balthazar

>>"That Seville? Meh, an OldsmoCapricillac!"<< Olds minted the blocks, and that was about it there. No Caprice in it, and BTW, only 7-10% Nova. Unique shell, unique chassis, nice appointments. I wouldn't mind a black/silver Elegante on the real wires.

It's also mind-numbingly boring. Merc had triangular taillights in '57-59 AND they wrapped around the side for safety. ...Mercury that is: Like moltar posted: Pontiac is the first that comes to mind with the Endura 'rubber' bumper on the '68 GTO. Rear spoilers go way back: '66-67 Chargers had them; integrated, not tacked on -- there you might have to go to '69- when a LOT of marques offered them on a whole host of cars. The huge headlight thing is still on the upswing, unfortunately. Apparently a plactic lense is cheaper than sheetmetal- some cars' lights reach back beyond the front wheel center. They'll touch the A-pillar before they retreat, I think.

>>"When we think Pontiac we still need to and should think performance. But now It is important that the old time Pontiac Enthusiast reset his old image of Pontiac as they need to move forward into what performance is in the present market and not what it was in the 60's and 70's."<< Again and again (and again) you post this sentiment. Where have you found that current Pontiac shoppers are asking for '60s PMD- from a handful of '04-06 GTO wannabuyers? Is there something in the current portfolio you feel is an unjust throwback (hood scoops on the G8 perhaps?) Far better that Pontiac utilize some of it's heritage from the '60s than anything that came afterward. And if the '60s is no longer important or worth remembering- why should Pontiac bother retaining any image of performance, if not to launch from that heritage? Mercedes, after buying the rights to the maybach name, promptly whipped up a website synopsis of maybach's '21-40 history, even tho that was a TOTALLY unrelated & independant company's history they absconded with. Did M-B happen to believe that long-ago, unrelated heritage would have some bearing on '0x maybach shoppers.... I wonder. At least Pontiac, if indeed it's actually doing so, it looking at it's own history.

>>"...The first real blow to the Sloan system was the car that many GMers swear by now: the corvette. It coast nearly as much as a Buick, and when it came out every division above Chevy threw a fit about it. The original Impala was another severe blow, and really made Cadillac angry."<< Corvette is not legitimate- even tho it did eclipse 10 out of 13 Buicks in price for '53, it was of course too vastly different in every respect to every other division's models. No competition there. I do not even believe the other divisions threw any sort of "fit" in NOT getting their respective 2-seat concepts for production (Wildcat, Bonneville Special, F-88, LeMans); I've never read anything that attests to these being primary goals for the divisions; they were all, to the last, more than occupied with continually rising production and their own limited big dollar series (Skylark, Fiesta, Eldorado). Impala came no where near Cadillac's price range ($2693 for the V-8 vs. $4784 for a Series 62 coupe)- there was no issue there. While the Impy did overlap the lower priced series' from PMD, it didn't even overlap the next tier, the '58 Olds Dynamic 88 ($2772). In other words, the break from the Model was not that drastic or sudden (Chevy elbowing Cadillac). One instance where Cadillac did register it's displeasure was the Buick Limited Series of the early '40s; there BMD offered custom coachwork and did overlap the lower Cadillacs in price, and this practice was halted after only a few years by Corporate. I do agree that the introduction of the A-Body cars (Tempest, F-85, Special) undoubtedly accelerated the end of the Sloan Model- their price tags were very close. They were also the first instance of inter-divisional engine swapping, the Begining of the End, IMHO.

Valve float indeed is caused by too high an RPM to allow the valve to fully close- it's a byproduct of cam speed/profile vs. valve spring pressure. I do not believe it's possible to exceed the designed oil pressure capacity in hydraulic lifters. I have never heard of oil pump cavitation- water pump yes, but not oil. However, yes: the crank can aerate the oil in the pan if the level is too high- but I would think it very unlikely to so completely aerate the oil than the air bubbles get down to the sump and get transfered to the oil pump. The oil gallery pressurizes via the oil pump speed/clearances- having another 1/2 quart in the sump will not increase the pressure any- it's on the neutral 'side' of the 'circuit'.

Sloan's model eliminated price overlap when instituted, which cleaned up & streamlined a dangerously chaotic GM in the early '20s. Bearing in mind that that was the cornerstone of Sloan's heirarchy... as soon as multiple interdivisional pricing overlaps came into being --and this started in the late '50s BTW-- the Sloan model was no longer being followed. Sloan retired in 1956. Some think it was still in effect in the '80s and '90s.

I'm not disputing the percentages, but they are -of course- extrapolated from actual quantities. Doesn't come off dire & dreadful enough for you, I know. Might be illustrative to learn that tho the camry only fleets to about 8%, 8% of 400K is NOT only a few hundred cars, like "8%" sounds like it might be. This is the inherant mislead that using only percentages brings.

I think the primary feature than makes the Challenger so relatively fresh looking vs. the 'stang is that the Dodge has no front 'bumper'- that's pretty unique.

>>"But Camry fleet/rental sales are a fraction of Grand Prix's and G6's"<< Fleet volume, 1st half of '07: Camry :: 14762 G6 :: 25751 GP :: 32454 3 camrys fleeted to every 5 G6s, not that lopsided, really. Allegations have been forwarded that toyota underreports their fleet numbers, FWIW.

>>"I would have hated the BOnniville then to be a Silver Streak or Super Chief."<< Of course, those names co-existed.... >>"...there was internal strife regarding use of the Chevy-associated nameplate on a Pontiac vehicle..."<< Impossible- we've had numerous running commentaries right here assuring the rest of us than GM cars can be flipped and flopped between divisions with a simple stick-on badge change and 'it won't matter'. What are these GM guys talking about?

This... isn't a gag question, is it?.....

>>"I said that, too, that it makes sense from a cost-perspective. So what are you trying to say here?"<< That saving a few bucks is the only positive thing; everything else about the situation is a negative. Cadillac gets more & more in common with non-Cadillacs- where is the benefit for Cadillac there, from a perception/image standpoint? >>"This will be platform-engineering, not badge-engineering."<< Oh; I know this and you know this... but the bashers are going to gloss right over this and say things like 'its just a Caddy grille on a chevy', and no matter how absurd, some will believe it. Northstar goes, Sigma goes... you know some idiots will start saying it...

>>"The consolidation of Sigma and Zeta in the future was always an inevitable possibility. It makes sense from a cost-perspective, as well. Not to mention that there is the possibility of the ability to bolt-on some higher-end parts from the Cadillac models onto something like the NG G8 Coupe."<< What goes hand-in-hand with this sort of thing, inevitably, is the detractors case for 'they ride the same chassis- what's the point of both Cadillac and (other division 'zeta'). It's more than enough for some to wave the tried-n-true 'badge-engineered' banner high and frantically. Homogenization only accomplishes one thing automotively: saving a few dollars in the short run. Oh, and it makes restoration/parts hunting easier 30 years down the road...

[i>>"Please do tell: "<<[/i] Should've said 'was': the man is gone and the car has gone to Sweden, where it bears almost no resemblance to what it was, which was awe-striking in a very different & individualistic way. To those who met him/saw the car, tho, he is well remembered. The Merc was a daily driver- he had no other car. You could not see under the rear quarters with your head on the ground and it did not have hydraulics or air bags.

'07 Reliance: '47 DelCar:

Give me one of the Mirage deVille pickups, or a flower car first.

No trying to make you out as that old, C: he just looked too young to even have a car in the pic and there was no date on the article.

A local legend. Note sheet of plywood to aid entry to driveway:

Cool pics! The lil' tyke you, by chance, Camino? Still got that flattie sitting around ?

It's inevitably, really; once the millions & millions rolls in, the acclaim & fame, the legion of fans & groupies... what is there to be angry about anymore ???