets the ball rolling.  Then, statues have to come down and streets need to be renamed.  It sucks.  And the thin skinned a-holes suck, too.  Life was better before the New Millennium ... in my mind.

[David]

Seems California and Canada have signed a memorandum to agree on strict emissions from Auto's bypassing the EPA.

https://www.autoblog.com/2019/06/26/california-canada-sidestep-trump-emissions-standards/

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-canada-california/california-canada-sign-memorandum-to-advance-cleaner-vehicles-fuels-idUSKCN1TR2IN

I would say if California gets Mexico on board with Emissions, the DC EPA folks are gonna be between a rock and a hard spot.

[balthazar]

Proposing to freeze emissions standards at a future level (2021) is not "relaxing" anything and frankly, achieving 36 composite fleet MPG by 2025 isn't tenable, esp with EVs parked at 2% of the market. That future standard was written when people were still envisioning a tsunami of EV sales; reality is settling in vs. science fiction. In other words; 2025 is too soon for 36 MPG fleet.

[riviera74]

23 minutes ago, balthazar said:

 In other words; 2025 is too soon for 36 MPG fleet.

If your entire auto fleet lacks BOF (and V8 engines), then 36 MPG by 2025 is not only possible, it is likely to happen.  Those who rely on BOF (and V8 engines) for maximum profits will have serious issues meeting that standard.  Just sayin'.

[ocnblu]

2 hours ago, riviera74 said:

If your entire auto fleet lacks BOF (and V8 engines), then 36 MPG by 2025 is not only possible, it is likely to happen.  Those who rely on BOF (and V8 engines) for maximum profits will have serious issues meeting that standard.  Just sayin'.

Americans want what they want.  "Standards" or not.

[balthazar]

When announced back in 2012, it was supposed to be 54 MPG average by 2025. Then it got dialed back to 36.

In 2017, honda & mazda led with CAFE's of 29 MPG. Not sure if that's sales-weighted, or a simply average of EPA numbers. They should be able to get to 36 in 7-8 years, yes. The low-end of the field (FCA, GM, Ford & Mercedes) were around 22; that's a longer haul. But 54 as initially put in place is wildly unrealistic.

[ocnblu]

20 hours ago, balthazar said:

Back when Cadillac used a superior plating process for its bumpers.

[ocnblu]

Little GTO
You're really lookin' fine
Three deuces and a four-speed
And a three-eighty-nine
Listen to her tachin' up now
Listen to her whine
C'mon and turn it on, wind it up, blow it out, GTO
Yeah, yeah, little GTO
Yeah, yeah, little GTO
Yeah, yeah, little GTO
Yeah, yeah, little GTO
Aaah, little GTO

You oughta see her on a road course
Or a quarter mile
This little modified Pon-Pon
Has got plenty of style
She beats the gassers and the rail jobs
Really drives 'em wild
C'mon and turn it on, wind it up, blow it out, GTO
Yeah, yeah, little GTO
Yeah, yeah, little GTO
Yeah, yeah, little GTO
Yeah, yeah, little GTO
Aaah, little GTO

Gonna save all my money
And buy a GTO (turnin' it on blowin' it out)
Get a helmet and a roll bar
And I'll be ready to go (turnin' it on, blowin' it out)
Take it out to Pomona
And let 'em know, yeah yeah (turnin' it on blowin' it out)
That I'm the coolest thing around
Little buddy, gonna shut you down
When I turn it on, wind it up, blow it out, GTO
Yeah, yeah, little GTO
Yeah, yeah, little GTO
Yeah, yeah, little GTO
Yeah, yeah, little GTO
Aaah, little GTO

[ocnblu]

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!  🇺🇸

[balthazar]

[balthazar]

[balthazar]