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Join me in wishing @A Horse With No Name, our long-time member and friend who knows how to mix up insightful observations and zany humor, a happy birthday! Enjoy your special day ... and cheers.

One of the most beautiful Steam locomotives ever. If only I had time, space and a budget for a nice HO scale model railroad.

@A Horse With No Name

Thanks! Thanks! Thank you! I may indeed eventually own another vintage car.

Happy Birthday @A Horse With No Name

Me too actually. On both accounts. I prefer the Trans Am over the Camaro but in 2023, they are on equal footing. Same for the Mustang. I didnt like that '80s Mustang at all. But I loooong for one today. There are a few around in my neighborhood and I grin every single time I see one. I would sooooo own one right now and drive the heck out of it. Proudly I might add. Same with the Japanese sports cars of that era. Most of those I liked, maybe in a more hush hush manner. But today, I have a deep, as you said, fondness for them.

Thanks for putting this up. It's interesting, but it definitely skews toward the early years. Yes, it was called the Fireball at first. Then, when it came back in the catalytic converter era (1975), it was just the 231 cubic inch. And, yes, 231 is 75% of the old small block Buick 310 V8, so they did shave off two cylinders. He's right in that the engine really got momentum when it became Series I, Series II, and Series III, but he doesn't focus much on the later and better years. And he's right that the 3.6 DOHC V6 has had problems here and there, despite becoming the new flagship V6 engine for GM. He mentions the addition of the balance shaft in 1988 and that's when it became the 3800. (I'm at a loss right now for what a balance shaft looks like.) However, I don't think he mentioned the transition from odd-firing to even-firing, which was a really big deal and a 1978 M.Y. occurrence. The funny thing is that the bigger colonnades of 1975-1977 ran with the odd-firing V6 and the downsized ones that went from about 4,000 lbs. to 3,500 lbs. ran with the even-firing V6, which they accomplished by offsetting the journals in the crankshaft. At idle, the difference was noticeable. I've put just about 400,000 miles on the Series I and Series III 3800s I've owned (combined). I love this engine. Throw in an odd-firing V6 '76 Regal coupe that my dad had, an '80 even-firing V6 Century Limited sedan (basically a Regal for those years) that my dad had after that, and a hand-me down Cutlass Supreme Brougham coupe with this engine ... and add rentals (from late '80s Toros and Parks to mid-90s Regals to early 2000s so equipped Impalas) and I think I might get to 500,000 miles of driving some version of this engine! What a hoot. This was the loss leader for Buick mid-sizes ... the triangle rear window coupe '76/77 Century Special coupe ... stripped down and probably having an MSRP of $3,999. This has the rally wheels but they came with blackwalls and hubcaps. Here's an engine bay with the 231 c.i. V6 pushed all the way to the back and with no A/C That some didn't have A/C occurred enough and ensured the loss leader price, as well as a boring dashboard. But nothing to go wrong.

Since like 99.9% of your posts you never actually give facts or website to verify your information, lets take a closer look at the Century. Century | Vehicle Gallery | Toyota Brand | Mobility | Toyota Motor Corporation Official Global Website Here is the actual press release of the all new 2018 Century Sedan, the first redesigned Century in 21 years. Toyota Rolls Out First Fully Redesigned Century in 21 Years | Toyota | Global Newsroom | Toyota Motor Corporation Official Global Website At this time, Toyota projected only 50 hand built units a month would make them money in a very small market as they dropped the V12 last available in the 2017 model year. As @surreal1272 clearly stated, a V8 Hybrid system started in the 2018 and went through the 2023 model year. Starting with the 2024 model year, both the Century Sedan and Century SUV will move to the V6 hybrid system. Quote: "Series Parallel Plug-in Hybrid System (2GR-FXS 3.5-liter V6 engine)" Official Century SUV webpage for building and pricing out your Uber Luxury SUV. Toyota Century | Toyota Motor Corporation Website Official Century Sedan webpage for building and pricing out your Uber Luxury Sedan Toyota Century | Toyota Motor Corporation Website I do like it in the Red Mica Toyota Century | Price & Grade | Toyota Motor Corporation Website The Century has a certain elegance to it that is lost by the German brands in the last couple of Decades and Cadillac has recouped it along with Genesis.

See my post about the TNGA platform and stop spreading bull$h!. You are trying to think of this in traditional platform terms without knowing a thing about Toyota's actual platforms. Just skip the fact that they only have to hand build 30 of these a month and make hand over fist money on them. Hell, the sedan has been running on a hybrid V8 system since 2018 but you clearly didn't know that when you made your statement about it still having a V12. Again, just half baked statements by you.

Happy Birthday @A Horse With No Name

Check out this list, this is what makes car enthusiasm exciting IMHO. 12 Best Electric Car Conversions You Can Buy Right Now | HiConsumption Converting toxic belching auto's to quiet speedy rides that allow you to enjoy the old auto with less maintenance is what I find exciting. I hope to do this with my 1994 GMC Suburban SLT giving it a HUGE Frunk! Check Out These Options for Converting Classic Cars to EVs (motortrend.com) A brief guide to electric conversions for classic cars | Ars Technica

40-0 Impressive I wonder if the Giants complained today for Dallas running up the score. For trying to win in the last quarter despite them leading with the amount they led. I mean, they forced another fumble... common now... Oh...those are silly childish unwritten rules in...baseball. Hockey sometimes gets into those stupid childish things too... Im thankfull for at least that in football. I could do without the over-the top exuberant cellys after a play of some sorts in the 1st or 2nd quarter tho... That goes for all 3 sports that I watch actually. And why dont I feel bad for Aaron Rodgers injuring his ankle?

I have really slowed down in being a car enthusiast as well. Im looking to learn and love new types of cars to feed my car craziness. And its not these modern ones. Its all older cars. And from continents other than this one as its become almost boring to always post pics and read stuff about American cars of the 50s, 60s and 70s. We've done that hundreds of times. If not thousands. I miss @balthazar to read about his endeavors of the (American) classics. About EVs for me. Unless the automakers make these EVs interesting stylistically, Im not sooooo amuzed by them. B But that has nothing to do with battery electric motorvation either. The ICE vehicles are just as boring to look at. CUVs and pick-up trucks are not fun things. Regardless what powers them. Ive talked about this before. Looking back at cars like a Honda CRX or Subaru SVX or even a Nissan Pulsar, I hated these things back then. Maybe not the SVX. I liked that one. But...there is absolutely NOTHING like that today. OK...Nissan and KIA tried to do something like that with CUV type cars. The Cube, the Juke and the Soul. Great and good for them.. They were still boxes on wheels. Ugly boxes on wheels. The Puslar was also a box on wheels. But it somehow was more special... And it has NOTHING to do with me being reminiscent of my youth. Because I also have fondeness for a Toyota Matrix and Pontiac Vibe. Those would be in the same vain as the Cube, Juke and Soul. All CUVs. And I wasnt a teen when the Matrix and Vibe came out. Its just that...today's vehicles SUCK. JUST like everything else that our world today has come too. From pop culture to our cars and our technologies. I LOVE what our computers, phones, internet and 5G could do for us. I HATE what we actually DO with it. Our world SUCKS today in more ways than one!

Canadians...ALL Canadians dont like the Maple Leafs either. Only Canadians from the GTA area tolerate the Leafs. Speaking of GTA. Not exactly a Camaro IROC. Diffrent but same; a picture of...until you find and buy your IROC-Z.

Educational...

Malibu is in it's last year, Fusion is gone...it's crazy, but Ford only has one car left--the Mustang. I guess being in tech I have a warped (jaded?) view of things..my total compensation has almost doubled in the last 3 years and my old house almost doubled in value over 6 years.. inflation partially I'm sure. I can afford a new $60-75k car, but it's hard to justify considering I work out of my house and have no commute.

Im not too crazy about watches in cars. If its there its there. The Escalde Bulgari is OK, I guess. The later Chrysler 300 clock is better looking than the Escalade clock. It was round in the earlier generations. Obviously the ones in Rolls Royces clocks and Bentlys are chic, expensive etc...but I dont view them as I do plain ole wrist watches. OK...I CAN AND DO appriciate them. I prefer to see clocks in the older cars. I guess from the 1900s-1950s'. Not in the modern ones.

Weird, I totally missed this post, what thread did you post this in? Very valid points you made.

$170k for a FWD platform with a hybrid V6. What a ripoff, at least the old Century Sedan had a V12 and it was something special for the time. Probably should have made this EV since they are only making 3-400 a year and an EV powertrain would make it seem more futuristic, and smoother and quieter which you want from a chauffeur driving car. I guess the Japanese government and some CEOs will buy it regardless just to be seen in a Japanese car, and not a Mercedes, Bentley or Rolls.

The LX has traditionally been in the 4-5k units per year in the USA, where as the GLS and Escalade are usually more like 20-30,000 and 40,000 recently for Escalade. And the GLS has 11,204 first half of of this year, but they also have 5,500 EQS SUV, so if you put them together they are at 16,700 first half of this year compared to 4500 over at Lexus. And the Century isn't a Tundra platform and engine, it is a Grand Highlander chassis and engine for $179,000. It would be like Chevrolet selling a $179,000 Traverse turbo 4-cylinder hybrid.

I find it hard to believe the make a lot of profit on anything they are selling 30-50 units a month of. Maybe on an individual car they can make $10,000 with that high price, but on 30 units, that isn't as good as selling 100,000 Corollas and making $50 profit on each one. And no one outside Japan would buy this, because they aren't buying a Toyota over a Bentley or Mercedes-Maybach or a Rolls or anything like that. Lexus has been around 30 years and never been able to really get above $100k price with the exception of the LF-A and if you option up an LC or LK, yes you can get them over $100k, but Lexus isn't out there with cars costing $200,000+ because even they couldn't sell them.