balthazar

Doesn't MDS kick in in low-power situations, like steady-speed cruising... during which any car requires a minimum of power to propel ("added strain of carrying the car's weight").

Somebody jumped the gun, no?

C'mon you techno-geeks; buy 'em up! I'm looking for a fat stock bump!!

I know only 2 people who own camries- one aunt who is 57 and a guy 48-50 who hunts behind my property. Only person I knew who owned a corolla was my father-in-law, who owned it when he passed away at 79. I sold it to a guy about 45 who was buying it for his parents.

7 Pontiacs 4 Buicks 2 Chevys nothing else GM as of yet. Wife has owned 2 Pontiacs & 1 Olds

About 3 years ago (I did not mark my calendar), I believe saab sold right around 38,xxx in the U.S. If correct, 25K is a far slide from that... and I thought saab posted a profitable quarter not that long ago. This brand has been in rocky for 20 years.

Oi! NINETY EIGHT: Try pulling the body off the frame and every 2 pieces apart, re-engineering the powertrain then putting it all back together. Welding, fabricating, cross-referencing parts from other years.... all plumbing is custom (brake, fuel, exhaust, wiring) all with zero GM aftermarket support.

That '57(?) GMC must've been a treat! Any '38-47 Ford COEs there??

Yeah- learn the right way to hammer & dolly; you do not hit the dolly, nor do the hammer and dolly meet the fender from the same side. Front fender: either replace it, or weld in a new section from a good doner fender- you are going to have a hellve time getting at the backside of that dent even with the fender off. Rear quarter is tough because it's such a vast, low-crown area of damage; getting the thing visually straight is not easy. On the flip side, the quarter is not double-walled, but the rear wheelwell is going to get in the way of a bunch of it. Bottom line- this is minor damage without rust to contend with. Practice & learn how to fix it yourself, at your own pace. None of it effects the usage of the car- you have all the time in the world. The main factor is: NO rust.

>>"If it was a 1961 Belvedere, I would've left it in the ground. No, I would've buried it in MORE concrete. No, I would've taken the remains of it, rounded up every last surviving 1961 Plymouth, unloaded 20 gauge buckshot into each of them, dug a huge tomb, filled it with salt water and muriatic acid, dumped each and every car in there, and capped it with poorly-mixed concrete poured by drunk Honduran laborers and placed a rusty, leaky septic tank on top of it all...in a Mississippi bog. I would repeat the procedure exclusively for 1958 Lincolns. "<< All this ire, with the millions of toyotas and mitsus and volvos and nissans & bmws running around? Destroy an appreciating American classic made with a maximum of steel and iron and stainless and a minimum of sensors and plastics and electro-bull&#036;h&#33;? No thank you x infinity. In fact, replace every toyota on the road with a '58-60 Lincoln or a '61-62 Dodge or Plymouth and I'd die happy the day after.

The sword-making proceedure outlined above also involved hammer-welding, which hardens metal many times over what straight forging will accomplish. It's not an apples-2-apples comparison. Castings in IC engines --when well-engineered-- have a decisive advantage over forgings: they are more flexible, ie; less subseptible to vibration-based cracking/failures, whereas forgings are more brittle in addition to being somewhat heavier (and more expensive to produce).

If the lexus ls is some sort of benchmark for it's segment, and toyota sells gobs of sedans with safe, 'non-aspirational' design... AND we accept cumberford'a analysis as being largely 'correct', then Chevy did a bang-up job on the next 'bu- should post a big jump in the standings.

I am interested to learn how this turns out. Not familiar enough with Chevy at the parts-number level, but I can tell you that PMD changed casting numbers where you would be hard-pressed to tell what the differences were. I would HIGHLY doubt Chevy used the same casting number for 2 differently-balanced cranks.... in fact I would say it's IMpossible, but again; I don't deal with Chevys on a parts-number level. But Pontiac & Buick did not do that sort of thing.

>>"...Laughing at this is the same kind of mindset that got GM lagging in the sport compact market years ago..."<< Is it also the same kind of mindset that got toyota lagging in the pickup truck market years ago ?

The pick-ups (C1500, C2500, C3500-Series) used the 250 as the base 6. 8.5:1 compression, 155 HP, Carter 1-bbl model 3891593. That said, in the past 38 years, either the carb or the engine could've been changed. Check NAPA for carb rebuild kits, e-Baymotors after that. Should be readily available- I sold a period NOS Rochester 2bbl carb last year on e-Bay.

Or in this case; a 'toyota'...

Oh, let's all brush this right under the rug (mitsubishi'll keep them company) and welcome chinese cars with open wallets and arms; after all- everyone knows that more competition = we (as consumers) win!

>>"The GTO or what ever it ends up being needs to be modern adult performance coupe. It is a given it is going to be more expensive and bigger. The car needs to address a non retro crowd that can afford to spend more than a Camaro but still can't afford that M5. If GM can deliver on performance and a quality build and interior it may not surplant a M5 in the pecking order but it will sell to the many who pine for a M5 that just can't afford it. Lets face it there are more people who want and can't afford a BMW than those who have them. So let get GM to give them something to be proud of."<< Hi.

Agreed: Objectively, I never could see that Woods was a positive contributor, esp at the money paid. Subjectively, I thought the concept was a monsterous waste of time.

Just for the record, Tucker proposed central seating in his early proposals (1946).

Never heard of the '64 Olds 'GTO'... Olds intro'd the 4-4-2 in '64, so there must be more to the story... or a lot less. My '64 has the standard powertrain (303/389, RHM375, 3.08 open rear), but the car is a low-miles loaded (PS, PB, PW, AM-FM, PAnt, cruise, tilt, A/C, and more) original (56K miles). It's a real solid survivor, but it needs a go-thru and paint (Starlight black, black Cordova top, black bucket/console interior). I have Tri-Power & 8-lugs for it, but at this point I don't when/if I'll get around to it- other projects are in front of it, unfortunately. I missed picking up a super rare Hurst His-n-Hers for it off eBay last year- I'd still like to get one of these units (the first manu-matic ??)

So what am I supposed to do as a consumer: ignore all the wretched garbage I've tossed stamped Made in China, take my $1x,xxx hard-earned dollars and go research whether Dodge or the chinese were responsible for whathaveyou major components, then Spin the Big Wheel and hope for the best with the Hornet?? No thank you- the risk is far too high (based on reams of personal experience). And I submit that a motor vehicle is far more complex and had far more room for awful asssembly work that a palm-sized software case (MP3 player).

>>"Balthazar-Do you know much about the early 1960's Pontiacs, especially Grand Prix models?"<< Are you crackin' wise on me, son? Seriously, I own a '64 GP, one of the 7 '60s Pontiacs I've owned. Lots of time spent around '59-66s. The Golden Era for PMD- I love 'em! There's a mountain of info between my ears and my bookshelves. I couldn't even list general catagories in a concise manner... what do you want to know??

Even triple-wrapped in plastic isn't likely to keep water out- it's not the plastic itself but the what-has-to-be numerous seams and the manner of sealant on those seams... Water manages to get in against the stoutest of defenses. A sump pump system would've been very smart. I am extremely hopefull, nonetheless. 2 questions: I wonder if the water table level was acertained in 1957, and could there be any other reason as to why the crane operator needed another P-57... besides event hype?

There are so-oo many, it would almost be easier to pick a Division and concentrate there. I have a really excellent 'overview' book called Muscle Car Chronicle (ISBN 0-7853-7670-4); if you start with any book, pick up that one- excellent pics, covers all domestic makes' performance models (plus many race/drag cars) from '49-'01. I highly recommend it for the volume of pics alone. Pontiacs I know very well- there at least I can answer most any specific performance question you can toss out.