balthazar

>>"There are 2 new 500,000 barrel/day refineries getting built in the Atlantic Provinces to sell directly to the US. Not to Mention there are 9 Upgraders getting built in Alberta."<< Then, much like a weekend storm shuts 1 refinery in the U.S. = a price/barrel spike, I expect to see radical price declines in gas & diesel once they come online. Not.

This 'model' takes a bit more than Testors cement. Sigh... perhaps moltar has the better approach...

smk4565- >>"I was aware of the G500 at the time I made that post, but it isn't something that commonly sits on M-B lots because of it's $89,000 base price. It's more of an old school Range Rover style vehicle than a military Hummer."<< Were you? g-wagon was ancient when designed in the 1970s, mercedes painted a few bits, added more plastic and alloy wheels and sells the same '79 model 30 years later but overcharges by $70K. Price is not an excuse, at $89K it's right in league with the aforementioend s-class. And IIRC, this thing was indeed often used as a military vehicle, so no; it's not an 'old school ranger rover', it's a plasticy Army vehicle with plastic vents. Just think how many more s-classes mercedes could sell without wasting the money on building this time-warp and focusing on the s-class's design instead of straight cribbing the fenders off mazdas.... not to mention the negative image the g-wagon casts on the s-class merely by sitting next to it.

I knocked the correctness, but I see the model has one minor detail right: the frame is so massive it hangs down about 2" below the rockers in real life. Why not glue a B-Pillar in there, molt, 'it's not like anyone will notice'. :AH-HA_wink: I haven't built a model since I was in my teens.

I had both a '59 Bonneville convertible friction/promo & a '59 Invicta hardtop promo.. but I sold both after I realized I had pulled them out of the box about 3 times in 8 years. Paid $90 for the B-59 and sold it for $120, put that cash right into an UltraBell for the TH400, which I'll install this weekend (have to cut the factory bellhousing off the TH400). Is that 2-tone the previous owner's job, because the factory 2-tone would've had the roof/decklid in red also (not that these models every worried about techincal correctness...)

smk4565 - >>"I don't care whether GMC goes or stays, if they stay and price them higher than Chevy, there is at least some differentiation, and they could be paired with a car only brand to round out a dealership line up."<< Yea, that's a great idea, wonder why GM hasn't thought of that before?? :rolleyes:

smk4565 - >>"How come when you go to a Mercedes or Lexus dealership, there isn't an army looking vehicle with an all plastic interior and Pontiac Aztec vents sitting next to the S-class."<< What the F do you call this ??

>>"...if the trend seems to be moving away from "chrome-ish" wheels, and none of your competitiors are offering them, then ditch 'em."<< B-but... if everyone else is offering 'something else', and you then move to offer the same 'something else'... isn't that thing then 'already over' ?? I seldom ever...(OK: never) worry about what others may think is fashionable, I like what I like and everyone else can F-off, IMHO.

Sometimes I wonder the same thing about those 'scientists' that believe it is TRUE.

Did this refer to actual testing of the Jetta / Ram, of just compare curb weights vs. the federal roof strength standard? Why I am thinking: the latter. Most cars have far more raked-back A-Pillars/windshields than trucks, and more than enough weight to crush this weak design feature as opposed to trucks which have more vertical A-Pillars (not to mention dead-vertical pillars everywhere else). Almost all of the roof crush problem can be traced to markedly thinner structural & sheetmetal,... and more & more raked-back windshields, so no surprise the standard needs updating. I'll happily point to the triple-wall, vertical A-pillar on my '59- the best design for crushproofing (AND visibility!). Leave the aerodynamics to the windshield and keep the structurals doing what they're there for: protection.

The gt-r could use a complete rebody, IMO; wings (already has a large factory one) & flares might just distract the eye from a seriously unflattering design. In profile, the front clip & the rear look like they're from 2 different makes and the nose is flat awful. Interior sucks, too.

Guilty of Being White - Minor Threat

I doubt there was any direct influence there, classy. The CTS's is more fluid, too. Maybe there was an influence from the Cadillac sedanette bodystyle of the '40s:

>>"I heard on the news today that scientists believe the world will end in about 7 million years (earth will burn up from solar radiation)."<< Did you also catch that we have plenty of time to address this, "but we need to start now"? Some poor dumb Fs will actually be giving donations to the 'Correct the Earth's Orbit Fund'. I need to come up with a scam of this magnitude...

GM transmissions have probably been used in more makes/models over more years than from any other source.

Apparently this "never made it out of committee", but here's what was proposed: >>There is a bill that the Washington State Legislature is trying to pass in Olympia that, if successful, will directly add huge costs to our vehicle license fees. The bill was SB 6900 and it adds an "engine displacement" fee to the vehicle license tabs upon renewal. Engine Size (liters) Rate Schedule Up to 1.9 : $0 2.0 - 2.9 : $70 3.0 - 3.9 : $225 4.0 - 4.9 : $275 5.0 - 5.9 : $325 6.0 - 7.9 : $400 8.0 or over : $600 Here's the web page for the bill where you can read the text: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summ...6900&year=2007<< Oooo... it's so European..., it's gotta be 'right'! No doubt this will crop up again at some point in another state...

http://www.dailytech.com/Temperature+Monit...rticle10866.htm >>"Twelve-month long drop in world temperatures wipes out a century of warming. Over the past year, anecdotal evidence for a cooling planet has exploded. China has its coldest winter in 100 years. Baghdad sees its first snow in all recorded history. North America has the most snowcover in 50 years, with places like Wisconsin the highest since record-keeping began. Record levels of Antarctic sea ice, record cold in Minnesota, Texas, Florida, Mexico, Australia, Iran, Greece, South Africa, Greenland, Argentina, Chile -- the list goes on and on. {this morning the national weather predicted 36-degrees in central FL -balth} No more than anecdotal evidence, to be sure. But now, that evidence has been supplanted by hard scientific fact. All four major global temperature tracking outlets (Hadley, NASA's GISS, UAH, RSS) have released updated data. All show that over the past year, global temperatures have dropped precipitously. The total amount of cooling ranges from 0.65C up to 0.75C -- a value large enough to wipe out most of the warming recorded over the past 100 years. All in one year's time. For all four sources, it's the single fastest temperature change ever recorded, either up or down."<< How's it go... oh yea: What goes up, must come down.

'So Obscene' - Rollins Band

Well, that fender flare in yer pic ain't metal, von, and in pic #1 & #3... metal just does not break apart jagged like that. Are those pics of a fender flare? The other pics (#2, #5) do look like metal cracking, but it's so inconceivable to me that automotive sheetmetal would do this (keep in mind my frame of experience: trucks and vehicles older than 1965), I guess I am having trouble believing even toyota could build something so sh!tty... that I was borderline defending it...

I'm with ocn: that's plastic, not sheetmetal. Aren't there 'fenderside' tacomas- they'd only be plastic. Doesn't excuse it in the least- &#036;h&#33;ty plastics and bad engineering as far as securing it are still at work here. This shouldn't happen in 20 years, nevermind 3.

Well, you know I greatly appreciated all the time you spent on my behalf, MM, even if an increasing part of it was to satisfy your own interests. But if this book does NOT include the complete numerical catalog of XP numbers, I'm may be MORE angry that another attempt at documenting the greatness of GM has fallen far short yet again. I'm hoping against hope on seeing at least a sketch of the convertible station wagon...... Nice clear pic of the interior of my favorite GM concept above- thanks! BTW- I assume you've see a pre-production copy of the book? If so, can you answer my query above; does it feature a complete numerical catalog of XP numbers?

So what would happen if 2 renaults crashed and they lost the 'other' crumple zone of the other car?? Or worse- the volvo had the same structural system installed?? The dummies certainly weren't sipping tea during the impact; the car did a 180 in the air... These sort of safety advances are usually quickly picked up by other manufacturers, wherein the undeniable magic of physics comes right to the head of the class again.

Wonderful.

The driver was Ab Jenkins (same guy who's signature appeared on the dash plaques of all supercharged '35-36 Auburn 851/852s denoting that each car had been tested @ at 100.8 MPH before shipment) and he drove the snot out of a '56 Pontiac Chieftan 2-dr sedan with the Strato-Streak V-8- with the 285HP dual-quad option. Averaged 118 MPH for 24 hrs and went as fast as 126. Also completed a run of 2841 miles... all at Bonneville. A '56 Pontiac also won it's class in the highly-regulated MobilGas economy run, averaging 21.1 MPG. BTW- the Chieftan nameplate did not last very long relative to numerous other Pontiacs; Chieftan: '49-58 inclusive. A variant on the name -Star Chief- went thru '66.

REO was never part of GM, 68. Just for fun, I'll list all Pontiacs I can recall driving: '59 Star Chief 4-dr sedan, 389 '61 Ventura Vista 4-dr hardtop, 389 '64 Tempest 2-dr sedan, 215 '64 GP Sport Coupe, 389 '64 Catalina 4-dr sedan, 389 '64 Catalina Ventura 4-dr sedan, 389 '64 GP Sport Coupe, 389 '65 Catalina 2-dr sedan, 389 '65 Catalina 4-dr sedan, 389 '65 Bonneville 2-dr hardtop, 389 '65 Bonneville 4-dr hardtop, 389 '65 GP 2-dr hardtop, 389 '68 Catalina 4-dr sedan, 400 '68 Firebird 2-dr hardtop, 400 '68 GTO 2-dr hardtop, 400 '69 Bonneville 4-dr hardtop, 428 '70 GTO 2-dr hardtop, 400 '71 GTO 2-dr hardtop, 400 '77 Catalina Safari, 301 '93 Grand Am '03 GP '04 GP I'm sure there's a few more vintage ones. Otherwise, have driven multiple Cadillacs, Oldsmobiles, Chevrolets, Buicks & GMCs and 1 Saturn. No other GM brands, past or present.