SAmadei

In theory, they will last forever... in reality, they should outlast the car... but there are always exceptions. They are very low wear and tear... and when they do, it tends to be simply dimming, rather than outright failure. Your more likely to have a physical contact issue, like corrosion or damage than damage to the LED itself. I've ground the epoxy lens down to force LEDs into custom spots and never had a failure... but then I'd wipe my (relatively) greasy fingers across a small LED element and would have them all die... or I'd momentarily short the resister out with a screwdriver by accident and immediately damage them permanently. They are pretty robust... I'd have no fear.

Well, it can always happen. I see traffic lights from time to time with a missing LED here or there... but they are on 12-18 hours a day for years on end. Also, I've seen quite a few third brake lights that look like LEDs... but are actually very small incandescent bulbs. They might be as hard to replace as LEDs, though.

Agreed. I haven't seen one car yet with a missing LED... unless the lens was physically damaged. Replacing them? I imagine cracking open the lens assembly if needed... and soldering in a new LED. Hopefully, it won't be too hard to match them up.

I can't answer this about the CTS Coupe... but IIRC, the FMVSS requires those detents or stops to prop door open to a certain degree of force. In any case, I've never seen a GM car without some sort of system to do that... how effective they are, I can't say. The ones on the GF's Corolla are useless... but it seems to me even GM ones are finicky, as pushing the door too hard causes the hinge assembly to flex and bounce right back. I really hate that.

Well, I was thinking of getting a lead athletic cup, but now there is this... Flying Pasties! I would have posted a pic, but its borderline NSFW.

Well, if the engine isn't freely turning, I'd be tempted to set it aside, preserved, and stab a crate engine in. Sure, its cheap to re-ring and re-gasket... but why wear the original block out? Plus, you can never know when disaster is going to strike... One bad rod bolt or spun bearing and the block is gone. If the engine is asleep somewhere, you can always have it redone and swapped back in if you decide to sell the car numbers matching.

This is kind of what I would lean too, as well. However, before destroying the history left with a quick resto, I would document, document, document, as those details, once gone, are gone forever. These details would be very important if years from now, you decide to do a more detailed restoration. I would then do the research on proper finishes and get it apart and treated/painted to stop the corrosion. Of course, even if you are doing a driver resto, you can still paint parts the proper color instead of painting everything black.

It depends. They can be tested easily enough with a Ohm meter. My '99 Bonne has 229K and they are all original... the '99 GP has 100K and already had a dead one swapped out. They can be changed independently. They seem to hold up pretty well.

Well, I suppose that there is few ways to deter that particular 'force'... but in general, NJ has stripped many of the rights of the citizens to protect themselves by using deadly force to stop intruders. In general, though, those "forces" have been around forever and will always be there... these human tendencies are as fundamental as physics. My preference is to keep my helium balloons untethered in the yard... but I have to trade some freedom for security and put them in my garage or else they will float away. I feel Franklin's infamous quote is really only truly applicable to governmental actions and restrictions the government puts in place... since they are the ones most likely to take away freedoms. We never had freedom from human nature or physics in the first place. I'll keep locking my house and car... even if we live in utopia... because it gives me a little bit less to worry about.

IMHO, no question, you want to title it as a antique. Is there any drawbacks besides limited yearly mileage?

I have to disagree with that concept. There is giving up freedom... and there is the common sense or protecting one's property, having the latter does not give up the former... you are still free to choose when to lock your doors (apparently, not in Philadelphia if your car is parked on the street). Franklin was a very prudent man, and I'm sure his possessions where locked and he carried the keys for more than his kite experiment. Now, if we gave up our keys completely... so only a government agent could come and lock and unlock our house, then we would be giving up freedom for security. I also suppose you could be referring to the idea that virtually any key system ever created has some back door locksmiths or the government can use. At least, in theory, these methods are not supposed to be used unless a court approves it... and anything "secret" that may be getting around this is caused by the fact that our current political state has no respect for the constitution, and not by the key system itself. Now, I agree that we have been giving our freedoms for security, either intentionally or by being conditioned that we are "free enough", for 200+ years. But not by carrying keys.

Well, if they can just put the headlights behind the window glass, then you no longer need the separate plastic enclosures. And you can change the bulbs while driving. Knowing how hard it is to keep painted surfaces shiny, and how glass on old rusty wrecks always seems nice looking, I'm awaiting the car which has virtually all of its body panels done in glass.

Unfortunately, it looks like this Meg McLain has done her effort a disservice my not being completely truthful... the whole thing was recorded on video... HERE. She appears to have never been cuffed... her ticket was apparently not torn up and only about 8 officers were involved. Interesting, to watch this video, as they are putting a LOT of people through the Body Scanner (also debunking her contention that she was the only one selected to go through the body scanner while she was there.) I still think this security theatre needs to end... but this incident, so far, is being well played by the TSA.

My favorite Franklin quote. My feeling on the whole thing is to request the grope... in public view... and when they get too close for comfort, have the best fake orgasm you've ever had. Theatre works both ways.

When they do this, I wish they would make everything from the B-pillar back one piece of glass. Sure, you can roll that rear window down, but I think it looks much cleaner without it.

I don't think many here dislike the 1960 Pontiacs... except for me. I just don't like it. That color in the photo looks really wrong. There was no fuchsia available in 1960 to the best of my knowledge... only Coronado Red... which is a darker red, than a bright red. I'm not sure what happened to the photo... it should look more like this:

Agreed. Why do we need 5 boring 4 door sedans each 6" apart (or less) in length. To me, a car buyer is looking for big... or small. Give them the most car you can fit in that footprint.

Cool photo. That is nearly identical to the Impala my paternal parents had. Not sure if it was a 4 hardtop sedan or a pillared sedan, though. Not sure if the Impala was available as a pillared sedan now that I think of it. It is staggering to contemplate. And not only the bodystyles, sheetmetal and yearly changes, but the fact that you could a car ordered to your exact specs... even things not available on the menu (Plum Crazy '70 Nova SS, for example). This was before fully computerized inventory was possible, so all those parts needed to be accurately predicted and warehoused. Detroit in the '60s was truly a impressive operation. I realize that federal regulations and economics has made a lot of this impossible... but I feel Detroit has gotten lazy, too (Same with Japan)... I feel, with the improvements in computers and JIT inventory/logistics, I feel GM could provide a lot more individualization... body styles, special options, colors... and while it may be a small hit to the bottom line, it would reward them with more sales, and loyalty.

There is a lot of overlap in "muscle cars" and "personal luxury coupes", and I'd argue that the modern GTO is close enough to a "personal luxury coupe" for a comparison to this Camry coupe.

Hate is too strong of a term, but I hate GM for forsaking us. If building something like this gets GM's attention (Yes, I know this is SEMA not the Detroit Auto Show), then fantastic. Since GM wants to blindly follow Toyota, they'd have to build us a personal luxury coupe. In 2021.

Suddenly, you've got my attention, Toyota. OMG, did I just say that out loud?!?

That logic, it could be argued, got Obama voted. In that election, I couldn't vote for either. As well, in this election, there's no compelling reason for me to vote. The only meaningful position up for vote is a House seat... and its one of the few incumbents I can stomach. Carlin's opinion is lighthearted, but not real realistic... so I don't automatically not vote. But I still abhor the election process, from the lying scumbags running, to the lobbyists, to even the local-level amateurs with their fake smiles and handshakes as you fight your way through the "community" to get to the poll. I feel cleaner after sifting the cat's litter box.

Yeah, its real hard to determine exactly what the largest recall was due to each one being a apples to oranges comparison... in your numbers, I'm sure that there are many cars affected by numerous recalls and it looks like some recalls are interrelated to each other... I imagine some supersede others. How this should "count", I don't know... it's too complicated. This infographic seems to put the Toyota numbers at 5.3 million... 4th ranked all time... but was made in May... and its numbers, wherever they came from, don't really come close to correlating with your numbers to May. Tough to tell. But you know what they say about statistics.

Yikes... very close to home for a few of us, I was surprised this didn't turn up earlier... See the video HERE

As usual, you always find better stuff too late by accident when your not looking...