balthazar

Sitting in my truck in the rain @ WAWA this morning, finishing off a phone call, eyeing over the boring flek buzzing in & out for coffee & gastro-intestinal delights. I note a guy sitting in his vehicle, and with his wipers on delay, I note that the 2 windshield wipers are VASTLY different in length, a difference in the neighborhood of a FOOT. Can you imagine being locked into going to a dealership to buy wiper blades... or buying TWO sets from the aftermarket? This was NOT an owner 'upgrade'- it was factory. Anyone know what vehicle I'm talking about ?? Anyone fathom why engineers would do this when 2 dozen pre-existing designs all managed to use 2 of the SAME SIZE blades (besides the obvious) ??

I understand what you guys are saying, but I question what % of people it effects to the point of being 'essential'. I would take a wild guess and say 15%. Frankly, I think it's lost a LOT of it's luster over it's history.... and part of that is the shuttle itself, IMO. Now, if it's all leading to some sort of return (colonization, resources, ??), there's a potential direct benefit.... but at this pace it'll take 1000 years to viably reach those goals.

>>"As for 1959 Buicks, I didn't find any."<< Poo! >>"That red one looks great...no vinyl top or side molding. Perfect. "<< The SweepSpear showed up as standard equip. for '72, and the above red job is a '71 (Flo-Thru decklid). Not sure if it was optional for '71 or not. The molding doesn't bother me as it's pretty subtle- I can go either way, but agreed on the no vinyl top. I had a '72: white with a black vinyl top- not bad but there's no natural spot to end the roof- it interferes with the flow of the bodywork. It just didn't need one, period.

Space exploration is cool, builds national pride, has quasi-scientific benefits, but it's too damned expensive. IMO. Can't decide which should outrank which.

SweepSpear needs to be Division-wide....

My school had one of those Cutlass Ciera sedans- terrifically exciting. I think I took my test in Dad's Dodge Colt hatchback- hard to screw up in something that small. I went without my own car for 3 years- my father forebid me to own one while I was in school- he knew how obsessed with cars I was. Of course, I bought one anyway, and stored it down the road in a barn.

Do whatcha gotta do. This board should be the last thing on a daily to-do list, anyway.

>>"Don't ever get rid of that G.P."<< My brother said as much to me tonite via e-mail, but I can roll tomm for 9K in a local-show-worthy example. Bro suggests dropping the 'it's my baby so it must be perfect and that'll cost $25K' and just get it rolling. I can't count up how many who remember this car from years gone by who've told me they'd buy it if it went up on the block. Who knows- it's on the back burner...

WMJ- let me know if there's any B-59s in there !!!

Sweet merciful crap, why would you bring that up in a 'visually significant milestone' thread ?? NO, NO, NO - Impala ONLY !! 1964 Impala : 1,074,925. 1965 Impala : 1,046,500. Missed it by THAT much! :wink: -- -- -- -- -- This is a real toughy. I find most of what I would vote as iconic designs to have been penned under Mitchell, tho I gravitate to Earle. '57-58 Eldorado Brougham (no such creature as a 'Seville Brougham') '63 Corvette '65 Riviera '66 Riviera '66 GTO '67 Eldorado I love the Toronado, but it's a bit radical in this situation.... I can see much merit in the '57 Bel Air (as sick of it as I am), the '59 Cadillac and the '63-64 Impala. Lots of designs are eligable... too many...

I prefer the 1st one- because the cityscape element works there- it does not for me on the 2nd. I also agree with ocn regarding the full name, but the words in #1 aren't... harmonious with each other my eye. The concept of #1 is good- but I would rework it. How about flush left "studios" with "mill city" and 'chunk up'/vary the rooftop line a bit.

Well, they could, just not in my shop. Hmmm, perhaps I should've gone with my first impulse: 1970 or older. Why CM- got a '76 that needs shelter on the Right Coast ??

Intake is a coveted 4bbl (w/ a WCFB) for the DeSoto Hemi. Relatively rare, worth about $450-500. I've been trying to sell this crap for a few months as 'whole motors', but looks like I'll end up parting them out. That only means I'll be left with 75% of it, and my appreciation for the vintage won't allow me to scrap anything that's left over... Yes, that's a sandblasting cabinet, right next to a 12-ton press. Blasted a hundred B-59 pieces w/ sand, but there's 3 bags of glass bead under the press- waiting for a change-over. A buddy built the cabinet, it's vented with a Corvair blower motor. My shop is pretty decently equipped for the hobbyist: Lincoln welder, parts washer, 1940 Index milling machine, band saw. Just needs a human in there being productive.

1964 Pontiac Grand Prix, loaded up, 56K, unrestored.

Been ignoring my shop & the projects in it for FAR FAR FAR too long, busy with work (and making a few excuses along the way). But it's a wonder what cleaning up something to the point of making it more inviting to be in, can do. I have a tentative 'rental' looking to move into Bay 3, tho today I got a call: the guy found a garage closer to his home. If it doesn't get arranged by next weekend, my buddy -the current 'landlord'- told the owner it's coming here at least for June. If not, I very well may open it for rent (domestics older than 1975 only !! :wink: ) 05-30-09 :: All sorts of flotsam to see: 2 pedestal fans, my 2-ton engine hoist, 2 disassembled DeSoto Hemis, the hood to the B-59, buckets of hand tools &... stuff, and hiding way back; spare '38-47 Ford COE fenders. See the B-59 peeking on the extreme left ? 06-07-09 :: Nice and spacious now. Hood's still there, and that's my deburred Buick 455 block off to the right. Hopefully, a 30K-original mile GM milestone car will be sitting in here, with keys & exercise instructions, by next weekend. If so, I'll be adding another pic to this thread. If not, it's available.

I love it. Unlike my mind, everything falls into place. I have a wacky way of starting it off, too. Play nearly every day for 'round 5 minutes. Is there any sort of Super Tetris, like 3 times the playing field width ?? That's long overdue.....

Was down at the folks' most of the day, neighborhood garage sale day. The 'rents & my sis made $190 combined, my sons made about $40 between them, and I made one... frickin... whole... dollar. Came back and worked on finishing clearing out bay #3 in my shop for a sexy new tenant, scheduled to arrive tomm. Early tomm morn I need to see if the F-150 will wake up and move; it's parked in front of Bay #3 where it's been slumbering a good 6-10 months.....

I heard one song on the air about a week ago, didn't like it at all, but I could never get behind Hagar's vocals & lyrics (aside from some of his VH stuff). Have any of these 'supergroups' ever paid off as big as the incarnations that made them famous in the first place?

I don't see so rosy a potential as most. Initially, we've seen these cars already. The name's the same, the cars are the same, the dealerships will be the same. Also, this only gives us more of the same : 'rebadges' to some/many- something 'we' were supposed to be straining to be free of. I feel this will be a supreme struggle for Penske, regardless of his other successes. I wonder if keeping smart & Saturn apart on the dealership level is any insight into his take on it... Bringing in any chinese product (if that happens) is NOT going to improve the image of the company, either. For the dealer & assembly/supplier folks, I hope it works... but from a business sense, I don't see a pot of gold here.

'55 Chevy 210 2-dr hardtop, intriquing cream over orange sherbert combo, perfect '55 Olds 88 4-dr sedan, black, very nice '60 DeSoto Adventurer 2-dr hardtop, dark red over a pale yellow, perfect '62 Chrysler Newport 4-dr sedan, lt blue, very solid for sale '70 Cougar ELiminator, orange, exc

Penske is not a manufacturer, he's a distributor/importer, right?, so no.

No; no Co. will ever gain 50+% of the U.S. market again- but that's not necessary on GM's part to contribute to the betterment of the nation.

Just wanted to point out: >>"the company which invented "planned obsolescence" -- the decision to build cars that would fall apart after a few years so that the customer would then have to buy a new one -- "<< 'Planned obsolescence' was STYLING oriented, not reliability/longevity oriented. When it came into fashion, American cars had excellent reliability. What a dumb douche.

Plenty of people said that about toyota circa 1965, and look how that turned out. Plenty of people said that about Ford circa 1905 and look how that turned out. In a business where a given product usually lasts only a few years, potential is constantly being re-evaluated. The parallels between automaking & -say- baseball are interesting- the 'team' gets renewed every X-number of years. Sure; many things are different, but we were talking about one specific statement. And the point is; time has not eradicated the ideal that Wilson stated in 1953. WERE General Motors to be performing in 2009 as it was in 1965, 'what was good for GM would be good for the country'. BTW: GM has already 'undone' a huge amount of mistakes it did as SOP decades ago. Or to borrow from your post, Cubitar: >>"What was relevant and true 30+ years ago isn't necessarily relevant in the modern world. The US of 2009 is a very different place than it was in 1979."<<

'57 210, $6K: '62 New Yorker 9-pass wagon, 693 built, $6K: '63 Meyers Manx, $6500: