balthazar

LH2 Northstar was new for 2004.

Moltie- you really should crowbar yourself out from in front of the TV once in a while- your barrage of boob tube cliche's is about the most '1950s' thing in this thread.

^ How '1990' of you to still be pumping your own gas ! -- -- -- -- -- Unless you happen to pull up to the 'big trucker' diesel pumps- the screen asks you right off if you want to pay credit at the pump and no one ever comes over. Been pumping my own fuel for years & years- at the bigger stations it's not hugely enforced. What's the BFD either way?

Also don't do electronic banking- zero chance of getting hacked that way. >>"How do you get cash?"<< People give it to me. I assume you use DD- as an independent contractor, I do not have that option. Yes- I go to the bank around every 2 weeks. 'Skim off' what I need for a week or so, deposit the rest. Have a small local bank- they know me there, service is excellent. Works perfectly for me.

Like Camino- I too have been moving toward more & more cash. Big ticket items & staples such as gas- I get cash back by using credit so I'll use it there, but there are many instances AND advantages to using cash over anything else. I deal frequently in parts buying/selling- no plastic there. I don't do ATM or debit- always have an eye toward simplification, and the less statements hitting my mailbox that I have to process, the better.

I saw a sweet '64 Lark coupe Sat in upstate NY. Saw it at least 3/4 mile off and knew it immed.

Being in graphics, you know this is a fallacy. The human eye has no problem reading a large number (damnit- where's my pica ruler??) (ie; "20") rotated 90 degrees --never mind that most subconsciously recognize the portrait of Jackson as being a 20. In fact, horizontal bills in a cash drawer are only rotated 90 degrees.... vertical bills are going to be rotated 180 degrees 50% of the time. Frankly, those that have to rotate bills upright in order to read them... I'd prefer they didn't handle my money anyway.

"bad need of a makeover"... People make it so easy to dislike people... yer dollah

> Automatics have been shifting faster than manuals, in general, since... I dunno, the 1960s. You can't control the shift points as well, obviously, but the speed of the shifts is beyond question. > People have long been conditioned to the perceivable shift- at the point that autos get so smooth one cannot discern the shift, you may well encounter a degree of backlash. I've heard that said of CVTs... > More gears assumedly allows better spacing of ratios, and an increased ratio range, but many just add multiple OD gears and don't move the overall ratios much. Case in point: M-B 7-spd auto~ 1: 4.38, 2: 2.85, 3: 1.92, 4: 1.36, 5: 1.00, 6: .82, 7: .72 GM 6-spd auto ~ 1: 4.48, 2: 2.87, 3: 1.84, 4: 1.41, 5: 1.00, 6: .74 GM HM 6-spd (this is the 6T70) has a steeper 1st gear, very compatible 2-5th gears, and an identical top OD gear- mercedes only give you an intermediate, 2nd OD gear and in fact; a worse ratio range. It's really a 5-spd with double overdrive (and the HM is a 5-spd with OD). IMO, esp considering the amount of time one would spend in M-B's 6th gear vs. the complexity & cost, the 6T70 is in fact a better transmission from the consumer's standpoint. There's more to the story than just the total number of gears. > More gears benefit a more 'peaky' power band, because it keep the RPMs in the 'sweet spot' better. Today's engines in general have amazingly flat power bands- so that's no longer a real concern. Now the 'sweet spot' concern is MPG/emissions, not performance... yet the association with performance lingers. I would agree that 6-spds are likely the ideal- anything more than that is primarily a marketing gimmick. And it doesn't matter that M-B already stated they don't believe consumers would "accept" a 10-spd auto, I guarantee you it's being designed. It's marketing. These mega-gear trans must weigh a couple hundred lbs EASY.

This is the car that ran @ the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1950, and with a decidedly non- top end rear of 4.30:1, averaged 131.6 MPH on 3 runs. Tuckers were damned fast cars- far exceeding anything else of their time.

Arbeit macht frei.

Bought for $1500 in 1956, driven only 603 miles, then garaged for unknown reasons (with 9800 original miles), it has recently been sold (undisclosed amount). Mostly complete, it needs a complete re-do. Rust & mice are never mindful of history, unfortunately. Some sort of impact of unknown force poked out it's Cyclop's Eye. Hopefully & assumedly, it will be restored, as Tuckers have now cleared 7 digits in the collector arena. Neat to see a 'rumored' one re-debut.

I saw one year, either 71 or 70, listed "War Bonnet Yellow"... These are far more appealing than the rubber bumpered versions. There's an Elkhart Gr coupe in my neighborhood- been sittin without moving the 18 years I've lived here....

I like how you think you can slink out of here without giving at least minimal car details- well done!

Rare birdie ^ only 100-135 built. Allen's original SCCA comp car :

Friend of mine has had numerous 2nd gen Corvairs- I've spent quite a bit of time around & in them. Nice cars all around- design, interior, exterior, visibility, handling, sound, innovation. Back seat ain't great- I usually sat sideways if i didn't nab shotgun first. But face it- the biggest factor of the Mustang over the Corvair was simple & elementary- it offered a V-8. In '65, 65% of Mustangs were V-8s, and Ford moved 559,451 units... 195,8xx being 6-cylinders . Chevy moved 235,500 Corvair 6s.

There's no need whatsoever to install a cam in a DOHC set-up of a dual-function Gen V block. It's not going to drive anything. A plug (maybe a simple idler) is likely all that would be needed to use DOHC heads- so we're only talking about 4 cams. Yes- then the SB will be similar to other DOHC engines in external size, but that is not always an issue. The point is to utilize the most cost-effective way to address both sets of issues (the advantages of either set-up). I love the idea.

Diesel 350 was a completely different block. Blocks in the diesels were not a reliability/longevity issue. In fact, they are sought after today for performance rebuilds because they are so stout. Cam location was likewise not an issue in the 350 diesel's reliability.

My wife was in NYC on 9/11, I didn't kno exactly where. I drove like hell, F-150 howling, high beams & hazards on, about 45 minutes across rural areas I'd never been before, trying to beeline from where I was to her work building. Completely flying by the seat of my pants and some sort of subconscious compass. Once there, a co-worker told me their 7WTC meeting had been moved a number of blocks away. Some relief of course, but I didn't hear from her until about 3:30PM and didn't see her until nearly 6PM. Hard hard day all around. Never forget.

I believe it was my friend's '68 Sedan deVille hardtop, out in the field behind his parent's house. Well before we had our DLs. Titusville NJ, 1981.

Right: those are hardly mere "subtle differences in styling"...

A lot of production pieces came from the aftermarket, but I am not up on the story RE OHC conversion heads for Chevy V-8s.

I didn't care for the Avant, nor the Riviera concepts. Right diretion, but not there yet.

Granted, but it is not a 'new direction' for the F-150, just a 24-month 'blip'.

>>"The F150 gets a V6 this year"<< After only some months waiting for a new one; the F-series has had a 6 since day 1. Nothing new there. Standard vs. optional is quite secondary to the fact that both are still offered.