balthazar

Joined my (2) 6-volt batteries in parallel and gave a go at starting the truck. No cranky. Batteries were at 5.8V & 5.0V, but when you pressed the starter button, that went down to 2.-V. Going to charge both batteries and try again. Still debating letting this baby go.

Pulled the fan guard, fan shroud, alternator, PS pump, upper hose, and loosened a bunch of other bolts. Fan was already out. Bolts are coming out very willingly; it WANTS to roll again!

What is this; every BE producer in every automotive market & country, or...?

^ As was early 1900's BE's output.

Me neither, but it sounds akin to 'wheel HP'. I say 'sounds' because it's obviously not... but I think the reason it's there is to give a comparison to BE numbers. IC has numerous TRQ- multiplying gears... and the chart above is eye-opening... and seems to dispel the lofty 'new' numbers (like the Hummer EV's 11,500). What' REALLY surprising is that the chart (apparently) comes from GM and it really shows what appears to be a huge disadvantage in going BE (for those folk who groove on spec sheets). GM's own DuraMax has 37,000 TRQ vs. Hummer's paltry 11,500? Seems to be exciting times!

I never stated the '59 Cadillac is the pinnacle of design. It's got a degree of unbalance in the front vs. the rear, tho the detailing & refinement of design are still excellent. But it's an entire world's better executed than a '72 Marquis! This is where you torpedo your own POV. But the Countach is inarguably cartoonish; it's like if Fisher-Price built an actual car. The '80s versions are like a Mardi-Gras drag queen version of the original prototype. That at least was innovative and struck new ground... but the 'poster editions' are ridiculous.

Yanked the hood and rigged a ‘disassembly light’. Committed now.

Huh??

Do you see what I see, or is it "all good, dude!" because of the emblem?

You guys will probably hit up Amazon after reading this. 2018's "Now That's What I Call Dad Rock" 1. “We Will Rock You” – Queen 2. “Start Me Up” – The Rolling Stones 3. “With Or Without You” – U2 4. “Livin’ On A Prayer” – Bon Jovi 5. “Radioactive” – Imagine Dragons 6. “Mr. Brightside” – The Killers 7. “Dakota” – Stereophonics 8 “Take Me To Church” – Hozier 9. “Rockstar” – Nickelback 10. “Sweet Home Alabama” – Lynyrd Skynyrd 11. “More Than A Feeling” – Boston 12. “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper’ – Blue Oyster Cult 13. “Bat Out Of Hell” – Meat Loaf 14. “Ace Of Spades” – Motörhead 15. “Should I Stay Or Should I Go” – The Clash 16. “The Jam” – Town Called Malice 17. “Two Princes” – Spin Doctors 18. “She’s So Lovely” – Scouting For Girls 19. “Chelsea Dagger” – The Fratellis 20. “Rocks” – Primal Scream 21. “Africa” – Toto 22. “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” – Simple Minds 23. There She Goes – The La’s 24. “I Wanna Be Adored” – The Stone Roses 25. “Everybody’s Changing” – Keane 26. “How To Save A Life” – The Fray 27. “Hold Back The River’ – James Bay 28. “Ho Hey” – The Lumineers 29. “All Right Now” – Free 30. “Smoke On The Water” – Deep Purple 31. “Search And Destroy” – Iggy & The Stooges 32. “Are You Gonna Go My Way” – Lenny Kravitz 33. “Walk This Way” – RUN-DMC feat. Aerosmith 34. “(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)” – The Beastie Boys 35. “Stacy’s Mom” – Fountains Of Wayne 36. “Buck Rogers” – Feeder 37. “All The Small Things” – blink-182 38. “Crazy Crazy Nights” – Kiss 39. “Addicted To Love” – Robert Palmer 40. “The Final Countdown” – Europe 41. “Teenage Dirtbag” – Wheatus 42. “Kids” – MGMT 43. “In Too Deep” – Sum 41 44. “America” – Razorlight 45. “Complicated” – Avril Lavigne 46. “Torn” – Natalie Imbruglia 47. “The Sound” – The 1975 48. “Pompeii” – Bastille 49. “Naive” – The Kooks 50. “Breakfast At Tiffany’s” – Deep Blue Something 51. “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” – Bachman – Turner Overdrive 52. “I Shot The Sheriff” – Eric Clapton 53. “Can’t Fight This Feeling” – REO Speedwagon 54. “Maggie May” – Rod Stewart 55. “Sharp Dressed Man” – ZZ Top 56. “Born To Be Wild” – Steppenwolf 57. “Here I Go Again ‘87” – Whitesnake 58. “Eye Of The Tiger” – Survivor 59. “Love Is The Drug” – Roxy Music Me; I'm reaching for a hammer. I can listen to about 5 of those, but I don't want to listen to any.

Only car on the previous page with Federalized bumpers is the countach, but that's a cartoon car, not a serious design. For instance- this car sports a lot of design problems; I don't see people with a critical eye calling it 'beautiful' :

The Italian houses seem to do well above the bumper line, but below that they always get lost. And they can't do lighting or make the front & rear fascia work with the rest of the car. I certainly could do a 'design analysis' on any one of these and better illustrate what I'm seeing. The #1 issue I have is poor detailing / integration of the small bits. It's like baking a superb cake, then icing it with one's elbow.

Miura (& Pantera: American-designed (Tjaarda)) are on the bland side, but still nice. I like them somewhat, tho they fall down on the details. Ghibli is quite nice, has definite American cues is probably why. Countach is incredibly overwrought. Ferrari 308 may be the most cohesive design from Ferrari. Most of the rest have unfortunate and/or awkward details I can't look past. Thumbs down.

Then why didn’t you post a pic of one?? ?

That's the way -uh-huh, uh-huh- I LIKE IT -uh-huh, uh-huh-

Future looks crazy EXPENSIVE!! ?

No kidding, Zippy. That’s merely time-altered / photoshop-tweaked red. 300 wasn’t available in pinks- too macho. ?

Neither.

Agreed, the market share change is barely moving, plus a lot of the upcoming BE's are uber-expensive / super low volume. I think the picture won't be significantly different for at least 10 years (merely a slow creep).

Looking at past history, I expect to be in my upcoming TD for at least 15 years.

https://news.yahoo.com/street-racing-theyre-fast-atlantas-230413872.html

How come; for all the fuss & bother - the Italians could never build a car this beautiful?