Intrepidation

Because, perhaps unlike you, I give a $h! about my "modern" cars and any car that shouldn't be in the yard, old or new., and I like all cars in general, old or new. Plus don't lecture me on my cars when you let that awesome Lincoln sit in the driveway until you sold it for a tiny amount of money...I recall Sixty8 telling me at one point that you even contemplated sending it to it's grave! We also know that Saratoga is too far gone to realistically salvage. I'd love it but I'm more concerned with what I've got now and that I have something to get to and fro without using 20 gallons of gas going 5 miles. Classic cars are especially sad to see crushed..>Lowell used auto once had a late 60's Fury that had just recently been crushed one of the times I went there. Of course Kias, Toyotas, and the like don't bother me, especially riced out Civics.

I am sorry that you had to sell it Camino, hopefully things will get better if they are tough now, and maybe when it's time for a new car there will be a new El Camino waiting for you at the Chevy dealership.

Shame on you!

Lets all $h! in a bx and send it to him! Don't forget that the water pump is inside the damn engine!

It helps distinguish him as a jackass?

This is supposedly from a "Daimler Chrysler Certified Service Manager" in regards to the 2.7L...read and enjoy. Whether this guy is for real or just as @$$hole is beyond me...but it's still pretty infuriating to read.

No trips to the New England?

Name one kid Optimus Prime and the other Megatron!

Congrats on the beautiful car! IMO the Aurora, especially 2nd gen is still one of the best midsize cars GM has built to date.

Well excuse me!

LOL 40 grand for a Civic...no thanks, I'll take an Evo X, which will destroy that thing and looks far better too.

Not exactly, since the FCX is on the road now and actually exists outside of a 1-off concept. The Volt's still several years away.

That's great news! It's nice that GM is showing that they care after all, and hopefully they got your car fixed properly.

Fix the Lumina

Wed Aug 8, 1:13 AM ET WELLINGTON (Reuters) - A New Zealand couple is looking to call their newborn son Superman -- but only because their chosen name of 4Real has been rejected by the government registry. ADVERTISEMENT Pat and Sheena Wheaton say they will get around the decision by the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages by officially naming their son Superman but referring to him as 4Real, the New Zealand Herald newspaper has reported. The Wheatons decided on the name after seeing the baby for the first time in an ultrasound scan and realising their baby was "for real". They decided 4Real was the best way to write it, but the name was rejected because the registrar said a name had to be a sequence of characters. Pat Wheaton said he was considering appealing against the decision through the courts, but whatever happens he won't be budged on his choice. "No matter what its going to stay 4Real," Wheaton told the Herald, "I'm certainly not a quitter". A spokesman for the Department of Internal Affairs, which operates the registry told the Herald discussions with the Wheatons about their son's name were continuing. The baby is now two months old, after the Wheatons first applied to register his name in later June. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070808/od_uk_...newzealand_name Yet another set of people who should be sterilized and not allowed to reproduce....

If I only had the money... Plus I would think you could fix these cars that are repairable and sell them at a profit if you couldn't keep them.

Exactly, and while while GM's sounds like it has it's own advantages, at a quick glance, Chrysler's will stand out. I find the 5-year inspection argument kind of weak...because GM's warranty only lasts 5 years so of course tehy wouldn't need to check on the vehicle in 5 years....besides how hard is it to take the vehicle to be inspected once every 5 years. Both are good warranties.

*ding* We have a winner! As for the 3800...it should be gone. Those arguing in favor of it only have the arguments of "reliability and well it appeals to traditional Buick buyers" Buick needs new customers, the "tradional buyer" is getting older, and won't being any new traffic into the showroom. Also, as other have mentioned, the 3.6 seems reliable so far. 3800 w/ 4-speed is all well and dandy...in a base Malibu or something. This is supposed to be a "premium" car, it should have a more "premium" engine. When the Malibu, Aura and others that cost less than the Buick have an engine that makes nearly the power of the NorthStar yet gets better fuel economy...who is the fool for buying the big, slow, expensive car? If Buick wants to be taken seriously, they need to compete seriously. 3.6 w/ 6-speed looks good on paper and performs well in the real world. The 3800 may be "good enough" but it's nothing eye catching...and I could get more power out of a cheaper car. Add to that an interior that's exactly "premium" in many ways, and you've got an outdated piece of machinery that doesn't help Buick at all. If you want to keep the 3800, fine...make it the base model or something, but the 3.6 should be optional and standard on the CXL. You could at least bolt a 6-speed to the 3.8...there's no excuse for not having one. As for the NorthStar, Fly makes very good points, as usual.

The Caliber has been a good sales success for them...so hatches can be popular. bet teh styling fools people into thinking it's a small SUV so that's why they buy it. I hate how this country can't get over our big, stupid SUVs and refuses to except more economical hatches because it's "not cool".

Mhmm. Exactly, it's damn shame when someone junks a car because the engine or transmission goes. I mean, especially if you bought the car new. Sure, it's frustrating to put a sizeable chunk of money into a new engine, but you're throwing away a car that's still worth 6+ grand not to mention the money you paid for when it was new! That white one had 87,000 miles on it. I once saw a first gen Aurora at that yard, it was black. It was a shame to see it there, although I don't feel as bad because I don't own one. If I did I'd feel a lot worse. Oh if only I had money to spend, I'd pick up those 4 and put new engines in them and sell them for a profit to caring owners...maybe keep the white one.

So today I made a trip to my favorite junkyard for the Shadow. I was hoping to find one with a 2.5L so I could see how the vacuum hoses by the throttle body hooked up. here were a few disconnected and I couldn't figure out where they went, and neither could Sixty8. As you may know, I finally replaced the value cover gasket...so there should no longer be any major oil leaks. My first real work on an engine, and it was very rewarding to it myself. Anyway, all they had was a 3.0 V6 Duster, and a 2.5 Spirit, but the Spirit had different vacuum hose routing. With that attempt failed, I decided to wonder around and see what else they had. There was a Mercury Meteor for $1,000 which has a cencet body from what I can tell but I don't know if it runs or not. There was also an old Nova intact by the front too...that's where they lump relatively new arrivals. There was also a dark pruple Prizm from which I can grab the necessary parts from whenever my settlement is finally...settled. Shadows and Prizms don't really bother me...they are old cars so I expect a few to be in the junkyard. But there were no fewer than 5 2nd gen Intrepid in there...of them only one was a 3.2 and was there because it was totaled. There's a blue one like mine towards the corner next to a red one. The blue makes me sad because it looks so much like mine...although it has a front bench. The real sad part though was a white Intrepid nearby a silver one. This one was missing it's rear bumper, passenger rear wheel and had a flat tire on the driver's rear side. I opened the door to peer inside and discovered the light still came on...and the keys were in the ignition. I do the same thing I always do when I find a car like tis...I try to start it. Sure enough, after a couple seconds the engine fired up...which told me why it was here: it had a horrible knock in the engine. This isn't like the sound I have...it's much, much louder and can be heard over the A/C...which worked! (and very well, much better than mine ). It really hurt inside to see this particular car here, still alive but dying a painful death and only to end up in the crusher soon enough. I sat in it for a little while and cooled off from the 93 degree heat...listened to the radio too. After 10 minutes or so I shut the car off...perhaps for the last time, and also rolled the windows up out of respect, and then took the key fob and locked it...although I unlocked the driver's door so someone could get in to take parts without having to brake the window. The guy at the front desk, who knows me pretty well by now, let me take it for free...so now I don't have to pay $50 for a 2nd one for my car, just to have it programed. I'm a sentimental fool, I know. The worst part is 4 of the 5 cars shouldn't be there. Actually, the worst part may be the sound I heard. While the sound itself sounds nothing like the noise I hear, it does speed up as the rpm increases...like how mine does. It's much, much worse though...I don't know if the source of the sound is one and the same, but it scares me a bit. Mine will not end in the scrap yard though. Is it stupid to feel this way?

I'm very sorry to hear about you problems...it's a sad state of affairs when brand loyalty seems to mean nothing to one of these companies, especially when they need all of the loyalty and good word they can get. As ocn said, the Charger and Mustang are fine cars, but for your sake and perhaps GM's too, it would be nice if you could find someone at GM who actually cared and made you feel like a valued customer, so you stayed with them.