trinacriabob

I am starting to see more and more internet ads for masks. As they ramp up production, I think the "good" ones will be more available to the general public. When that happens, and they are in "surplus" mode, I'd like some. I can definitely think of some places I would wear one ... air travel, public transit, trains, Costco, Walmart, etc.

And remember, folks, not even a right turn on red on the Ile de Montreal (Island of Montreal). The whole island includes a few other cities. Huge Laval is on a different island, so it's exempt from that rule. So are individual cities north and south of the St. Lawrence River. This is a good one. It's a true story. An American idiot goes to Quebec and runs a stop sign. The placard was octagonal ... and red. When he got pulled over, he said, "Well, it said arret, and not stop." In France and some European countries, they'll put stop on the sign. In Quebec, they stick to their mother language. ("We do not need to speak French ... we need French in order to speak.") Still, basic Driver's Ed 101 says red is understood to mean the highest level of caution and stopping ... internationally. People like this make us look bad, as in "ugly Americans."

Since we may come to bowing as a society instead of shaking hands ...

Frijoles

Saw this one yesterday. In very nice condition. The rear badging says it's not a 1998 or 1999. We are then talking about an 18 to 20 year old car nonetheless. I like the alloys the Intrigue migrated to. The size of the badging says 2000 to 2002. The color and trim level might allow one to zero in on that. Check out the excellent condition of the metallic paint. Look over yonder, there's another W-body I could drive off in.

They would look right at home at Versailles ... before heads began to roll ...

That's a good name for it. That was adventurous of you. Similarly, Virginia could be the Commonwealth of Katie Couric. At any rate, I saw this earlier in the month. I see it a lot. I believe it might belong to a higher level store employee, someone kept in bon bons, or the pharmacist. Not sure. These Pontiac G8s were, and still are, nice sports sedans.

Yes ... went to town ...

I do NOT want this to become the "new normal:" I DID go ahead and cut my own hair. I just grabbed "parallel" sections of it and took some off with a small pair of scissors. Now, while it doesn't look bad, it does NOT look good, either! (After I finished, I realized that I had forgotten to take a photo of the longest hair I recall having.)

popcorn ceiling

expansion

Of the ones I see shown, that one (Autumn Bronze) and the Aleutian Blue are the nicest ones for a Firebird. Is there a one-stop place to dig up these sorts of brochure displays for the cars of yesteryear ... without getting old brochures on EBay?

Wow ... beautiful! (Even nicer with that house in the background.) This doesn't look like a factory color ... or is it? Can't tell these apart that easily -' 67, '68, or '69? I wonder if this could be repurposed as a plant to make N95 masks or hand sanitizer ...

Yep, that is nice. I had a hand-me down '84 Supreme Brougham coupe and my dad had an early '80s Regal Limited sedan with seats were just like these (upper LH). I've driven both of them on long trips. The Buick may have had slightly more comfortable seats because of where your shoulders landed. That central IP pad had either 3 square pods (if with idiot lights) and 5 square pods (if it had the gauge package). Ours had the 5 square pods. Come to think of it, that dash may have been nicer than that of the Olds, except that you felt this void immediately to your right. However, the Olds mid-size looked way better from the outside. Yep, that 40-40 seat (bottom RH) would be great if the car is a coupe except that it looks like it could only be had in leather. The cloth seating was super comfortable. I'm starting to miss '80s cars.

I think the steering wheel is a Buick steering wheel. The emblem is round, while Olds in that day would be rectangular and "portrait" shaped. True, the colors of the pieces have been cobbled. It's the seats. This is a Buick Regal with the Limited trim. Those seats are from an Olds Cutlass Supreme with the Brougham trim. In a Buick, the pillowed seat cushions would go all the way up. In the Olds, the pillowed seat cushions would go up most of the way and then have that horizontal bump out near the shoulders ... just like what you see here.

Can you spot the anomaly or oddity in this photo of the interior of an early '80s Buick Regal Limited coupe?

I'd like to imagine that sort of utopia, but we know not everyone is like that. What sometimes happens is that narrow parking spaces have been grandfathered forward in time, without asking owners to re-stripe. If you wound up with several old school Park Avenues next to each other, it would be hard to open your door to the first hinge point to get out. I wonder how many people have torn high end suits or dresses in trying to get out of their cars and be considerate to other car owners. The problem is how the parking lots may be laid out. The only place I can think of that has the buffer zones already striped in between adjacent parking spaces is Costco.

Yes, it was this Airbump that I saw being exhibited in a shopping mall and I remember the name "Cactus." You wouldn't have nearly as many dings and dents, but could a person walk up to that car as their daily driver without cringing? Thankfully, it has been minimized. I think that a 2 inch wide strip, with two strata would work just fine - the edges of it in the body color and the insets in black rubber - just a thought. It would have to be modeled to see how good, neutral, or bad it might look. I'm sorry that body side mouldings are largely gone.

I think that a lot of it had to do with a huge divergence between foreign (they were going more spartan) and American (they kept plumping up the velour seats), a recession at the beginning of the decade, a few engines that didn't know how to shut off 2 or 4 cylinders (but were supposed to seamlessly do that), rapidly making even more diesel variants, and the introduction of computerized emission controls at the very same time (released in 1979 on some GM products, officially becoming CCC on their 1981 products) with teething issues. Some of the land yachts made for good eye candy, but unless they had a tried and true engine under the hood (Olds 5.0 L 307 V8 and the like), they were not worth owning.

While these could be "spotting" photos organized by the months, I thought I'd put these few here to show what a Citroen C3 looks like with the Airbump. The first time I saw the Airbump, I didn't really like it. Citroen did their best at making it functional and aesthetic. It definitely works overtime compared to thin protective side mouldings! It's not a requirement since some C3s don't have it. With its tires and wheels, this is most likely an up-level model. This was not my rental car. My rental car was black. Side view Front 3/4 view Rear 3/4 view Fun little car.

Behind the 8 ball on photos - here they are: Citroen C3 Descriptions beneath photos A side view of the Citroen C3 "super-mini" in the Sicilian countryside A top view of the C3 seen from a patio or balcony up higher at the hotel. Note that the roof has a similar indent to the areas on the door that would be filled in by their trademark Airbump. This is how the dashboard registers with a person upon entering the car. Note that this up-model had the red trim on its black interior with cloth seats This is what the driver looks at, so all the information is handy. I believe it had a digital speed readout (not sure), which I've come to prefer to an analog speedometer gauge. This is the infotainment center. At least it's not placed up high and sticking out. The climate controls, IIRC, were easy to operate. The gearshift is nicely finished in addition to working well. I believe the cup holders should be behind the shifter, not in front of it. A lip on the cubby could be useful to keep a phone from sliding forward and falling out. This is how the remainder of the C3 dashboard plays out. Notice how far out the top of the cowl protrudes to the functional face of the dash. I found that a little strange for a small car. If there's a functional or safety reason behind that, them I'm on board. End of photos - - - - -

I rented 2 different vehicles lasting 3 days each back to back. I’ve already reviewed the VW Golf. The second rental car was a Citroen C3. This was because each of the rentals took place in a different overseas location. I had seen the new Citroen vocabulary on display in the atrium area of an indoor shopping center overseas years ago. I didn’t know what to think of it - both the brand and the styling were unknowns to me. The one weird feature in the ones on display was the “Airbump.” Basically, the Airbump is the proprietary name, adopted overseas in English, for the large moulded rubber insert along the side doors. It’s supposed to function like protective side mouldings. However, it’s much larger than those, to the point that it fills in an entire recessed sculpted area in the car’s doors. For this second rental, I went to my Citroen C3 out in the rental lot and it did not have the Airbump. I got to see what the car looks like without one and I prefer it without the Airbump. However, in a congested European location, the C3 owner will probably get some dings and dents as a consequence of not having it. In terms of appearance, the C3 can grow on you fairly quickly. I definitely liked it more than VW Golf I had right before it. Its envelope is more rounded without looking jelly bean like. It seems to be a little taller, too. The narrow LED headlamps at the top of the grille look interesting, as in “not bad.” In looking at the previous model (2015 and before), the current C3 is a welcomed improvement. Mostly, I liked the C3’s interior. However, I liked the interior layout of the preceding rented vehicle – the VW Golf – better, for its more conventional volumes and very sensible layout. In the C3, there is the central dual bezel driver instrument pod, with the speedo, the tach, and gauges for fuel and temperature. However, the infotainment center is a little busier and sits a little below the single horizontal panel that spans the entire upper length of the dashboard, right below the air conditioning vents. The infotainment center is anchored at the bottom but slightly disengaged at the top, just like it is in our American Chevy Malibu. As for the horizontal cowl, it protrudes quite a bit and creates a noticeable enough “shelf” between the windshield and the front face of the dashboard. It felt weird to have this in a small car. Lastly, the higher line models of the C3 have color bands inserted in the interior. In my rental car, the accents were red. In others, they might be "gold," or copper. Lower line models don’t have these accents. The C3’s engine was a gasoline 1.2 liter “Pure Tech” 110 hp unit. I assumed it was a 4 cylinder. Reading the current reviews indicates it might have been a turbocharged 3 cylinder. Unlike in a car the likes of the Toyota Aygo, it does not feel grainy like you might be piloting a stripped down econobox. It sounded and behaved like most smaller 4 cylinders. The gearbox was a 6 speed automated DSG. This little engine responded to demands on the throttle fairly well for most conditions. And, to go with that, the 6 speed automatically shifted near perfectly. For me, 6 automatic gears is plenty. It’s when one gets to larger engines that 8 or more automatic gears might make more sense to lower RPMs and conserve fuel. There are various tiers of C3s and the Europeans give the tiers frivolous names instead of letters, like RS, LT, or SXT. The automatic gearbox is not available in the lower grade tiers but is available in the higher grade tiers. The hallmark of this car was the handling and the suspension. Apparently, Citroen is known for that. The C3 had great road feel and took corners and curves in stride. It felt very steady on the open road as well as on rural roads and road bumps were absorbed like they would be in a slightly larger car. Part of this feeling of control could be the marginally higher seating position, the great feel of the stitched steering wheel, and sitting in comfortable seats. And, despite the thicker rear pillar, visibility was good all the way around. The C3’s fuel efficiency was respectable. It wasn’t as thirsty as the VW Golf yet not as economical as the Toyota Aygo. Since the rentals were back to back, I’d say that I liked the 4 cylinder engine, dashboard, and reliability ratings of the VW Golf more. However, I l preferred the ride, handling, exterior styling, interior comfort, and 6 speed automated DSG gearbox of the Citroen C3. I guess you can’t have your cake and eat it, too. In closing, I enjoyed my time behind the wheel of the C3. They seem to be very popular across the pond, based on spending about 20 minutes in a Citroen showroom one evening. The C3 was a very easy car to live with, bordering on being fun to drive.

@Robert Hall I'm sorry about the loss of your dog. I know what that's like. Even though I've only had one, and for 12 years, I remember that last drive to the vet with my dog in my arms. Since they are so smart, and my dad and my brother were also in the car and surprisingly quiet, which was never the case, I think the dog understood. You will always reminisce about the good times with and funny things about your pets.

I was distracted by some current comments. What I meant to post is my scratching my head as to what they are going to do with buffets. Granted, there are tacky buffets ... but who doesn't like a quality buffet at a great hotel or hotel/casino with a grand view of some natural wonder, skyline, or beautiful scenery? I'm thinking they'll be more like cafeterias in the interim - where the food is dished out for you so you won't have to touch tongs and other things people touch with their hands. I immediately knew what this was - Good Friday 1964, Anchorage, Alaska. There was a National Geographic that featured it on the cover and as its main article. I'm surprised there are some buildings standing. Experiencing a 9+ earthquake on the Richter scale is one helluva "no, thanks."

I agree. I could see a V6 in an Avalon, given how long they are and the big price point difference from a Camry, but not in a Camry. The 4 cylinder does a decent job pulling it around. If Toyota could get a normally aspirated 4 cylinder to break past 200 horses would be good.