balthazar

I would agree, except here, a '74 Monte is certainly not rare. Chevy built 312K of them. • • • In a weird alignment of the planets, I saw -all today- AMC Pacer X, spotless, yellow with the factory mags, rolling, AMC Spirit 2-dr, dark blue, extremely dusty, on flatbed AMC Eagle 4-dr, 4WD, rolling.

Wow. Ignoring the fat incentive that must've been on the original tag, plus whatever the dealer actually paid the owner vs. it's sale price now, 4 years in that S600 cost the owner around $85,000 !!

ATS 2.5 is closer to the 320i in market demographics, and from what I could find online, just a few years ago that was doing 0-60 in 9.8 secs.

Hoo boy, when I saw "1959" I thought this would be a lot tougher for me. First off, the Imperial is out as a weird one-off. Or, if it stays, this has to come in : in which case I pick that one. The late '50s trucks are really spartan/ relatively uncomfortable for commuter purposes, so I could be really happy with the upper-mid range: Pontiac, Buick or DeSoto (in that order).

Yes, quite; the color red makes anything look cheap. Don't forget the black of the tires, too! >>"We gazed upon the Cadillac ATS in person, with the words “It’s gorgeous” on the tip of our tongue. It looks quite a lot like the macho CTS sedan, only smaller, and with an overall image that feels simply more elegant. With elements like the high, rising beltline combined with an arching roof and sweeping lighting features, it definitely shares a lot of the same DNA as other Cadillacs, but with a personality all its own: the smart, athletic younger sibling with a promising future ahead of it."<<

I would SO love to get this; I've seen it in person, a stunner even as is today, and the 1 of 1 thing..... http://allentown.craigslist.org/cto/3080581068.html

Yea; I see that. LOT of people will be VERY uncomfortable trying to pilot the barge-like 159" Sonic around. The question remains; where will those uncomfortable with a 145" car go ??

Saw the Cadillac release, not happy. Aiming to be #1 in volume is a mistake, esp at this stage. Aim to be #1 in aspiration, in quality, in performance, in profit...; volume will follow that. The PR doesn't read that way to me.

Have you seen the underhood shot? ZERO engine/plumbing visible- finally a 100% shrouded engine. Not that I'm in favor of that... just remarking. RS looks pretty decent, why do we have the Spark again??

ATS is looking pretty formidable overall. Looking forward to Cadillac stealing marketshare in this segment (as it did with the CTS).

The "moving-up" theory is just that. No one comes into, for EX, BMW on the 3, then moves thru the 5 to the 7. I mean, if you like the 3- enough to purchase one, why would you care if there was a 7-series - what does that have to do with the 3-series? BMW's owner loyalty is only about 30%. They bring in new buyers, but don't retain them or move them up.

Inside of a 383 out of a '72 RS Camaro :

^ Yeah; nope.

^ v

I really wouldn't want any of them. I suppose, as opposed to walking, it would be a dart toss between the Ranger, S-10 & Camino... but I wouldn't be happy with 'em.

Again in New Bumfiss; buddy of mine, dangerous psychopath, but VERY high on the entertainment list :

Good eye as usual, ocn. Didn't show, but it was called out in the hood badge. The '53-56 generation started the F-100, F-250 designations. I had a charming '57 F-250 Styleside years back. Had 2 taillights standard, but only 1 was wired/socketed. Still miss that truck. I couldn't catch a tire size on that mini, but I scrapped an old lawn tractor this spring with larger rubber.

Gotcha. Pretty weird automotive footnote there!

^ no; much larger & different detailing on the GT40. '66 Pontiac is correct (tho is likely dependent on the coachbuilder) : http://www.flickr.co...in/photostream/

New Bumfiss, NJ ::

whoa. mercedees is using that one right now; radio copy : 'A vehicle to suit every budget' (paraphrase).

I must've lost you with "advocate". Let me restate: I did NOT suggest using prior nameplates. The issue is that a LOT of the current general crop of made-up word/names carry no meaning, no image. I don't know if having an "open mind" matters when there's no image to process at all. But there are still a few usable names out there that CAN convey an image, and a 'new' fresh one at that (I'm fairly amazed that 'Sonic' hadn't been used before now). My wondering was if there was anything left in the pool where LeSabre & Electra came from. They have dynamic sounds, and that (like 'Sonic') conveys something. "David" is horrendous. Haven't seen anyone suggest "Dunbar", but that's awful, too. The other thing that absolute MUST DIE is the practice of self-limiting a brand to 1 or 2 beginning letters of the alphabet, as if coming up with invented words isn't hard enough already. Names are not unimportant, but on a scale of 1-10 they rank about a '2' where product is the '10' and marketing (apart from name) ranks around '6-7'.

Made-up names don't convey much more than alpha-numerics, but it is good IMO that Buick has avoided A-Ns for the most part. The real problem is not the process of registering a name- that is unchanged in our lifetimes. The issue is that there's not much left to choose from, hence things like 'Velite' & 'Verano'. What do you think these convey to Buick's sought-after new buyers (which, BTW, they have been acquiring for many years now). THIS is where the time/money come in; clinics & polls, greatly expanded legal searching, just to invent something that sounds 'good'. And if you read my post clearly, I did not advocate using a prior nameplate, but a new one in that same vein. Again- I'm not sure what's left from that pool, tho. 'Enclave & 'Encore' are terrible, tho. My father bought LeSabres, in '89 & '90. Still doing very well & driving everyday. He's got a Lucerne now, and is only a tick above Buick's ABA. Your disdain for heritage has caused you to overstate this greatly.

Original names are fine, as long as they aren't stupid-sounding. BTW- are there any 'original' names left in autodom? In that LeSabre & Electra were named after jets, maybe another jet nameplate?