trinacriabob

Needed to slot this one in ... taken in Virginia Beach VA on 9/10 This is a 1997 Olds Aurora. It was painted taxi cab yellow. I didn't ask why. The driver did delivery for a restaurant. I'll say that the first-gen Aurora nailed the dashboard and interior (love those subtle curves, which they rarely do as well anymore) while the second-gen (and last-gen) did a better job with the car's exterior styling. My two cents.

Happy Halloween, folks I think that, even if we have the paper behind our names, not many of us are suits but, rather, business casual ... or just casual. I'm going to be looking for some pumpkin pancakes and, should I see some receptionists' desks offering up free chocolate, that would be good, too. Enjoy this last day of October.

Does this Spark your interest? Maybe not. Multiple sightings of Chevy Sparks October 4 - Saguenay fjord (port), QC A local lady said it was okay for me to photograph her car in front of the QM2, beyond, moored at the Port of Saguenay. October 5 - Quebec City, QC Dang, these units are popular in Canada. I saw a lot of them. October 13 - Mont-Tremblant (near Saint-Jovite sector), QC Will you look at this? Two used Sparks for sale bookending a Buick Verano for sale. Kudos to this area for liking GM cars. I "met" this dealership a long time ago. The last version of the Grand Prix was fresh at the time and they had one on the floor or lot in the metallic orange/rust color. These would have been the very first year - with the trunk lock and the geometric patterned interior fabrics more suited to a Renault Twingo that they dumped the following year. I learned that the French word for cloth (interior) would be tessut(s). I couldn't find a photo with that strange interior, but this was the color of the car. I missed out on not sitting behind this dashboard for a good number of years. It's one of my all-time favorites. I really believe GM could have kept a slot for Pontiac in their line-up. October 22 - local car seen while shopping (U.S.) This is what was obviously one of their funky colors - Toasted Marshmallow. You can tell this car aimed at a younger audience with its unusual colors and low price point. So long, Chevy Spark.

Mutliple sightings of Firebirds/Trans Ams October 9 - Montreal, QC Here's a black pre-New Millennium Trans Am in near perfect condition. I really liked these when they were being sold, and after that, too. I don't know which V8 sits under the hood (Wiki is your friend), but this was the platform into which they put an Iron Duke 4 cyl. into the most basic model for buyers wanting a lower price point and lower operating costs. (Those said "fuel injection" on the door handles!) More Montreal staircases up to flats, too. October 13 - Montreal, QC Here's another great looking Trans Am in red - not my color for any car - but it's in impressive shape.

Multiple sightings of Chargers October 13 - Montreal, QC I see these whenever I'm in town and they belong to STM (their transit system) and are for the "constable special" (which is FR that also works in EN). They're cool: white, no spoiler, and, most likely, AWD October 10 - Saint-Sauveur (in the Laurentians), QC I had parked my rental car and then saw this specimen that was EXAXCTLY how I would have ordered a Dodge Charger, minus the AWD. *sigh*

Like the Chrysler 300 and the Dodge Charger, all the nips and tucks helped the Pacifica become a much more likeable and handsome vehicle. (That's independent of anything that plagues it mechanically and which appears to affect batches of cars.) In that lighter dove gray - possibly with the pearl effect - it's an eye-catching ride .., and a practical one, too. And this is from someone who had a strong dislike for Mopar products until this last decade.

October 27 local sighting(s) - - - - - "Absence makes the heart grow fonder" more so than "out of sight, out of mind." Looking back, these little Skylarks from the early '90s were cool. Buick took some liberties with their swoopy styling that also made its way into their unique dashboards. They came with a couple of 4-cylinder engines, such as the fairly decent 2.2L I-4, and possibly the Iron Duke 2.5 I-4 at the beginning of the run. However, getting one with the 3300 Buick V6 would have been even better. The engines hooked up to simple 3 speed and 4 speed automatic transaxles. These would have been on the same platform as the Grand Am, and possibly something along the lines of the weird Olds Achieva, so, in this platform and in those years, Buick ruled the roost.

October 25 sadly, the trip is over and I'm back home - - - - - Here is a new Buick Encore or Envista in Avenir trim (see door badging) in a nicer color and sporting the new Buick emblem If this is a Dodge, and I think it is, it would be a Polara. If it were a Plymouth, then it's a Fury. These were consummate land yachts, mostly hit with the ugly stick, and particularly unusual in coupe form.

October 14 Montreal, QC - - - - - I was surprised to see this pimped out late '60s Chevy full-size driving through the narrower streets of Old Montreal blasting some music. It was sort of obnoxious. I looked back for the plates and couldn't see if it was a local car or a car that came up from the States. This is the sort of thing you're more likely to see in California, Florida, or Texas. This makes for a great trifecta - this BMW with strange paint and yellow calipers, McDonald's, and a port-a-potty. I'm guessing this is an old school Rolls Royce pulling away from one of the court or tribunal buildings in Old Montreal and, here, someone was definitely getting married.

October 12 Montreal, QC - - - - - I was checking out the park with the point that juts into some white water in the St. Lawrence River near Habitat 67, which was built for their famous Expo of that year. I was indifferent to Hyundai products for years, but, after having rented them and seeing so many still on the road, I've come to respect the brand. This is an older Accent - their entry level car - that is still serving its owner in a relatively cold climate. It was a coupe with no A/C IIRC, a stick, and manual windows. Here's a photo I looked up of Habitat 67, which are expensive condos or apartments near the port of Montreal. I could learn to shovel snow and like the cold if someone gave me the deed to one of these units.

October 10 Montreal, QC - - - - - The Smart car brand pulled out of the U.S. market, but I'm not sure if they pulled out of Canada. I saw quite a few of them. Not to be crass, but there's a cheeky bumper sticker about "pulling out," hinting that some people should not pass on their stupidity. Smart cars have (had) a palette that goes on and on with weird colors and color combinations. They drive and ride better than they look. Their storage capacity is awful but parking them in congested or compact areas is a piece of cake.

October 9 Montreal, QC - - - - - So I'm walking down a street on the Plateau Mont-Royal and I see a car I love. As I try to frame the photo, I see a car I hate across the street and beyond. I think you'll be able to figure out which car is which. I wouldn't mind having a nice, newer Buick Verano stuffed into a Christmas stocking with my name on it. If anything, walking around the Plateau and seeing all the townhomes/condos/flats with the unique wrought iron spiral staircases is alone worth doing

Oct 7 Sainte-Anne de Beaupre - - - - - Here is the timeless Chrysler 300 in the parking lot of the canyon with the falls that is worth a visit Here is a limo at the impressive basilica I never knew about which is a tourist destination and worth seeing. I am hoping this was for a wedding, given that it's more white than black.

October 5 Quebec City - - - - - Camaro convertible driving along the side of Notre-Dame basilica in the Old Quebec city area Porsche (you tell me what kind) Limo - looks like a stretch Lincoln of some kind - 1 Any car with the old school pop-up headlamps (especially if they work) gets my attention - 2 This is a view from the rear - 3 The owner was around and was fairly excited I knew about this car and was asking questions about it ... he told me it is used when the weather is good ... as you can see, it has a manual transmission. It's a good thing I took French in high school because it's like riding a bicycle and it seems to come back. My dad wanted me to take Latin. Who could I speak Latin with? Nissan 240 (I'd almost forgotten about these) 1 - this appears to be the Model S, which is okay looking 2 - This appears to be model Ugly, and possibly what I may have driven for a short while All I needed was to see 2 Teslas in Old Quebec within 5 minutes of each other ... NOT

I saw a lot of cars this month, as I was in Eastern Canada and their cars are about the same, but some are a little different. October 4 - Saguenay fjord (port) / Chicoutimi, QC Another ~20-year-old Olds Alero with some rust still delivering the goods and parked at the port of this now more publicized destination in Quebec; I was walking around the port and saw this Pontiac Wave parked on a hill on someone's lawn. I wonder if it still ran. They didn't bring the Wave to the U.S., but possibly featured it here as the Pontiac G3. Either way, Canada sure took to Pontiac.

It's interesting how GM's intermediates seemingly "took turns" at being the most attractive in a select span of years, though it's all subjective. Something happened in 1970 where this platform's cars changed for the better - their looks were cleaner relative to 1969 and 1968. Taking '70 to '72 into account, I'd say the Pontiac Le Mans was too much and the Chevy Malibu was a little too vanilla. The Cutlass Supreme coupe was fairly attractive, with the rear lamps getting worse (busier) each year moving along from 1970 to 1972, making the Buick Skylark and its clean lines - grille and headlamps, greenhouse, and taillamps and fascia - the nicest GM intermediate (IMHO) during that span of years.

He seems to really like older B-O-P vehicles and he also seems to have a long association with Pontiac products going up through his family tree. He filled the shoes of the resident curmudgeon and I mean that in a nice (humorous) way. Since I've been called pedantic a time or two, and people think it's weird that I remember so many details about stupid $h!+, I'm guessing I fill the shoes of the resident pedant.

We could theoretically arrive at a compromise. With your ski areas being at much higher altitudes than the Puget Sound B/basin, what I was offering would still get you more months of skiing during that much extended autumn.

Economically stated, as is usually the case. With the exception of a Mediterranean climate in many parts of Calif., and for which there is a very steep "sunshine tax" for the roof over one's head, what you say is true.

Good morning * there are numerous memes with this sassy lady! *

Random thinking ... thinking out loud ... What to get if getting a "hobby/fun car" to have as a second car at some point in the future ... - - - - - Door #1? '94-'96 Chevrolet Caprice RWD sedan with 4.3 L V8 I like these cars, their spacious interiors, and their engines. That small V8 puts out 200 hp. The best looking exterior of these 3 years goes to the 1996. These are supposedly reliable cars. - - - - - Door #2? Mercury Grand Marquis with 4.6 SOHC V8 I have come to respect these cars and an experience in a rental with the 4.6 V8 gave me a positive impression of them. These cars are long-lived. - - - - - Door #3? 2006-2007 Chevrolet Monte Carlo LT with 3.5 VVT V6 Do it ... or maybe not. Get that W-body coupe - yes, coupe - you once wanted, given that the engine has turned out to be okay. If not pimped out and in clean, stock form, these tend to catch my eye. - - - - - Door #4? '81/'82 Cutlass Supreme Brougham with the 4.3 Olds V8 or '85 Pontiac Grand Prix LE with the 4.3 Chevy Vortec TBI (for corporate sharing) V6 coupes I've always liked these and had an '84 Cutlass Supreme coupe. I believe that, at this point, you can pull off the Computer Command Control (CCC) and simplify things. The sensors could/would go, I think, and changes would be a different stock carburetor (for the Olds), a different distributor, and the deactivation of the sensor/chip in the automatic transmission. The catalytic converter could/should remain. - - - - - Door #5? '75, '76, or '77 Cutlass Supreme, Cutlass Salon, Pontiac Grand Le Mans, or Buick Regal coupes Engines would be the Olds 260 c.i. V8, the 250 Chevy c.i. (for corporate sharing) L6, or the Buick 231 c.i. V6. Because these were odd-firing years for the Buick V6, an even-firing crate engine would have to be ordered and swapped in. There is no CCC in these years and a simple THM 350 propels these cars. - - - - - Any of the above would have to have been very well maintained and with sound mechanics and bodies/interiors. If you have any ideas, try to put them in the perspective of what I'd like rather than the brand and car you are partial to.

I'm amazed at the sorts of things automakers themselves are saying about EVs. What it's doing is pushing back their adoption over I.C.E. vehicles. - - - - - I'm not that high maintenance, but, when I did have the "pleasure" of trying one for about 7 hours, all I was asking was for: 1) a dashboard I could understand (the above is a photo of a 2020 Chevy Bolt appended to a review) ... an instrument cluster in front of the driver that makes sense and is sort of minimalistic, an infotainment system that looks similar to the ones we know, a climate control system that is intuitive. Will you look at that !?! 2) a range of about 400 miles, but I'll settle for 350 miles. - - - - - Here's a link to the article about the author's Seattle to Portland jaunt in the car, in which he praises the simplistic controls with an obvious purpose: Review: Seattle to Portland in a 2020 Bolt EV (newatlas.com) - - - - - I'm not interested in paying this kind of money for a sled. However, as a daily driver and with a plug in the garage that wouldn't overcharge the battery, that day will eventually come for many folks.

Good morning:

The ideal weather across an ideal year: - 3 months of summer - 1 month of winter - 1 month of spring - 7 months of autumn (and peak color)

Ha. Atlanta suburbs story. Very heartwarming and funny. I probably would have googled how to tie a Windsor knot and looked for a YouTube or diagram. But, hey, it worked out for him. I lived in the metro Atlanta area for 2 years. I couldn't believe how well I adjusted to it coming from the West. There isn't much uptightness to be found. Most people are outgoing and a good many are sassy.