ocnblu

I have to wait a while to make sure I'm secure at this new job, but I think it is going to be a truck.

Yup, with the tiny rectangular sealed-beams. And, as an offshoot, the first-gen Saturn S-Series cars took these cues as well, with wide headlamps and a depressed center hood section, not to mention a "little brother" look to the Cutlass Supreme sedan in the greenhouse.

I much prefer factory-ordering a vehicle, and I've done it several times. I think my next one will have to be ordered so I don't overspend.

Astro/Safari

Well it is a much more substantial looking car than the '49 Ford, which was revolutionary in its own right, with full integrated fenders. I'd like to see some body measurements on the two, to see how much bigger the Mercury was than the Ford... if at all. It may just be styling tricks making me think that. EDIT: apparently, the Mercury had a 118" wheelbase and was 206.8" long. The Ford was on a 114" wheelbase and stretched 196.8".

I've said it before, the Spark is amusing to me. Seems like it is not a bad little runabout to sling around in.

The wide headlight arrays. Present on all three modern Oldsmobiles. Present on the '59 to begin with, and used periodically to define an Olds front end until the very last. The three modern cars are going to have composite assemblies, not sealed beams, but the width, relative to the overall width of the front end is what I refer to. Also, you can see the depressed center section of the hood (especially on the Auroras), another tie-in to the '59 and various Oldsmobiles over the decades since the '59. That depressed center section is unusual because most cars have a raised center hood section. Pontiac was more faithful to the facial DNA that emerged in '59 than Olds was, but Olds did return often enough for there to be a thread of heritage in these cues.

Alero, Aurora, Intrigue...

diaper

GM trucks seem to ride low, but making them ride higher seems to run counter to a goal of better aero to meet the asinine CAFE standards. I guess in surveys, people who prefer Ford or Dodge like the higher-riding look of those other trucks. The current Dodge half-ton 4X4 seems to ride low, I honestly cannot tell it from a 2-wheel drive unless I see the 4X4 badge, yet it seems taller than a Chevy to me.

they weren't out in the 1920's!

I'll bet its name is Frankie.

It has to be that way.

Very effectively conveyed, Camino.

gravity

I do believe that more base models should be saved, restored and shown. What an unexpected and pleasant surprise it is sometimes to open a hood of massive acreage and see a tiny little inline six down in there, purring quietly in faded blue or red or green, doing the moving when called on, decade after decade, while asking only for a meager pittance of oil and gas and water and maybe a simple, kind word in comparison to a Singer sewing machine... smoooth.

:-) ...cigarette?

Welcome to the neighborhood, and have a good one! Tell us about yourself.

I find the Tiguan to be nice, but one can tell where the money was saved to try to keep the MSRP competitive in its size class... the interior. It's a rather plain looking CUV, inside and out, imo. Now, I want to be clear, I always celebrate the way VW makes function a higher percentage of the whole visible package than some other manufacturers, but the Encore's interior is the most attractive part of the vehicle, imo, and if it is put together as well as a Tiguan while looking and feeling more luxurious, they'll find some buyers who don't care as much as we think they should about power.

Some of the whippersnappers may have needed to see this. Looks pretty cool, imo.

Will there be any cars built today in a classic car show, circa 2050?

Seems like some things are not being learned from. A problem is engineered out in one generation, only to resurface in a future iteration. If all knowledge were passed down and built upon, where would GM be now?

So you're saying every bit of soul is being refined out of 4-wheeled automotive transportation?

I love it!