balthazar

>>"I wouldn't take a picture of anyone's mother, any politician, even Saddam Hussein and use it as target practice."<< You would not, and that is your choice. Of what harm is it for 2 individuals to (responsibly: away from others, with permission, in a safe manner) choose to do so? We cannot legislate away everything that makes someone uncomfortable. And that's really all that's behind this here.

Always good to catch something unawares.. but I have to ask- is there much point to cammo'ing a future porsche?? 911 has been the same body design since the '70s.

Part 2 sucks, but part 1: there are no words. F'ing ridiculous- these are public employees- the idea that they are some sort of royalty, and are above commentary when they ALREADY have near zero accountability, blows my mind. I'ts increasingly feeling like the Common Man can barely breathe without a permit ("Is that a greenhouse gas you're exhaling, sir? Carbon offset credit paperwork, please.") Hope to hell this is completely dismissed against your son. And those who passed a federal law banning the destruction of a photograph of a public employee need to be fined & fired for gross negligence of common sense.

Thanks for that, but 1000 lbs on the nose of a truck?? Hmmm- seems like there's room for a better version somehow...

Camino- why don't 'they' market a pick-up mounted snow blower?? I can't get this out of my mind- in some instances (like my job), it would be fantastic.

Got about 12-13" where I plow. Between doing a few other driveways, I'm back home at noon, snowblower'd the driveway, having some soup, ready to go back out and tidy up. No more room for snow- melt, please!

Plowed about 4" from 10:30AM~6:15PM. Home, sleep some, up at 1:30AM- there's about 6" out there and I'm overdue for another 8 hrs behind the wheel. Sigh.

Yer gonna need fossil fuel backup for when the roof is snow covered. Out again.

Nope: a climate-controlled garage is a drain on the power grid. That's out.

Don't let the greenies hear- they'll hunt you down. You're 'supposed' to only idle for 1 minute, then start driving. You're thinking of "global warming"...

I'm not a 'Chevy-head'; I drive one now, but consider myself a Pontiac man. Have owned 1.5 Chevys, 7 Pontiacs.

I was lucky to catch the ambulance- among the usual mayhem in Rancho Balthy- but I never felt the pieces 'clicked' on what they said WRT the 'proof'. At the end, B-J seemed to wash their hands of it. I'd seen the pics via PCS of what was claimed to be the original ambulance, with the same Navy # on the tail, going into the crusher. Why document the crushing of an ambulance 25 years ago, with the right numbers on it, if it was the wrong car? The one at B-J was obviously restored, yet not accurately (lettering/graphics, missing ambulance equipment, no curtains, etc). From what I've seen, it seems like a clone. And I absolutely believe the high bid reflected that; if there was no controversy, I believe it would've easily gone for double that.

Blorf- another dud, IMO. Gimme 2 more doors and a CTS-V SportWagon instead. Or even a P1800 with a 3.8T.

Whewft- that is NOT good looking!

Looking forward to the story on the ambulance. Actual one was crushed in '86 at the behest of the Kennedy library- the Pro Car guys dug & got the facts there. I remember asking around online about that ambulance about 6-8 years ago, never got a verifyable answer as to if it existed or not. I believe JFK's hearse is on the market for $1.5M...

^ Thanks for the clarification. I still don't imagine any adults will be riding back there, ever, so I question the 'make or break' idea, but OK.

^ Aren't you in fact complaining about him complaining ??

^ Why in the world would door count dictate a different dash ??? Pointless, change-for-change's sake, esp when the CTS interior is as dynamic & nice as it is. And the center armrest thing is way overblown. There's one in the wife's GP in back, and it never gets used when both my sons are there. I've been in the back of cars with armrests- sometimes I use it, sometimes I flip it up. But it gets harped on like we're talking power vs. crank windows.

I have one of these newer 1-gal cans. I bought one for diesel so I can refill the DuraMax's giant fuel filter before installing it. There is no lip on a fuel filter to catch the finger on that stupid rigid spout, and even if there were, it's still, again, a situation where you need to see the level to avoid spilling fuel, and the flexibility to control flow. The anger comes from a forced 'solution' that no one asked for, that is only functional in the real world in ideal situations. The fact remains, that in order to get that control back, one is forced to circumvent the 'solution' and it's intentions/goals, which renders said 'solution' even more pointless.

Camino- you're just going to have to do what you already said, and what the Gov't increasingly pushes guys like us to do : buy used.

Didn't open them all, but those that interested me enough to: Still can't figure out how ChryCo nailed the Durango exterior so HARD! Killer. Really like the Regal GS and the GMC Sierra- they'd make a GREAT driveway pair. The BMW X is ghastly, so is the bloated Bentley sedan. The other Bentley model still look like cheap influences from the old Integra to me. Good thorough job NOS!

>>"Relaying on the past is good for only so long and then you need to move on."<< Shhh! Don't let BMW hear you! And mercedes JUST re-released 1982's grilles! Yer gonna roont it! -- -- -- -- -- >>"The Lacrosse has done well to make people notice but it look too much like a Lexus to lead to future Buicks. I see it as only a short term fix. It got peoples attention and now it is time to give them a car everyone will like and would not be confused with some other brand. "<< Buick HAS DONE THIS. YOU may see the Lacrosse as a "short term fix", but after a good 25 years, Buick HAS seized on an iconic, heritage-linked visual distinction that both says 'Buick' AND separates them from the rest of the slab-sided generics out there. Forcing some sort of contrived surface-ripple, that has said nothing to no one and is there just to be 'different', THEN trying to make that somehow say 'Buick' is just spinning wheels & wasting time Buick doesn't have. The issues you seem to have ('Buick looks too much like lexus') is misrepresented; everything looks too much like everything else. Stop looking for things you can link to the past in order to damn-with-faint-praise the present. Take this from the 'junkyard perspective'; you used to be able to look out, visually, over a field of tightly spaced vehicles, and pull out the roofline of Corporate X. A GM roofline vs. a Ford roofline vs. a MoPar roofline vs. an AMC roofline. A component seldom thought of as 'signature', yet it was. A door laying on the ground- easily identifiable. You can't do that with current vehicles, for the vast majority of instances. No; brand ID is all tied up in headlights, tails & grilles, and little else... esp when considering how much of that 'little else' is copied brand-to-brand-to-brand.

^ If that's right (not saying it isn't), Buick is not gaining any lines ('baby Enclave' aside): Verano in, Lucerne out.

Hopefully it's more like mid-summer. When is the Lucerne projected to discontinue?

When is the Verano expected to be in showrooms?