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Well, I'm back, with my first GM vehicle in a long time, though my home garage also has a Dodge, a Chrysler, 3 Volvos, a Jaguar, and a Land Rover (not all of them run, and 4 are project vehicles, and one is a rusted out basket case I'm trying to sell the engine out of). The solitary GM vehicle that I just added is a 50 year old running project vehicle. When I joined C&G, I was living in Australia. I moved to Canada in 2008, and have been living in rural Nova Scotia with my Canadian wife of 17 years, for 11 years. I'm a few months away from turning 70, and indulging in items from my bucket list. My latest GM acquisition has been on my bucket list for over 40 yeasrs. There's other personal stuff from my bucket list I am in the process of doing, that I may talk about in the future.

Very interesting, SK On a battery supplier to Ford and VW for EVs had shown off two types of potential Solid-State batteries in March 2023. They just released this month the following Press Release. SK On develops new solid electrolyte with top-level lithium-ion conductivity – SK Innovation Newsroom (skinnonews.com) Seems the Chinese hope to have prototype batteries in 2026 with mass production of Solid-State batteries in 2028 for all their commercial accounts. The prototype battery assembly plant is currently under construction in China. So what does this get us you ask: 70% improvement in Lithium-ion conductivity for improved stability Battery Capacity increase of 25% Current liquid Lithium-ion cells have a maximum of 4.3V Solid-State cells have a maximum of 5.5V currently End result is battery packs that are far more stable in all temperatures, 25% reduction in size with same kW or in current battery pack size, a 25% increase in power for longer range.

Surprised the suspension handles the weight of that Bull.

Happy Labor Day. Enjoying the holiday, going to do a bit of grilling this afternoon and be lazy and sit in the hot tub again tonight. I'm on PTO this week, going to go to a couple beaches and take some sightseeing trips up the North Coast this week, as well as unpacking more around the house..

Kicking off the month, went to Birch Bay for the holiday weekend. Saw some amazing autos including my first VW ID van. They are so cool ?. Saw a wide variety of restored mustangs, to old model T ford's. Saw this old.van, think it is a Chevrolet but not 100% sure.

That's pretty subtle compared to the Bugatti watches in the other thread. I normally don't do branded stuff if the logo was huge, but I wouldn't mind this.

I saw these new Pan Ams in an ad the other day and it made me curious. They claim to be Pan American Worldwide Airways, but that company went defunct and the name Pan Am was bought by a railroad in New England.... so I'm not sure who the company is that is making these. I've got very good eyes, but if I can't make out the time quickly because there isn't enough contrast or the face is too busy, it's failed me as a time piece.

Because they do have a ton of different designs and then colors to go with those styles, I find it muuuuch easier to just look online and order. I know that's not the best for something you wear, because you want to try it on, but it's tough to find the cheap mechanical watches in stores. It's pretty much a jewelry store with a bunch of high end stuff or you get lucky at a Macys or something that just so happens to have a mechanical watch, which is rare.

A real load of bull

I did grow up in a Ford family, so I've long liked some of their animal-named models..

Yes it does and they are very proud of the feature. See how Google Pixel’s voice-to-text is better than the iPhone’s - Android Community

https://www.parents.com/thmb/RgYGlsEF-Kqz4rDMg6rQasXAFv8=/750x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/shutterstock_1181843914-05f12562128a4fb59f8d0d9d77175a60.jpg Happy Labor Day, folks.

Since the founding father of Costco had to retire due to dementia, this CEO the family hired has a golden parachute and contract for payment based on performance and profits. He has slowly done away with those few items that cost money to Costco to increase the profits for his own personal gain. I am not a fan of this new CEO who is too focused on his own pocket book over the few perks the Original CEO felt was a proper give back to the members. Gonna be keeping an eye on him as my wife and I have found bulk items equal to costco to be cheaper at Fred Meyers here in Washington. Costco is slipping is what they used to deliver to club members and some crazy changes in how they check membershps, etc. Just cause my wife is Korean, she is not borrowing my membership when she has her own and I hate this new approach to targeting folks that are not white. Yes, I have issues with Costco right now due to the CEO making changes that are not viewed as very customer friendly.

There are a lot of musical artists where I mostly like one or two of their songs ... - - - - - For Sting, it would be this one: Many of the commenters say it is "smooth" and "elegant" and a stroke of "genius." That's why it's in my collection. - - - - - For Jackson Browne, it would be this one: Many comment about the great lyrics. I wish I had a dollar for every time I've heard it driving between Portland and Seattle (2 hours and 45 minutes) at weird hours at the beginnings and ends of weekends. It was in my collection at that time - it still is - and kept me safely awake, along with other songs.

I have getting a Seiko on my bucket list. I had one and I loved it. It was a toned down design with a gold (not real gold) face and a dark brown leather band. As I scrambled to leave the hotel to get to the airport in Italy, I realized when I got home that I left it at the hotel. I haven't done much of that in my life. I'm more careful than that. I currently have a Timex Expedition. It has the dark face that lights up in blue. I also have a leather strap on it. The metallic ones pinch hairs and that's annoying. This Timex is over 10 years old and performs faultlessly. It's very tasteful looking nonetheless. I got it at "Wally World." The price was a steal. They don't sell them for those prices anymore. The new Seiko is still on my bucket list. It's that they have a zillion designs, and they vary by merchant, and it has been hard to make up my mind.

Very cool, looks like the USA will become a major Lithium producer. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/american-battery-technology-company-confirms-presence-of-lithium-at-depths-greater-than-1-400-feet-at-tonopah-flats-lithium-project-301912498.html

Awesome to see more are adopting this to take away another excuse by the EV haters that you cannot charge an EV. This is also good news to see additional vendors get approval to built the NACS ports and cables. Tesla issues license to Volex to build NACS connector | Electrek

The inside looks good, the exterior rear looks like a mess. But if you don't like screens, screens, screens you may not like that interior. I am not a big fan of screens galore, I hope that trend sort of ends, especially on luxury cars, and they all do screen overkill. I wonder if there will be a smaller battery, I think most people really don't need 450 mile range, so you are just paying for battery you don't need. I also wonder what the profitability of these 200 kWh battery vehicles is. Full size trucks traditionally have been cash cows since they can charge big money for a V8, and really the cost to manufacture a V8 powertrain vs a 4-cylinder powertrain probably isn't that big, maybe a thousand dollars. An Escalade or Silverado battery vs an Equinox or Bolt could be like $15,000 more cost to GM, which does eat away at that margin.