oldshurst442

Because his employer is of an FCA dealership. Yes...Pontiac... Like Pontiac's soul (pun intended) has never been compromised leaving behind a legacy LESS worthy of a Kia Soul... Hey look! Trans Am's snowflake wheels! It MUST be a REAL Pontiac! Not some crappy European econobox underneath...a crappy European econobox that started the brand's demise... Chevy phoqued itself with these 2 cars...there was no reason for Pontiac to do the same... Yes. Yes. NEW FUN! Front wheel drive for the brand that builds excitement. A very badge engineered shyte box Chevy Citation at that! Hey...at least its a coupe, right?! (Daewoo) (Yes Korean) (but via Opel's Kadett...some serious clusterphoques involved in this one) Hey look! There is an SUV craze going on! Its the early 2000s and Pontiac really has no SUV or CUV. So...lets take a MINI-PHOQUING-VAN from Chevy that GM also uses in Europe and sells it as an Opel which makes THAT clusterphoque too big for Europe and useless for America...and we make a make-shift SUV with it... We will also make it ugly as hell just because...we can...because we are PONTIAC...we build excitement.. We will call it Aztek...with a 'K' not a 'C' because we are clever! And last but not least...we will produce a car JOINTLY with another car company...TOYOTA...because THEIR cars HAVE soul! Well...they did when the Matrix and Vibe were sold. And the Vibe is a REAL Pontiac because plastic body cladding! IRONY: Before there was a Kia Soul...there was a Nissan Cube... Before there was a Nissan Cube...there was a Scion Xb...(Maybe the Scion came before the Nissan Cube...it dont matter...both are weird little Japanese phenomenons that sold well enough in America...) Before there was the Toyota's Scion Xb...there was... Toyota Matrix and Pontiac Vibe... So...yeah... Kia Soul CAN be DIRECTLY compared to Pontiac via the Matrix... And the Matrix has all those cars I posted as a lineage... And there are MORE fake and soulless Pontiacs I could post...but those were sold ONLY in Canada...so you 'Mericans were spared!

Like I said...I dont stray too far off in internet land... I doubt that my browsing history...or that of my wife's and kids...leads us to have mail order broads delivered to our doorstop... No problem on the input! I did get to rant too...which feels good to get of my chest sometimes... So thank-you in return in being a psychiatrist to me.

I read the post too quickly as I had to leave the house and pick up my daughter from the bus stop so in haste I answered it all wrong as well... But now that I know and understand what is asked of us...Ill answer the question properly. 1. Advertising dollars is needed to keep your website up and running and if you could turn that into a profit...even better. Is what I say. Doing so in a manner that we, the users, could benefit, only makes our experience at CheersandGears a better place to be in. Im all for coupon codes that I could use for deals. That is a cool and neat idea. I welcome that! Like I said, if you could profit from that...AWESOME!!! 2. Adblocker detector for the users that use Adblock so they could benefit from coupon codes. I personally dont use Adblocker as ads dont bother me. Even if I did use Adblocker, an Adblocker detector would not bother me. Funny thing...Adblocker does bother me more than the ads do. I could ignore ads... I dont like giving permission to any entity to use my usage of my computer to do anything, including blocking ads. An Adblocker detector just counters what I do with Adblock and both entities now have information of how I use the internet... Its bad enough the internet has cookies to track the shyte I do on the internet...Adblocker and Adblocker detectors are now added to that list... So...I dont stray too far off in internet land to have weird ass cookies on my computer therefore the ads that I see are just the common shyte everyone sees... Yeah...like I have ever visited any site that leads me to see ads about Russian and Korean mail order brides...which I get from time to time...leading me to believe that the internet is such a piece of shyte place to be in sometimes. Depending where of course... CheersandGears is cool. So if you wanna make advertising dollars...I say..GO FOR IT!!! If you wanna make us...the users...profit by it too...EVEN BETTER!!! The Russian and Korean mail order bride ads are considered to be of the intrusive kind? Yeah...I dont like those...but there is nothing we could do about those...the internet is a lawless cesspool... Like I said...those are generic that everybody gets to see... If I let an entity like Adblocker in...I am just letting another gang of internet proprietors to use the info they have on me to sell to me in another way...or just to use my personal info somehow...in someway that only they could...hacking it seems could be done very easily...its just a hunch that I have...the hunch of not trusting ANYTHING on the web...

I completely did not understand what was asked of us. So I edited my previous reply to this one.

Yeah...but it dont look like a sedan...even less than a sedan of the 1930s. And I dont mean it to look like a PT Cruiser or HHR either. SSR and Prowler is all good though! There is one car out there that speaks to what it is I am hinting at. But in sedan form and not in (Presidential) limousine form. It dont have to be made from a Top Kick either...it could be a unibody design...just make the crossover tall...like they are now, high belt line...like how even sedans and CUVs alike are now...make them have a high ground clearance...like the Beast...even higher...and voila... I keep on saying sedan making it seem like I dont want hatch back styling... This...this is also what I wouldnt mind owning... Its not as high...but it works! Maybe a tad less Pontiac-y and more Buick-y... When this came out...boy...many of you thought this was the ugliest pile of shyte ever, huh? Ill tell you something...its a lot better looking than the ugly shyte CUVs the manufacturers are throwing down our throats today...

Im slowly accepting of the reality that CUV and SUV-like vehicles are the norm. RWD in Montreal in a no-go for me...maybe in another 10-15 years when the St-Lawrence Valley will be getting less snow and be less cold due to climate change. This year, the weather dudes are predicting a mild winter regarding temperatures, but are calling for lots of snow. Freezing temps that favour icey roads or mild weather and lots of snow or both...is not an ideal scenario for RWD cars being daily driven so FWD is the way I sway. AWD is good, but AWD is NOT a necessity for me. With that being said...I have come to grips with reality that crossover types are what the masses want. If Im gonna buy a crossover from BMW or anybody else...I at least want my crossover to resemble the big sedans of the 1930s. They were huge. They had a high ground clearance. They even had running boards to better get in and out of them... Heck...the then Suburban was no different than the sedans of the time... So yeah...give me THAT!

That gap is changing at an exponential rate. Its only gonna get closer...like you said...with time... 15 years of EVs? Sure... In reality though...its closer to 5 years. Why? That is when the Model S was brought to market. Why the Model S? Are you crazy and dumb Oldshurst442? The Model S is really the first 100% pure EV to be sold to the public without any internal combustion engine help...either as a back-up engine or as a generator. The Nissan Leaf would argue that...but... The Tesla Model S is the first to have a range where as a daily driver..NO RANGE ANXIETY should be apparent...nay sayers and fraidy cats that have no concept of math and distance need not apply here... The Model S is the first to actually buck the trend of the less than 1% in its respective market... The Model S is really the 1st EV to change the public's perception of EVs on all kinds of levels...as a status symbol, as a family car, as a daily driver and so on... Also...still...in 2017...CHOICES are STILL VERY limited... Example... The NHL this year...just included in their league a new team...the Las Vegas Knights. We could laugh at them for not winning a Stanley Cup...while the Boston Bruins have 6...the Chicago Blackhawks have 5... WHAT in the world are you talking about? Well...we could talk all day about EVs representing not even 1% of the market... There simply isnt ANY choices for EVs to RIVAL ICE sales... Dont give me the Ford Fusion Energi and EV argument over the Fusion ecoboost sales differential... PRICE advantage is NOT in the Fusion electrics favour... Musk is discussing production hell...yet 512 000 orders are in for the Model 3... People KNOW that the Model 3 WILL NOT be delivered ANYTIME SOON THIS decade...yet they WANT this car... When GM gets their 20 models out by the time Tesla FINALLY delivers their 512 000 Model 3s...what will be the percentage then? With 512 000 Model 3s delivered and about half for GM...200 000 sales annually for EVs...shyte the Volt alone has about sold that many to date since its introduction in 2011...it aint far fetched that GM could sell 200 000 EVs annually in 2023 when they get PRODUCT available... Hence the NHL analogy... Give the Knights some time...in 20 years...they might have won 6 Stanley Cups equaling the Bruins in what the Bruins did in 80 years... I dont like the 1% argument because it does NOT reflect 2017 and beyond's reality... If Tesla went the way of Bombardier and the CSeries to Airbus and sold 50.1% of its Model 3 to GM or Ford or VW or Toyota...I would say 512 000 and then some Model 3s would be delivered by late 2018 EASILY...keeping the badge up front as a Tesla though...and that is why I under sell GM's EV sales by half of that...because GM does not have that cool factor just yet...but by the time GM rolls out their 20 models...that probably WILL change... At 512 000 Model 3s...that 1% in total sales goes up...and if we just calculate the Model 3s direct and indirect ICE competition (on different competitive factors such as price, RWD versus RWD versus AWD, exterior dimensions, interior dimensions and the like), at 512 000 sales and DELIVERIES...that percentage is a helluva lot more than just 1%...and THAT is just with one model... GM will also have its own...as with Toyota and possibly Ford and VW and Polestar... Even if Tesla would go belly up....there WILL be a manufacturer to pick up those 512 000 EV sales that the Model 3 is leaving behind... 512 000 pre-orders... THAT figure is mind blowing over 1 model car in 2017... The Word Machine's rant is over.

The word machine, huh? Words...when bunched together form knowledge... Knowledge... Laurence Sterne (1713-1768) British writer. When you cease to strive to understand, then you will know without understanding. Chinese proverb The greater our knowledge increases, the greater our ignorance unfolds. John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) Thirty-fifth President of the USA Acquire new knowledge whilst thinking over the old, and you may become a teacher of others. Confucius (BC 551-BC 479) Chinese philosopher. But the way you go on about... Unknown Source No man knows less than the man who knows it all Unknown Source The facts are in front of you...you prefer to make fun of me...laugh at me... You laugh at the facts and at knowledge... I cant help your ignorance...I could only try to enlighten you. Its all up to you after that... Lord Chesterfield (1694-1773) British statesman.

We all know how accurate surveys are... For both sides of the fence... One thing that is clear though, EVs are getting attention from the masses. Big time attention. If 400 000 pre-orders of the Model 3 is not telling... Then... Then... 15 000 Chevrolet Bolt sales in the US and Canada so far should at least wake you up to it!!! (The year is not over yet) The Bolt is not a sexy looking car. Nor is the badge on the hood of the Bolt. It aint Tesla. Its a Chevy. Chevrolet is not the trendy badge Tesla is...Chevy is just a 100 year old staid and mundane company killing us with their defective key ignitions and pollutin' V8s... Tesla's shine might dull a tad with their woos and the Bolt might get the jolt... But...15 000 and the year aint over...it might (it will) see 20 000 sales...on a sedan that is not really a sedan but is a CUV but it aint really a CUV that is stubby and dare I say ugly that is small that is a hatchback and those types of cars dont really sell well in the US but CUVs do and the Bolt is a CUV but not really... What Im getting at is that had the Bolt been an ICE car, it probably fail miserably... What I am also hinting at is...already...the Bolt in its first year...ALREADY... is more successful than the total 2011 Volt sales of the Volt's first year. And in 2012 and 2013...the Volt had 23 000... The Volt has a generator for range anxiety folk while the Bolt...does not... If one cannot see the pendulum sway at least the other way a tad...then nothing will... That person could use the little laughing emoticon all he wants...only time will prove him (or me) wrong...(Im not a cocky SOB...EV sales could take a fall...prolly not!) But I got the planet on my side...and the further time marches on...the more the planet is at the very minimum intrigued by the EV... PLUS the fact that the planet's politicians want to get rid of the ICE and people wont really have a choice...so...at that point...does it really matter if by chance people dont want EVs when the politicians are seeing it through that that the people will have no choice BUT to buy EVs? You really got to be living in a cave to NOT see this!

You are right. Im just confused emotionally with that part of history. Ever since I lost my dad a decade ago to cancer, I equate my memories of him as a WW2 vet. (Yes he meant more to me than just him being a WW2 vet, especially when he met my mom in the 1960s got married to her in 1968 and had me in 1973...WW2 was long since past by then...duh!) The reason for that though is that Remembrance Day (Veteran's Day equivalent) in Canada (and all of the British Commonwealth) is on November 11. The "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" of 1918, WW1 ended... OK...I went to several ceremonies with him...so... My dad died on the 8th of November...and while he was in Palliative care at the hospital, we knew that his days were limited at that point, I was going to go to the ceremony alone that year to pray for him and all the soldiers that died during all of Canada's wars. Well, he did not make it...and I had a funeral for him instead so my memory of him remains as a soldier. Every year I watch Saving Private Ryan and The Great Escape and I cry. For him and for the thousands of lives lost. And every year that goes by...I hate Nazi Germany a tad more. And although I can respect their weapons...I just feel shame for liking them in the first place. I dont know how that became to be. All I know is that my feelings are really strong against them. I know it does not have to be that way...the feelings are just too strong for me to not be this way. Maybe Ill mellow out again.

My first time learning about Fats Domino was on Happy Days! The scene is very vague in my memory now, but Richie was singing it...here is that part I did not know what Richie was saying and what he meant...but those words stuck in my head. Years later...Time Life Music was selling a 1950s and 1960s Rock-N-Roll collection when I heard that song again! That VOICE! I fell in love with his voice right away! That piano! Just awesome! But there was no where I listen to his music...so my enthusiasm for his music died as quickly as it started! THAT kinda sucked! But...I started liking Cheap Trick. I Want You to Want Me and If You Want My Love You Got It started it. Then it was The Flame a few years later. That is when I found out they made a cover of Aint That a Shame in the late 1970s...in 1988...my love for Fats Domino's music git rekindled! Thanx Mr. Domino for helping me LOVE AND CONTINUE TO LOVE ROCK-N-ROLL!!! Rest in Peace.

Once upon a time ago, in my teens when I was learning a lot about WW2, I liked the Kübelwagen (I refuse to call it "The Thing"). It was a very good WW2 general purpose, light military vehicle that served its country well. It was just as good as our Jeep despite not having 4 wheel drive. I became an adult and started idolizing the Nazi war machine. No! NOT the Nazis! But their military engineering, their weapons, their airplanes, tanks, trucks, guns, etc. The Nazis had awesome technology. We are lucky to have won! But...in the last decade...that idolization that I had for Nazi weapons has slowly diminished and now...I am even embarrassed and mad as hell that I once idolized the weapons that terrorized a big part of the planet. I could admit that Nazi war technology was superior. But I CANNOT say anymore that I like it! I would NEVER buy any Kübelwagen. Even if it would be a modern EV made by Volkswagen in 2022 or whenever 80 years AFTER WW2 ended! Why? My dad fought AGAINST what the Kübelwagen stands for in 1944 and in 1945! My mom was a little girl in a Greek village when my grandma had to feed Nazi soldiers by force in my grandfather's house riding in these Kübelwagens. In 1979, I came across my first German landmine....it was an empty shell. My grandma was feeding her chickens with it (water) as it was turned upside down and used as a dish. PHOQUE Volkswagen for that! I WONT forget! I will NEVER forget! I might buy a VW Golf GTI type R one day. I dont hold VW responsible for what the Nazis did...but a Kübelwagen is where I draw that line! Sorry for that rant. I did not know how to react to this news...but I let my feelings guide me as I was typing this...and my true emotions came out! And now...I feel a lot better!

I read the Toshiba article last night. I wanted to say the same thing. That EVs are on the cusp of climbing and reaching that peak of what used to seem like an insurmountable mountain. The mountain being the technological breakthrough needed to surpass the user friendliness of gasoline fill-ups which leads to the acceptance of the mass. This technology is that breakthrough to at least climb the mountain. Reaching the peak is when this technology becomes available to the masses...but not with just one manufacturer of electric vehicles, to all manufacturers...and descending the mountain on the other side is when sales of MAINSTREAM EVs finally COMPETE with the equivalent mainstream gasoline powered cars and finally...the journey is over when the mountain is left behind when EVs take over... Im soooooo happy that the Chevy Volt (Ampera E) version 2.0 is such a hit! It truly is a success on so many levels!

I immediately saw a mish mash of 1st generation Accord and Civic. So nothing but Honda for me.

That is totally YUCK on soooo many levels!

No 3000GT VR4 and no 1st and 2nd generation Eclipse. No care.

Im always thinking about crazy stuff like this. I would love to take a 1970 Challenger and resto-mod and pro-tour it to be a 1970 Hellcat. Yes, Id take the Hellcat's 707 horsepower, 6.2 liter supercharged "Hemi" and all its go fast goodies and brakes and suspensions and stuff and put that into the 1970. Id replicate all the exterior Hellcat trademarks such as the hood, grille and the one headlight that is a ram air get-up unto the 1970. Even the little kitty would adorn the 1970 model. The interior would stay stock 1970...other than the necessary computer upgrades to accommodate the computer controlled modern powertrain. The frame would be from Schwartz Performance to accommodate all that modern hardware and better suspension and brake systems. Another would be... Id take this And the powertrain of this A supercharged 4.4 liter Northstar V8 producing 440 HP and 430 ft.ibs of torque would be enough for the Oldsmobile G Body. 4.4 liter. 440 Horsepower. 4 valves/cylinder dual exhaust That is as close to a 442 definition to remain loyal to the name as I could get. Plus...its a Northstar. Oldsmobile had some engineering input in the engine and also had a version of it in its cars. The frame would be from Schwartz Performance to accommodate the STS V's brakes and suspensions and stuff. The interior would be stock, but would have leather adorning it. True to its Oldsmobile luxurious side and Cadillac's heart transplant.

These posts from the Random Thought Thread belong in here!!!

You are making me blush.

This is not a pure Dream Garage Thread game we usually play. There are no rules in this one. No maximum amount of cars to dream up. There are no rules. This is just a thread to which I am asking the Cheers and Gears community what dream car or cars (trucks,motorcycles, anything that goes) would you restomod and/or pro-tour and what do those mods include? Engine choices and the like. It could be new engines in old cars. It could be old engines in new cars. It could be sacrilegious engine swaps. I believe that if an owner sees a vision for his ride...then its AWESOME if that owner sees his vision through. Example: Bill Mitchel wanted to improve upon the 2 generation F-Body and envisioned what a Ferrari inspired and powered Trans Am would be like... We all know what a 2nd generation Trans Am' soul is all about...whether its about an SD455 or the 6.6 liter black and gold Bandit all with the different colour comboed Phoenix's that adorned the whole hood. But you got to admit, a Ferrari powered and inspired Firebird gives the car another persona. This is what I want you guys to give me here. One or several cars that you guys love, but what significant changes you would do to these cars that alter the original(s).

The quoting that I did was for OCNBLU...I quoted the wrong post in which Horsey was quoting OCNBLU to which the post quoted Horsey instead of BLU... Does that make sense? Anyway... IMO... I agree that a car's soul is its powertrain and engine and driving dynamics, but, I also feel like a car's soul is also part of the owner as well. Even if two cars are exactly the same with all options being 100% identical from the transmissions being the same, engines being the same, the same fabric choices and even the same colour choices and wheel cobinations and tires...I feel the owner of the car and his/her personality is as much part of the car's soul as the car itself. With that being said... If a car is to be resto-modded and pro-toured...leaving behind the original pieces of what made the original special, it does not mean that the resto-modded and pro-toured new car wont have soul...and because the owner saw a vision for the new car...a different powertrain may ENHANCE the soul of the original...albeit if the new choices really do enhance what made the original car mythical. OK...Ill admit...dropping Corvette LS engines into everything and making the new car just another LS swap project is NOT a way to enhance the original car's soul...it does depend what kind of LS swap it is and what other mods were made to make that swap a soulful experience. Just my two cents, if anybody cares what I have to say.

And what is this definition of "real" automotive enthusiast in your view? In my view...I will tackle this 3-fold. The first... For performance oriented "enthusiasts" Youve seen the vids with the babes whose boobs pop out with acceleration runs with the old skool gasoline piston engines...well...the Tesla has the same affect... The vid is more classier as the girls are not trashy. (Disclaimer...I have nothing against trashy girls...God bless them, they had a profound influence on me growing up!) The second....performance oriented again as we all confuse enthusiasm with speed... The third..and yes...I know...the Model S makes no sounds...not sexy.. But that is only 1 part of enthusiasm... Speed and performance is another part... I think this man is a symbol of a real automotive enthusiast as he EMBRACES ALL PARTS.. And the cool part is that he loves every type of motorvation including electrics EV bikes... So...what is your definition of a "real automobile enthusiast" ? Because mine is more in line with Jay Leno...and he also adopts a live and let live philosophy... A car does not have to be the sexiest, the loudest, the nicest, the fastest, etc for me to be enthused by it... I just have to like it... YOU, dont have to like the Model S... But...if you cant see why others like it...then you my friend...according to my definition...YOU are just a fan boy...not a "real automotive enthusiast" Nothing wrong with that...I just find it ironic that YOU think you are representative of a "real automobile enthusiast"...

I fell out of love very quickly with the 1st gen. I dont know if this generation is gonna get a chance to be liked by me. I need to see it in person because in pictures...I aint going for it. Im waiting for the A6...more specifically, the S6 and if we are lucky...the RS6 to lust over.

mmmmmmm...yeah....sure.