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balthazar

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Everything posted by balthazar

  1. ^ You're in the electrical biz, digital cameras are electric-powered... NO EXCUSE! Cool- there was a dude 5 minutes from me who had a '62 4-spd car w/ 8-lugs just sitting in his rural driveway... silver car in nice shape, but he moved who knows where. I like '62s just fine!
  2. '40- not born yet. '59- not born yet. '64- not born yet. '04- heavy equipment operator/ carpenter.
  3. 911 is not a 'bad car' in your opinion, but is it the best of the best & without compromise ?? Could Porsche have made handling more linear and used less erratic steering (I disremember the exact driving complaint in a recent C&D article vs the Corvette)? I love how a car successful in it's segment, is 'proof' it's 'done right'... EXCEPT when it's GM/domestic, where it's 'blind dumb loyalists from 1974' driving sales instead of the car itself.
  4. If I understand cranks correctly here :: Center of gravity should be the same- the journals are only offset around the same centerline- they are not (necc.) larger in radius in a cross-plane design. Likewise, weight will not (necc.) be any greater, as again- journals are shifted around a centerline, not (necc. larger). This is first & foremost a vibration control issue via balance, not size/weight (tho that CAN come into play also).
  5. No way would I want "all people" to buy a Corvette. No way would I want it to appeal to "all people". It's not supposed to. Nothing in it's segment appeals to 'all people' either. And news flash- there is compromise on more than 1 level in any car you could possibly name. There is no such thing as a mass-produced 'no compromise' car.
  6. balthazar posted a topic in The Lounge
    I don't recall this being posted last year when this piece came out. I kinda like it, tho I imagine the practicality is non-existant. My linkClicky
  7. Just spittin on this side of the DE. We got a 5-min downpour yesterday around noon, then the sun popped right back out. The birch is dropping leaves here already...
  8. I looked at a black Sierra from the late '70s with 9K on it- it was up for auction a few years ago (tho I didn't find out what it went for). It was a real beaut, but I'm not in the market. Besides, these are more for collectors in that I would just use it up (did it fit my needs) as a daily driver.
  9. Camino LS6 ~ >>"You say that as if it were a bad thing - it's called brand equity. That sort of loyalty is something the car has earned, and it is well-deserved. It is a rare car that remains as true to mission as the Corvette."<< >>"This bit is just plain wrong. GM does not need to sell this car to "all people", that would be the death of the Vette."<< Exactly right and exactly right. The relentless unspoken drive to homogenize all cars into one commonality with different badges is a sad commentary on the automotive times.
  10. Damn good price for what amounts to a brand new truck.
  11. I worked one outside job today- about 1pm-8pm; kept in the shade and there actually was a nice breeze at times. It was hot but completely bearable... but I may have been more motivated: what with Monday off, and Tues-Wed off from the heat. I sit that long (5 days) and I get very itchy. If Friday is like today was, I'll be content w/ that.
  12. I used to see their ads when I regularly read Hemmings (and in other mags) - tho I only associated them with Mustang stuff. Tough break, but those that said others will step in are correct. Musclecars & their restos aren't going away until musclecar values consistantly decline- and that's no time in the foreseeable future.
  13. balthazar replied to Drew Dowdell's topic in The Lounge
    My grandfather used to have one of these. I must admit it had the very striking color combo of a 'copper' body and a dark red/brown top. Now : painfully slow, tremendously floaty, rather boring, but whatever floats yer boat.
  14. IMO- the 3-spoke Chevy wheel is a very clean, functional design- a lot better than some of the other more awkward designs out there. That wheel (above) in the wife's Malibu is nice- nothin 'low rent' about it there (has the leather wrap & the aluminum sections). I've held FAR worse, cheesier & cheaper. But I do find it distressing to see the same wheel used across the Chevy portfolio- that says 'cheap' to me in general. I've been in the 2010 Corvette- it was far better than some make it out to be, but it's not where I would've chose to peg it.
  15. These are the science of combustion efficiency...., is the inclusion of physicalities out-of-place? For example, wouldn't it be legit to include combustion chamber design as a very real factor in efficiency? Partial vs/ fully machined, shape, plug orientation- are not these all factors... or is this broadening the discussion too much ?
  16. I'm afraid it's my fault; after the soggy spring- I demanded a drought. Sorry, have already asked for last weeks' weather (low 80s), but it's on back order. Insane here- I cannot work since my current jobs are pretty much all outside. Sigh.
  17. ^ The 'young kids into nissan' are also not into Porsche- which means porsche needs to change up the 911, too. I just don't get the mindset that 'the car doesn't appeal to everyone, so it needs to be remade'. It has not become a respected icon by being fickle on it's own mission.
  18. Wow- the car is "OK", but shave a half inch off here and there, reshuffle the proportions toward homogenization, the rear is too flat yet too 'bulbous' at the same time, raise the car, raise the roof, move the greenhouse, shorten the painfully short overhangs.... and THERE'S a Corvette that I can LOVE !! Buy/admire another car- don't change one you don't into another car.
  19. Needs to grow to 'be competitive'. Porsche '911' is an inch longer.
  20. Mercedes V-12 is a dinosaur that gets 11 MPG and struggles to pass emissions. It's days are also numbered as mercedes limits future installations. Biggest problem by far is dressing a $200K, 600HP V12 sedan in the exact same trim as the $87K, 295HP V6 sedan. Cheap, very cheap.
  21. Cripes- you could win street races all day long with that & pay it off in a few years (minus your tire allowance). Love these Larks...
  22. I'll again advocate a separate engine exclusively for Cadillac- the segment demands it. I strongly support the 'Serene V8' proposal (different name, tho ).
  23. What remains to be seen is if they can avoid the greedy pitfalls that have undermined toyota & mitshubishi... Would like to have seen hyundai's fleet percentage, not just the change. sonata is eating up Pontiac's absense from what I've heard...
  24. Manufacturer concept/dream car. Pro car. '50s Cadillac. Something vintage I can drive right now. '49-50 Merc.
  25. I happened to get mired in this particular broadcast of maddow's... and if you can look past her overly-dramatic, arched-eyebrow theatrics... she offers zero in the way of alternative solutions or approaches, nor if there even are any... as if the very properties of oil & water clean-up were as out-of-fashion as her haircut. Nothing about how the strategies today are wrong, just that they've been used before. And...? I missed the shows where she brought the same overwraught, isnt-this-familiar, wink-wink, nudge-nudge-isms regarding the last plane or train crash, and how the same wreckers & crews with torches were still cutting apart wreckage like they did in 1979.

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