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balthazar

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Everything posted by balthazar

  1. balthazar
    The 600 wasn't a consumer vehicle, it was a commercial vehicle, just like the Series 75. And Cadillac was building cars like this 20 years earlier than the 600, so I guess mercedes "chased" Cadillac : The regular production mercedes, the ones consumers bought, had hideous interiors, marginal build quality and were never class-leading in amenities. MB didn't even offer factory A/C until 1968 or thereabouts. After briefly offering it in the early 40s, Cadillac made it a permanent offering beginning in 1953. More "chasing" of Cadillac by mercedes. Rolls didn't get A/C until '56. And the problem with 'heads of state' is that office & it's like have long been harbingers of Most Corrupt. IOW; People No One Looks Up To Anymore.
  2. balthazar
    A8 is dead in the water.
  3. balthazar
    I think it would be a valuable reference. I've looked online at times for certain ads and have been surprised at how sparse such is online. Would take a long while to eclipse my stash of 6500 ads tho.
  4. balthazar
    BMW could basically drop the i3, i8, 2-series, and 7-series (6 is already dead) and live off the 3, 4, and 5, car-wise. CT6 May sales were just about double that of the 7.
  5. balthazar
    And people complained the last Trans Am was "overwraught".
  6. balthazar
    'Making money' is via 2 metrics: volume and profit. They can work together in an untethered relationship just fine. That's your claim, but it's neither Cadillac's or GMs. And you have not even an approximate idea about Divisional profits at GM. But General Motors made 9.5 billion profit last year- how much did Cadillac contribute?? None of us know. Cadillac sold 277K last year. 277K is solidly over Cadillac's traditional average volume, and the brand should aim to stay under 350K globally. Cadillac has volume; saying "they don't" is more foolish blathering. Maserati sold 36K last year... that's getting pretty sparse, but it's still 'volume'. Jaguar sold 148K last year, that's definitely 'volume'. So is 277K.
  7. balthazar
    No one who proclaims this ever defines specifically what they mean. Doesn't Mercedes "need to be Mercedes" too? When will they start? I can talk the same nonsense, too. Cadillac "is running away" from style (I thought the Escalade was too 'blingy' (another undefined term)!), technology (CT6- arguably class-leading technology platform & construction), power (CT6 3.0TT- one of the most powerful 3.0L V6s available, CTS-V : 640 HP and 1/4 mile in 11.2), luxury ride (licensing class-leading MR to ferrari/ others)... etc etc??? It's blatant, wishful blatherings. Good luck finding an apartment in Fantasy Land- the rent is cheap but occupancy is HIGH! Cadillac has not "chased" BMW anymore than Mercedes "chased" Cadillac (by finally giving customers luxury interiors in the early 90s. Their interiors weren't remotely competitive before that). "Same result" from Cadillac - yes : style, technology, power, luxury, and ride, among other amenities. You don't have to like it (many people hate Mercedes, too), but the hardware is available. [Waits for canned response about sales volume proving 'something'...]
  8. balthazar
    So the speedo in the COE wasn't working (as mentioned earlier). I bought it a number of years ago at a swap meet- appeared to be NOS (there's a pic somewhere in earlier pages). This is fairly unusual because it's a HD Ford truck speedo, different than all other Ford speedos, and thusly fairly rare. In disconnecting the cable from the back of the speedo, it spun and pulled out a few inches. I figured this meant it was snapped somewhere. Unfortunately, getting to the trans-end of the cable was impossible; you could see it (a hand-tightened knurled nut) but there was no way to get fingers or tools on it. So the driveshaft-mounted parking brake had to be disconnected, and the driveshaft had to be disconnected. Then a few delicate taps with a chisel and the trans end was off. Yep- the cable was snapped & twisted about 4 inches from the trans- so the work was worth it. [--Well, yes & no. Ford had it designed to pull out from the speedo end, leaving the sheath in place snaking thru the cab. However, in this case that would have left the snapped end still down there.--] Found an NOS COE speedo cable on eBay for $19. Cleaned & lubed the sheath & cable, reinstalled, and reversed the aforementioned disassembly. Started it up [--still kicking right over like it's 7 years old instead of 77 (but with far nicer noises)--]. First off was to check the post-generator shop visit generator, and it indeed put out much better volts than before. So then I idled out of the shop and took 2 trips up the driveway (about 80-100 feet each time). Speedo needle never budged. Shut the truck off and pondered. We pulled the cable from the back of the speedo and I used a square-drive bit to try & turn the speedo manually. Nothing- it was seized up tight. 1. I hoped I didn't just snap another speedo cable, and 2. WTF was the issue with the speedo? Oh, and the squeal returned just as I was easing the big rig back into the shop. - - - - - • The generator came back out, tho we are now able to disconnect/remove it without draining the cooling system (for the 4th time). Going to ponder that scenario. • The speedo's lube apparently had turned to varnish and nothing turned. Had to completely disassemble it & clean... and there's a REALLY TINY spring for the speedo needle you don't want to think about touching. Also the speedo needle is about as delicate as you can imagine. I'd never dived inside a speedo before, had to 'un-flare' the center shaft in order to disassemble it, strange rotating magnet inside, still not sure how it works AT ALL... but it's back together and spinning freely. Also read online that there's little resistance at the trans end- meaning that if -say- the other end was in a locked up speedo, the cable just wouldn't turn, so it looks like I don't have to go thru that mess again. - - - - - Next up: going to put speedo back in & hook up, lube a few other things (distributor & generator) and run the truck again, searching for the squeal. REALLY hope to drive it on the street again, tho it's been raining a stupid amount this last month and I won't drive it in the rain.
  9. balthazar
    Escalade remains at the top and moves up. XT8 would slot below it. As far as performance/roadability- it's the same scenario over at MB with the GLwhatever / G-wagon; the GLw is better than the G at all those things mentioned above, but is priced much cheaper.
  10. balthazar
    Saw a circa '77-81 T/A in the supermarket parking lot, real clean/nice shape, white w/ orange graphics & Snowflakes (wheels; not the whiners). Didn't look at the front so no closer ID as to year.
  11. balthazar
    ^ and Mercedes is loaded with those 'dumb niches'.
  12. balthazar
    What is "my car", specifically? Drag Radials are still highly regarded- DOT approved but won't last long.
  13. balthazar
    Imagine if the s-class was built on the e-platform and lost 1500 lbs. Or better yet; the CT6 platform!
  14. balthazar
    My wife has a older Malibu, with a much larger opening, and there are still instances where fitting stuff is problematic. But Chevy had no sedan hatches then- Tesla does. (even older Maxx aside)
  15. balthazar
    And? In the CUV/SUV world of 2017 (& thereabouts), the 3 should've also had the same well-integrated hatch the Model S has, pretty easy since the R&D was already done on it. If it had a decent-sized trunk opening, it'd be OK, but not only is the hatch more appealing, it solves the issue the 3 apparently is bringing to market as is.
  16. balthazar
    In the 2nd Model 3 pic above, you can see the intrusions from below the rear window, like everything has there now- speakers & such, it's a killer. My comment is not about cubic feet but the opening- it looks clearly smaller than the 3-series to my eye, and about the smallest I've ever seen. The late '60s F-bodies created the space saver spare because a full-size tire wouldn't fit thru the short opening. How come Ford was able to get the Fusions hatched but Tesla decided against it?
  17. balthazar
    4 plus the Escalade is 5, and you said "at least", which implies '6' is better, yet 'they don't need 7'. What Cadillac will be sitting perfect with is an XT4, XT5, XT6 and the Escalade (which should expand it's packages/trims/options upward beyond the current $110K). Upstaging the Escalade is a terrible marketing plan, it should remain the top model. That CUV/SUV lineup fits the catalog of Cadillac very well as a low-volume marque. 3 more CUVs is overkill, BMW is a perfect example of overlap/overkill in the CUV column.
  18. balthazar
    I don't believe a hatch would be prohibitively expensive out back from a crash-standpoint- and the rise in appeal due to increased cargo capacity would be huge- this is a sedan in a CUV/SUV world. If Mini can do it on everything they sell starting at $20K, Tesla can do it at "$35K".
  19. balthazar
    Not Cadillac's mission. Not a full-line brand and not looking to plug into every segment.
  20. balthazar
    NSX never appealed to me. The 911 (family) is another of the very few euro sports cars that I find appealing. There have been so many variations on that theme and I don't pay attention to them in general, but I'd go with the 996 here.
  21. balthazar
    When a diesel truck was non-turbo'd and had 300 TRQ, a 10-spd would've been excellent for aiding acceleration. Now that they have 700-900 TRQ and 400+ HP, there really isn't a measurable benefit of a 10-spd over an 8-spd by looking at the ratios... tho I'd happily take a test drive in both back to back to prove myself wrong. - - - - - I have 310 HP and 520 TRQ going thru the Allison 5-spd in my 2500HD : 1 : 3.09 2 : 1.80 3 : 1.40 4 : 1.00 5 : .71 When the Allison gained it's 6th gear in 2006, they merely added a .61 6th gear, but the trucks struggle to ever get into that gear- has to be a feather pedal and @ cruise speed on level ground. TDs geared like these 'power down' relatively quickly when you get off the pedal.
  22. balthazar
    But in a case where potential legal action is there, it's the cumulative that supersedes. Number of violations, plus fine per or cost per to repair, that sort of thing. Put it another way; there wouldn't be any legal action if VW only built 5 cars that cheated emissions.
  23. balthazar
    Pretty hard to believe 700K diesel trucks could out-pollute 11 million VWs. 1:1 I could see; the DuraMax is 6.6L. But collectively?
  24. balthazar
    Hey- I got a 6.40 spread out of my 4-speed! - - - - - - >>"I'm curious if there is more than one overdrive gear in the 10-speed."<< Every auto with 6 gears or more I've seen is at least a double OD. GM 10Lxx ~ 1 : 4.70 2 : 2.99 3 : 2.15 4 : 1.80 5 : 1.52 6 : 1.28 7 : 1.00 8 : .85 9 : .69 10 : .64 10th gear hardly seems worth it. Also seems busy in 4-6, like that should be 2 gears vs. 3. The 8Lxx seems far better spaced, making me think the 10Lxx is more marketing than anything else.
  25. balthazar
    I hope to hell the mail slot trunk opening on the 3 gets redesigned. Don't understand why they didn't make it a hatch like the S.
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