A Horse With No Name

Hell, the offer for lunch is still on. Not often I get to even see a car like the B-59. Things will work themselves out. Trust yourself on knowing who the love of your life is. It hasn't been easy but I have been with Kim for 22 years now and I knew from the moment I met her that she was very, very special. Besides, this gives you an excuse to buy one more car for the stable because your on the rebound. You have Cadillac, Buick, Olds and Chevy covered (with the 68 Camaro) Methinks you need a Pontiac also. Chris

The French do indeed know how to build sweet cars. Unattainable for me would be a really cool 55 Pontiac ragtop in all black... Or The experience of buying a 69 Dodge Charger R/T brand new off of the dealer lot Or Just being a good enough driver myself to drive a c-4/c5, Solstice GXP, The Sunoco 69 Z-28 SCCA car, or a 1LE Camaro at the absolute utter limit in their natural environment. Chris

Mitsu doesn't build a single really desireable car anymore... Hell, the new Evo is even a lacking a manual shift... Chris

Perhaps Pontiac Custom S can help us on the cheap muscle car thing. Think you could sneak an LS7 into the plant in your lunchbox and drop it into a Sky? Chris

...and yes we had cheap muscle cars (used) until about 5-10 years ago when all of the good stuff from the 60's and 70's (and even 80's cars) started to dry up. Perhaps the whole body in steel thing will pick up and one will be able to build a 70 Nova in Kit form for a reasonable price in a few years. Chris

I am wondering how much fuel economy being a hybrid really adds. I drive a Scion xB ( I know, the most hated car at Cheers and Gears) same basic 1.5 as the Prius. last three tanks were 34.8, 35.7, and 38.8 m.p.g. Car has Aerodynamics of a Brick...soft tires, driven reasonably aggressively Question-would the 1.5 in a Prius Body shell without the additional weight of batteries, electrical motors and such, driven carefully perhaps deliver the 41-45 m.p.,g most Prisu owners report? Wondering if Hybrid drive does anything for fuel economy at all. Honda Civic Hybrid, driven carefully, 42 m.p.g from a discussion with someone I know. Another person has the same basic car as a gas 5 speed and drives carefully and gets...40 to 42 m.p.g on the highway. The damned Cavalier in my sig got an honest 44.5 a couple of times when I was real gentle and ran it at 55 without stopping between fuel ups. Methinks perhaps a small diesel is a better bet... Chris

I thought the Wrongler and perhaps one other model were built in Toledo as well... And yes, Toledo is a strong Union town with strong U.S. Loyalties. Chris

BTW, 1955 was a year of a couple of very rare colors-Black and supposedly copper cars were built, but they built more than one of each color each year. Chris

In addition to the "waterfall" some convertilbes I believe had an opening trunk, did they not? 1987 was the first year of export to Saudi Arabia. 1977 was I believe the first year for a trailer package. Let's see if anyone can get the color question. Yes, the car from the movie was right hand drive. Chris

Actually I was very impressed by the photographs of the plant in the "Lounge" forum about GMT"s vist. Kinda seriously makes me want a Kappa. Chris

Can I special order the Pontiac with that sexy wood thingie on the sides?

Although I am enjoying your posts on this forum...If I ever head out east I'd like to buy you lunch or a few beers...or a few beers over lunchy if you don't have to go back to work after lunch. Chris

+1 for the diesel Astra. Chris

Happy Birthday, guys! Chris

1. What was the first year the Corvette was officially exported by Chevrolet to Saudi Arabia? 2. What year was the first for an official trailer towing package for the Corvette? 3. Three times Chevrolet set up a paint color/code and only painted 1 Corvette that color all year. When were these three cars produced? 4. What unique feature would you experience if you actually drove the Corvette from the movie "Corvette Summer?" 5. Another feature from 1962 came back on the c-5 corvette rather than the C-6 Corvette. What is it? Chris

...and it sepends upon how you define regular production. In theory G.M. built only 1 68 Z28 Ragtop (I think for Pete Estes, but I could be wrong). IIRC, the car survives to this day. Chris

No regular convertibles were built in 39, so what I meant to communicate (my bad) is that 1940 restarted convertible production. I read (probably a bad number/source on my part) that Chevrolet built 77 83 Corvettes and that 3 or 4 survive, the one in the bowling green Museum and 2-3 in Michigan. Chris

The answer is 1962...key to the question is Bel Air 2 door hardtop, others were Biscayne or Impala line automobiles. The 62 was a "Bubble top" design similar to 1961. It was one of the lightest bodies out that year and set quite a few records at drag strips and on stock car tracks. A cool car, but kinda sad in a way...used to be an awesome (red) pro street 62 Bel Air buble top running around here that was a factory 409 car that the guy made into a pro street car. He did an awesome job but it seems a shame to "cut up" such a rare, rare car. The other car that was cool was a white on red car that the owner converted from a 327 powerglide car into a 409 clone. It used to run around (still runs around?) the Cleveland-Medina area. Teh guiy that owned that car raced one like it back in 62-he had lots of cool photos of the early days of drag racing. It was awesome meeting the guy and getting to know him. Chris

Why could G.M. not do this? Hell, the Miata is 1500 pounds lighter than the Camaro will wind up being and it has a power retractable hardtop that adds something like 100 pounds or so. If a much smaller company like Mazda can do it why not G.M.? Hell, the do it on the G-6.... Chris

Brian, I admire your intellect and taste in cars but I would have to disagree. Given the choice I think the 62 Grand Prix is sexier. However, I would gladly take either car...that 58 in two tone green looked fabulous. Chris

Last I heard some Japanese buisinessman was going to build Luxury Condo's on the Wilington site. Plant demolition starts next Tuesday. Chris

We really should not be suprised that something built by humans has issues. Hell, go to Miatanet.com and read about how "perfect" the Miata is (not.) Then go to WWW.Scionlife.com. and read about sunroof rattles and electrical issues and... (Enter sarcam mode) It is just sooo obvious that Mazda and Toyota are perfect while everthing G.M. touches is a total steaming pile. (exist Sarcasm mode) Chris

Probably an innapropriate question but do I get banned if I have an orgasm reading this..... This is EXACTLY what I want. Chris

Ironically I would pay $500 more for a car if I could have a good salesperson. I see new cars traded in all the time that shouldn't be traded. Went to the Ford dealer with a friend to get his SVT Focus Oil changed. Wandered over to new cars. Traded in with less than 5000 miles were a new Miata, a Cobalt SS, a c6 corvette, A toyota FJ cruiser, and several expensive domestics. Considering the cost of these cars their owners would have been much better off spending the extra $500 to have a sales associate like CARBIZ than loose $5000 when they don't like-can't use the car they just bought. Chris

Which indeed is a good point. Having worked as an SCCA flagger and race official I have spent many a weekend with these cars coming past me at full throttle on track. Most v-6's do not have a good exhaust note. I can handle a smooth, rev happy 4 or a thundering v-8 but listening to most V-6's feels like kissing ones sister...just does not sound right. I have heard good exhaust notes with Buick Grand Nationals however. Also really like the exhaust note of the modular Ford v-8...still a v-8 note but smoother than a lot of v-8's. Chris