balthazar

Was sharing the highway with a CLK350 yesterday. It was always ahead of me, darting & weaving in a vain attempt to gain position in crowded, 3-lane traffic. Failure for at least 10 miles (tho I admit to having a lead foot). Observations: > Showing the tubular steel tailpipe inside the bolt-on exhaust tip works for an off-shelf Pep Boys bobble, not a supposed class-leading lux make. Maybe if there were at least 'dual' tips, but with only 1, it looks uber-cheap. > Headrests still use the same 2 chromed rods that econoboxes used in the '80s. They stands out clearly thru all windows- look cheap. Couldn;t see the headrest construction itself clearly, but it reminded me of those sheepskin covers, for the rear of the 'rest was small & hard-looking, but the front swelled outward all around. Weird. > Making the tiny decklid out of 2 pieces instead of 1 stamping sure does no favors to the ol' 'engineering' image. > Hardtop styling, while great and admirable, is mared by very large plastic belt housings that jut up from either window 'sill'- engineers should have devised a safety-compliant system that bypassed this visual blemish. Frankly, WRT Cadillac- they are not doing anything different than the supposed 'leaders' bmw & mercedes have been doing, except with less SUVs and NO MINIVANS.

Sorry; correct: H3.

enzl - >>"With all due respect, what 'image' would you expect from a brand that sells reproductions of War machines (during an immensely unpopular war) that get crap gas mileage in a time of crazy prices?"<< H2 and H3 are no more 'repros of "war machines" than a Jeep is of another "war machine". Where is Jeep's bad image there? BTW- you have seemingly forgotten the wave of support & aspiration towards the H1 (a mere 125 sold in '07) on the heels of that very conflict- surprising, because it was huge. BTW- you'll pay less in fuel costs to drive an H2 than a nissan pathfinder, which is rated the same but requires premium. That's the reality. Now.... what, exactly, are we dealing with in calling an H2 a "war machine" and not raising an eyebrow at the pathfinder for "geting crap mileage in a time of crazy prices" ? Where are the pitchforks & torches outside nissan's world headquarters ? >>"Your description of brand 'image' only reveals your prejudices and ignorance."<<

Perfect sequence: Riv going thru the turn (58 sec ~ 1:04). Great, also, to hear that BB Buick roar- Buick's haven't snarled like that... since there were Buick engines... >>"This fellow has a lot of other interesting road tests on his You Tube site"<< Just watched the '63 Galaxie vs. Impala- and tho they didn't tell any accel times, by watching the flagman shrink to a spec as quick as he did; both these "top-engine" cars were flat hauling ass (1:24 & 1:45 sec)... info says 406 & 409 V-8... 4bbl 409 Impala was good for 0-60 in around 6.6 sec. Wonder how much quicker 427 cars would've appeared.

The prius is tired, even hearing the name incessantly is tiring - plenty of room for a newcomer here. Plus, for the hardcore greenies, 50 MPG is nothing compared to a potentially advertised "100 MPG".

Depends on what you are looking for, no? And: keeper or flipper? You're a Cutlass guy, is the Wildcat a diversion or an 'also-love'? I'm not an olds guy or a conformist, so the Wildcat would hold more interest for me, but I don't like WCs after -say- '66, and '70 is way off my list. Looking forward to the WC pics, anyway.

>>"Unfortunately, a lot of parts people on eBay ONLY accept PayPal"<< Thusly the reason for me setting up an account- eBay now MANDATES PayPal as a payment method as of Oct... of course because they get a % from every transaction. Fabulously greedy bastards. Apparently a buyer can ask to pay by check, etc, but the seller cannot in any way suggest they accept that. IIRC, a personal PayPal account doesn't regualrly 'take a chunk out' of incoming payments- but commercial accounts do. Sigh- I'll give it a trial run....

Nothing wrong with thick-enough plywood- will outlast the cushioning on any chair. It's particleboard that does not (obviously) belong in any type of stressed furniture production- complete garbage. I had to refabricate the plywood of the seat bottoms on my '40 Ford- 5/8" pressure-treated. They sit on a steel perimeter frame, so they won't go anywhere- but they'll last 100 years, IMO. Hey DF- gee; I wonder where your first chair was made ? Never bought anything off craigslist. I did just pick up a 1870-1890 6' tall drill press for free, commonly referred to by modern amateur machinists as a camelback. Not sure what I'm going to do with it just yet. Also just bought a set of 4 steel HD casters for $10. Wheels are about 6" in dia.

Whaa?? My e-mail addy is my PayPal account ID?? {the bashful baby spider scurries under the fridge} Why is it I'm not reassured about this process ?

As one who automatically creeps towards new tech like a bashful baby spider, I recently set-up a PayPal account, but I'm finding their site non-intuitive, and I see nothing that ID's my account, like a.... well.... account number. In other words, what do I give to another person so they can send-me-the-money ??

Has nothing to do with asking for money, it's an effort to make saab more appealing to potential buyers from a disentanglement standpoint.

Read elsewhere that the clone '56 Pontiac Club deMer went for $100K, and the Buick Blackhawk went for $475K.

early GM sketch for the '71 :

Cleaning out digital files: pic of said engine donation :

Well if it's gotta be a '73, you are extremely hard pressed to better a Starlight Black car, built in the home plant, with the handling package, Rallye IIs, the NACA hood & a STT rear. A beauty.

Some more boattail goodness:

Tough call. As my dad would say 'It's worth whatever anyone'll give you for it!'. Thanks, Dad. Seriously, I never follow iron this new, and I would think even in 'normal' times, the pool for an intermediate late '70s wagon is pretty small. What that pool would be willing to pony up, I have no idea. On the up side, the '70s stuff continues to garner more interest as the demo that grew up with them gets disposable. nostolgic income. On the downside, does anyone have any disposable income these days?? Not that it matters WRT a value- but what do you have into it?

What an F'ing beautiful car!! I had a parts car '72- it had gotten hammered in the rear quarter, so it kindly donated it's engine, trans & 4-note horns for my '59. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8ZJ2zW9poI

>>"Put your tongue on it"<< Oh, blu; no; say your not openly trolling for a date in this pathetic & completely tactless manner. :wink:

>>"The obstacle isn't thats its an electric, at least for the loan Lutz was referring to, the Advanced Technology Loan, its that it doesn't have any new advanced technology. At least in the sense that there is no new technology going into the Converj that isn't already in the Volt (as far as we know at least) . Since the loan is for specific technologies and not actual vehicles, and money from that loan has already been allocated and used for the advanced technology used in Voltec powertrain, which the Converj would use, there would be no new funds coming available from that specific loan program."<< OK- then there can be no direct gov't obstruction to the Converj, correct?

On the other hand, unless he's a money-grubbing scumbag - going thru all this and buying TWO MORE GM trucks after that sure speaks well for GM truck appeal !! :wink: '04 Silverado 2500HD here, 79K miles, no steering issues ever. Yes- there's definately a difference in 4WD while making sharp turns, but its completely, utterly managable and not even annoying. I sure hope this wasn't the condition he complained under !

Annnnnnnd, how cold is it in "Elsewhere", exactly?

Powerglide went into the '70s, but how far & on what, I'm not sure. Sure the Impy didn't have the TurboGlide?

Converj should have no obstacle to Gov approval- it's yet another electric vehicle- they should be for that... at least from an oil dependancy standpoint.

That sweet SD-455 is worth some bucks. I always liked those '80 Pace Car T/As too- cool paint scheme. >>"I think they were talking about, now.... that it does not meet any standards or laws of any state now"<< Cars only need to meet the standards under which they were manufactured, not the year we're in. If it was made recently to look like a '31, it'd be a different story.