trinacriabob

Interesting on their crossing the 10 million mark. It sure is interesting how GM stock can take bigger hare-like leaps while FoMoCo (F) stock takes leaps that are more tortoise-like. And Opel would be included or excluded from the 10 million number? That said, they're not making a lot of vehicles I would consider buying at this point. At other points in time, trying to figure out which GM car to buy caused major cognitive dissonance.

THANKS! I thought the 1976 Cutty looked better than the 1977. The 1976 had the circular dash vents at the right. I'm guessing sales went up because people warmed up to the 1976 and then made the decision to buy. I could have sworn Buick was second. It probably was in the urban West Coast. I would attribute Chevy coming in second because of loyalty from the country's interior. The Regal, and Century, were better looking than the Malibu, albeit with an odd-firing 231 c.i. V6 engine that many people would prefer not to have in that large of a car. The fin taillights were a definite ode to Cadillac Motor Division, one step up. Also beautiful, but where's the hood ornament? Very innovative rear treatment compared to the year before; almost more interesting than that of the Cutlass - great color combo on first one (from B.C.) / thumbs down on the after-market wheels on the second one: And does anyone the recall the S/R version, in plump (could be) corduroy buckets and trestle shifter, meant to take on the Cutlass Salon concept? This one is from British Columbia. Check out the climate controls. No A/C! I miss the cars from the 70s and 80s. A lot!

I found something. This is for 1976. Paragraph 5 mentions that, through early December, Cutlass sales had gone over 488,000. So, 512,000 seems credible for the whole year. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1977/01/02/cutlass-to-cap-a-5-year-sales-rise-as-1976s-best-selling-model/4fa6ff5b-163e-407b-818d-afdd5c8691e5/?utm_term=.b49067a83029 Does this then mean that this number picks up the 1975 model, which did not have the then jaw dropping waterfall grille and quad lamps but was still a good looking car? If so, how many Cutlasses were sold for MYs 1976 and 1977, their last 2 years configured like this? It mentions that 76-ish Chevy Malibu and Pontiac Lemans sales paled by comparison, and that the Buick Regal/Century also ran behind. I think the Buick was second, while the Pontiac LeMans was last of this quartet. Olds and Buick went for the formal notchback roof in the coupe, with the rear window creased at the midpoint. One only has to look at these photos to see why the Pontiac Grand LeMans lagged. (Monte Carlos and Grand Prixs were on a different wheelbase and a slightly different category from these 4 intermediates) Nice front end - very Pontiac! https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:'76_Pontiac_Grand_LeMans_(Auto_classique_St-Constant_'13).JPG The rear was sort of a fail, even though the light assembly is nice enough. Had it been squarer and more traditional, they would have sold more of them: https://goo.gl/images/6u8w3G The dashboard was incredible, with or without console (this was actually a GP, same dash, and in LJ form ... buckets would be trimmed out much the same way, except that the console merged with the dash): https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2014/07/02/hemmings-find-of-the-day-1976-pontiac-grand-prix/#&gid=1&pid=2 You folks probably know how much central and eastern Europeans are taken with these cars. I have seen so many websites paying tribute to these cars with the suffixes de, pl, ch, cz, ro, etc.

I had completely forgotten about their feeble attempts with both a smaller V8 and a "larger" V6 diesel.

I'll say one thing - I forgot which year the Olds gas-to-diesel (not from scratch) 350 V8 came into being, but that was a serious black eye for Oldsmobile. I don't believe any of those engines could possibly reach 100,000 miles without a major problem. I forgot what exactly went wrong with them, but the compression ratio was too high for an unmodified cast iron block. I do remember over half a million Cutlasses sold in one year, and the number 512,000 sticks in my head. I'll have to look. Sales of all other Olds products dropped sharply in the next two decades, and the only popular car of theirs seemed to be the Supreme coupe, up until about 1985. Sadly, a competent Aurora, Alero, and Intrigue finally showed up, but it was an eleventh hour thing. I still see many of these on the road, some 14 to 16 years later.

I don't believe I have seen any of the movies that were nominated for Oscars. I did see "The Battle of the Sexes," but that didn't make the list. Great casting. Steve Carell is very effective in making a person really dislike Bobby Riggs. It was the first time I'd seen Emma Stone in anything and she did a great job, with Billie Jean King giving her the seal of approval for her rendition of the role. With a name like Emma Stone, I figured she was from England. She's native to Arizona. Also, the movie is supposed to be sort of accurate but also sugarcoats some goings-on that were a lot more contentious. I also saw "Wonder," where Julia Roberts plays a NYC mom to a kid with some outward birth defects that makes the transition from being home schooled to the classroom at a regular school and all the drama and even a little bit of comedy that ensues. It really showcases what a-holes kids can be. But it also has some feel good aspects that are unrealistic vis-a-vis the "real world." Has anyone seen any of the movies in the Oscar race? Any thoughts on those?

Amazing. I don't know any stats like that. The only one I recall is that the Oldsmobile division sold over 1 million cars in 1976, and 512,000 of them were Cutlasses. Those were the days. I could probably better answer how many GM vehicles have resided in the family's driveways. And I'd still have to think about that and do some counting.

Absolutely to the 260 in 1975 - our next door neighbors opted for a Cutlass Supreme of that year with that engine. I know that it ran at least 140,000 hassle free miles without giving up the ghost, and then some Absolutely to the 403 in 1977 - it replaced the 455 in the newly downsized Ninety Eights and Eighty Eights, alongside other similarly sized BOP products that were also downsized that year. I think you're right as to the 307 - it might have come on board at that time to power the Toro or the full sizes. However, the 260 was still available in the '82 Cutlass Supreme/Calais, with the 307 being the V8 option beginning in 1983 for the remainder of its life as a RWD.

Wow, this thread has taken on some tangential qualities, so I'll add a little more. I once read this info about the Olds 350 Rocket V8. Whenever they've modified it, either down (260, 307) or up (403), the stroke has remained the same, so it was the bore that was changed. So, when they initially did that with the 260, the space for the cooling jackets in the block was increased. However, the cooling jackets on the 403, since it remained a small block, got narrower and it supposedly ran a little hotter and/or presented some cooling challenges. The 403, if we recall, was the replacement for the big block 455 Rocket V8. (That's another study in duplication - a 454 by Chevy and 455s by both Pontiac and Olds.) Back on track, this trend toward SUVs and trucks sort of became apparent to me the other day as I was driving. I noticed that the center mounted stop lamp no longer sits at the base of most backlites. In the new Malibu and Impala, for example, it is wedged in at the very top of the backlite, where it meets the roof line. The math of more people buying vehicles where they will be sitting up higher probably dictated this design change.

The whole 350 thing was because every division was producing one in those years, so it could fly undetected until ... drum roll ... it hit the service department for some type of repair or service. And there were different schools of thought as to which was better. For one thing, Olds buyers paid more for their cars and wanted an Olds engine, and not a Chevy engine. I prefer an Olds V8 to a Chevy V8. I don't know why ... but right down to the way it sounds and it's laid out. The plugs are not grouped in twos and they sit up higher. The only thing was that, when equipped with A/C, two spark plugs were "inaccessible" on an Olds V8s. If not, then they were all very easily reachable by hand. However, when they're dropping in just one 250 or just one 231, the mix up would have never happened when someone's car needed to be serviced. Any V6 Olds Supreme (downsized version) from '78 to '87 ran with the Buick V6 carbureted engine. No complaints heard. Any mid-70s Pontiac of LeMans and Ventura size that offered a smaller entry level V8 would be getting the Olds 260. No complaints heard. I can't remember. The Pontiac OHC I-6 was a 230 or something like that? That damn Chevy inline 6 was indestructible. Boring, yes, but extremely reliable and easy to work on. Less is more, sometimes ...

I had to laugh at this. My mind wandered over to the many uses of back seats. As for the Pontiac, my dad had a used '70 Pontiac LeMans coupe we bought about 10 years later and with under 50,000 miles. Color: Bimini Blue, IIRC, with black interior. Found it in the L.A. Times. It had been brought down from a small town in the Pacific Northwest. Nice people selling it - none of that stupid L.A. vs. Seattle mentality back then. It had a 250 c.i. L6 (Chevy vintage), no air, and no power accessories (yes to steering and brakes, though). We bought it as an extra car and we joked that it was "the dog's car" because, with vinyl seats, it was the only one she was allowed to ride in. My dad had vowed never to buy a Pontiac, because they weren't as good as Buick and Olds. As it turned out, that LeMans coupe this was, by far, the most reliable car the family had ever owned. The back seat - just great. I cut my teeth on doing small auto maintenance tasks on this car. The engine bay was largely empty and there was a lot of leeway to get it right the first time. This color, more or less, but the base model, sans rally wheels, hood scoops, and a spoiler: early 70s Pontiac LeMans coupe That model could either have a 250 (L6) or V8s displacing 350, 400, and 455 (all Pontiac versions)! Funny how no one ever got pissed when their other GM car brands had inline 6s made by Chevy ... referring to when Chevy 350s were discovered in Olds products and how that enraged those buyers. And Pontiac always dialed in their dashboards better than did their counterparts at Buick and Olds - IMO LeMans dashboard I so miss the Pontiac Motor Division.

I guess it depends on the coupe. On my '84 Cutlass Supreme Brougham coupe, the seats leaned forward quite a ways and left a pretty good gap for someone up to 5'10" or so to enter and exit. I never had a problem getting in and out when I sat back there to clean. I was thinking about this as several cars passed me up today. The whole thing about cars, be they sedans or coupes, is that they offer so much more in terms of design opportunities and to carve out different personalities for themselves. There's a lot more you can do with three volumes (hood, greenhouse, and rear lid areas) than there is with two bigger ones. I find that, unless I look very closely, many SUVs and CUVs seem to blend together. Perhaps it's began these segments don't interest me all that much.

Except for maybe the ATS and the Cascada, none of these could really house 4 adult occupants that well, including having them enter and exit the rear seat. So, even with 6 survivors, none of them are mainstream medium to large sized coupes that 4 or 5 people could pile into day in and day out ... like this ... I think I'm in love ... I had one exactly like this, sans vinyl roof and T-tops, and it was the most comfortable car I've ever owned. I didn't slide around, like the announcer said. I just sank right in. It was reliable, but not as reliable as my W-bodies. That's why, if another usable coupe came along, sign me up.

I know. Three of them are the pony trio and there's three more I'd have to scratch my head about. Yes ... the Cascada, too. Damn, the automotive world needs to wake us all up with a beautifully executed new Riviera.

If it's a Buick, then why not. If it's something of Yugo quality, then heck no! It's highly likely that one's furnishings were designed in the U.S. but built overseas in Asia, and of materials sourced in Asia. Some of these furnishings have turned out to be o.k. Market dynamics in ALL sorts of markets have shifted so much in the last two decades. It's mind boggling.

I'm very mixed on this. That domestic automaker market share would climb is music to my ears. However, if the proportion of sedans and coupes shrinks because of this dynamic and there are fewer choices for my automotive needs going forward, then I'm not a happy camper. I'm guessing I can't have my cake and eat it, too. Even with GM still being the largest domestic automaker, I'm finding the choice of cars they now offer for sale beginning to look more limited, and even dismal. I'm a mid-size and nicely appointed sedan buyer at this point. And, I'm actually amazed to see myself now driving a sedan, given that I've always had a coupe prior to this. I will say that I don't miss the huge GM coupe doors that you had to restrain from scraping the cars next to yours in the parking lot.

Spotted in late February, so I wanted to add this. I couldn't help but photograph it. Had these units sported a 3800 V6, this would be my current sled. I remember how wigged out I was about Chevy's conversion from a regular 60 degree OHV 3400 V6 to the OHV 3500 Chevy V6, but with a new twist - their introduction of VVT done in a then unconventional way ... not by adding another set of cams up top, but by putting the solid state unit that regulated the VVT at the front of the camshaft pulley. As it turns out, over 10 years later, many 3500 VVT V6s are still powering those Impalas and Monte Carlos and doing just fine. I've talked to mechanics and they've told me that they've occasionally seen the actual solid state unit or the sensor up front replaced, but not too often. Also, having driven several 3500 VVT V6s in rentals in the late 2000s, they returned an unbelievable 33, and sometimes 34, mpg on the highway, which is amazing for 3,600 pound cars. They could keep the extra 89 horses that came with the now very common OHC 3600 V6 that came along later ... I'll take the extra 5 mpg on the highway. I'm happy with what I bought but I will have to admit to some cognitive dissonance when I see the very last of GM's venerable personal luxury midsize coupes, having driven a one GM coupe or another since I got my driver's license until now. And it was sad to see them clean up the Monte Carlo so nicely for its last 2 years and then see it disappear altogether. (It was funny when one forum participant here said he couldn't warm up to this car and referred to it as "the white trash car of America.")

It's going to be interesting to see if they will run into problems with using the names, logos, and other appurtenances specific to the Pontiac brand. It has now been ~10 years since it was phased out. I read about it. It's a customization kit set up for the Camaro. However, to crank out 1,000 ponies, that calls for a very specific engine, which it will have. When a new engine gets dropped in, it stops being a "kit" in my book. At any rate, has anyone noticed the recent change(s) in the Yahoo search page? While I prefer Google, this Yahoo page now features photography from its Flickr wing. If you love nature and animal photography, some new and stellar pieces of work are being showcased all the time. I am in awe of many of them.

I've been to Cortina D'Ampezzo. The Dolomites defy description. They don't feel like stereotypical Italy. It's more like being in Switzerland or Austria. The wheels and tail lamps say Pontiac and Firebird to me. When they ran together, I always preferred the Firebird to the Camaro, except in '77 and '78 (owing to the nasty "Smokey and the Bandit" front fascia). It has old school California plates. That is almost undoubtedly the Central Valley.

As I approached this car, I thought it was a Pontiac Solstice. As I got closer, I figured out it was the Saturn Sky. Now, these small 2-seaters aren't my sorts of sleds. However, if I were to have opted for one, it would have come from the GM family. I always thought Saturn had a cool logo. After looking at this again (see the badge on the front of the car), this feeling was reaffirmed.

I'm sorry to hear about this, Dave. All of these shake ups shake us all up. Crazy stuff.

Yes, I remember USD : CDN - 1 : 1 I also remember USD : CDN - 1 : 1.52 (circa 1999 ... Prince said "let's party like it's 1999" in one of his songs )

I cannot believe the prices in Toronto. On my 2005 visit, I drove around Woodbridge to see how much newer brick townhomes with nice finishes with 2 levels stacked above the 2 car garage cost and they were about $325,000 to $375,000 (CDN). I converted that into U.S. dollars (almost always a lower $ amount) and, for some reason, I thought it was sort of high. Given what I've seen in Toronto prices based on the last R.E. magazine I checked out, I'd hate to see what those townhomes would cost now.

I looked up the Post WW2 stucco ranches in L.A. that I grew up in and their prices are scary. I'm constantly scratching my head as to who can afford them. Someone must be able to or they couldn't charge those prices. The supply and demand curves must be intersecting. My parents couldn't buy those same houses if fairly new to L.A. in this day and age. Prices are high, but assessments as a percentage in L.A. aren't as absurd as they are in other major urban areas. As for square footage, 1,200 s.f. sounds like my cup of tea. I had a Southern styled brick ranch with the open carport at one side when I lived in Atlanta that was about 1,300 s.f. I loved it. Not too big, not too small. Driving by it if and when I'm in town breaks my heart because I don't have it anymore. I sensed that it was an up and coming area, and I was correct. They put a spur of their rapid transit system going fairly close by to it because the nearby area turned into a suburban business district. Well, when living near Seattle, I had to downsize into condo/townhome type living. It, too, was o.k., but nothing like what I had in Atlanta. But, OTOH, I had no yard work. Either way, if you want to buy a detached home in L.A. with 3 bedrooms for about $350K to $450K, it will be in South Central or maybe Compton, the latter of which is not in the city of L.A. Also, I've heard that some white folks are moving back into the South Central area, fixing up the homes, and living in them. They'd be smack between downtown and the harbor suburbs, although the area looks and feels sort of banal and doesn't have a lot of trees on the lawn strips. You fly right over it on approach to LAX. In reality, South Central has converted from having an African-American majority to having a huge Hispanic population within the last 2 decades. Let's just say it's still not the optimal part of L.A. to live in for low crime and good schools. As for art deco, the design of homes/buildings and ships cross-fertilized each other in that era, I believe.

Any relatives I've had in NJ have been in northern NJ (Bergen County, right across the GW Bridge from Manhattan) and I could have sworn there is some provision for property tax relief when people get to a certain age and that my relative mentioned. He stayed in his house when he retired instead of moving to Florida! I'm not sure if they have a provision that locks the assessment, like they do in California, so that people didn't get chucked from the homes they bought at 60s and 70s prices, for example. I thought Prop 13-Jarvis was the right thing to do. When those houses in Calif. do sell (the next time), their property tax assessment will jump.