oldshurst442

1993. I was 20 years old and on top of my world. Going to college, doing great there. Getting good grades. Playing all kinds of sports, working out and looking and feeling great. I was a popular kid. Had many friends that wanted to party with me and my gang. I was very popular with the girls at this point in time. 1 regret (about this song): I never really liked this song back in the day, oh so I thought. I heard it today for the first time since probably it went off the air sometime in 1993 or 1994 when it ceased to be popular anymore...I remembered all the words to it. Yeah, Ive made out with more than a handful of girls and this song was playing in the backround... My regret: I wish I had taken the time to enjoy the song a bit more. Its a good song... I dont know why I did not like it. I wish I enjoyed it is what Im saying as the girls that I made out with while this song was playing are nothing but a blur to me right now. Which is fine by me, its just that I feel like I missed out on a good song back in the day is alls Im saying. The irony: Back in the day, the girls that I had fallen in love with were in my heart while this song was a blur in the backround, but today...the song is vivid in my heart while the girls are nothing but a forgotten dream.

The funny thing about that...I made a Ford purchase in 2013 buying a Fusion DESPITE me being pissed at that lying arrogance with those dumb commercials. And the bailout money had no influence on me either... I was FOR the bailouts as I was for FoMoCo surviving their route taken... I take it many Americans were pissed at the government interventions but it baffles me how these same Americans are pissed at GM and Chryco for the bailout money yet they dont cry foul when the government subsidizes foreign car makers to build their factories in the USA... Or when NASA lets Toyota use the Space Shuttle as a HUGE billboard commercial... Or worse...I dont see any American, including @Wings4Life bitch at these billionaire pro-sports team owners threaten to leave town unless the city in question builds them a new arena of some sorts.... OK back to Ford... Ill keep this short and sweet. I just AMAZED how Ford and GM went from interior zeros from the 1980s-2010s to interior heros from 2010-2016. A short time span where GM and Ford are now industry leaders, or close to it, in interior design, quality and execution. Much still to improve...but very impressive non-the-less...for both companies.

Ummmmm...NO!!! That is what is called sugar coating the desperation... That what you have described is what Disney movies are all about... The nice come back from behind victory.... The bad guy wears a black hat and the good guy wears a white hat and through all kinds of turmoil saves the damsel in distress and saves the day and lives to fight another day. The nice love story...where the hero lives happily ever after. However, the negatives are all buried in the sand... In makes for a nicer story....why bother we all that pesky truth...which was desperation for Ford... Ford had hindsight to mortgage the Blue Oval and the Mustang trademark? That they had to hire appraisers to see how much those identities were worth....THAT was the hindsight? For a rainy day? And just in case it down poured on Ford's parade, and Ford wouldn't be able to make a payment on that type of mortgage, Ford would cease to own its own Blue Oval logo? Dude...THAT was a big effin risk to take... And...George W. Bush was already softening the public for a bailout at the time...because those talks were happening waaaay before the shyte hit the fan... Everyone knew the woes of the Detroit 3....very early on... That is why the Premier Automotive Group began to be dismantled under Mullaly. Aston Martin was sold, to a consortium of investors, headed by David Richards in 2007.[4] In September 2006, the defunct Rover brand was secured from BMW by Ford to protect the Land Rover brand.[5] In March 2008, Ford sold Jaguar and Land Rover to Tata Motors of India. In 2010, Ford sold Volvo Cars, the last PAG brand, to the parent of Chinese carmaker Geely for $1.8 billion. My My...Wings...How we forget the desperation times... A mere 5-7 years before...PAG was formed to a tune of 17 billion or something like that... Burn through cash the D3 were doing...and Ford was desperate and that is why the Mustang trademark and Blue Oval logo ceased to be owned by Ford for a little while....NOT because of hindsight as you put it...but by desperation...

ΚΑΛΗΝΥΧΤΑ, Wings. Translation for you non Greeks: Good Night, Wings.

You are the loud and dramatic story telling Greek...mixed in with some good ole American fast talkiing... Im more of the wise old philosopher type, mixed in with some good old fashioned Canadian dont take no BS from nobody saying how it is attitude like Don Cherry... Ford's "wiser" steps were of DESPERATION.... The rest is just lies and innuendo only politicians are known for...Ancient Greek politcians or modern day American or Canadian or Greek.... Hey, maybe you should run for President....your lies seem to be less stingy than the other two Presidential hopefuls... Id vote for you.... But then again, Id vote for you only because you are Greek and not for your merits.

What the phoque are you talking about? FoMoCo mismanaged their cash flow, their business plans, their market, their production, their quality JUST as BADLY as the other 2 Michigan headquartered rivals... THAT is why their cash flow ended 1 year BEFORE the other 2 rivals... Wings....you like to re-write history....I guess its in your Greek blood to do so...but Homer you are not...nor Plato or Socrates.... You fool nobody. Continue on with your revisionist history...

OK...after a long deliberation on this matter its either a 455 SD from Pontiac or Rocket 455 V8 from Oldsmobile in 1973... I think the Olds/Hurst wins out after me looking at the pics I just posted. 1989 @ 16 years of age As much as I wanna choose something different, I just seem to gravitate back to my heart and soul... I had a real hard time ditching the 1973 Trans Am, but at least it was in favor for an Oldsmobile muscle car. That is where my heart is at anyways, but more for the A-Body and not for the colonnade body style, I mean I like the colonnade body style, its just that I LUST over the late 60s A-Body... OK..1989... Pontiac Turbo Trans Am...over a BMW M635 csi or BMW 850... 1994 @ 21 years old OR 1998 @ 25 years old... Oh boy....this is tough...1998 is the year I choose and its between 2 absolutely gorgeous cars...both cars that are outside my identity but you would have to be a fool not to enjoy in a dream garage. BMW Z8 or Ferrari F355 F1 You know what the Greeks and Italians say: una faccia, una razza. Translastion: 1 face, 1 race The gorgeous Italian wins! Quite possibly the last absolutely good looking Ferrari made. 2016/2017 pick Aston Martin DB11 And yes, in that grey colour. The grey grew on me...and besides....Im 43 years old...Im beginning to be an old geezer myself....(I said that the colour grey on cars is old fogey colour) last pick: 1970 Oldsmobile 442 Not as different than to what I usually choose...but hey...these are some of the cars that get me giddy!

Read the edited post above... And yes you are pissin' on GM... No higher road takin by Ford... Only survival instincts...that became lucky for them...NOT TO USE bailout money, but bailout money was there for them to use as they did not decline it!

THERE IS NO HIGHER ROAD! Like I said...YOUR reasons are just noise pollution meant to piss on GM... Point finale! PS... I also lived through it....2009 affected the whole bloody planet. Not just Detroit and the automobile bankruptcies... WE ALL DID! Shyte, you are of Greek decent, like me, Greece is still living it!

Fusion Platinum or Fusion Sport for me. For a Lincoln sedan...Id really spend the money on a much more refined Lincoln ride, the Continental. And Id have the real Continental fascia rather than the make-shift one on the MKZ... The Fusion fascia is pretty and high end looking enough for my tastes...there is no need to spend the extra cash on the MKZ. The interior material differences...irrelevant for me. Like I said, the Continental is where Id look for the high end interior... Kinda like the 2015 Chevy Impala versus the 2015 Buick Lacrosse...Id rather the Impala then over the Lacrosse.

So, this is an admission that FoMoCo did the same things ethically as GM or Chryco in this 2008/2009 bankruptcy thing... So what is your argument stance then with the whole family fortunes lost thing? And that wasnt what I was saying either: This bailout situation... FoMoCo and GM and Chryco... ALL 3 were going bankrupt... All 3 were in danger of becoming extinct. All 3 were desperate for cash flow. All 3 were in a bad place and all 3 needed help. All 3 took the SAME ROUTE! All 3 ALWAYS took the SAME ROUTE. All 3 ALWAYS HAD THE BANKS LEND THEM TONS OF CASH. ITS JUST THAT in 2007/2008, Ford got billions when they re-mortgage their name... GM and Chryco waited it out as they had some cash left over from other bank loans from years before. FoMoCo was cash strapped 1 whole year before the other two but when GM and Chryco became cash strapped 1 short year later, the banks themselves were going down... So...in comes G.W. Bush with a proposal to which Obama finalized to save the American car industry from failing. And yeah, FoMoCo did not say no to the bailout money, they just DID NOT NEED TO USE IT!!! They could have though. They had access to it.... And if they have used it, they too would have caused the same amount of family fortunes lost as GM or Chryco. DO NOT EVER try to sugar coat that! THAT is what I was sayin'

In case you missed my clues... GM and Chryco's shrugging off the debts and monies owed that may have destroyed many family fortunes were NOT DONE ON PURPOSE TO TO FRAUD THOSE families. It may very well have been a necessary evil. To prevent any WORSE damages... FoMoCo's situation well, they were in the same sinking boat and FoMoCo' decision to re-mortgage their assets and possibly taking bailout money like GM and Chryco had NO THOUGHTS about little guy family fortunes lost. All Detroit 3 decision making in 2007-2009 was NOT about saving the little guy's family fortunes... Those decisions that the Detroit 3 took were about saving the Big 3. So no family fortunes would be lost, or at least be minimized. FoMoCo's 2nd/3rd mortgage was a lucky one for FoMoCo. The banks cut that faucet to prevent any little guy family fortune disasters any further as there was a bank meltdown so GM and Chryco were shyte outta luck to go down that road...remember...FoMoCo did that a whole year before... The bailout money was a solution to PREVENT WORSE little guy family fortunes lost then there was... That is why I redirected the conversation to Trump and H.R. Clinton as BOTH have used the law to SCREW ON PURPOSE the little guy.... THAT IS WHY I CALLED YOU UP ON IT! Because there are 2 types of arguments I cant stand: 1. semantic driven BS 2. cherry picking Because both are used to deflect to cover up biases and both are DISINGENUOUS! NO APOLOGIES ON MY END! I COME ARMED WITH THE TRUTH AND IF NOBODY LIKES THAT....TOUGH NOOGIES!

Ummmmm.... NO! When you want to reply to someone else's post Wings...THERE IS NO NEED TO BE DISINGENUOUS IN YOUR REPLIES!!! I HAVENT ITEMIZED NO FAULTS BY ANY AMERICAN CAR MANUFACTURER... YOU HAVE THOUGH.... ITS A NEW ANGLE YOU PLAY ON TO BURY GM: LOST FAMILY FORTUNES There is NO moral high ground. All 3 Detroit headquartered car makers all got into severe debt loads and all 3 had to find a solution for NOT going belly up...FoMoCo mortgaged the actual Blue Oval logo and Mustang trade mark to avoid going belly up....1 year before GM and Chryco got bail out money....and Ford was up there trying to get bailout money too just in case the Blue Oval and Mustang trade mark money would dry up...and if you remember, the banks remortgaged money was as much as the bail out money and FoMoCo was still not sure if that would be enough... There was NO THOUGHT put into anybody's family fortunes when FoMoCo applied for said mortgage and the possible bail out money... THAT is reality of things. Anything else said about GM or Chryco or Ford is just noise pollution to try to get a leg up and piss on the other... THAT would include YOUR analysis Wings!!! My analysis is the closest to reality! Besides...that is old news now.... Ya'll should move away from the Detroit 3 bailout scene and concentrate on your Presidential candidate that REALLY used those very same tactics to get ahead...with REAL INTENTIONS OF SCREWING OVER THE LITTLE GUY.... GM, Ford and Chrysler. That was a heap of a mess that had collected over 4-5 decades with a myriad of reasons not just bad management and shoddy vehicle construction...many diverse reasons... But BOTH of your Presidential candidates FULLY KNOWINGLY have screwed over the little guy's family fortunes.... Put your energy in bitchin' about that! Because the USA is gonna go down the loo with either candidate...

This is gonna be a boring one for me...and for you folk to see what Im gonna choose. Why? Ive posted these cars before... Born in 1973... My choice...1973 Pontiac Trans Am 455 SD. I was 16 in 1989. My choice...1989 Pontiac Trans Am Turbo 20th Anniversary. So...in order to find something new to add to this thread, allow me some time to truly think it over and choose other cars Id like to own instead of me going to my usual repertoire.

Im with Mr. Nameless Horse on the CTS. I like but Im not sure Id buy one. Annnnnd, about the Vette. Neither the Ford GT or the Vette are my style of cars. Both are great for what they do, but Im not a buyer in this market. My battle resides with the sedans. Because Id rather the CTS over the Focus, I choose the CTS/Vette combo.

Hmmmm. Yeah. 2nd and 3rd mortgages were, are and continue to be for the very near and far future the new American norm. So no shame on FoMoCo on that account....yeah because, FoMoCo was better than the other two in managing their debt loads....yup...that is what you want us to believe... And ummm, Mr. Mullaly was on that very same bandwagon train begging with GM and Chryco, helping them out to get funds from the government, and just in case FoMoCo needed EXTRA cash.... Oh.....FoMoCo mortgaged everything AND the kitchen sink including the coffee makers and door handles ONE YEAR BEFORE GM and Chrysler got government help because FoMoCo was in WORSE condition that the other two... Try again my fellow Greek brother. Oh...your post does not deserve to be at +1. At best it should be just neutral. Your post is at the very least, very disingenuous...

Ive done this list in the spirit of base trim models. OK, some cars I chose are very well equipped, but I chose my cars by them being models of mainstream brands. With the exception of one car being of a premium luxury brand. All are 2017 models. 1. 2.3 liter 4 cylinder Ecoboost Mustang Convertible. Unless of course the 3.7 liter V6 is the one I must choose... 2. Buick Lacrosse FWD base. 3. Nissan Maxima S I adore this car. I might as well choose it in this dream car garage thread as I might not get a chance to pick it another time. 4. This is such a pretty car. I said Id choose a Miata, but the Fiat version is prettier. Fiat 124 Classica 5. There is a loop hole here. This generation WRX is its own stand alone name plate. No Impreza to hold me back. And I get to stay mainstream enthusiast sporty without going too expensive with the name plates.

I like this one. Give me time to think about it. One question: Do convertibles count as trims ABOVE base models? Obviously Im not taking about roadsters like a Miata....Although I might consider a base level Miata instead negating this question....

If I had the disposable income necessary for a 100 000 dollar car, this area of the enthusiast car spectrum would not be of interest to me. Too small and too low for my driving tastes. Sure these kinds of cars are sexy and scream out loud what boils down to: the essence of car enthusiasm full of lust and speed...but it aint what I prefer. With that being said, I might as well just keep this choice. This car might just be the best of its ilk...might as well just enjoy it! But...a Vette or a Viper would also do...Z07 C7-R Edition and T/A respectively.

Yeah. Montreal is a great city. We got very very VERY screwed up problems that are unique to Canada and North America, but those very same problems make up the fabric that makes Montreal so great! I cant see myself living anywhere else in the world other than Montreal. I bitch about these problems often enough, but I also feel like these problems makes us a stronger society because we as citizens of Montreal and Quebec, we constantly talk about them and how we could resolve them trying to live together in PEACE. I bitch about the winter, but I like the winter non-the-less. Breaks up the monotony of summer. And when we are phoquing fed up of the constant -13 to -40 degree Fahrenheit weather with more or less um...snowfalls...the birds come back and love is in the air again. L'amour toujours l'amour. Montreal has everything one needs in a city. A phoquing great night life. Quality higher education institutions more plentiful than Boston. 2 official languages. If one gets bored talking in English, one could talk in French... An old historic, quaint little town (Old Montreal) where there is a lot to do in all 4 seasons. One could think he is in Paris. A very bustling down town core where North America resides....albeit with a twist, Montreal style.... Great restaurants, amongst the best in the WORLD... Montreal is famous for its gastronomy. A true multi-cultural city second only to NYC. Sure we have our racism, but more often than not, we all get along... Boston and NYC are the other North American cities that I hold high in regard. Listen, I dont want to insult the other great cities of North America, its just that Im tooting Montreal's horn right now! Same weather in Montreal today. Not quite the temperature where water freezes the weather dudes were saying, but yeah...cool and wet. Usually I prefer Hot, Wet and Wild though...

Montreal's forecast starting tomorrow night and for the next 3-4 nights... Around the 30 degrees Fahrenheit area... I usually accept this transition this time of year. I embrace it even, but Ill take 88 degrees and 90% humid sucky, sticky heat any day of the week compared to ice cube territory weather.

Ill do a second one: Part 1 stays the same Part 2: Since my uncle gave me a Cadillac, and I really really want a REAL Cadillac, then my hand is forced to get myself a REAL Cadillac... 1990-1991 Fleetwood Brougham D'Elegance Id keep the exterior stock....fatter tires maybe, as fat as those rims could take. The interior too would stay stock: Now....for the rest of the stuff....Id try and do some magic here... Id take a scrapped 2006-2009 Cadillac STS-V or XLR-V and borrow its 4.4 liter CADILLAC supercharged Northstar engine: The magnetic shock suspension: And every other piece of modern hardware that is under the STS or XLR's undercarriage to bring the Fleetwood into today's world. And if that proves to be too much horsepower upgrade for this thread, then a regular RWD 320 horsepower 4.6 liter Northstar will do. Then we will do another Oldsmobile. A small one: We would take a 2.0T LTG 4 cylinder crate engine or from a Buick Verano or Buick Regal and just enjoy that Oldsmobile as if the brand never went away...in Greece. Yes. Id take this car to Greece to enjoy it over there (engine displacement taxes to worry about and this little ecotec engine could be serviced at any Opel dealership) while the Fleetwood would travel back and forth to Montreal and Key West Florida. Ahhhhh, the Florida Keys.... Greek beaches or the Florida Keys....THAT is where its at!

Part 1 This ATS: Whatever that ATS-V may be... I dont track cars so the Carbon Black Edition is off the table. If there is a softer riding V coupe but with this look then that is what I want. A regular ATS does not fit my definition of a "real" Cadillac but I do like the Boy Racer look of the ATS V sedan or Coupe. I prefer the Coupe because it looks bold enough to be a "real" Cadillac. Part 2: Im an Oldsmobile type guy....this is tough.... OK....Ill do a 1983 Hurst/Olds or a 1987 Olds 442 redone: I wouldnt change a damned thing on it on the exterior. T-Tops are a must. On the inside. Id just leather it up but keeping the same look. Under the hood. Id try and find a decent early 2000s LS1 from either a F-Body or Pontiac GTO and drop that under the hood. 320-350 HP/ 345ish ft. lbs torque should be enough motorvation for this chassis. That and I want the displacement to be 350 cubic inches. (Yes, I know, the LS1 falls a tad short of 350...but using the Metric system, it still is 5.7 liters.) Beefier brakes and better suspension to handle the power upgrade is a must and for it to handle a bit better that for what it was stock....not bad for back in the day but not what we are used to in 2016 on our modern cars. Second car. Oldsmobile Intrigue We take a Buick Lacrosse Super: We borrow its FWD transverse 5.3 LS engine and its bilstein shocks and add it to the Intrigue. Then we make the Intrigue look like this: Then we travel to Banff Alberta or Whistler British Columbia. Or we travel to Fort Sumner New Mexico to see where William H. Bonney aka Billy the Kid was buried...and we do all kinds of Old West visits to see where all those famous Cowboy outlaws rode their horses...

The next 2 cars are in hindsight that the great American V8 affordable car will eventually die off! Back in 1999, I wanted a classy car. A coupe but classy. There was no Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme coupe and the Intrigue was sedan only. Hello Alero is what I said. I did own a 1989 Firebird V6 so a Trans Am at that point in time was off the table....not classy for me at that point in time I should have bought this instead though... I had the cash and I was a single guy with NO girlfriend to become a wife anytime soon. However, I might not be alive today....185HP/205 ftl-lbs torque versus 320ish HP/345ish ft-lbs... And in 2005, I needed a family car to which I found a woman who could stand me in 2000 so I traded in that Alero for a 2005 Impala Supercharged SS. I had rented a Chrysler 300C to which I loved but RWD in Montreal aint ideal... I wish I bought that 300C...

Ive had a couple of cars slip away from my hands in my day... A co-worker of mine had a mint early 1970s Toyota Celica manual transmission. Green like this one. I dont remember if it was a GT like in the pic, nor do I remember what was under the hood but it was a fun car to drive around in. I learned to drive manual in that car. He was selling. A college buddy had a 1989 2.8 liter red T-Top Firebird auto. I went with the Firebird because : 1. T-Tops 2. Automatic I wonder today what it would be like to own that little Toyota. I LOVED the Firebird,but I was truly smitten with the Celica. After I wrapped the Firebird around a traffic light pole, I had a chance to buy myself a beater 1960 Chevrolet Impala. My dad did not want for me to buy it as he was afraid it would be a money pit. So we bought a 1994 Pontiac Grand Am GT together instead.... It was a coupe but the condition of it was similar to this one below...same colour too... It had the original hub caps, was selling only for $2000 CDN in 1994. Considering I gave my dad 5000 for the Grand Am not a bad price... HMMMMM.....1994 FWD N-Body versus a rock-n-roll American cruiser.... I REGRET THAT decision...I would have driven my dad's car anyway had the Impala died on me....but my dad wanted to punish me as I totaled his 1986 Celebrity at the same time I wrecked my Firebird a couple of months apart... And finally, around 1999 or 2000, an American customer of mine (I own a restaurant and he just moved to Quebec, the poor fellow....) had a 1970 Dodge Challenger he wanted to get rid of. It was EXACTLY like the General Lee only it was black and it did not have the ram bars up front. It had the 318 under the hood. He was the 3rd owner and it was a Southern car. I think he was from North Carolina and the car was from there too. No rust on it, but... Paint was faded and looked all right. But It had tons of bondo in certain places and THAT scared me NOT to buy it. I wish I did though. It looked like this. He was asking $7000. I could have negotiated the price but all that bondo scared me off.