balthazar

The basics : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durant_Motors Durant also had a huge successful career before GM with the Durant-Dort Carraige Co. I've yet to read one of the handful of books on Durant, but idle he wasn't.

This hangs in my shop. Star was a brand under Durant after he left GM and gave it a go at building 'GM II'. Star : 1922 - 1928.

1958: Love this one !! Circa '52:

Pre-eeeeetty sure this doesn't denote what it appears to :

Heading to the shore the end of June for a week, will take a few trips to upstate NY mountains over the summer, hope to take in a few car shows as I've been 'opting out' recently due either to work scheduling or weather. Working on the Buick is RIGHT THERE at the top of my list... along with 28 other things competeing for my free time.

>>"270hp (between a 328 and 335 in power), slightly smaller, 150~200 lbs lighter than the 3-series or C-class at ~$33K is not a bad place to be."<< Sounds like a good target to me.

Car sat outside his mother's house until maybe 5 years ago, when it moved to my brother's place, where my B-I-L is a terminal squatter (his stuff- not him). As the B-I-L lives about 30 minutes from where the car is, works all the time and has 2 little girls to look after- the car sits & rots. I understand the circumstances completely, but he should get it under cover/ a roof anyway. I remember riding shotgun once, we were racing a buddy's '74 Camaro 350. A total symphony of screaming cubes... but the Camaro edged the Firebird that evening. >>"It's nothing that a bottomless wallet can't fix"<< $13.5K is not that hideous.. but only worth considering with a front clip !! One could easily spend that on a very rusted original in metal replacement/straightening/priming.

Had time & my camera- thought I'd share. This plucked bird belongs to my brother-in-law. Back in '84-86-ish, it was a mild terror; Pontiac 355, usually a 4bbl but was a Tri-Power for a short while. Auto, white bucket/console interior. IIRC, it has been off the road since '88, and at this point- it would be advisable to start with a rot-free bird. My B-I-L still entertains dreams of restoring it, but that's easily out of the question for the next 10 years at least. Unfortunately, it has been outside 99.9% of the days since '88, and likewise has little chance of seeing the underside of a roof in those next 10 years. Was a clean machine in it's day. The pics are hiding detailed sadness- it's in worse shape than it looks.

Gonna extend most of my animal comments to this baby: 'Throw it in the wood chipper'.

While I can always appreciate hard work, a vision & shade tree engineering... I cannot help but question building a RWD conversion of a FWD car when there are so many RWD cars with that already done. And no; I'm not getting the idea that 'it has to be an Intrepid so 1 of 1,000 other choices won't do'.

300SL is unrefined, design-wise. Does nothing for me. But the P-57 top shelf is the Bonneville, not the Safari. '29 is too far removed chronologically to consider vs. the P-57. However, it's worth considerably more, so if flipping was optional....

Just a veiled verbal threshold for FCC 'oversight' of the internet. "Net neutrality" is coming; can't wait.

Isn't that the info-babe that was basically frustrated the Times Sq bomber wasn't anyone other than someone with ties to Islam... like...oh... hopefully a disgrunted, white, middle-aged Tea Party member ??

P-57s = gorgeous... in a way no mercedes has ever matched.

66 stang - if you had only enough food to feed -say- 3 kids, are you going to feed your own children, or a random 3 that wander into your yard instead ?? The country is broke and we cannot take care of our neighbors. Advocating unlimited illegal immigration is nonsensical in light of that. That's not political, that's common sense.

'86 Olds 98, dark gray, tired, rollin'. '76 Cadillac Seville, same bronze color as the '68, parked. '68 Cadillac, deVille Convertible, VERY nice, bronze w/ cream top, parked. '66 Mustang, med blue, ass end poking forlornly out of garage.

I have a few fans too: a very nice Westinghouse (down- needs full cord), a tiny Polar Cub, another vintage tabletop unit (brand escapes me) & a large Cool-Air belt-driven window unit. Also have 2 pedestal/floor fans- I'd guess from the late '40s from the Art Deco-esque designs in the base- the motor looks like it was mounted in half of a WW2 Torpedo casing. Has a cool AL 3-blade fan. Blows like a hurricane. Thinking about it here, I realize I own another 5 or 6 fans. I guess one could say I'm a fan of fans. I have been keeping an eye out for one of those tiny rubber-bladed, uncaged fans for use inside cars- would be perfect for my '40.

Ellis Island's history is from 1892-1954. 1924 is 1 yr shy of the exact middle of that timespan, making "most" of it's history (by 1 yr) one under quotas. Or am I just being too literal here? Point being- in 1892-24, the country was wide open & primarily farmed/hunted. In 2010- the population is nearly 5 times what it was in '92, and 2/3rds of the Nation's entire 1892 population is on food stamps today. Unrestricted immigration volume --primarily those that are way way below the median wealth of American citizens-- DOES put a financial burden on this country's infrastructure- there is no doubt. Common sense dictates it cannot continue unchecked... regardless of the agenda of some in politics to grant endless entitlements & politically endear future voters to their party.

Also been to both Maui & Oahu- driven around Oahu, to the top of Haleakala, flew over Hawaii. So beautiful... but no old cars.

Not with that tie, he's not. Indeed there were volume restrictions during Ellis Island's time; in the immigration Act of '24 (and again in '56). They imply that there were none. US pop in 1890: 63M, in 1950: 151M, in '10, 309M. Resources on all levels are limited- we cannot continue this 'deficit immigration' without allowing resources to catch up. So timely- reported just today: a record 40 Million people in this country are on food stamps. All the issues WRT food prices & work can be easily addressed via legal immigration- again the two categories were seamlessly & incorrectly blended in the link above.

QFT !! I surely do miss driving my '64 Cat around- power steering & manual everything else, factory AM thru the dash speaker or the FM converter thru the package shelf twins as the mood strikes... but more often than not- the music of 389 cast iron cubes throbbing underhood. Sometimes I yearn to drop back into a much different, older era and really relax.

The irony of Mexican students... in AMERICA... feeling "offended" by the flag of AMERICA... boggles the mind. You know where the border is- feel free to leave for a place you can 'not be offended' day after day.

Cubi-quizzical ~ >>"IIRC, there was a huge convertible w/ 6 wheels on the cover of Road & Track around 1977. It was a one-off, black IIRC. Don't remember any other details..."<< Panther 6, Cadillac 500 powered, still around.

I have never seen a 'carriage top' on either gen of CTS- nor on a LaC. A number of camry carriage tops, tho. '68 Cadillac Coupe deVille, black primer, a bit rough, parked. circa '68 Corvette, dark blue, great shape, rollin'. 'circa '53 Plymouth 2-dr sedan, black primer, a bit rough, parked.

It's not "delusion", it's choosing quality over whatever moldy ilk happens to be on the shelf. The 3rd house landline IS a black, Bakelite 1941 'Cyclops Eye' rotary, yes. Ed Sullivan sometimes misdials & rings our house up.