balthazar

'70 Ford Falcon 2-dr sedan, gold, very tired (Torino body) '65 Cadillac Series 75 Miller-Meteor end-loader hearse, black ( ), some contained rot, still presentable, busted impossible-to-find windshield. I should ask about this one.....

RE: Brockovich; the story is compelling and it has some memorable scenes/lines, but Roberts really doesn't add anything to it any number of others couldn't have. I don't find her a particular draw, tho it was fun watching her radically pushed-up-n-padded boobs.

You are going to locate, buy, register & insure, then do a safety/operating inspection on a vehicle you have no idea of it's history or condition THEN drive it to OK.... instead of twisting like 9 bolts and slapping a new water pump on yer 364, a car you have actual history with?? Umm, OK.....

Oh ho; lifetime is it?? If I did not forget any : 204... and I did not count 2 vehicles that I owned without motors.

What's 2 Gens before the Boomers? I mean c'mon; look at me (see avatar self-portrait). Without being under oath, I usually claim to be Gen X.

Of course cast iron camshafts have a tensil strength... but they are not subjected to stretching/bending forces, so whatever that value is, it's not tested to any degree. Vibration is another, still minor matter. For thousands of toyota camshafts to be snap-prone; either the metallurgy is all wrong/cheaped out, the manufacturing/machining is all wrong... or the shipment of camshafts was in that 40' box container in the tundra commercial, and seconds after the toy 'pulled' the container back up, the cable snapped and the load dropped to the base of the cliff... and toyota dusted them off and installed them. Nah... that's not what happened- a silver-painted cardboard 'container' would not support the weight of cases of camshafts...

'40 : 8, '59 : 8, '64 : 8, '64 : 8, '65 : 8, '65 : 8, '70 : 8, '72 : 8, '94 : 6, '04 : 8 = 78 + wife's 6 = 84

Europe has had a long affection for vintage American iron, some countries (such as Sweden) approach ravenous enthusiasm. On other boards I've encountered many members from abroad with American steel. That this is a recent Buick doesn't surprise me- it still represents the 'old school' American car, and that's what they appreciate. Lot to appreciate in a Roadmaster Estate.

>>"Still, it's amazing how far and how fast technology is advancing."<< If only MSFT's stock would advance... at all....

Was the wheel hop a full-throttle, standing-start occurance, or was it nearly constant? I believe the suspension comment addresses the general handling prowess in all sorts of different scenarios, not just drag-racing starts. There, the case (from what I've read; haven't been lucky enough to get inside a CTS-V yet) is one for the CTS-V being completely competitive, no?

>>"from real-world crashes indicate that the overall risk of death isn't higher in a convertible... ...The main structures of convertibles have to be strengthened to compensate for the support that's lost in removing the roof. ...the 9-3 convertible achieves the same good front, side, and rear crash test ratings as the 4-door sedan version."<< Why am I suddenly thinking about modern hardtops again?

I subscribed to HPP for about 12 years or thereabouts; just ended the subscription this year. After all that time I've seen it all. I've seen only a few issues of PE, and it looks to be a better publication, but I'm tapped out on PMD at the current time. I'm looking for an in-depth 'where-are-they-now' feature/registry of the SDs... until that hits the presses, I have been looking into the full-spectrum of pre-war automobile history.

>>"...let's rush out another half baked product that is insulting to out consumers' intelligence. This reeks of business without passion, which is not the kind of product decision that should be made."<< Except the Lambdas are far from "half baked product", so the 'reeking' may only be coming from your own compost-heap of perceptions.

>>"Sorry, Saturn, but we don’t foresee long lines forming at the dealership for this budget hybrid."<< No one seems to be lining up for civic or accord hybrids either. Oh yea- and the impact is dead.

>>"The Smart is a rolling sight gag, like a fat man wearing a tiny bowler hat, or a Speedo."<< >>"I adopted the kind of hyper-vigilance/paranoia..."<< Great- it's a fat man in a speedo that completely stresses you out when you drive. That alone isn't worth $12.

I would love to see mitsu go as much as I am enjoying seeing them go.

Actually Deville sales in the late 70's were even more excellent I am talking like over 205,000 units a year. (Guess what they were RWD!) The percentage of DTS buyers who's #1 reason for picking this Cadillac over a number of RWD competitors has to be a strict minority- it's just not that deciding a factor for the vast majority of consumers here. In other words gm4life, you are greatly over-estimating the importance of which wheels are driven. Another factor to consider is the comparison of Deville/DTS sales vs. CTS sales since '02- one has been steadily climbing and the other has been slowly dropping. Even that, I will not hold up as evidence for FWD vs. RWD- because I cannot claim that is the fact and I also don't believe it. The DTS sells for what it is as a complete package, not for a single engineering arrangement. Keep the majority of the advantages/features/style/room/quality in place and you can guarantee the same (or possibly even better) numbers even tho it might be RWD. I'd absolutely bank on that.

WIX makes NAPA's filters, both have excellent reps. Purolator has always had a cheapie image in my mind- whether P-Ones are any good I don't know- I never use Purolator. Fram used to be good years ago, but they were bought out and cheapened to the point of being outright junk. I've not seen any feedback on K&N. I believe numerous brand oil filters today are in fact made by other companies, making going by brand name alone 'shopping with one eye closed and the other squinted'. I've used AC Delco filters on my older cars, but since daily driving a Ford from '94-'06, I'd been using Motorcraft or NAPA. '04 DuraMax is currently running a NAPA/WIX. AC Delco has discontinued a huge number of vintage-application filters recently... whether contraction in the filter market has required outsourcing of existing filters, I don't know. It would be worth an investigation...

I was talking to a 13-yr old kid who's parents immigrated from Europe to the U.S. and have taught him that everything imported is OMFGAMAZING !#@$! I could not break thru this kid's mantra... until I asked him how his dad's m-class mercedes has been; 'in the shop much?'. His head fell and even had to admit 'Well, yeah...'. Priceless (tho he's still in La-La land).

>>"Global retail sales of vehicles in fiscal 2006 totaled 1,232,000 vehicles, a decrease of 112,000 (8.3%) compared to the 1,344,000 sold in fiscal 2005."<< God, that's fantastic news! Let's all pull for a double-digit decrease for '07!!

Hang tough, Sly- you've got a good head and a sharp eye; you'll work out the situation to the mutual benefit of everyone involved, I have no doubt. Good luck with your new relationship. {road trip still on?}

Here in Jersey, cheap used muscle started drying up far earlier than a mere 5-10 years ago. And can we please hold out for something a bit more interesting than a '70 Nova; we already have it's rebadged twin the '69 Camaro available, anyway (j/k!!) How is it that FORBES does not realize the "#1 spot" in sales is based on an annual figure, not a monthly or quarterly one?

Ironically, I was in NYC today. I did see what a bus that was labeled 'hybrid/electric' along the top, but didn't see the make. What I did see in my limited views out the bus I was in's windows were a nearly equal number of Crown Vic taxis and toyota sienna taxis. Fascinating.

Was this the same company behind the Hurst Hairy Olds?? (couldn't promptly find a decent pic)...

Looks real clean, but c'mon; it's a Nova. I just don't get putting that much coin into something so incredibly common.