oldshurst442

This article from RoadandTrack has got me thinking about several aspects of dealership markups. The article has also got me thinking about several other things. Internal combustion versus battery electric. The article is about dealership markups and the Escalade but brings up several interesting ideas that would be nice if we could discuss. https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a39122714/dealers-added-an-average-of-728-to-every-new-cars-msrp-in-2021/

We've all had a say in what this particular automotive journalist suggested Buick should do with what appears to be his dream. I reacted the way I did because I too, would have loved to experience a Buick muscle car renaissance. I shared that automotive journalist's opinion myself. Its just that I had that opinion and wanted it to come true 20-25 years ago. I opened up my restaurant in 1996. I dropped out of university (had half a year or so left to get a degree in economics and in political science) to venture in the restaurant world. A couple of years in, and the restaurant was making money and I was still living at home paying no rent and no real expenses (did that until I got married in 2003), I was never quite happy with the cars that were available to buy in the late 1990s to early 2000s. Sure, Id love a Trans Am, could have bought one. Maybe not a Trans Am, but a less expensive Firebird Formula V8. The restaurant was still young and I didnt want to fully indulge in expensive luxury. Not that I do that nowadays either. Its all about putting money on the side...but Im digressing. Anyway, back in the 1997, 1998, 1999 world, I wanted to feel like a young entrepreneur, not a young punk. I wanted a pseudo luxury car, a 2 door coupe, speedy, but not too speedy, sporty, new, that defined who I was without breaking the bank. There were not too many choices. Firebird Formula V8 was too speedy and not enough luxury and perhaps making me look like a young punk. Nothing at Chevy. Nothing at Buick, maybe the Riviera, but the Riviera was too expensive anyway. I really really wanted to buy an Oldsmobile. Like the Riviera, the Aurora was too expensive. I really like the Intrigue. But it was a 4 door. I would have bought a Pontiac, but the Grand Prix was too sporty and not enough entrepreneur/restauranteur luxury. So I bought the Alero. PERFECT car for me. But it was NOT what I wanted out of an Alero... I really really wanted an Olds Cutlass Supreme. Coupe. Either as a RWD G Body or a FWD W-Body. And the Intrigue that replaced it, did not come that way at all in either form. I didnt want ANY Bimmer, but I kinda admit, a 3 Series coupe would have fit my criteria. Thanks but no thanks. Because I wasnt about to become a Eurosnob prick either... So this is where a Buick GSX or Olds 442 revival come in. If not a FWD Cutlass Supreme, I really really wanted a true blue muscle car. But GM wasnt making any. None of the Big 3 were. I had bought the Motor Trend magazine when they revealed this RWD Monte Carlo based on the F-Body Platform, reskinnned with Chevy Lumina Coupe panels... https://www.motortrend.com/reviews/1995-chevrolet-monte-carlo-ss/ And dreamt of modern Olds 442s and Buick GSXs. Especially when Mopar also teased us with a RWD Charger in 1999. So my dream of a Buick GSX comes from a long time ago. But Ive realized that it is not meant to be for Buick. Chrysler with the 300 came close for me to buy something like a modern, luxury muscle car in a modern luxury Buick GSX kinda way, but in 2005, I bought a FWD supercharged Impala SS instead. Weird how that has happened.... And Oldsmobile no longer around, Buick only a CUV maker and Chrysler on the dumps fearing of going the way of Oldsmobile.

Yes. That is good. But, why was it that a television set that was made in the 1960s with them tubes could last a lifetime, while new tech with them LEDs that technically shouldnt die out for 1000s of lifetimes, die out? Ah yes... planned obsolescence. Reuse, recycle. Or more bluntly put. And it aint no lie. Buy. Buy. Buy. Wrong kind of buy. But it will do!

My condolences. 72 is awfully young. A song for you and your estranged brother and for the really strange times we are living in. Hope you are OK!!!

Dont forget that Mopar had partnered up with a dude named Carol. I do not know how successful these Chargers were in the marketplace, nor do I know how successful they were regarding performance, but Shelby, Lutz, Iacocca did bring new life in Mopar performance and in the Dodger brand. Slowly, but surely. It was a humble start for Dodge with that Charger. And with the Shadow But in no time, Dodge was a force to be reckoned with in the speed wars of the 1990s performance renaissance. Electric or gasoline, Buick has a loooooooong way to go to get themselves into a position where people will look at Buick and see them for fast vehicles. They bring out a GSX today, they will be laughed out of this universe. It took Dodge to start with very very humble beginnings, and here we are, we are laughing at those attempts... "Charger was a huge presence, it withered away, morphed into an anemic FWD wedge" yet Dodge did turn to a legend, (even as early as the '80s, Shelby was considered a legend, forgetting the fact that he was considered a legend in the '60s) to spruce up the Charger's performance and breathe life into Dodge that Lutz asked for his blessing for the Viper. Not only did Dodge start producing performance cars, but Dodge was serious about this whole speed thing with its trucks too. And these are all performance machines, trucks and cars, several of them, in the late '80s and well into the late '90s and beyond. Buick stopped that image (as if it had a performance image anyway) with its single car in 1987... To continue with the argument of us laughing at Buick for trying to give us a GSX, let us not forget that Hyundai's Genesis has been giving us "performance luxury" cars about a decade now, and we are all not taking Genesis serious. Buick is in a lull. Has been since they eliminated the GNX from their portfolio. The calendar year when that happened was in 1987. In 1987, Madonna was causing a commotion with a song named causing a commotion. Not with half naked sexagenarian pics of herself to have an equal but younger washouted rapper stating the obvious that some things do not need to be shown... At this juncture, for Buick, there is no business case to be made for a GSX reappearance. Gas or battery operated. Car or CUV. Been too long for anybody to care about a single fast Buick...

^^^ What a mess. Is this an aftermath of a horrible accident or natural disaster or is this just a junkyard mess of some sort in the middle of an urban setting that happens to be NYC? PS Count me in on a hard NO to that GTO!!!

Correction. Not more torque. The Aurora V8 made 20 less torque than the supercharged 3.8 V6. I got the 4.0 torque figures confused with the Northstar V8 torque figures. I quickly remembered reality, though.

Yes, Buick was in the thick of things in the '60s with big cubed V8s and fast, straight line performance automobiles. Just like every other brand that sold cars in the muscle car era with the exception of Cadillac, Lincoln and Chrysler. A Wildcat and Riviera with GS nomenclature were muscle cars in a way that a Oldsmobile Toronado, Cadillac Eldorado, Ford Thunderbird 429 (of the late '60s) Chrysler 300 (of the late '60s) and any Lincoln were not... The Skylark GS was also a muscle car in a way that all those cars I mentioned above were not. And yet, the Skylark was a GM A Body, some in the muscle car crowd had a hard time distinguishing it as one. Because of Buick's marketing and types of cars Buick sold at that time, Buick was a company kinda like Chrysler, Cadillac and Lincoln in which Buick's straight line performance was not viewed as muscle car performance, but luxury cars that go fast... So much so, that although Buick's Skylark GS was a true blue muscle car like an Oldsmobile 442 was, the aura surrounding the GS was not. So Buick marketed 2 versions of the Skylark GS starting in 1970. A Stage 1 GS in hoping the words Stage 1 on the grill and the colourful, racing striped GSX would better acknowledge that the Skylark is a bonafide muscle car. And while Buick did reignite American performance in the late '70s to the mid '80s with T-Types & GN/ GNXs, slightly ahead of the rest of the other American brands, and ran away with it in 1987, Buick let it all go the very next year in 1988. Unlike the rest of the other American brands and by the 1990s, Plymouth, Dodge, Pontiac, Chevrolet and Ford all had 1 or 2 vehicles that entered the new age of performance to do battle with the German and Japanese performance cars. And while the W-Body supercharged 3.8 liter V6 Regal of the mid to late 1990s was a fast sedan, Pontiac's version was the one that was marketed as the performance W Body. The supercharged Riviera with the same engine was quite the performer too, Oldsmobile's Aurora (on the same platform as the Riv) had a V8 with 10 HP more and more torque. And was a sports sedan to do battle with the Germans while the Riviera was marketed for and bought by sexagenarian folk. Presumably (by me) by women. And while the next gen W-Body Buick Lacrosse Super gained an LS 5.3 liter V8, so did the Pontiac and Chevrolet versions and it was those that were marketed as the performance W Body machines. Not he Buick. About the Riviera of the 1990s, The gauge cluster was a great interpretation of the hey day '60s models, but the font and size of the numbers on the speedometer was said to be in a way for the older folk to see them better. Now, I read that in a MotorTrend or Car and Driver article about the Riviera. Looking back at that, Im not so sure how accurate it was. Probably the same bullshyte they always spewed about American cars, but it just goes to show you that Buick's performance in the 1990s was never taken seriously by anybody, and Buick didnt seem to mind that at all... Like I said, decades of Buick losing focus of what they are. And performance not really being their thing anyway. Buick's performance was just icing on the cake as compared to Lincoln and Cadillac. And therefore, a GSX revival out of the blue, without any prior hinting of Buick performance will not move the excitement needle for anybody that is less than 50 years old. Im not even sure folk that are older than 50 will get excited either. Its been a loooong time since the GNX and an even LONGER time since the GSX to actually make people care. However, if this 2012 Buick Regal (GS) Had REAL HP and torque and an AWD system to take on Audi S4s, Acura TL SH-AWDs, Subaru WRX STis, Ford Focus ST and RS which would lead into this Regal GS in keeping and possibly improving upon said performance, then maybe, just maybe, a Buick GSX based on either of these Cadillacs, with AWD differentiating it from Cadillac would be a smashing hit. And you know what? Maybe a Buick GSX revival need not a supercharged LS V8. Maybe calling it a Grand National or GNX rather than GSX with Cadillac's TTV6 from the CT6 V or CT4 V Blackwing and an AWD system like Acura's or Audi's is all that was needed.

But I do know that Ford has canceled all sedans to be sold in the North American market and continues to this day to back up that plan. Like I stated earlier, the article leads us down a hopes and dreams path, where there arent any, but also goes full circle to take those hopes and dreams away: From the article itself:

About the Mondeo. Yeah, its car that I would consider. As an ICEV or as a BEV. But unfortunately, the Mondeo is China only. Not even Europe will get this. The article states this but for some reason, it also gives hopes and dreams where hopes and dreams are non-existent.

Nope! No way! NOT like that! NOT based on the Alpha Camaro. NOT based on the short wheel base Alpha... Although that rendering looks great, as a Buick or otherwise, the GSX is not a pony car and its definitely not a pony car sized muscle car... The Zeta platform might have been a better fit for a GSX. But GM DOES have a vehicle of THAT size in its arsenal right NOW even if the Zeta platform is no longer in production. The Cadillac CT5 on the longer wheel base Alpha is where a potential GSX should be based on. The rendering is just basically a Camaro with a pseudo Buick front end. A Buick GSX on a Cadillac CT5 oriented platform with a 1970-1971 Buick A-Body window quarter panel look instead of the Cadillac's weird reverse Hoffmeister kink should be the goal. Yes, the Camaro seems to have that type of window quarter panel style as a 1970/1971 Chevelle/Skylark, its the short wheelbase and interior space that fails the necessary GSX specifications for a possible new GSX. Kevin Morgan of Trans Am Depot of Wordwide Trans Am has already made renders like these for GM A Bodys almost a decade ago. And the company actually built the GTO, from a Zeta Camaro, for which they did the Trans Am, which they continue to do the Trans Am on the Alpha Camaro. The article also stupidly says that if GM/Buick would want to take on the (Dodge) Challenger, with their Buick brand then they should use the slow selling Camaro as a basis...blah blah blah... There are several stupid things stated in that article that does NOT make a sense or is not the reality of things. Buick was never a Dodge competitor. Not then. Not today. The Challenger and Charger were never a Buick Skylark (GSX) competition even though all three were muscle cars sold in the muscle car era. The Challenger today enjoys a real uptick in popularity, especially over its Camaro competition, because of careful and precise identity marketing for itself solidifying not only the Challenger and Charger as real deal muscle cars, but the brand as well. Dodge also has the Durango, an otherwise mundane SUV like all of them, that Dodge has created a muscle truck out of it. Buick on the other hand... The Camaro has reinvented itself not only as a muscle car, but MORE than a muscle car. The Camaro is a true world dominating sports car. Its exterior dimensions are more world friendly, its performance specs are also more world centric rather than just being a North American specific straight line performer. The Camaro's failures are not about identity, its more about being stale. There is no excitement. Buick's problems are kinda like the Camaro's. And unlike Dodge's. Buick has NO identity. Buick has gotten stale. Buick has NO coupes or sedans. For DECADES, Buick has lost focus of what it is and what its supposed to be. Dodge and its muscle cars have had laser focus of what they are and what they wanna be for...DECADES. It started out slowly with the Viper back in 1994, but steadily made itself into a performance, muscle car brand. Especially the last decade or so. The Camaro has been laser focused into what it wants to be going forward since it came back in 2010. But has become stale. Cadillac has been laser focused with their "V" models. A GSX recreation will NOT solve Buick's problems. A GSX on ANY Alpha platform will NOT be an instant success. There is no marketing that has been hinted at, looked at, explored at for any GSX revival. Out of the blue will not make it a success. In a CUV/SUV world where coupes and sedans are dying, what makes you think a GSX will be a success? In a changing world where the internal combustion engine is looked upon as being evil, old and not relevant anymore and is being phased out by the very company that owns the model name GSX, what makes you think that the GSX will be a success as an internal combustion engine, 2 door muscle car that most of us have no idea what a GSX even is? That boat has sailed for Buick to consider itself a turnaround with muscle car nameplates of the past. Buick, although Buick's V8s were powerful with gobs of torque, Buick never really had a performance image. Unlike Dodge... Buick should think of what image they want their buyers want to be experiencing when buying and driving Buicks, and they should build THAT very vehicle. And I feel that American luxury is what they should be concentrating on since THAT is what Buick was ALWAYS about. What Lincoln is doing. Not what Dodge is doing. My 2 cents.

This is exactly what I was trying to convey. About how hard Teslas are hard to repair. Because of various Tesla specific idiosyncrasies. Forgot about the 'auto pilot' thing and how stupid Tesla sheeple zombies could be. And therefore insurance actuaries take THAT into account too.

Yes. I would love to know why and how the actuaries came to those numbers. With insurance, its no longer about driver's history, price of vehicle and what engine is under the hood. Its how far you travel from work, your daily commute consists of what roads, what your neighborhood looks like, what colour your vehicle is, how many doors it has... on TOP of age of vehicle, age of driver, marital status, gender... Actuaries know how to math...and they math the hell out of you and me. In my opinion, Actuaries are just mathing the shyte out of EVs JUST because they can... But...I dont see the outrage in that. I just see the outrage on (privately owned) dealerships (businesses) telling you outright they will price adjust your vehicle according to what the market says. Actuaries just use math to out-math you senselessly with all kinds of hidden math just to get the math out of your pocket and into theirs...

Is Tesla #1 in insurance rates because of speed, or is it because repair bills for high tech is still expensive. OR... Is it because Tesla's production for spare parts is lagging behind GM and Ford. Cost effectiveness not as effective... Im sure (maybe Im wrong) the Chevrolet Bolt and Nissan Leaf do not commandeer higher insurance premiums than their internal combustion equivalents... Not for speed, and not for the lack of spare parts that take a long time to produce and are quite high in price to charge the insurance companies to repair. Maybe their is a higher cost to repair when the battery pack is damaged and hence why maybe there might be a difference in insurance between a Bolt and a Spark or a Leaf and a Versa...

Nope. Tuukka Rask, a Boston Bruins goalie. He retired today. He retired because of a nagging injury that prevented him to perform. He had surgery over the course of the summer and missed half the year. Came back 2 weeks ago. Played 3 games. I think his injury came back. The most winningest Bruins goalie in Bruins history. Pic above is of his earlier career helmet. 2nd post is of his latest helmet. Fantastic goalie. Fantastic athletic. Very competitive. Fantastic person on and off the ice. I will miss his athletic performances. He was great to watch. He was an important part of a Boston Bruins team that (you could say) dominated the league the last 10 years or so.

Thank-you

The Superbowl is just around the corner and...this is gm's multimilllion dollar ad for the Superbowl. Quite funny!

After a looooong day's work, I stumbled upon this gem of a cover to help me call it the night. Hope you guys enjoy it as much as I did!

Ive had this song stuck in my head today. EDIT: I realized it was the Smashes, Thrashes and Hits version that I was humming along to. Not the original version. I have the Smashes, Thrashes and Hits CD...

No...I have never bought any kind of warranty let alone a 'road hazard' tire replacement coverage. The reason being is how eloquently you put it: "you have to balance your fear / chances of getting a flat and being stressed over it vs. an (expected) extremely high price tag every time you buy a new set of airless tires" IE: NOT WORTH THE PRICE OF ADMISSION. By saying that, I get it. The perceived insignificant amounts of times that air-filled tires go flat may seem it unnecessary to re-invent the wheel, literally. But...what if these tires are not as expensive as we say they are. Maybe, an air-less tire is a way forward?

I see your point. Tires dont blow up all that much anymore. Unless you live in an area where potholes, big potholes exist. https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/i-got-scared-cavernous-montreal-pothole-takes-two-drivers-hostage-1.5708859 I dont think its a case of inventing solutions where problems dont exist. Clearly there is a subset of the population out there that wishes that flat tires cease to exist. I havent had a flat tire in ages to be honest. Last time I had a flat tire, I owned the Olds Alero. Nail in the tire. That incident took place over 20 years ago. I believe it was in 1999... Would I be a potential buyer? Probably not. If I bought a vehicle that had these, I drive with them, sure, but I wouldnt willfully replace my current air filled tires for these.

LOL Yup!!! I wont be surprised if they are that expensive!!!

^^^ So...am I to understand that technology to improve tires (for everyday, mundane trips to the depanneur) is not welcomed? Tire tech shouldnt EVEN be a thing? I too, was skeptical about it, by I think Michelin, the world's largest and LEADING tire maker for OVER 130 years, knows what they are doing and Im sure if Michelin is putting this tech forward then this tech is ready for prime time. In my knowledge at least, Michelin hasnt had any product failures due poorly executed engineering or rushed launches. Run flats work well for the President. Just to say... I know I know... The Beast is not an everyday regular car and its duties are not an every day, regular thing either. Supercars, some of them, do use run flats, but I dont think this tweel thing are engineered for supercar duties either...

E-Tense. The styling is intense enough to certainly merit the name. Looks good enough for me to get excited for. The rest of the performance stuff Ill just ignore for now.

^^^ Not me. Knock on wood. Someone very very close to me. My former partner. We have been talking. Ive been consoling him the last three days. ?