trinacriabob

July 22 This might have been in the same parking lot Here's the first-gen of scaled down FWD Olds Ninety Eight. @NINETY EIGHT REGENCY The owner came up right after I had photographed it. I guessed '86 or '87. He told me it was a '90. That makes sense because they lost the cursive font for the badging. He told me he paid about a grand for it. It now had about 275,000 miles, but had significantly fewer when he bought it. The dark red leather interior had quite a few tears. When he cranked it over, it was hard to believe this 3800 V6 engine had that many miles ... it sounded great. It's always nice to see Veranos around. Most of the buyers keep them in excellent shape. They know this sort of car isn't coming back and it would be close to my ideal car at this point if it could be purchased new. Kudos for the sunroof. Demerits for the black leather interior, which I don't like and can get hot.

Here's a different brand of car later that same day This Caprice Classic was plated as a historical vehicle, but with an interior - not Brougham and maybe not even LS - that was not in the greatest of shape ... another boulevardier and nameplate that lasted for decades.

July 9 was a Grand Prix kind of day Morning GTP, thus supercharged ... no thanks ... - - - - - Afternoon It might have been a 1970. SJ version, thus most likely a 455 c.i., IIRC ... no thanks to the 455 V8

Spotted July 3 on my way back from the drive up to Toronto at a roadside rest area. This latest model has finally got me liking the Corvette. The driver did not look like someone who would drive a Corvette. For that matter, what is someone who drives a LaCrosse supposed to look like? LOL Spotted later that same day: We're talking sedan silhouette done right. I'm looking at you, Chevy Malibu sedan. I know several of us here have discussed the Mazda 6 for this positive attribute in the past.

Random thoughts and random visuals along these lines are going through my stream of consciousness these days ...

In a Kathleen Turner movie (1986) where she was time tunneled back to the '50s, her dad bought an Edsel ... I don't know how they'd compare ... some scenes of a younger Kathleen Turner.

Customer service at call centers has taken a nosedive that doesn't seem correctable anytime soon. Sadly, this is even in financial services - including brokerage! If domestically, it's because of the not-so-great caliber of people available and which they hire. If internationally, you might get someone who doesn't speak English well, is too obsequious and ingratiating in an annoying manner, and is not in synch with you in answering and asking questions as far as good timing goes. (I think we can do the mix and match real well with who I refer to in this last paragraph.) It can be exhausting.

Gosh, all this "work" to burnish and touch up these photos prior to posting them and no thumbs ups? LOL

June 26 Matosinhos (Porto district), Portugal I couldn't believe how many of these Porsche Panameras I saw in Portugal in such a short time. They seem to be the sporty luxury car of choice at the moment. This country seems to have awoken from its "slumber" of many years ago and there seems to be a lot more Euro and more conspicuous consumption floating around ... or maybe people are signing on the dotted line to have something with which they can make an impression. Here, and in other places in Europe, I have seen a definite move away from econoboxes, as well as a lot of people at motorway service areas with their expensive EVs of the better brands being charged up. - - - - - That's about it for June spotting for me.

June 25 Caldas de Gerez, Portugal - this is a cool little town with hot springs in the national park bordering Spain (it's a narrow country). I enjoy seeing these Opel products that were sold here as Saturns. There are many of these German made coupes around - both the Corsa and the longer Astra (like this one) - and they seem to be in it for the long haul with their EcoTec 4 cylinder engines.

June 24 Viana do Castelo, Portugal - it looks sporty and expensive, but what is it? Isn't it great how people who own these types of cars are often of the "too cool for school" variety? Ponte de Lima, Portugal - I know what this is, but not the exact year! There are a few people overseas who own cars like this pristine older Cadillac and obviously have somebody to work on them. It might be plated with a historical license plate. I'm sure it is driven sparingly with that old school, all cast iron, made in Detroit big block V8. Kudos to the owner for keeping it in such great shape.

June 17 Loule', Portugal - I couldn't help but notice this car. I don't know which model of Audi it was, but it apparently has a V-10. The engine placement might hearken to the latest Corvette. Whoever could afford to both buy and fuel this vehicle in Europe has coin to spare. If you have to ask the price, you can't afford it.

June 14 Monte Gordo, Portugal - some people I know in the U.S. called these throw-away cars, but you wouldn't believe how many old Mercedes in great shape and running condition are seen throughout Portugal, including a few of the Irma Bunt version of the Mercedes also in Monte Gordo - they may say they are moving away from coupes and sedans in North America. However, I see new renditions of them in Europe. Maybe they have more sense and better taste. This is a Nissan product and I didn't notice its name.

June 12 Comporta area south of Lisbon, Portugal - motoring on a budget and I have no idea what it is and what powers it Aldeia dos Capuchos viewpoint over the ocean south of Lisbon, Portugal - this guy from Italy gave tours of the area in this little red Fiat convertible

Nice to hear from you, Dave. You'd expect things to change? Nope. Most of the quirks of the long-term members are fairly entrenched, which I view as mostly a good thing.

I saw this recently ... Look, it creates a shadow image! It's on a late model Ford Fusion. - - - - - It doesn't make a lot of sense. Being a single mom doesn't mean they are "pole dance" material. They can be slam dunking Oreos as they watch Oprah. Is it that they're "easier," or so the person thinks, because they need to find that replacement and, sometimes, it's a matter of urgency? Is it that someone else is paying for their support? Or is it that he flunked a DNA test and is on the hook for the support payments? I'm not sure what it means. And, also, to put this dumb sticker on a car, what a moron.

In purging bookmarks, I found this: https://www.adrenalinmotors.ca/vehicles/776/1982-pontiac-grand-prix-brougham Way, way up in Canada. They went Brougham when this car was ordered, but it has no A/C and crank windows. Someone jumped on it a while back ... sold.

Happy Bastille Day

15.5 years of LaCrosse today. Mileage woken up to this morning: 123,472 mi. I took it up north to Toronto over Canada Day (July 1) to visit a friend and then drove back down to be in the States for the 4th. The best highway mileage "tank" I got both on the trip up and the trip down was about 32.5 mpg (cruise, ~63 mph, A/C ON), so, it's telling me it's still real tight. I've regularly exceeded the EPA highway mpg when it has been "babied" on the open road. With the fairly new Michelins, it feels as solid as a bank vault. This chapter will eventually close, too. Such is life.

I am okay with this, and only this, Subaru: the Legacy sedan. A rented one once took me around the snowy roads around Lake Tahoe very competently one winter, and, thankfully, it wasn't the cliche' wagon. A Legacy blends in without much fuss and their ownership demographics seem to be better spread, but the Outback/Forester wagons stand out, at least to me. Angled front view Angled rear view They did a great ( ! ) job of keeping the infotainment touch screen under the cowl of the dashboard. I've sat in one at the dealer and I like the cabin environment.

I blame the city and the province for adopting that pronunciation - it's virtually identical to choosing to say Italian or Eye-talian. I looked for a YouTube that didn't have religion (difficult to do) in it, and this is done by Mozart and the choral pronunciation, in just the first minute, is correct: Amazing to learn that Mozart was from Austria and only lived to be 35.

I saw this a few months ago and couldn't believe it, so I thought I'd share. Naturally, the city had to apologize (apologizing is fashionable in the New Millennium) and it was pulled. CTV Regina: Jimmy Fallon invited to ‘Experience Regina’ | CTV News Of course, you'd expect someone the likes of goofball Jimmy Fallon to capitalize on this quirk on Saskatchewan's capital. - - - - - I had no clue they pronounced it this way until I spoke to someone from Saskatchewan going to college in the states and pronounced it "Reh-gee-nah," the way this imported Italian word is pronounced there and in the U.S. and was corrected by this Canadian guy pronouncing it "Reh-jy-nah." It was funny, but WTF? Change the frickin' way the name of the city is pronounced. Problem solved.

Driving up the QEW (free, not tolled) into Toronto, I drove right past the Oakville, Ontario assembly plant and there was a big sign on the side of a big industrial building about the 'Stang going electric. If it would have been an easy on-off the highway. I would have gladly taken a photo of it. It wasn't. - - - - - Random thought: I can't stand it when I go into a restroom and the toilet paper is rolled to be pulled from under rather than from over. Rural Pennsylvania is definitely green. However, some parts of the Garden State are anything but. But I'm sure balthazar lives in a treed enough area from what he has shared with us.

Isn't this the truth? Here I was, salivating at the thought of buying a new '98 Intrigue in the metallic slate blue color, sometimes even pawing them at night if I dropped by the Cadillac/Olds dealership in Bellevue! In a mere 2 years, the announcement came that Olds would be discontinued. On top of that, the Series II 3800 was the rendition of this great engine that had the cheap intake manifolds which some people caught before major damage set in. Well, I waited a long while and fared even better with the car I ultimately bought. And, yes, we should be thankful for what we have. I would have liked to have done this and that, but I really should not be complaining.

I enjoyed owning one as a second car for a while. Unfortunately, I bought it used and, even with only 34,000 miles, I think the previous owner did not break it in correctly or went the distance between oil changes. It had a problem with valve seals and a drone in the rear differential or somewhere in the rear axle. I wanted to have a mechanic look at it, but my dad was his hasty self and wanted me to just buy the car, for which he put up some of the money. The Camaro took a giant leap forward in 1974 (second generation - part B, I would guess) when they replaced the tiny circular taillamps with the wider ones that tapered as they turned into the rear fender AND brought on a slimmer canted back front grille. Then, 1975 got even nicer with the wraparound backlite. Camaro and Firebird are as Americana as it gets, and attractive, too. I have a soft spot for them in purist stock form whereas the Mustang has truthfully never done much for me.