balthazar

The one Aldi near me is not in a neighborhood where I'd care to get out of the car.

DB4/5 aren't bad, but they pale next to the '56-57 Corvette for cohesiveness, IMO. '56-58 300s are fairly awesome, as are the standard '56 Cadillacs, Cripes; I could list dozens upon dozens here. e-type jag looks good from above, but has issues, too. Lower body somehow looks unfinished- the tires are majorly exposed. Phantom V was 15 years outdated when it debuted. Not most people's idea of a great design.

The exhaust heat thing was addressed early on with regenerators, IIRC : 'Asphalt melting' is an urban myth. No doubt a modern version could be made pretty quiet, too. It's the original 'alternate fuel' vehicle.

Thought you'd say that, but aside from the turbine inlets & the rear outboard fuel tanks, the car couldn't be any cleaner. 'course; you take those off and the car starts to get boring to look at. Only chrome/trim is the inlets, the tips of the tanks & thin moldings around the glass. There's not even any character lines aside from the wheel openings.

So you're saying you don't like the Firebird II ('56), correct? Cause it's pretty clean & smooth.....

^ OH NO! Not the Kontera mouse-over stuff on G&C! Hate Lasers: on!!

Ad is interesting on numerous points. • He's the mailman, assumedly has some quantity of mail with him, yet it's not on the front seat, as he's continually sliding back & forth across it. Must have some sort of rear seat filing system. LOTs of wear & tear on that upholstery; hopefully it's vinyl & not cloth. • Another highly unlikely factor is a posi rear in a I6 Biscayne. Not unpossible, but very unlikely. Then again- maybe the rage in rural Tenneessee. • Also disappointed (maybe it's more of that romanticism) to see 'biggest brakes in it's class' and knowing it's a tight price range that defines that, because Chevy brakes aren't remotely close to Buick brakes this year.

Vastly fewer parts, silky-smooth operation, full TRQ at 0 RPM, ability to burn just about any combustible fuel. That enough to start you off ?

I agree that a competitive diesel should be on the roster in EU, but the Germans DO sell gas-engined cars there, no? Who are buying those cars & why and in what quantity? Anyone have the brand gas/diesel breakdowns, or some sort of overall percentage break?

'64 Olds 88

I'm still waiting for the gas turbine production car!!

I see a pretty face & I can get gooshy. Your estimate is probably right on the mark in today's market. I saw 2 for right around $15K, but asking prices are not the same thing as market values.

^ That, and they're pretty cool overall. I'm a full-size car guy, but sitting in/checking out a '73 T/A for about 20 minutes about 5 years ago, and I saw the appeal, where I never did before. When I decide 'I could own one of these'; it has swaying power. Of course I agree WRT the PMD engines: Pontiac kept it's performance heritage alive thru the '70s, where Chevy dropped the Z28 for 2 years plus the Camaro big blocks.

First thing I would look at was the Old Cars Price Guide, to at least ballpark it. The condition grades narrow thing down at least & hopefully get you evaluating realistically. I haven't checked into one in some years, but they've always run on the high side, traditionally. After that, Hemmings & Old Car Trader for comps. Auction sights I would tend to avoid, except in the case of this vintage/ make/ model- you're not going to encounter a bidding war, necessarily, so I would think it safe to factor in. Late '30s Dodge is not particularly sought after within the Dodge catalogue, and this market is still an unknown to me. I would guess mid teens is in the ballpark.... but I have no real details on the car and you have to find the right buyer. I can tell you in that pic above- it looks like a real sweetheart!

Obviously, there's room for interpretation of the intangible. However, I maintain that when it comes down to signing the bottom line, any 'V12 perception' is only bringing in a literal handful of V6 / V8 buyers. And with the bulk of sales in the mid-range (V8s)- I still question if MB would sell any appreciable amount less V6/V8 s-class, if there were no V12 model. That aside, I see no reason a competitor could not target the segment that does buy the V6/V8 models by themselves (assuming the business case for doing so is there).

I'm guessing more likely a 400 2 bbl, like mine had. '73 is my year. I'd definitely take a green over green coupe with tin top, even though mine was white over green with green interior, 4-door hdtp. I looked into this- surprisingly, tho PMD had the 350 standard in the Cat starting in '70, for '72 PMD dropped the 350 from the Cat. I assume '73 is the same- smogged 350 must've not provided enough grunt by then. The '70-71 Cats got '400' callouts when so equipped. Dad had a '70 400-2 Cat. So you're right: 400-2, 400-4 or 455-4 were the choices for this one.

The fact that there's a V-12 option in an s-class ("that nobody buys") is immaterial to the s-class V-6 buyer. In other words, no s-class V-6 buyer cares 1 iota that there's a gas-sucking V-12 available- it's not what they're shopping for, and they're not going to 'trade up' to one later. For the V-6 buyer, the V-12 might as well not exist. Unless they are so unbelievably superficial to think a passerby might think they have a V-12 car, when mercedees simplistically insists on naming all their cars after engine displacement- it's of no consequence. It's a segment unto itself: big full-size sedans with moderate/adequate power/economy/performance -- V-12s are a super sub-niche catering to a different buyer. So a TT V6 XTS would absolutely -on the basis of engine/power- compete with a V-6 and similar output V-8 s-class models- where the vast bulk of s-class sales are.

The intermediates often held their own, but a lot of the full-size cars were on the downside of their peak in just about every criteria of comparison.

Somebody posted a link, I recall posting seeing one exactly like it in East NJ back around August. Can there be 2 in the general area??

They're Formulas, not Trans-Ams. Why no mention of which motor is underhood on the first car? Sigh. 2nd Formula is pretty nice.

It's a 2-dr hardtop.... prolly gots a PMD 350 in it...... I'm out. There's not even an arrowhead on the back of it.

Weren't Mr. Daimler and Mr. Benz both German and therefore European? My thoughts exactly. Sounds like an entire, multi-page thread, there.

There's a kia dealer right near me. Initially, they were in a 2-bay concrete-block building with no showroom AT ALL. Since the major reshuffling WRT GM's BK, the Cadillac dealer sold out to a local multi-marque dealer and vacated their building. So now kia is in there. The immediately stuffed the lot full, but in going by there about every other day, I never see anybody there; noone walking the lot, no visiting cars parked out front, never a car carrier unloading- it's a ghost town. Which is interesting when they're advertising on local radio frequently, with the usual shouting, 'Crazy Eddie' type of beat-you-over-the-head spots screaming about the DEALS!!! Another dealer has advertised souls for -get this- $39/mnth. These things should be flying away like free money, but not at the first dealer.

Those rims are horrendously, comically bad. Kia, design-wise, has come up a ways. I like the geometric of that outline in the grille, one model uses it embedded in the tails. Nothing special, understand, and my eye gravitates to geometric linework. Prolly a big 'meh' to most. Reliability, tho is a monstrous question. I'd have to give the brand at least 10 years from now if I was shopping in this segment. Too much foul baggage.

>>"Shops get pretty good discounts on parts then charge the customer "list price", which can be almost or more than double their cost."<< Granted; yet I paid over-the-counter price as 'Joe Public', not as any rep of the garage- if the shop gets even MORE off, that's ridiculous.