balthazar

Wonder what mercedes thinks of the cladding? After all- they 'invented' it. This subaru is ugly, but then again; it's a subaru. Vicious era of styling we're in- the basic shapes are all dialed in courtesy of the EPA/CAFE industrial complex, so all that's left is variations on angry headlights and zip-zagging character lines.

According to a June 2017 number, there are 16,812 dealerships (of all makes) in the U.S.. Take a guess at how many dealerships of just GM had at the peak.

audi & mercedes are way late to the game- they will be branded as 'also-rans'. They will never compete with Tesla, despite the Model S being a dated design in its 8th year now with no redesign in sight.

There's not enough 'droves' to make ripples on the water.

^ Yes- there is a decent-size space in the seat bottom, and the one in the center armrest. - - - - - Some of Cadillac's past history in NYC- that sign is 7 STORIES TALL!

OK.... so getting a flickering budgetary green light over here at Rancho Balthy, so I headed up the road & was soon sitting in an all black '19 Silverado 1500 LT. And I got a shiny brochure I can lay on the floor on my belly, kick my feet around & read. The Good :: • that rear seat 'storage' bulkhead is only attached to the floor with a couple screws & will pop right out. Hopefully there's no sensors for the rear belts, as I would yank the rear seat ASAP. • The rear of the crew cab is huge- must be about 6" deeper than my '04. • Most configurations don't have the stupid, space-wasting console / console shifter, thank god. • Interior is NOT filled with as much soft-touchy-feely materials that have decidedly less durability as I was afraid of. I hate it when car people try & dictate what truck people should have/want. • Front seat room & comfort is pretty good, IMO. • I had no issues with exterior visison/site lines (tho the rearview is kinda small), but will be better able to tell on a test drive. • Dealer can install larger rims; I was wondering of the different diameter tires would be a computer issue. Guess they can reflash. The Questionable :: • Bed is deeper than mine & other generations, to the point I would look at the costs to LOWER the truck a few inches. • The 2nd upper glove box is basically useless because the vertical box's rear 'wall' is the door- I don't have any idea what you'd put in there that wouldn't tumble out. Your only going to use about 20% of it's volume. Should have open down like a drawbridge. • There's no lower dash cubbies or ashtray. I don't smoke, but I like cubbies. • I'd love to see Chevy / GMC incorporate a MUCH larger slider rear window. I have to tip my hat- the tundra models where the entire rear window goes down flush is a fantastic idea (maybe the tundra's ONLY good idea, ever). In this limited exposure, it looks pretty good. Will stop in the GMC dealer soon and see how fingerprinty I can get a few Sierras

See- I mostly look at them as a source of big cube motors. I owned a running '72 Riviera boattail; white, black vinyl half roof, 455, black interior - had been smacked in the rear quarter. It was totally fixable if one got a new quarter... but I was only thinking of putting it's 455/th400 into my '59. I line a '59 coupe next to a '72 Riviera, and I almost can't focus on the '72.

Buick built & tested a 525 CI V8 for production. Story goes, an engineer loaded it with 5 or 6 Division uppers and the car laid rubber many tens of feet. They decided the 455 was plenty (510 torque!) - - - - -

I will check them out next time I'm in The Costco. My son has the i7, said the prior phone (I think that was an i5) had 16GB and he had to delete things on occasion. He's a phone hound. Said his i7 at 64GB has more than enough memory for him. I'd probably be fine with 4GB, but am leaning hard toward the i8 so far, regardless.

$38750 + 3,875 = $42,625 (plus $1200 destination fees??) And that's IF the "base price" version comes out first, instead of only trims costing $10K-15K more. I'd fully expect only circa $55K versions for the first 2-3 years, if past history is legitimate.

I actively tried to pick up a '70 Polara coupe with the Superlite option, but we couldn't agree on a price. I was also heavily eyeballing a '69 version, don't recall if price was ever discussed/talked to anyone. - - - - - 1960 Pontiac Mustang (local 1-dealer, 1-year package) ~

As a guy still "rockin" a flip phone in 2019, I don't think I need the 'latest' of much of ANYTHING.

From a 1948 Pontiac dealer planner book; how to set up your lot ~

Nice unskirted MoPars, blu! - - - - -

I never cared for the '55 Biscayne- too bug-eyed and strange. Also; 1st gen Corvair-esque from the rear, which I don't hate, but it's not necc 'beautiful'. Still, I love that it was brought back from the grave ad I appreciate the elevated strata it lives in as a General Motors concept car.

I can 'see past' those flares; if the quarters had none, I still say it would look bad with full skirts. Look at your Toro.

Not always; this would look terrible with skirts~

Sooooooo....., falling well under the radar is Tesla's performance. In December they sold 32,600 vehicles. In January, that PLUNGED by 75%, to 8,325. February saw yet more blood, dropping to 7,650. Feb; slightly shorter month, some rough weather in the northern half of the nation, but not this bad. Of course the take-away --and we saw this with the Georgia state credit discontinuance and the 90% (IIRC) EV drop there-- is that the vast majority of buyers AREN'T in EVs to do The Greater Good, they are in it for a 'deal'. At least, such could be argued. Tesla is throwing some levers (layoffs, store closings, price drops) to try and stem the bleeding, but if volume is their key to profitability, they've just been set back almost a year. Last time the Model 3 sold less than the 5750 it did in Feb was April 2018.

Shawangunk Mountains, Ulster County NY ~

^ Automotive Royalty. - - - - - W. T. F. ~

Correct- only on the Eldo. A nod to when they had completely unique rear clips ['55-'58], in a small way. ALL other '64 Cads had skirts.

Ya- I don't get the long-running fashion of slapping skirts on cars that didn't come with them- it's almost universally a worse look. And in the custom arena- 101% of the 'cruiser / bubble' skirts look awful. Here's the same body shell '63 vs. 64 Eldorado- the '63 looks fine but I prefer the '64 ~

Agreed on the GP. Bonne certainly was creamy- but 2 strikes for me; I hate 'baby blue' and the chromed, non-factory fender skirts simply ruin it. 60 secs and 2 discus throws later and the car would rise 2 full letter grades. - - - - - RE Subaru in general- they certainly have cultivated a long history of being torturously ugly.

My picks from Robert's great batch would be the '56 DeSoto & the '62 GP. - - - - - I've had this magazine (cover & article) since 1983, when my grandfather & I were doing some light pilfering at the junk yard/shop next door, once the woman who owned it passed away and it was unoccupied. GF felt he was justified, having to look out his kitchen & dining room windows at rusting stoves, mattresses, crates, metal and all other sorts of debris maybe 20 feet from his house, for decades (they lived there starting in 1948- I don't know when the junk shop started up). I only know it was '83 because I just looked them up; the husband passed in Dec '82 and she passed in April '83. I also am in possession of this double-sided porcelin dealership sign that might have come from the same establishment. Thinking recently I might sell it- it's hanging on a wall inside my shop, down at the far end. If I look at it once a year, it's by accident. I believe it's worth around $500.