Leaderboard

My favorite of the '72-79 BOF Ford & Mercury midsize models...the '72 Gran Torino Sport..love that roofline and the big grille and bumper. Interesting how much the styling had changed by the end of the run of that generation. Squint and you can see the windshield is still the same (as was the dash and other interior bits). the outside was squared off for '77 when the Torino became the LTD II.

I had requested they not put the dealer ID on my GMC when I ordered it, but on pickup day (ha!) there it was on the tailgate. They took it right off, no problem. Vintage dealer license frames are hot commodities. My '64's dealer was a pretty big, multi-brand Chicago outfit, but apparently they didn't have them (never seen one). No dealer ID badge. I'd grab and install a reasonably-priced frame if I ever found one- that's a 'paperwork' car. The '59 was a pretty small rural PA store- that car had a chromed dealer badge bolted thru the rear fascia- I deleted it at the bodywork stage. I've never found any advertising for that dealer other than a Pennsylvania Buick dealer listing. There's a guy on FB doing really nice period dealer frames, not sure what he charges:

They lack the grace of the earlier 70's torinos. From Clifton gorge where we hiked yesterday.

With a 460 big block...

When this article was written in May '20, Ferrari stock has peaked at a $30.1 billion dollar market cap, and GM had dipped to $29.7B. Checking back in, Ferrari's market cap has swelled to $44B. However, GM is now worth $83B.

^ Like I said, a lot of vintage enthusiasts love 'em, and they can be pretty cool. Plus, in the (likely) event the dealer is defunct, you aren't advertising anything.

‘Professional Grade’! ?

Loved this movie, had a Gran Torino as a star in the film...

Interesting career in real estate...

Modern technology is great... Last one for today...going to hell for posting this but..

I had forgotten all about these engines. Mostly reserved for their big boulevardiers. Remember the Ford Elite? They could be had with different V8s: 351, 400, and 460! "Interesting," though not necessarily attractive ...

Probnably indefinitely. My son just bought a near perfect 2001 Buick with the 3800 V6 to replace his 2004 Clapped out 270,000 mile Impala. He paid $1500 and got real lucky. It's nearly as tight as my ranger. These cars will run forever. Neighbors Buick Went past 300,000 a few years ago and is chugging along towards 400,000. Neat vintage pic... Take it off yourself though, the dealership will use a razor blade and screw up the paint...

I wasn't used to the stickers. They put on license plate frames when I was growing up ... and no sticker. Many people think dealership license plate frames are ugly, too. I'm sure they'd remove the sticker. Once I started seeing them, usually on out of state cars that had been brought into the state, I, too, hated that look.

Concerning the dealership advert lettering on a vehicle: One could request they remove the stickers on the car. Not a big deal and the dealership will comply. I have asked they remove the advertising on all the cars I have ever bought. Not because of the obnoxious free advert I may give them while I drive my car, but because I feel that the stickers uglify the vehicle. And not one time has a salesman or dealership given me ANY grief for my request. And they have complied each and every time. EDIT: PS:: My dad's cars always had the dealership stickers on his car. And from an early age I hated that look. From an early age I vowed to never have them on my cars. PSS: What I did like was when dealerships gave you a front license vanity plate with their name and logo. They dont do that anymore. They barely give you key chains... I wouldnt want to install that vanity plate on the front of my car, its just that it was a neat thing.

One is a 'Corvette'. It transcends its brand.

Yep, it’s crazy. The lease my my Equinox is up at the end of the year. Since it is a base model (LS) the buyout is cheaper. I could buy a used one off the lot at 22k, or just buy mine at 15K. I was pretty much going to buy it before hand, but with all the crazy now I’ve got money aside to keep her for good…. I’m wondering what the choices might even be by the holidays…..

Yeah, look at how much they are worth selling under 10k cars a year. This is why brand name matters. I don't know if FCA was even worth $44 billion when Stellantis was formed. And that is why Ferrari was spun off, because they were worth about the same as the rest of the company however many other brands they had at FCA. Ford worth $55 billion as of today.

The 2019 revenue from Ferrari merchandising was.... ready for it?... $1.5 billion. Now obviously merchandisers get a cut of that, but Ferrari may well get the bulk. Maybe a little under a $1 billion.... ?

https://luxurylaunches.com//ferrari-made-a-staggering-95000-of-profit-on-each-car-it-sold-in-2019.php That was 2019, Ferrari made $1.4 billion EBITA last year so probably a little under $1 billion net income, and they sold like 9900 cars. They are in the $95-100k profit per car the past few years if you just look at profit and cars sold. Obviously some of that profit is t-shirts and merchandise, but without that brand name they wouldn’t move merch.

True that, doesn’t hurt that they are really handsome trucks also, esp w/ the Denali chrome.

The last spotting yesterday, in the evening while refueling. A Buick Roadmaster sedan in very nice condition. The guy told me it was a 1992. I'm not a fan of the roof treatment. Maybe in Palm Beach ... It had the corporate GM 5.7 V8 that I believe was the Chevrolet design and not the Olds design. I prefer the '94 to '96 Chevrolet Caprices to this model if going the large RWD route.

I spotted a fair number of unusual cars yesterday. Here were some at the same place, which was closed by the time I drove by on a Saturday evening. Funkily modified Bel Air convertible A Cadillac Allante convertible - - - - - A Camaro Berlinetta - late '70s to early '80s ... Side view - wire wheel covers ? hard pass - in great shape For a wedding invitation? Yes. For a Camaro? No. Come to think of it, the Firebird Esprit of the same years also used cursive badging. This unit is not air conditioned. Crank windows! And, the dumbed down climate control is to the left of the driver. Under the hood must be a Saturday mechanic's dream. Camaro and Berlinetta inscriptions, along with some pinstriping If that's one tailpipe at the left, it could be a 250 in-line 6. If there's another one, it's probably a 305 V8. Because I'm not sure of the year, there could have been a 231 even firing V6 or the small Chevy 4.4 V8 at the very end of this model run. I got into this car because I had one of these, although not a Berlinetta, for a couple of years. It was fun to drive and it was a comfortable car up front. It was a second car I had alongside one of my Cutlasses.

It also never occurred to him that folks might prefer the Vette over the Porsche because the Porsche is overpriced nonsense and their savings can go to better things in life. You can buy the Vette and a fully loaded pickup (for the non-Vette stuff lol) and still undercut a 911 that will at least give you power seats (the base $129K 911 doesn’t even include them). Point here is clearly pandering to brand cachet does indicate being smarter or better than non-cachet folks.

He did say that the Ferrari was $160K more, not that it was $160K. And they do make a killing on them apparently but all that shows me is that are fools who love parting with their money on a rolling fire trap. https://luxurylaunches.com/transport/ferrari-made-a-staggering-95000-of-profit-on-each-car-it-sold-in-2019.php

It's vinyl lettering; it peels off in 2 minutes. Go ahead and buy it.

Maybe because it has a worse interior, isn't any quicker, and there are far better choices out there for the money. [ C8 Corvette base model : tested 0-60 in 2.7 secs. ] He stated '$160K more', meaning $97K on a $210K car. I have no idea if that's remotely accurate.

@David ^ The above practice is far less common in the West than it is in the East, Midwest, and South. It is an obnoxious practice, it's free advertising, and it's irrelevant if you move out of that area, thereby blighting your vehicle. It's probably not as common in the West because distances are greater and density is lower. Just a thought.

The added item by the dealer on this yukon would be a deal breaker for me. No dealer has the right to put their crappy name on my auto that I buy.

I always thought my car, a 2008, was worth about $4,000, plus or minus. In looking at the ads, they are asking $5,000 to $6,000 for them. Whether they get it is another story. But it incentivizes me to take good care of the car. After a little over 100,000 miles, it got its FIRST tune-up a few months ago. Yesterday, I took it on a small one day road trip. Almost all flat, freeway, negligible traffic, cruise at 63 mph the whole way. 31.5 mpg on the outbound, with A/C on, and 34.3 mpg on the return, with no A/C and cooler outside. (I could be 1/2 a MPG off, but close.) That's phenomenal for a 3800 V6 and a 4 speed automatic, and tells me it's real tight. Makes me wonder if I can, and should, keep putting off the purchase ...

IIRC my Dad's '70s and 80s Continentals/Town Cars had power vent windows in the front doors, but they weren't the pivoting style--little glass triangles that went up and down..rarely used them IIRC as those cars had AC.

Yes; 2nd smaller/upper crank was for the vent window. Manual, swiveling vent windows were in cheap cars; lux models got cranks. In ‘64 @ Pontiac, power vents were a separate option; my car has power windows with manual (cranked) vents. Only seen 1 ‘64 GP with power vents. Then you could go over to Cadillac and get the full boat : 4 power windows plus 4 power vents! ?

Yeah, power windows must have been an option...but that was almost 60 years ago..weird to think of a car with a luxury image w/ manual windows. One thing I've noticed on some photos are two window cranks, and some with no window cranks. I'm guessing the second crank was for the vent windows? Never been in a car w/ a crank for vent windows, used to them being manual, though I've seen some cars with power ones (though not the swivel style). W/o power windows: w/ power windows:

It may take some marketshare. It's likely to grabs a bunch of the 'look at me' vanity sales... maybe Leonardo DiCaprio will drive one to an awards show no one watches. But I doubt it'll break 100K in year 2- it just doesn't address truck buyer's needs & wants. Don't forget- that claimed $39K starting price doesn't go as fast nor tow as much, and Tesla raises prices just about MONTHLY... so a number announced going on 2 years ago now is likely going to be a good $5K more. And they're all going to be the same color. Also, the Tesla brand name doesn't carry any weight with the truck demographic. By nearly every metric, it has a steep uphill climb.

Wow. I didn't realize that. It's the "reboot" of an older interior, and a very good job of it. Like that dome light on the side of the console. I think I see a manual window crank. If so, that's wild.

Not useable F150 EV will have MORE trims Not useable. The bed is an awkward thing... If you cant see that, I cant help you It does NOT have more capability. YOU mentioned the Wrangler. And YES...its a toy! Yes...I said its a toy... I said its a BETTER, faster, bigger, MORE INSANE toy than the Cybertruck... Sure...its got a CULT following. Hummer EV will have an INSANE MSRP. More expensive than the Cybertruck. Must be better because bigger price tag? THAT is usually YOUR go to argument... NOT more capable. Its a toy. A toy that will sell (if it ever get to go on sale) ONLY to rabid Tesla fanbois. That will last 1 year, 2 years tops. The rest of the EV pick-up truck market will go to the F150 EV, Rivian, GM twins... No it doesnt. Cybertruck is VAPORWARE. NO Cybertruck has EVER been offroading. Just cult words from cult master Musk. You are a liar about the C8 that nobody could make it hook up right. All kinds of mis-information there with just 17 words... And again...that would be the BASE C8...with ONLY 495 HP and 490 ft/lbs of torque... And yet...its but a fraction off... the Cybertruck's times... GM beats Audi in a heart beat in ANY category... YOU are just a self hatin' American. I cant help you with that delusion. Sorry. The Corvette has always competed well against the 911. Its a back and forth battle since 1963. If you cant see that. Ill repeat: YOU are just a self hatin' American. I cant help you with that delusion. Sorry. Whatever excuse you are going to use to against my Corvette/911 argument...you can use it on yourself here... Its about time, doncha think? But as with GM losing 800 million, lets see how the year ends. Im will to bet that GM makes 2 billion and Tesla is back losing money again... Stop being such a self hating American...

Let's unpack these statements. The Cybertruck has a bigger bed than the F150 EV, and has more payload and tows more. So I don't know how it is just a toy, when it has more capability than the F150. And the Wrangler could be considered a toy, the Hummer is too, and people buy Wranglers and pay stupid money for them ($70k for a 4Xe?). A toy can sell and be profitable, but in this case the Cybertruck is more capable, has better ground clearance and off road capability than a Raptor also, which the base F150 Electric can't beat a Raptor off road. Hummer EV isn't faster than a Cybertruck, Cyber truck has a 2.9 0-60 time, in real world it will beat a C8 Corvette because no one gets the Corvette to hook up right. The Watts to Freedom mode is supposed to be 3.0 but I have also seen 3.5 second estimates, which seems more accurate because the Hummer EV is too heavy. If Hummer had more fans than Tesla, the Hummer brand wouldn't have been killed off 12 years ago. As far as Porsche and Audi go, I think the Taycan and e-Tron have good performance, but not as good as Tesla, they don't have Tesla's range either. So came up short on both regards there. The Porsche/Audi have nicer interiors, but also like no space in them, so I don't know what is going on there, an EV should be spacious, not cramped, the Model S is roomier and more practical, so maybe call interior a tie. But also think of that, Audi and Porsche, who Ford/GM can't dream of competing with on their best day, are struggling to beat Tesla. I don't see how Ford/GM so easily do it. Tesla also made $ 1 Billion profit last quarter, GM lost $800 million. Now one bad quarter is meaningless to GM, but Tesla is making money now, they might actually be able to fund expansion. They are still on the rise and growing fast. No other car company is really growing, the rest are all just maintaining.

The dash of the last Riv reminds me a bit of the original Riv...it had a prominent console and center stack and leaned back dash, big gauges, etc...

This was definitely random. I was looking at photos in the review of the new Kia K5 and saw photos of the last Riv in another link. I miss interiors and cabins like this. A lot.

I was there. I marked it on my calendar. Easily on the Top 10 list of the coolest things I've seen in my life. And thousands of people lining both sides of the bay (in summer clothing on this February day) watching and cheering seemed to agree with me. This was almost 15 years ago ...