A Horse With No Name

That Saab is right here in Columbus! My son and I put the convertible top down on the Miata tonight...al 24 degrees or whatever it was. With the heat on and both of us wearing coats, it was actually kind of a nice drive...amazing how everything from airplanes at the airport to train horns sounds so much better with cold air. Not sure why sound seems to travel better/clearer with cold air but it does. Moltar, I am kinda jealous of that big merc...when did you pick her up? Chris

Odd that a plant building Cobalts is being kept shut down. Seems like their was a shortage of Cobalts a few months ago. Chris

Like I said before, good luck and keep us posted. Chris

Given 20 or 30 years, how collectible will C5 andC6 Corvettes be? I am thinking they will be MUCH more of a collectors item than the C3 and C4 Corvettes, for a few reasons. 1. They are much better cars, and much more driver friendly. 2. They are being driven and raced MUCH more than the earlier C3 and C4 Corvettes-seems like everyone I know with these is beating the hell out of it on the road, on the track, autocrossing it, etc. This will mean that fewer cars will survive and more people will have more vivid memeories of just what these cars can do. Also, competition history helps a car become collectable. Why else do cars like the C2 Corvette, Early Camaro, GT350 Mustang, Cobra, Hemi cars, etc. bring high #'s at auction? People seem to really respond to performance cars that are actuallylegit performance cars. 3. GM may not be building supercar type Corvettes forever. Given fuel economy and emission standards, as well as the economy, the next generations of Corvette may indeed be tamer. Your thoughts? Chris/66

That would have helped it. And I think your right about the price thing. Chris

Nice pics, the red of the car stands out nicely with the fall colors! Glad tos ee you back and posting again, BV Chris

Actually I like the looks of the modern GTO. The Grand Prix was not a bad car styling wise, and your right Oldsmoboi, they kept the styling "in the family." Chris/66

This could be an impressive and powerful parade... Chris

This to me is the big difference between American cars and most other cars...passion. Our carmakers have built just so many cars that people should be passionate about, and many of them (like the Mustang I mentioned) are in the living memeory of a good part of our population. Chris

I've always liked the way VW suspensions were set up. I've been looking at buying an older Jetta like yours for a 3rd car/backup car. I'm curious to see what one would do on an open track or at an Autocross. My friend Dave Brown used to race a VR6 Golf and that car was prett amazing at speed for an front wheel drive car. BTW, I like your car, BV. Glad to see you ahve some fun with it, and glad you didn't kill yourself. In Indiana a few months ago, IIRC a teen was pulled over for doing 149 mph in a WRX, so I'm glad you didn't get busted by the police also... Chris/66

And actually, I prefer buying Coffee, because I can get a good look at the cute gal that works at the little local Cofee shop I've been going to. Chris

This reminds me of one of the funniest things I've ever heard in my life. I was in the Atlanta airport, and a rather large and outspoken african/american woman was just screaming at the woman at the counter...as I walked up to them, I heard "...if you can fly this damned airplane 600 miles an hour, in the dark, and find Atlanta you can FIND MY LUGGAGE!" Chris/66

Actually I don't think the CTS is too big and heavy... Chris

As a Mustang fan, I think it would be cool if Ford brought the first ever Mustang out to the "show" per se. Chris

I need to put the Blizzacks on the car. Been running around on summer performance type tires with too many autocross runs on them, and it has been "interesting" commuting to work. Tonight I am going to go to the TDI Club dinner and then I am going to get very comfortable on the couch under a wool or down blanket, and watch movies with the family. I love watching Movies with my children. I forget the movie, but there was a beautiful pre-WWI Oldsmobile touring car in one of those girls movies my daughters were watching. Actually, the girls have been watching a lot of historical type stuff, as well as older movies. Seeing all those old cars again is sweet. I can really relate to 68, XP715, balthazar, etc. There needs to be another vintage car in my garage, so on nights like tonight I can go out, pull up a corner on the car cover, and drool. Chris/66

Let's hope people keep conserving. Chris

Exactly, Nick. Chris/66

The Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup cars use a DSG (semi-autotrajic style self shifting gearbox) and some modern Ferrari's come with an automatic/paddle shifting tranny. However, I passed on God's own original clean IROC Camaro this week because it was autotrajic. Chris

120 must have been a little hairy on those all season tires. Next time you try that, you might want to try it on better rubber. BTW, How did it handle at that speed? Chris

Another good idea. Get some POSITIVE press for the automakers for a change. Chris

This would be an exceptionally good idea. ...and the day the president rides in a toyota limo, I'm moving to Canada Chris

No kidding! Chris

Flu can't love you back, tuck you into bed and bring you a tea when your feeling Ill, play Grand Tourismo 4 with you, Graduate High school, Graduate College, Play Baseball, pass a football, etc. Having kids, if your ready, can be the best experience of your life. Chris

That would be correct, sir. The original K cars were well marketed, and the included wagons, a minivan spinoff that defined the market, two door hatchback, four door hatchback, sedan, coupe, convertible et al. Chrysler did pretty well with this one, a simple car with a simple marketing plan that worked. Gm would do well to copy the formula, yes? The Astra, if it had sold, would have been logical basis for this as it has a lot of variants in Europe GM could pull from for US sales. As it is I think MINI is selling more small cars than Saturn. Chris

We need a thread on how the automotive market will change in the next 5-6 years. We have a lot of good minds at C and G, and I don't think that we really think about the context of what the automotive market really is/will be sometimes. Camino, I couldn't agree with your rational and reality based post any more. I personally think the Volt will be one of the cars that saves GM. Rush Limbaugh was bashing the Volt and GM the other day, and that Idiot can't get anything right...so if he says its going to be terrible it';s bouund to be a hit. Chris