trinacriabob

I don't know who's scarier? This guy ... or the people he's chasing down. Just a random thought.

Of the colonnades, I really only liked '75 and '76. The '75 was the best looking one of the models with round headlamps. The '76 was the best looking of the rectangular headlamp models. It was stellar and that's why they sold half a million Cutlasses and over 1 million vehicles across the entire Oldsmobile portfolio that year. I feel that the '77 refinements weren't refinements at all - the busier grilles, dropping the spherical air vents on the passenger side, metallic candy apple red paints instead of "normal" burgundy ones, etc. '75 - last and best of the round headlamp colonnade Cutlass Supreme coupes (this was "Spectre Blue," which you didn't see that often but looked good on both Supreme and Salon coupes) '76 - first and best of the rectangular headlamp/waterfall grille colonnade Cutlass Supreme coupes ... virtually identical to the one my parents bought, except with a blue cloth interior. How I loved these cars. They brought me, my family, and so many others a lot of joy and many great memories. Things were definitely better all the way around several decades ago. "Innocence lost" ... or something like that.

Meant to say from the original (rendition of the) 262 to the 350 - so, 262, 305, and 350 V8s. These things could move with just a V6, based on the comments of some participants on other forums. I think the GM ones look a little clunky, with the Pontiac looking a tad better. The small Ford Mustang, especially in Ghia form, dialed in on the lines better. This one appears to have a small V8 badge, so a 302 (5.0) Ford V8.

Very true. Do some notchbacking with the sheetmetal, throw on a landau top, make the rear passenger window appear smaller, and even add some wire wheels (uh ... no, to the last one). The line up of engines was really interesting - the 140 4 from the Vega replaced by the Iron Duke, a 231 even firing as well as the smaller 196 V6, and THREE V8s, from the original 262 to the 250, all by Chevrolet. And something weird with having to move the V8 engine to get to the plugs! Vega's (not Monza's) engine had a "nickname" about its durability (cough) when the slogan could have been "melts in your engine bay, not in your mouth" ... or something like that. Too much. Obviously a '73. I'm wondering what state this person lives. "El Cutlassino."

Random, indeed: Chevrolet - can you say "Towne Coupe?" Pontiac - both the optioning out and the photographic effects on this one are hilarious

I was "listening" to this the other night. Here I am, walking down a street in Palermo and, one level above the restaurants and shops, are apartments with their French doors open onto their balconies. A dude wearing only some cargo shorts was rocking out to this song on the balcony. His lady friend or significant other was nowhere as into it as he was, and was making only a few moves. I wasn't going to take a photo or video. I tried doing that the night before with some lady lowering a plastic pail to the ground level while some Mama Celeste types were sitting on their chairs outside ... and these ladies told me to take a hike in Sicilian. So I wasn't going to push my luck with the dancing duo on the balcony. Young hearts run free! A sassy song from the disco era.

On my outbound flight a few weeks ago, I had a few movies to look at on my video monitor. I didn't really listen to it with earphones, but I kept glancing at "Nomadland" while eating, napping, looking out the window ... It had Frances McDormand in it. She was in "Three Billboards ...," another dark movie. I've come to the conclusion that you might need to be on I.V. antidepressants to watch a movie with Frances McDormand.

Two regulars are having b-days today on C&G, according to the homepage: William Maley and ccap41 Every once in a while, I spot these. I just returned to check the forum after crossing the pond, so I'm still a wet noodle. Happy birthday to both C&G members!

@balthazar I told this guy how my dad had one. I only saw the grille and nose of his 1971 as he left. I liked the grille with the simpler lines on my dad's 1970 base coupe. The upward and downward sweeps of his grille were okay, but I liked the 1970 grille more. I only wish that the one our family had had been equipped with front disc brakes. The front and rear drum system, together, was suboptimal.

Today is always a tough day. It's hard to believe it even happened. I remember where I was when I heard the news, what the day felt like, what the week felt like, what the month felt like ... And that was 20 years ago. It means I have not forgotten. None of us can afford to forget this day 20 years ago. So, enjoy Sunday (tomorrow, 9/12) and have a good week.

Spotted today at a gas station. It's a 1971 with a Pontiac 400 and no A/C. Its owner was a cool guy. I asked him if I could take a few photos before I fueled up. That's all folks.

Kathleen Turner is often discussed when it comes to this topic. Here's one of the clips from provocative "Body Heat," a movie I have seen many times. That's then. Then, time marches on. About 15 years ago or so, she was on Larry King and said she doesn't get any come ons. And it sounded like she'd accept them! (She reportedly has R.A. and all the meds caused her to put on a lot of weight.)

I once read that a lot of head honchos are basically a big blob of an ego with 2 legs and 2 arms sticking out of it. That would apply to some professionals, too. I've see in it both people who run companies and as well as in some doctors and lawyers.

All sorts of animal videos end up on my homepage. I was looking at this one, thinking, "Wow, that looks like a warm and familiar area, with those houses and that vegetation ... " Well, it's in a suburb of Los Angeles abutting the San Gabriel Mountains. How do videos wind up capturing these random events? This teenage girl was brave.

And, being the "late adopter" that I am, I wondered how the new cast iron block / aluminum head / SOHC of the 4.6 L V8 would teeth for FoMoCo. It fared well. And so did the Chevy 3.5 and 3.9 V6 with newly added VVT that was inserted into Monte Carlos and Impalas in the mid 2000s. With basic engines that were meant to be good (some Chevy small blocks in the late '70s with premature cam wear, Buick 252 V6s born of the 231 V6 that had their issues, some Iron Duke 4s that lost a tooth or a cog in their timing chains, etc.) and still gave problems, a prospective buyer gets a little wary of auto engine technology that hasn't been on the road for a few years.

I think it will be grand when it crosses Lake Washington and connects the east side to the city proper. I know that's coming and I can't wait to ride on it when it does. I still need to drive across the new 520 bridge! It's all on my bucket list.

Had the opportunity to drive a rented (big) Thunderbird with a 4.6 L V8 up to Vancouver, Canada and back down across the border. I was surprised how much I liked it. That, too, turned out to be a workhorse for FoMoCo.

That's what I figured. Olds: 4.3 (260) Chevy: 4.3 (262), 4.4 (267), and, much later, 4.3 (263, I think) ... it would be interesting to see how bore and stroke differed, telling you if/which larger displacement small block they were derived from Pontiac: 4.3 (265) - - - - - I vaguely remember a Ford 255 V8. It was only around in 1980 and 1981, upon looking it up. It was a 4.2 L. It would have probably worked well with the last rehash of the retro Thunderbird.

Your wording has me confused. Time changed a lot with what they could squeeze out of displacements. The latest Chevy 4.3 put out 200 hp. The old carbureted 3.8 (231) put out 110 hp. In Series I, II, and III form, the 3800s put out 170 hp, 205 hp, and 200 hp, respectively. With time, they seemed to dial in on better fuel injection and ignition systems, and really kicked up the hp. I'm just saying that, had they kept engines like the Pontiac 265 and 301, they could have done a lot more with them, just like they did by keeping the Olds 5.0 (307) and making small improvements from when it was introduced as a carbureted engine, albeit a damn good one.

Cincinnati Reds baseball team. And a bunch of car dealerships. This is when her husband passed and she inherited them. I'm thinking baseball team and car dealerships could have made her rough around the edges real fast. Right ... she does have that office villainess look ... sadly, these types can do a lot of damage before HR deals with them as they should have earlier.

I had bookmarked a few things after this post and looking for info on these small displacement Pontiac V8s. First, I found this. A very cool 1982 Pontiac Grand Prix Brougham for sale up in Canada. Check out the full exhibit of photos. It's a Brougham that has manual windows and no A/C. I guess they wanted the interior but not the typical Brougham options. It can be hot and dry on the inland Canadian prairie. It says 4.4 V8, but we know it would be a 4.3. https://www.adrenalinmotors.ca/vehicles/776/1982-pontiac-grand-prix-brougham Then I pulled up an article on "the forgotten V8" - the 265. The article and the many comments said a lot about this engine and small V8s in that era. It's all fairly interesting ... at least to me. https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/the-almost-forgotten-engine-1980-1981-pontiac-265-cid-4-3l-v8-why-did-they-bother/ The article claims to have the ONLY photo on the internet of this engine ... super clean engine bay, nice layout with the distributor in the back, and an expected smaller air cleaner assembly. First, the effort was part CAFE and part marketing. The CAFE gain might have been 1 mpg, but that moves the dial in the right direction. The marketing is that people who didn't want to give up a V8 could have a V8, save "some" gas. Buick was going to move buyers to a V6 (the 231) and some folks didn't want that. Note that 3 divisions of GM had a "baby V8," with Pontiac coming in last, chronologically, with this smaller engine (after Olds and Chevy). Buick was focused on the 231 V6 and did not bother with making a smaller V8. (I think Buick including "even firing" on the 231 at its reintroduction would have gotten them more buyers, seeing how well this engine sold later.) However, in their line up, Buick offered the 260 in some cars (Skylarks) and the 265 in others (Regal, Century, and possibly the smaller, less trimmed out full-sizes). This undertaking would not have been a Cadillac thing ... they didn't make one, either. People say some interesting things in the comments. In one post by a guy named Larry, he said that the smaller Pontiac V8, specifically the 301, was better than Chevy's 305, and it was a political thing inside GM because the Chevy one was cheaper to build. I'll buy both of those claims. Most said that the small V8s were extremely durable - "smooth as butter" - if less power than what's typical in a V8 was acceptable. But the acceleration off the line in everyday driving was fine. It's that they petered out toward the top end. This Pontiac "baby V8" actually made a whopping 10 hp more than the one by Olds and Chevy! We've had one of these small V8s in the family and it was the Olds 260. Our neighbors also had an Olds 260. "Smooth as butter" definitely applies. And, @balthazar I do like it because it's serviceable and durable, as you say. None of these engines bring home the bacon when it comes to some of the steep grades a person might encounter in the West. However, the torque output of a "baby V8" is superior to that of a GM inline 6 or V6 of that era, having been in cars with both of those climbing up the Grapevine (~ 500 ft. to 4,100 ft.) What might have been so appealing about these engines is their quiet operation when accelerating, being revved while in park, or when idling because less cubic inches probably had a different breathing set-up than a 5.7 liter type powerplant. People did mention that these small V8s were still too much for the plagued THM 200, and did better with a larger transmission behind them. Also, I'm thinking the drivability would have been even better if these were outfitted with rudimentary TBI instead of a carburetor, with 10 or 20 more hp. But, over 10 years later, one could have their cake and eat it, too. The '94 to '96 only Chevy 4.3 V8 with TBI made 200 horses and they last and last.

I have been told that I can be fairly random.

Regarding Marge Schott, mostly I found her amusing. But then I was over 2,000 miles away from her reign when she was presiding over it. Here's the funny thing. This is a photo of a young Marge Schott taken when she was 28, according to the caption beneath it. How does one go from peaches and cream to boorish, considering how much money she had? The 180 degrees is perplexing. Most "debs" with coin go on to be society ladies and matriarchs.

Haha. Good one. Much like when I was once looking at a map of Mexico and saw the city Merida. Now, I don't know if Merida is a nice, safe place ... or it's not. However, a quick scramble of the letters makes it "mierda." Got it. On those seats, with all the pleats, moving around could be challenging. They look more suited to a parlor in a chateau in France. But I think a French chateau would keep it classier, with a "c." However, regular Brougham seating on my Cutlass Supreme was easy to move around on and provided the most comfort on long road trips than any car I've owned. That horizontal bolster landing near the shoulders - right above the pillow type part of the seat - also helped.

Thinking about @balthazar ... ... not really. - - - - - (saw this the other day)