balthazar

My educated guess would point to the contributing factor as our comparatively low population density, quite a bit less then even than now, coupled with an even more rural based population at the time. In Canada, especially then, the "next town" was not as close by or handy. Same reason there was a Mercury truck line. Small farming communities often could not support two franchised dealerships and these standalone dealers complained to head office about not having a complete product line that they could offer that met a greater amount of the needs of their rural customers. That meant cheapo Mercuries and expensive Fords, a bargain-basement Desoto, Mercury trucks, a Nova clone for Pontiac dealers, and of course, a gussied up Plymouth sold as a Dodge. I guess they could afford the overlaps. There was also a trade barrier / high import tax that ended around '70 IIRC. Prior to it's end, there were a host of 'shuffled' brands in Canada: Pontiacs on narrow Chevy chassis's with anemic 1bbl I6s (and a few hairy 427s), and such. Once that/those barriers were removed, the nonsense stopped. Makes sense- if your U.S.-built Plymouth gets heavily taxed crossing the border, mix-n-match Corporate parts, assemble it Up North, give it a new model name and BAM!, a 'Canadian' car.

40K for replaced rotors sounds like they're rooking you. Never replaced rotors that often on anything. SAmadei- I would've thought it more likely a clueless owner would let rotors go that far much easier than a 'professional' shop, but who knows. Just replaced the front rotors on the Silverado @ 99K. My truck seems susceptible to wearing the backsides moreso that the fronts of rotors, this was the case with both the rear discs & the fronts. Not sure how common this is.

Isn't the top buggy a Willys by badge? The cutsey van I posted is the Stutz Pak-Age-Car. Stutz bought Pak-Age-Car in '32 and built these out of Indianapolis until filing for BK in '37. Diamond T took over and continued production until '41. There are only approximately 10 of these left today.

^ Has to be.

Trying to imagine the story behind this : must've been all owner-changed brakes, but the outside pads only... cause there's a decent pad on there now. Wow.

Well, of course the execution here is wrong, but the general assumption is not so off : the vast majority of japanese cars have been FWD for 25 years.

headlights & partial grilles look like '70 Duster 340 pieces. Front fenders look like full Impala units with perhaps Javelin 'humps' grafted in.

I recognize 'em. Here's another one to guess :

^ I believe it resulted in undue NVH...

^ Yep: Dodge front clip, Plymouth side trim & rear clip. Sure seems like a lot of trouble for 'half a dozen of the other'.

Kk WRT the 231 being mid-year. NeonLX said it well; that's a LOT of car for the lil' 231- the shipping weight for a dry '75 LeS 4-dr sedan was 4355. IMO, Buick was nuts with that move.

Desoto Diplomat; Plymouth body, DeSoto smile :

'76 brochure doesn't list the 231 being available in the Les, the 350 was standard and the 455 was optional. Chitlon's '82 manual also does not list a VIN code for a 231 in a Riv/Les/Ele Buick until '77. http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/static/NA/Buick/1976_Buick/1976_Buick_Brochure/76%20Buick%20Pg%2069.html I would've bet against a 231 being in a pre-'77 full-size... not sure what's RPO here. '76 231 : 105 HP @ 3400, 185 TRQ @ 2000 '76 350 : 155 HP @ 3400, 280 TRQ @ 1800 '76 455 : 205 HP @ 3800, 345 TRQ @ 2000

mercedees should dust off the sheet metal dies from this and re-pop them. Shiny paint, alloy wheels, a radio, $175K price tag and viola, the next gen G-wagon!

toyoyo sold 200 GS's last month, what's the point of announcing anything other that 'it's been discontinued'?

^ Yea, the hood is totally gone. Car was obviously vandalized/relieved of parts over time, roof must've been cut away, too. And tho I can attest that the Morrokide upholstery is very high quality, long-lasting stuff, it's not going to survive being buried in sand and pounded by salt water waves for decades. I can see the tempered side glass being gone once broken, but if you've never broken a period windshield with the goal of removing it- it's not easy to eradicate it totally. Who knows the real story here.

I'm with you, this would be killer as a 2-dr hardtop, still good as a 2-dr sedan. About the only 4-dr that makes me daydream is an Eldorado Brougham. But I ramrodded a '64 Cat 4-dr sedan for a few years; they can still weave a spell... and at this point I am quite bored with modern junk and even a sedan of this vintage is attractive in comparison.

303 HP motor is 10.5 CR, gonna need octane booster in every tank unless you're a featherfoot. You are also going to need a hand sledge (and a different trans crossmember) to get that SHM under the floorpan of the Cat; hopefully the RHM is still serviceable (they're pretty cool once you get used to them). Might be a good time to ponder a 700R4. 2369 4-dr sedan- still neat with the batwing flying roofline (which the hardtop didn't have), but I could not take that green color. Talked down to $2K (and rebuild the '61 389) : cheers

4-cyl Ecotec has already made 1000, IIRC. Car is not 'too big' for a DD, I DD a 237" truck everyday in Jersey - BFD. In my car days, I preferred my Pontiac DD's length immensely: 213". Just about perfect.

>>"if it could have been restored, it would have been."<< Yes; because every car that could be restored, already has been >>"Also, Frank Kent plans to immortalize the symbolic Cadillac as artwork for years to come. At the grand opening, it will be buried nose-first into the ground, paying homage to Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo Texas."<< How about 'immortalizing' CADILLAC, not a hippie art group from decades ago that no one knows even existed?? How does the Cadillac Ranch immortalize CADILLAC ?? Restore the car & display it permanently, THAT'D be a tribute to your livelihood. Not this. Everyone who walks up to the dealer and sees a half-buried classic is going to think they're uncaring, clueless idiots. No way in hell would I order a license plate screw from that dealer, by phone, if it was the only one with that screw in the state & I had to drive to pick it up.

I would love to see larger cars...

QFT

And the 125 years is in reference to the company as a whole. Re-read smk's post. He specifically said "Mercedes-Benz car division". Those two were separate & competing companies until the merger. The hyphen is a handy reminder. Otherwise, it's like saying Fiat-Chrysler is 112 years old. • • • mercedeees fleets far more than just the e-class- even the s-class is a common 'black car', in addition to other more mundane uses such as for police duty. Where it hurts M-B in germany is that the brand has an very poor private retail rate there, and it enjoys a FAR lower image there than in the U.S.. M-B has relied on tactics there that the American makers are consistently bashed for doing "wrong" here. You throw a tin box like the sprinter on top of that and it becomes crystal clear. M-B already has a commercial division- the sprinter is a straight-up utilitarian-grade cheap piece that without question belongs there..... except guess what- it has the 2nd highest YTD growth numbers, so it looks good on the sales chart. It's like Olds stated; same deal as sticking a Cadillac emblem on this when GMC is right. there. : Same thing with the a-class; they should be larger smart models or anything else but 'M-B's, but they are hellbent on putting "a mercedes in every driveway" as their tagline read a few years ago. mercedees is driven to achieve... VOLUME.

^ Nah, it's custom.

"Mercedes-Benz" as a car division is 85 years old (formed in 1926).