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burger time, 1938 :

Seville was an s-class / 7-series competitor, not a lowly 3-series.

Driving on the Autostrada was quite an experience...drove from Salerno back to Rome after driving around the Amalfi Coast in the early evening on my vacation there in '03 in a rental Mercedes A-class (the first gen mouse-shaped subcompact). I stayed in the middle lane...the right lane was semis and ancient Fiats poking along, the left lane was big Mercedes and BMWs blasting past flashing their lights...stopped at an Autogrill and had some pasta from Spizucco. The rest areas were great.

I have no problem with these observations whatsoever. If enough people see them, they are reality. When you drive in Italy (I'm talking mostly about Sicily), the autostradas have 2 lanes, with the more developed areas in Italy having 3 or 4, which ameliorates the bad traffic situation. When it's two lanes, the right lane is for trucks ... and tortoises ... while the left lane is for those who want to go the national limit of 120 kmh, which is about 73 mph. If you are going to drive in it, then you have to go with the flow. What I don't like is when the well heeled but still classless local is on your ass, with 1 car distance, at 140 kmh, which is about 86 mph, flicking their brights. Their car might be a large Mercedes or BMW that the typical local cannot afford. Over there, you are supposed to move over for these turds. Over here, you don't have to if you are at the speed limit or slightly above it, you don't have to. They do. I tend to look in my rear view mirror a lot and, based on who's coming up behind you, in Europe or in the U.S. (if it's a Ram or F150 truck, for example), you know how it's going to play out. So, I don't like sugarcoating. This is reality. One fine Sunday morning, listening to Maria Lopez spinning tunes on one of S.F.'s jazz stations, I encounter a city bound Bay Bridge coming in from the East Bay with surprisingly very little traffic and people are doing 60 to 65 mph on its 5 lanes. I clock myself going 62. In the middle lane is a tiny Toyota Corolla and I couldn't see who was driving it. I clocked it going 47! As I pulled around it, I had a feeling about what the demographics of the driver might be. It was a diminutive Asian girl who was grabbing that steering wheel like it was going to fall off and who could barely see over the dashboard. My thought: "Please take BART! Please don't drive ... or get with the program." So, once again, we know how a lot of these road manners situations are going to play out and they usually do play out the way we think they will. It's called "live and learn."

I used to work with a Chinese lady that was absolutely terrifying to ride with. Went to lunch w her and a few coworkers, and we thought about calling a taxi to get back to the office...never rode with her again. She didn’t pay attention to stop signs, sped, tailgated, changed lanes constantly. Under five feet tall, driving a 6500lb SUV around Chandler, Az.

Thanks olds!!! Very awesome!!! America's Bi-Centennial is my birth year '76!!

I always say...on July 4rth: Happy Birthday USA! But now, Im saying it 2 weeks earlier and saying it to an actual person. Happy Birthday @USA-1 My gift to you. A visual delight! Hulk Hogan because of the "you are a real American" intro he had. F-4 Phantom II because it was such a great kick-ass plane. This one is the Bicentennial one. You know...Happy 200th America. Not that Im implying that you are a 200 year old geezer...just that its a kick-ass plane...and you know...birthday.. Corvette. You own a C5. This C3 is AMERICA baby! (and...your name up front) And a couple of USA-1 (your name) Chevys in action.

Then explain the Deville and Fleetwood in those days.

I do remember single brand Pontiac and Buick dealers in the 70s in Steubenville, Ohio..Montgomery Pontiac and Brandt Buick. I went to school with the kids of the owners of those dealerships. Don't recall the Chevy dealer. But over in Tuscarawas County where the family farm is, there was a Pontiac-Oldsmobile dealer and a Chevy-Buick dealer in one little town. IIRC, there was a standalone Chevy dealer in the largest town. One of the more interesting dealers I remember was in the 80s was a GM dealer in Key West, Florida that had Chevy, Pontiac, Olds, Buick, Cadillac and GMC all in one showroom and lot.

Single brand GM dealerships were the norm in SoCal in the '70s, though there was already some pairing up. Perhaps because domestic cars were still popular enough and because of the population density. Frank Sanders Oldsmobile - mid-Wilshire - that image with the spotlights is what you got inside your temporary license plate Albertson Oldsmobile - Culver City (home of the famous red rocket) - it was stand alone Olds into the '80s - it was just a car lot behind the rocket Stan Chazen Pontiac - West L.A. Bay Buick - Torrance (enormous with huge L.A. TImes ads with loss leaders ... i.e. the token Regal with crank windows and no A/C) Majestic Pontiac on Imperial Highway in Inglewood-Hawthorne (they ordered their cars in a weird way) Livingston Pontiac and Guy Martin Olds right next to each other on Topanga Canyon Blvd. in Woodland Hills (in the Valley), selling lots of Firebirds and Cutlass Supremes, respectively. Buick-GMC (per sign) was added later and the Olds dealer was to the right ... and, yep, there was curbside free parking on the boulevard! And the list goes on and on ... Bonus: Most of us should know whose Firebird this was!

Hen’s tooth @ the dealer : Silverado Crew Cab / Standard Bed. If it had the 3.0L TD I’d still be humping it. EDIT :: As of Jun 22- this truck was marked 'sold'. Sticker was $53K.

Very interesting 2020 report by JD Powers and Associates. I know many love Mazda, but the Mazda is not well rated and in fact the CX-5 is rated at the bottom as the One CUV to avoid due to poor quality. QUOTE of the key findings in their report: Following are key findings of the 2020 study: Vehicle dependability improves—but at a slower rate: The industry average in 2020 is 134 PP100, which is an improvement of just 2 PP100 from 2019. (However, in 2019, there was an improvement of 6 PP100 from 2018.) Despite the slowing rate of improvement, 2020 marks automakers’ best performance in the history of the study. Dependability gains driven by crossovers and SUVs: Crossovers and SUVs still have slightly more problems than cars, but the gap is narrowing. On average, owners of crossovers/SUVs experience 134 PP100, compared with 127 PP100 by car owners. This 7 PP100 gap has narrowed considerably from 2019. With crossovers/SUVs now accounting for more than 50% of new vehicle sales annually, it is critical that automakers achieve the same level of quality and dependability as for cars. In-vehicle technology shows greatest improvement: Audio/Communication/Entertainment/ Navigation (ACEN) is the most improved category (by 2.3 PP100), but still accounts for more problems than any other category in the study. Owners continue to cite problems with voice recognition, Bluetooth® connectivity and navigation systems. “Many owners complain about these systems early in the ownership experience and, three years later, they’re still frustrated with them,” Sargent said. “We’re seeing improvement, but automakers still have a long way to go to before they can declare victory in this area.” Most Dependable Model: The Lexus ES is the highest-ranked model in the 2020 study. Its score of 52 PP100 is the best ever recorded in the 31-year history of the study. First all-electric model receives an award: The Nissan LEAF is the first all-electric model to receive a segment-level award, for compact car. Highest-Ranked Brands Genesis ranks highest in overall vehicle dependability among all brands, with a score of 89 PP100. This is the first year Genesis has been included in the study. Lexus ranks second with a score of 100 PP100 (an improvement of 6 PP100 year over year). Buick (103 PP100) ranks third, Porsche (104 PP100) ranks fourth and Toyota (113 PP100) ranks fifth. Cadillac shows considerable improvement with a reduction of 35 PP100 from 2019. Other above-average brands with strong improvement include Mazda (reduction of 29 PP100), Lincoln (by 28 PP100), Ford (by 20 PP100), Buick (by 15 PP100) and Volkswagen (by 15 PP100). Toyota Motor Corporation receives six segment awards for the Lexus ES, Lexus GX, Toyota 4Runner, Toyota Avalon, Toyota Sienna and Toyota Tundra. The Toyota brand receives the highest number of segment awards in the study. General Motors Company receives five segment awards: for the Buick Encore and Buick Regal, and for the Chevrolet Equinox, Chevrolet Silverado HD and Chevrolet Tahoe. The 2020 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study is based on responses from 36,555 original owners of 2017 model-year vehicles after three years of ownership. The study was fielded from July through November 2019. To learn more about the U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study, visit http://www.jdpower.com/resource/us-vehicle-dependability-study. https://www.jdpower.com/business/press-releases/2020-us-vehicle-dependability-study Worth downloading and looking at the details.

Happy Birthday @USA-1 Wishing you a great day of relaxing fun and dreams. Enjoy your special day!

Chinese ?

Wow. When CA had 6 digit license plates and when Lauesen Buick (per plate frames), a single brand dealership that was located on Sepulveda Blvd. immediately north of Santa Monica Blvd, existed. Single brand GM dealerships ... those were the days!

It did have full leather seating standard the first year, and gained the V6 in year 2. Look- I'm not a fan of this car. I think the black/gold trimmed D'Oro package was a nice looking little car, but I'm not a fan of little cars. I still stand with my earlier post that the Cimarron was too far removed from the definition of a Cadillac THEN. I attach no such sentiment toward -say- the ATS when it came out, but that's 30 years later. Perhaps if the Cimarron had followed the '85 Downsizing 2.0, but in '82, the Devilles were still REAL full-size BOF cruisers, and the shock was pretty huge. There's nothing stylistically 'wrong' or deficient with this car : Here's a article from Automobile, on a then 25-year old Cimarron. If you brush past the lame joke attempts, he doesn't fault the car itself. https://www.automobilemag.com/news/1986-cadillac-cimarron-v6/

Happy Birthday USA-1 !!!!

junkyard, Jackson OH 1936 :

Just wait til they’re all in 3-second to 60 EVs.

Bad driving is just that. SO is scared driving. They need to move right if they wish to drive so slowly, especially on the interstates.

Leonard Nimroy on set of Star Trek with his 1964 Buick Riviera