MRDETROITMETAL

LMAO...the "pit bulls" win my vote as the best one !!

AWESOME !

LOL ^^...uh,...yeah,..right. srry..I was "invited" to do this...LOL. besides it was done so all I had to do was post this up, don't worry you still have a chance, sympathy votes count !!

I will get something up here for you soon ! Sounds like Fun !!!

The Thunderbird...based on a Mazda MX-5. I think that would be fitting to the original T-Bird and have a great appeal in Ford's lineup too. Also I would like to see the Prowler brought back as an electric sports car (maybe a Tesla base), an open wheel version same as the Plymouth version, it could be a Chrysler this time around. With GM ...the GTO & Grand Prix. Both as RWD 2 door coupes; Chevy GP & Buick GTO this time, the names are solid and both would compliment the lineups of these brands IMO.

^ THAT is a Very Good Question !! Today on Capitol Hill one of the Congressmen ( from Indiana, I think) showed "pedals", two different models, one made by CTS ( a USA Company) and the Other by Denso ( a Japanese Company). The claim he made was that ALL of the deaths came from Toyo's equipped with the Denso pedals. This is certianly NOT Over yet...far from it if there can be a link established between Toyota & Denso to conspire to control the supplier marketplace ! ...which resulted in faulty parts and deaths. Ohh, Boy...if that proves to be the case, the Shiz has yet to hit the fan !!.

The FBI raided the offices three suppliers of Toyota Motors (NYSE: TM) Tuesday evening to investigate deeper into the controversy around Toyota and it hiding its quality problems. Shares of Toyota are sliding off their highs on this news at it hits the presses in late day trading. Toyota's shares are still up 3.07% on the day to $73.75. As we wrote yesterday, we feel that the bad news is just beginning for Toyota. Check out our 9 Reasons To Run From Toyota's Stock. Toyota supplier Denso Corp. says the FBI and Department of Justice have raided its U.S. headquarters as part of an antitrust investigation. Denso spokeswoman Julie Kerr says the supplier's office, located in Southfield, Mich., was raided on Tuesday. She says the company is cooperating with the investigation, but declined to offer details of what the government was looking for. Kerr says the investigation is unrelated to Toyota's recent recalls. Denso is a major parts supplier for Toyota and is one of two suppliers of its gas pedals. While gas pedals from the other supplier were involved in Toyota's sticky accelerator recall, Denso's have not been implicated. http://www.benzinga.com/markets/company-news/141448/fbi-raids-three-toyota-supplier-offices-in-detroit-tm

I think there IS a fundamental Difference in the Operational Strategy of Toyota, and that is a Very Different "ethic" than GM, Ford, Audi, MB, VW...and Most ALL other Auto Companies. Toyo has Intentionally used greed & avarice, outright bribes & untruthful statements while at the same time laying "blame" always first on their "so called" Loyal Customers. This can be SEEN right Now at the hearing today where BOTH the heads of Toyota are Lying Bold Faced that they "had no knowledge" or "do not recall"...the circumstance of reported problems & deaths. The Culture of Toyota is one of "Compartmentalized Secrecy", even the design process of the cars reflects this ethic, where it results in a "mismatched" look of components. They want to tell Americans that Toyota IS an American Car !!!....this is just disgusting. No data transfer of operational results is available to the owners, but is rather encoded so that it cannot be downloaded except by Toyota as they claimed it is proprietary info. Whereas, Other manufacturers have a "reader" to allow owners to get the data from their cars. Sure it is Proprietary because it is hiding "the Lie" !! The Problems are Intrinsic in the methods of their Business Operations, where profit and more so, the volume of sales in a concerted effort to Beat GM as #1 Worldwide, was put as the top concern and goal of the company....no matter what the cost. The COST has so far Been 34 deaths & the ruin of Toyota...forever.

I don't see where Toyota has "contributed" anything of value to the Automotive Industry at all...ever. Now , Honda with actual Rear engined F1 development is legendary history & likewise Mazda with the Wankel rotary engine development...both of them certainly have, but Toyo first started cars by a copy of the Chrysler Airflow with a Chevy Stove bolt engine which was such a patent trespass that the parts were actually interchangeable with the American cars !!. The sales effort in the USA bu Toyota over the past 40 years is deplorable, at best where by they justified "bribing" dealerships into selling their junk (which it was REAL JUNK in the 60's) by paying ALL the COSTS to run a dealership even if they did not sell One Car,.. & then on top of that paying Twice the commission to sales persons over what USA companies paid. The Facts are coming evident that indeed Toyota has always made & sold JUNK CARS, there is no such thing as a quality Toyota, not any more so than any other manufacturer. The Myth of Quality has been a Promotional Lie fostered by Corporate Toyota to convince the uneducated & automotive ignorant that these products were better....Obviously they were and Are NOT.

WELL...HERE IS THE "STAKE THROUGH THE HEART" FOR TOYOTA : http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=9669869 They just suspended the sales of pretty much every model they make !!! YOU CAN'T BUY A TOYOTA !!! LMFAO

This all very Interesting...People are "reacting" at this point to the, in their minds, SUDDEN shift in Toyo's reputation...But this is something that anyone in the Auto Industry could see coming for years !! The products have been looking worse than ever, as Toyo went on a binge design program to create an "Identity" for their "Asian look"....unfortunately, they incorporated so many different "partial designs" into One Model that the results have been this awkward looking out of proportion design ethic....notherwords, they are just UGLY looking cars. That of course mattered very little to the people who bought Toyo's ...as for the most part they could care less what their car Looked like, as long as it got them from A to B with no problems, they were happy. NOW...their customers are afraid to Drive & they do not Trust Toyota to fix the problem...because Toyota still claims they have no "fix" because thier is nothing they can find wrong with the components. The truth is that as was mentioned here, while the suppliers may be the same, each manufacturer has different standards....Toyota has fowled up somewhere in the component infrastructure of their engineering designs, resulting in a mismatch of components causing this result.!! On the used car side, the reason the resale value has not dropped in the stats, is that the dealership REFUSE to sell used Toyota's...dumping them into local auctions to get rid of them, as they do not want the liability attached to selling a "recalled Car", therefore the resale stats do not reflect the dumping of these cars at auctions, as they are wholesaled out...to independent car lots !!!! No matter what, the Party is OVER at Toyopet. ...and that is a good thing as the bottom line here is Toyo KNEW full well that their cars & Trucks are ALL Flawed, but would cost too much to fix them and they just continued to sell them in order to beat GM as the #1 automaker in the World which was just a numbers game to them no matter the cost, so...the Top Management ALL retired or resigned in the last 18 months, put in some new "patsy" board to take the heat and NOW, the Company IS DEAD IN THE WATER. It may take a bit to sink, but Toyo Is the New TITANIC. blub blub blub,....

Also..I have posted a link to C&G contests from my website, as Z06 suggested. Hopefully that will bring a few more people in here for the comps, as my site dose 60-80,000 hits a day from car enthusiasts. I hope that will help a bit here too....& THX again for the Trophy. Maybe we can use this thread for people who win the comps to say THX to the C&G members too ?

^ I think Drew hit the nail on the head here...the "Myth" of Toyota quality has been revealed for what it is;...a Lie. All manufactures use basically the SAME parts & components from industry suppliers ( as Toyo pointed out, but somehow the Pontiac version is free of this defect, so far )...that is because it is HOW you put the components and parts together that makes the difference...and the USA companies are doing a better job at that with designs that are much more attractive. I was at my local Chevy dealer this weekend looking over the new Camaro & Corvette ...WOW !...and the salesman told me that they are selling "a lot more cars" after the Toyota Recall was started, and many of the trade ins are Toyotas (which they will not sell anymore on thier lots, they just send them to the auction to get rid of them fast!!)...and that these people are buying the Malibu, Impala and Cobalt...along with the Traverse, Equinox & Trailblazer. That pretty much says it all,^...people are affected by the news reports in the mainstream media and they rather trade in their Toyo then get it fixed, because they have lost Trust in the manufacturer. What comes around goes around...Toyo has earned this devaluation by selling Junk and doing it in spite of Knowing full well it was junk to start with. They deserve to die. (OB...Can I use that scene in my movie script ?...It is awesome !!..LOL Yes I AM writing a Movie called MDM-1) I am going to post up a Toyo deathwatch meter on my site too !!!.....lmao.

They are bleeding so much cash, over $25B in the last year alone,...it won't be long before the company is bankrupt...and once the lawyers get a grip on them in the USA...for wrongful death suits....I think they are done, forever. Seriously, 34 Americans have DIED from these "cars"...that is reason enough to kill Toyota off permenantly, IMO. Of course the Japanese Government will "prop them up" with loans & currency alterations to make it LOOK like they are still viable...but IMO....Toyota is History. It is just a matter of time, the clock is ticking...they have ruined their reputation & exposed the TRUE nature of the companies lack of all ethics. They, the management of Toyota,... are pure scum.

Over the past few months it has become apparent to everyone that Toyota builds JUNK...dangerous, flawed & totally irresponsible appliances "posing" as automobiles, excuse me..."Cars". Not only have they knowingly sold their garbage to unsuspecting consumers worldwide...BUT THE CARS ARE KILLING PEOPLE !!!!...34 PEOPLE IN THE USA TO DATE...and NOW, Toyota is bragging about "fooling the dumb Americans" !!!! ! :shock: Documents: Toyota boasted saving $100M on recall By KEN THOMAS, AP 2 hours ago - 2/21/10 AP WIRE NEWS WASHINGTON — Toyota officials claimed they saved the company $100 million by successfully negotiating with the government on a limited recall of floor mats in some Toyota and Lexus vehicles, according to new documents shared with congressional investigators. Toyota, in an internal presentation in July 2009 at its Washington office, said it saved $100 million or more by negotiating an "equipment recall" of floor mats involving 55,000 Toyota Camry and Lexus ES350 vehicles in September 2007. The savings are listed under the title, "Wins for Toyota — Safety Group." The document cites millions of dollars in other savings by delaying safety regulations, avoiding defect investigations and slowing down other industry requirements. The documents could set off alarms in Congress over whether Toyota put profits ahead of customer safety and pushed regulators to narrow the scope of recalls. Two House committees are holding hearings this week on the Japanese automaker's recall of 8.5 million vehicles in recent months to deal with safety problems involving gas pedals, floor mats and brakes. The world's largest automaker has been criticized for responding too slowly to complaints of sudden acceleration in its vehicles, threatening to undermine its reputation for quality and safety. The documents were turned over to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and obtained by The Associated Press on Sunday. The presentation was first reported by The Detroit News. Toyota said in a statement: "Our first priority is the safety of our customers and to conclude otherwise on the basis of one internal presentation is wrong. Our values have always been to put the customer first and ensure the highest levels of safety and quality." Kurt Bardella, a spokesman for Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., the top Republican on the Oversight Committee, said the documents raise questions on "whether Toyota was lobbying for less rigid actions from regulators to protect their bottom line." Transportation Department spokeswoman Olivia Alair called the document "very telling. And that's why Secretary (Ray) LaHood has been saying we're going to hold Toyota's feet to the fire and make sure they do what's necessary to make their cars safe for the driving public." The new documents show the financial benefit of delay. In the presentation, Toyota said a phase-in to new safety regulations for side air bags saved the company $124 million and 50,000 man hours. Delaying a rule for tougher door locks saved $11 million. On defect regulations, the document boasts that Toyota "avoided investigation" on rusting Tacoma pickup trucks. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigated the case in 2008 but closed it without finding a safety defect. Toyota agreed to buy back certain rusty pickups, inspect other and extend warranties. The document lists seven "Wins for Toyota & Industry," including "favorable recall outcomes," "secured safety rulemaking favorable to Toyota" and "vehicles not in climate legislation." Another page lists "key safety issues," including "Sudden acceleration on ES/Camry, Tacoma, LS etc." In one passage, the document says Toyota "negotiated 'equipment' recall on Camry/ES re SA; saved $100M+, w/ no defect found." NHTSA had launched an investigation in March 2007 over allegations that floor mats were interfering with accelerator pedals. Toyota told the government a month later that there was "no possibility of the pedal interference with the all-weather floor mat if it's placed properly and secured." By that August, the government had connected the problem to a dozen deaths and a survey of 600 Lexus owners discovered 10 percent reported sudden or unexpected acceleration. But the recall in September 2007 was limited to 55,000 Camry and ES350 vehicles to replace the floor mats. The 10-page internal presentation was dated July 6, 2009, less than two months before a high-speed crash near San Diego killed a California highway patrol officer and his family and reignited concerns over sudden acceleration in Toyotas. In October 2009, Toyota issued its largest-ever U.S. recall, involving about 4 million vehicles, over concerns of pedals getting stuck in floor mats. The presentation lists Yoshi Inaba, Toyota's chief executive in North America, on its cover. Inaba is scheduled to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday, along with Toyota president Akio Toyoda and Jim Lentz, president of Toyota Motor Sales USA. The committee is also expected to hear from LaHood, NHTSA Administrator David Strickland and safety advocates. The Oversight Committee is holding a hearing Tuesday with Lentz, LaHood and Strickland. A Senate committee is planning a March 2 hearing. Toyota has said it will create an outside review of company operations, do a better job of responding to customer complaints and improve communication with federal officials. Separately, the government said Sunday it was already investigating reports of sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles when the nation's largest auto insurer shared complaints about the issue. The Transportation Department released documents showing that in December 2003 it began investigating 39 complaints of sudden acceleration involving 2002-03 Toyota Camry sedans. That was about three months before State Farm shared with NHTSA complaints of sudden acceleration in 2003-04 Lexus ES300s and 2002-04 Camrys. The document released by LaHood said the department had received allegations of 26 crashes and 4 injuries involving drivers complaining of their vehicles surging when backing up, pulling in and out of parking spaces and shifting gears. Reports of deaths in the U.S. connected to sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles have surged in recent weeks, with the toll of deaths allegedly attributed to the problem reaching 34 since 2000, according to new consumer data gathered by the U.S. government. :!: IMO ..the company should be liquidated and the assets disbursed to people who bought their cars, the cars should be confiscated and destroyed. For More on this Topic ; http://www.stingraysstudios.com/Toyota.php :evil:

I dunno about that ^, ...seems like you just described to a tee the Corvette market !!! We will see what we see, & I agree....it would be real nice to have that platform as a stingray. The reasoning is to create a "entry level" vette, under 30K...then have the current corvette 40-60 k & a super car vette (ZR1) 100 K plus, all in the mix. I can't say WHO told me this, but it is fairly reliable, they actually SAW a prototype like the picture above ,...we'll see if indeed it is true.

Well,...there have been "rumors" of a new Stingray for awhile...but, yesterday I got a confirmation from a friend of mine at GM that indeed the STINGRAY is set to return. Based upon the solstice/sky platform, the new stingray will be introduced quite soon !!..or so it seems. GM has done several "production mock ups" of this model, which will expand the "CORVETTE" brand into a TWO Model line, & there may be More Corvette models in the future ! Another "tidbit" I was told is that GM is seriously considering bringing back the "GRAND PRIX"...possibly even the GTO !!! They may "return" as either Chevy or Buick models !!!!

Having been "offline" for the last month or so as my home office is being remodeled, I have just today reestablished a new ISP connection, and I needed to say this to Drew & all the C&G members, aside from a big THANK YOU,..that the "trophy" Toronado which you sent to me, for winning the birthday comp, is absolutely fantastic !! It has found a place in the TOP of my "trophy case" next to the Dale Earnhart Z-06 & my racing (SCCA) awards. The competition on that was really GOOD, and I look forward to MORE valuable competitions here now that Z06 is working the contests. I ENCOURAGE EACH OF YOU HERE TO REALLY GET INVOLVED WITH THESE NEXT COMPS...OR I WILL HAVE TO KICK YOUR ASS ...AGAIN !!! Good to be back !! ( oh, BTW, the TORO is Black with a Burgundy interior...just beautiful !!!...I will have to post up a picture of it for you here, once I figure out my new computer setup. ) THX again.

CHEVY Rules :

THX to all for your comments & direction which helped to define the entry....& Happy Birthday once again !!! The timing of this could not be better as it is my birthday on the 18th !!! THX.

Well Now ...For all you dumbass Amerikans who been eat'in the Paint off your Caddy's & Chevy's for dinner, cuz someone said "it look good 'nuf ta EAT"...: The newly chosen name seems apropos. Dictionary.com describes viridian as "a long-lasting, bluish-green pigment, consisting of a hydrated oxide of chromium." A joule is the SI unit of energy. ...OH, Yeah I did submit a name too : DETROIT METAL

Uh, jeez I am glad YOU guys Are Not Judging this One, ...Because what your describing already existed, it just was not an E Body which WAS the Entire purpose of this Contest as I recall, & Not to design a car that was built but rather a E Body version, which as a Luxo car COULD go any direction GM was willing to spend the money on. ..And the "side vents" WERE THERE back in the day too :

OK...here you go...I put All of them into ONE Entry as they are all the same design, with minor differences if any from image to image,I also included the Cow Catcher versions, if indeed that was a requirement, and the final design versions which I prefer, (sans CC bumpers) ...but as I say they all represent the SAME DESIGN. I figured you could go back to the individual posts to see the full size images ....but, I put them all up here too for those who want to "examine" them one by one. Again Happy Birthday Drew, ( mine is in 18 days BTW,...) I hope ya like this stuff ! !

But Remember correctly that indeed the E Body cars were ORIGINALLY Not Designed for those Bumpers, NONE of the cars were actually as that was a US Government "fix" imposed upon All Designs, even tho they were already set for production without those cow catchers as intended, The cars had to be "retrofitted" with those ugly ass things, which set back American Cars a decade in development, & cost the Auto Companies $$$$ Millions to do, without any government "help"....But GM did have a few "escapees" from the bumper mandate which were "experiments in plastic" on GM's part to see if indeed they could "repair" the designs, SO...in this regard my designs here ARE "Period Corrected"....LOL. : But IF you REALLY want to SEE the cars with those bumpers, attached GVille image here ;

^ WELL NOW IF YOU MEAN BY THAT THEY DON'T HAVE THOSE AWFUL "COW CATCHER" BUMPERS.... OK, I got something for that too. Final entry pictures will be posted here tonite.