balthazar

I have a vintage tissue dispenser, came out of my grandfather's '57 Star Chief. So I want to incorporate it into the B-59, despite the small center emblem saying 'PONTIAC'. They have a chrome face, mount under the dash and pivot outward, & the tissues pop out the top, like this : But I want to convert it to hide the aftermarket engine gauges, so I can hide them when I want a pick-up street race . So the work in progress so far is; I detached the face plate, have some small hinges, and I fabricated an aluminum plate I will drill for the 3 gauges. I wanted to add some detail, so I did this :

^ That's actually a flattering angle pic. I think the nose / eyes look fine / good. And it has a front valence / finished look there. Wheelwells are well matched. Here I like the thin bumpers. But you're right- the rear is unfinished; exposing too many 'dirty bits'. Those parking lights are a grotesque afterthought. And the upright jut of the windshield detracts from the fluidity of the body. Don't know why the exhaust has to droop like a camry's. I guess I find it kind on the bland & unfinished side.

Not to mention, there's the old stereotype that 'European is high class', and to pick at it, or chose American design over European, is to be looked down upon, as if 'how dare you; that's an Aston-Martin! [snif]'. Bullshit. There it sits, right there, and I have both eyes and discerning eyes. Another myth : 'A good American design is one influenced by a European design, and never the other way around.' Yeah, OK, Guiseppe.

Judging a car (positively) on one or two elements only is like going to an elaborate Thanksgiving dinner and just eating brussel sprouts and cranberry sauce. Euro designers seldom ever got a handle on the WHOLE envelope. GM thru history has strongly excelled in that aspect. Jag E-type is like that- lovely from a bird's eye view, or parked in very tall grasses... but the design falls down below the waist.

^ It's because European designers never could figure out what to do south of the headlights (or maybe the bumpers). Here's 2 similar-ideal cars using a lot of the same elements (even tho the A-M came 10 years later). Both have single headlights in the down-curving fenders, wide low grilles, minimal bumpers, round parking lights. See where the A-M sheetmetal just stops dead at the horizontal bumper? What's up with that? Where's the lower valence/continuation of the lines? Why is exactly 50% of the front tire exposed... is it intended to go off road? It's 'wrong'. I also find the concave 'corners' of the A-M fighting with the headlight ovals- the Corvette's convex curves there are a lot more harmonious. Next, I apreciate the Corvette's subtle wheelwell flares, it brings the eye to the wheels... where as the A-M feels like it was cut out of cardboard there. Then you have that dip at the beltline on the Corvette - S3XY.

Those... are... alll... ugly. Sorry. ?

I haven't been in a restaurant since 2019. But we do go grocery shopping (when they first open); wife does the supermarket, I usually do Costco. I'm not overly paranoid about this whole deal; I acknowledge it's ominpresent, but I don't deal closely with that many people and I don't know anyone who has it... other than one customer's wife who had it with short, mild symptoms... but I haven't seen her in person since last year. I get out of the house via work, that's good.

I’ve not seen ANY guard letting down in central jersey, yet new cases are up roughly 500%. Problem is, none of the methodologies recommended are 100% effective, and some folk are still going to get sick regardless of what they do. Likewise with future vaccine-recievers.

[ Interesting how one comes into this thread which was on Alternative fuels and starts calling California Commies or specifically calling them commiefornia and I respond to his remark and he says I started the politics.] I think the issue comes in when you attempt to link incongruous ideas together, along the lines like ‘This administration encourages diesel truck sales’ or the like. Not everything you view as negative can remotely be linked to the office of the President. In fact, almost nothing can. Folk greatly overestimate the influence there.

The fact that a sheriff would run under a political party somehow seems grossly inappropriate. I don't know that I've ever realized that that's done, before.

How about a partial arrangement? Like : most government vehicles (postal trucks, etc), all transit vehicles (taxis, buses, etc), all light cargo vehicles (vans) and half the passenger cars & light trucks go BEV, and the other half remain IC. That would be a HUGE move "forward" and reduce emissions GREATLY, yet still offer choice and allow the consumer to choose. Have a goal of the year 2050 to reach this breakout. That, at least, seems feasible. The '100% in 14 years'... isn't.

Bug of the day :

^ the 3 lil dots in the upper right corner...

And other minor trivialities like all the spare parts, the engineering, the testing....

That is not how it works; there a lot more involved than merely dividing the contract amount by the number of vehicles.

Hudson RIver, NY :

We need comprehensive GOVERNMENT reform, on all levels... but unfortunately the 'fox runs the henhouse'.

That one wasn't done by politicians tho. (I can see a case argued for the others...)

If 'you're' going to scream incessantly "VOTE!!!", but then your election coverage maps immediately call a state the literal minute the poles close with ZERO data in, you're just disenfranchised an entire state of voters.

My truck project is 100% factory original. OK; I gave it dual exhaust and replaced the pre-existing electric fuel pump. Other than that, it's as modern as the late 1940s. Even the tires are literally from the 1960s. My other car project (the P-64) is likewise all original. I don't have to "hunt for ways to make it work" other that some unbolting, rebuilding and re-bolting. That's ALSO a vintage car that no EV crate motor kit will ever bolt to it's trans (exactly the same scenario as the Ford truck). Hard to imagine, but there's a hundred million non-Chevy project cars out there.

What does an EV-powerplant cool? Still the batteries? Are EV batteries located in any conventional engine bay? No. Your comparisons to my car are completely inapplicable- there is not and never will be an EV kit capable of hooking up to a TwinTurbine Dynaflow transmission. There is literally zero in the way of retro-fitting anything in ‘crate’ form.

If change is inevitable, then obviously some Gov’t existing policies are going to change. Fighting inevitability is futile, no? There was all manner of fearmongering thrown around in 2016... on major issues that never even came to the ‘table’. Same as always.

There’s a lot of fanatics on a wide range of topics, and of course the internet affords them to make louder noises... but I’ve not observed it being a problem at the legislative level. First amendment section RE religion is pretty thorough.

Do you mean the 'religion' that some people have about Government?