balthazar

Yeah, sorry for omitting the link : http://www.pickupspecialties.com/Bestop/trekstep_truck_bed_step_bestop.html

IIRC, the grand total used in the show was 229. For context, Dodge built 89K Chargers in '69, and 96K in '68 (yep a few '68s snuck into the show too).

The Pep Boys near me went way downhill. They used to have a decent selection of Grade 5/8 hardware, but then they ditched it. I see plenty of neon wiper blades covers & floor mats, tho. There were 2 NAPAs near me, the one did close, the other is in a major urban area 10 minutes away- they're still rolling along. Also have the AA & AZ twins, plus a National, a couple auto body supply houses, a Peskoe (dont kno if thats a chain or not), a Strauss, a Fastenal outlet, a truck parts supplier, jeez... quite a bit it seems.

The Ford tailgate 'man step' does look pretty ill-thought-out & flimsy. I don't believe the handle on the gate will last long under heavy use, and frankly the setup should be located to one side rather than in the center. Not sure what the better solution here is, but I like this much better: But... I do want the bedside step on both sides (ahead of the rear wheel). Like this: Unfortunately, it's $250 per step here.

I would really like to, tho work has been crushing lately. I already had to pass on Carlisle. I'll have to see...

^ THATS a sleeper! Got a pic, Neon?

Someone has a deployable side step for the bed, you nudge it with your foot to deploy & stow. I could use that every week on a truck.

In that a top-shelf engine always has the boy racer trappings as a mandatory vs. a base model, I agree. It was pretty damned cool when you could tic off the big block option on a stripper car. Option bundling killed that off.

'50 Pontiac convertible, yellow, spiffy, parked at a gas station right next to circa '52 Dodge box truck, tarped over. '85 Eldorado, under a cover in the driveway of a new client. For sale, but didn't get any details (too new for me).

^ Far enough that they fall outside the def, IMO. These are dedicated performance cars; to most, a V6 Firebird is the anomaly, not the norm. Now, if you had the GTO powertrain in a G3.....

I'm not from the Ike era, but I've delved to the dawn of the industry and I know what you're saying. You can feel a degree of passion in the vintage stuff, the human element in their bones that's no longer there. ITs really not an exaggeration that I find more interest and realism in the rotted out carcass of a -say- 1955 Pontiac than a brand new Optima. And I feel absolutely no pressure whatsoever to like the optima because of things like it starts @ 20-degrees- ranking that high is what enables the appliance era we're in. Like Camino says- why should I accept what doesn't appeal to me?

"the best choice for profits" pretty much ruled the 1980s and torpedoed volume. More recently, GM has learned that doing things a bit differently and less with profitability in mind has improved their station notably. Because the recent interiors have certainly cost a lot more. You look at the plethora of packages & trims over at Ford and you can see a LOT of expenditure over there.

'Road hugging stance' !

Power would help a bit, but who's to say what spec the drums & shoes were in at that time?

^ Only thing Ford "has" done is an AL hood.

^ That's the illustration. Commonly, seat tops were about 9-10" off the floor- above it looks like 6-7". Sure the seats could be made to lock. At issue is, the next year IIRC, they were hooked via cables to the doors, so when you opened the door the seat swiveled 'automatically'. THAT would not go over (sure; just delete that feature). IMO, the ever-growing tallness of narrow cars today well precludes this as being a benefit- today you open the door and your hip is 3-ft above the road & 6" from the outer door skin - you just tumble out onto the road. Back when cars were 80" wide your hip was 12" from the outer skin & 15" off the road.

Was there a spoiler delete option, or did a prior owner remove it? I do like it better without here. Every GTO I see seems to be impeccably well kept - they erally seem to be treasured by their owners. Congrats on a beaut in the true vein of Pontiac's heritage!

I guarantee you if I spec'd out a truck, the same relative scenario would unfold. My current Silverado has a number of options I dont' need/ want/ use, and a few I would like. I guarantee you a huge quantity of people have some degree of dissatisfaction with their vehicles; if it were otherwise, there wouldn't be nearly so much online griping and very little in the way of many aftermarket items. I hazard to guess that owner loyalties might be measurably higher, too. Unfortunately, we are stuck in a system that favors the manufacturer over the customer and mandates homogenization.

'57-58 drums were engineered differently. '57s had integral AL & steel liners, '59 & after had 100% steel liners and had improved construction for better heat transfer & dimensional stability, among other measures. In '59 testing, cars performed identically on the 10th hard consecutive brake test at Milford as they did on the first. But no; if they were correctly set up WRT shoes & hardware, you'd never drive a B-57 hard enough to get them to fade- they are still superior brakes. What's your experience?

How do you know these packages are "what people are buying anyway" when no one offers individual options to compare to? You yourself just said 'everyone is doing the same thing'. The issue is 2-fold : whether a bought package pushes additional smaller packages out of contention for a buyer, and whether individual options could generate more profit or less. $1500 may not be much to you, but to many its a LOT. To put it another way, it's the difference between a truck getting 20 MPG composite and 26 MPG composite over 3 years (and there's no interest involved there). Some folks were naively trading in their vehicles at a huge loss to move the MPG needle less than that a few years ago.

I suppose my B-59 would qualify as a sleeper, in the no one would suspect it would perform any differently than stock.

what's the fascination on the captiva? At times seems like the most-mentioned new spot. :shrug: '63 Olds 98 4-dr hardtop, black, VG shape, parked on side street. From a distance, under a carport was the side profile of a '50s GM 4-dr hardtop. I actually backed up in the street and it looked like a '56 Buick, sort of... but the C-pillar was wrong- it was thicker. It was dusty, behind a smaller car, and there was some scrub brush in the way, but for some reason that C-pillar got me thinking Eldorado Brougham. I will be back in the area Tuesday- need to scout that out! EDIT : upon reflection, the roof was silver-ish, too. Now I'm getting all randy on this one. Damn it, we need higher resolution google/bing maps!

And the irony of your example Roger, is of course that with a trailer (trailering mirrors), you'd have no need for an auto-dimming IRVM! I tinted the rear window of my '94 F-150, and since that, and thru the factory tint in my Silverado, I haven't (manually) dimmed my IRVM in 18 years. I'd rather see the money for an ADIRVM spent somewhere else (useful) on a truck. Most lines of trucks these days all have tinted rear glass. Its a pointless option (in a truck) that only adds weight.

^ agreed. If the packages were a few hundred a piece, no big deal. But when they're commonly 1500, they are going to lose out on ordered vehicles. In the past when options were line-item, seldom were 2 models the same. That speaks to the individual preferences of consumers. This is a portion of the reason vehicles have become more like an appliance- homogenization. Unfortunately, there is no 'comp' to judge the profitability potential of line-item options today, so assuming packages are more profitable is merely a shot in the dark guess.

NOW the pic of the 2nd gen Aurora shows up for me, and there I agree; they're spaced there. The others modern ones are different enough IMO.