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balthazar

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Everything posted by balthazar

  1. balthazar
    Agree w/ DD ^ That said, if I were in the Lincoln market, I would without hesitation check the box that got me the whole bottom of the car dipped in chrome. What's the matter with all you sticks in the mud; monochromatic?? Haven't we sucked the marrow out of that for the last 30 years?
  2. balthazar
    '37 Ford TuDor sedan, front clip off, interior out, small block/modern suspension/steering, body had rot repair along bottom 2" edge. Sold @ auction for $7200. '55 Buick Century 2-dr hardtop, white over light blue, white interior (new but not stock), stock body, started & ran well, presentable. Sold @ auction for $5200. '68-69 Chevy pickup, bright red, rear roll pan, short bed, chrome rims, mint mild hot rod/ cruiser, attending said auction.
  3. balthazar
    The profile & rear are generic, bland & heavily dated. Clearly, the front end isn't production, not remotely possible any existing, major studio would approve it for public sale. This clever mask, hiding the actual production nose, is worse than the Aztek's face. When is the full unveiling?
  4. balthazar
    Another factor is choice; giving the consumer more of it often gains you more buyers. It's part of the reason the domestic trucks lines slaughter the japanese; so many models, style, configurations & packages. No; the LaCrosse doesn't outsell the ES, but there's never a singular cause for any number on a sales chart. LaC needs a bunch more marketing.
  5. balthazar
    Uhhhh, the Volt is one of what- 50 vehicles @ GM? Someone remind me how many Tesla models are on sale right now. - - - - - I would love to see Tesla be successful. It's a new(-ish) American brand. But from a business standpoint, they are absolutely 'in trouble'. They went thru 1.5 billion in cash reserves in 1 year. At that same rate they'll be broke in another 10 months. I can't imagine the bulk of Musk's time is spent on anything other than campaigning for investment.
  6. balthazar
    Here's the numbers in central NJ for the 2015 LaCrosse ~ base model : 36 sales Leather package : 27 sales Premium I : 38 sales Premium II : 262 sales Premium II MSRP : $40895. ES350 MSRP : $38,640. Consumers are overwhelmingly (72%) picking up loaded LaCrosses, which are eclipsing the ES's MSRP. Whoops; there goes another straw argument! - - - - - Let's look at factual data instead of wishes on dandelions: Average paid below ES350 MSRP : $1782 Average paid below LaC Prem II MSRP : $1853 Whoops; virtually identical!
  7. balthazar
    There is no difference in the minds of consumers RE a car that is 192" vs. one that is 197" (what the LaCrosse is overall). There is no perceived 'segment line' between the 2 sizes. It just doesn't register.
  8. balthazar
  9. balthazar
    What's would make anyone pony up $15 grand more for a slower, worse handling, worse braking, worse driving performance sedan??
  10. balthazar
    Month of June & July sucked for working on the truck (too much work!), this week looks light from here tho. Junkyard guy said 'no' to bolt request. So I bought 3 galvanized 1/2-in bolts & nuts… by measuring both the new & original bolt shoulders, they are only about 1/32nd apart, so they won't turn in the bumper holes. I do want to get the bumper brackets loose/off so I can align the bumper- it was mad crooked. Took the last rear drum, knocked the last bearing out & cleaned it up… right before my parts washer goose neck broke off the (plastic} motor. I can fix it… but at least I got the last usage out of it I'll need for the truck. I hope. Outer bearing has one really rough roller, but I'm going to use it anyway. Races are excellent. Cleaned the retaining ring & grease seal also. Drum brake surface is not as awesome as the other side's. Lot of rust on the surface with only maybe 20% of machined surface left. However, I worked at it with a razor blade, sandpaper and a Scotch Brite pad and I CAN get the surface completely smooth under the scientific 'closed eyes/ fingertip drag' method. I believe I can get the whole drum into smooth, useable shape. There's plenty of iron on the liner but I'd rather try this first. I need to get the rear brake buttoned back up before I forget how. Then wash the rear tires and install them, and the rolling stock is done.
  11. balthazar
    ~ Floyd Clymer, independent automobile tester, 1948 Studebaker Champion coupe. 2690 lbs.
  12. balthazar
    I thought you had opened your eyes to lbs/HP…
  13. balthazar
    ^ Hmmm, not quite as good as the CT6 there.
  14. balthazar
    "They shouldn't even offer a base model! They should start at 370 HP and go up from there! Bla-bla-bladdidy-blah-bla!"
  15. balthazar
    Except Audi, right? Except Jaguar right? - - - - - Same old, tired, worn-out non-point : sales, sales, sales. Accountant water-cooler talk. Bean pusher fodder. Ticker-tape characters. Dusty annual report line item. Who cares -as a consumer- how many OTHER people buy the car you like/buy?? What kind of self esteem-less husk of a person cares 1 iota about that? Do you WORK in the accounting department of Daimler or General Motors?? Self-validation much? Yearn for human contact much? POINTLESS POINT MUCH? - - - - - For the umpteenth million time, Cadillac is NOT, repeat NOT in a business mode of -above all- trying to set "BEST EVAR!" monthly records. Who the fuc wants to be in a half-dozen cluster of the same color/make/model in the morning commute? Other brands have to WHORE OUT their catalog to pump up volume; Cadillac is not under that sort of pressure. Cadillac once sold 380,000 units in the U.S., when they owned the bulk of U.S. lux market. The Division has no pretenses of even thinking about trying to get back to that. Cost prohibitive, much greater competition, and the flabby-ing of the lux market pushing all sorts of downmarket ($29K mercedes!!) precludes it. Fine- all the better to focus on PRODUCT, not sales. - - - - - You HAVE to drop this same old, boring, tired, repetitive non-point focus on sales! It's numbing in it's single-mindedness.
  16. balthazar
    Here we go with this "no one" bull$h! again.
  17. balthazar
    Replaced my phone today. Not that there was anything majorly wrong with the prior one, but I think I proved my point by stretching it out to 5.3 years of service. What was that point? Primarily; I'm cheap.
  18. balthazar
    If your chassis theory holds a drop of water, why would BMW put their flagship on the same chassis as their mid-size model's? Get with it; buyers don't know or care anything about chassis's.
  19. balthazar
    Took mercedes like 35 years to bring back the s-coupe, didn't it.
  20. balthazar
    '34 Ford pickup, black (duh), stock, nice clean shape, rollin'. '48 Lincoln convert, light turquoise w/ white top, customized rather grotesquely with tube bar grill & quad rectangular headlights, clean tho, parked in Home Depot lot. '50 Lincoln convert, black w/ white top (up), stock, flawless, rollin'. '51 Ford Tudor sedan, black with yellow flames, period '50s mild customizing, parked in driveway.
  21. balthazar
    half an inch is a pretty large deviation… here I was assuming they were down to 1/16".
  22. balthazar
    Suspension still has to act the exact moment it hits the disturbance, so settings cannot change before that or ride quality does. I believe the difference between MRC and the 'camera system' is a matter of milliseconds no one can discern the difference of by their butt, anyway. We'll see. 4729 / 516 = 9.2 lbs/TRQ If the CT6 TTV6 is -say- 425 TRQ, you'll have 3850 / 425 = 9.1. But couple that with 1 more gear in a car weighing 1000 lbs less and the handling/ride/acceleration is going to feel & be much sharper & visceral in the CT6. Guess we'll have to wait for a full instrumented test.
  23. balthazar
    S470 ("S550") has 449 HP, but weighs an astounding 4729. That's 10.2 lbs/HP. CT6 is reportedly going to start @ 3700, and with available 400 HP (yet to be verified), that's 9.25 lbs/HP. Even saying 3850 (AWD?) it's still only 9.6 lbs/HP… and lbs/HP (along with gearing) is what gets cars moving. S-class still only has a 7-spd; there's an 8-spd in the CT6. ANYONE who places performance high on their shopping lists is going to feel that power/weight difference immediately. You forget how massively fat the s-class has grown. It's in Suburban territory. Takes a lot of power to get all that weight moving. Plus 449 no longer is "a lot" : s-class had a 493 HP V8 15 years ago- they went backwards there big time. - - - - - "Niceness"… I'll wait until the production car is unveiled. I predict Cadillac will start the CT6 at $60K, but I have no idea what it'll reach upward to; that depends on the option list/trim packages.
  24. balthazar
    You said the CT6 wasn't "big enough" to go against the germans, and you were wrong. And with so many 7-series bought as 6-cyls, your point about 'no CT6 V8' is also disproven. New 7-series is tired; people will be wondering if it's new or not it looks so similar to the last one. But BMW is married to dead-end styling that they can't change. Its not going to sell to the non-BMW buyer base.
  25. balthazar
    Most buyers have no earthly idea what's under hood, and less & less often do they ask for a particular cylinder count. It's shown readily in the amount of 740s BMW sells vs. 750s. Some buyers may in fact shy away from the 740 due to it's tweener size and go for the larger car if they REALLY need a back seat. Or, perhaps they're just bored with the status quo and wish to try something new. What is 'whoop on thing'? You always point to sales charts as 'evidence' of the better vehicle, but 1977 (or 1987) s-class U.S. sales are not going to support that argument well. Neither is the actual s-class from that period, it was horribly finished, equipped & powered.
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