Robert Hall

Happy Earth Day indeed. I planted a dogwood last night, spread some grass seed, spread some mulch...very relaxing after a week glued to computer screens on Zoom calls.... going to plant some boxwoods and some thuja arborvitaes this weekend, and some tiger lilys in a flowerbed.

^ probably the 3.0 VM turbodiesel V6...

The BLS was FWD... while the CTS was larger and RWD. Different platforms. The BLS was built in Sweden in a Saab plant...available as a sedan or wagon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadillac_BLS I remember an episode of Top Gear w/ the BLS.

^the Cadillac was the European-only BLS (based on the Saab 9-3 IIRC). The Police cars are BMW i3 hybrids.

Neat...I remember when I visited the Colosseum in Sept. 2003 on a nearby street seeing a dark blue Chevy Tahoe and a dark blue Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited parked one behind the other...they really looked out of place amidst the typical small European cars of the era...though the GCs were sold in Europe then (saw many in the UK, France and Italy).

I think in the ancient world where BOF vehicle bodies sat on top of the frame (1930s?), there was very little cabin intrusion for the driveline. But cars were tall and narrow then. With lower, longer, wider some floor space had to be used for a driveline tunnel…

My Jeep uses the center tunnel for the driveshaft... without the hump, the driveshaft would be too low. And with a BOF truck or SUV, it's there for the driveshaft also... in an ICE vehicle, really have to have FWD to get rid of the hump...even then, though, the hump is useful to route the exhaust. On anything RWD-based, you have the have the driveshaft somewhere..can't see a way around it...(now lifted trucks and SUVs have the driveshaft exposed, but that is in a non-standard config).

The floor hump in front of the back seat has never been an issue for me, I don't ride in the back seat, and most of the time in my Jeep the seat is folded down, so a non-issue for me.

The hump is there for the driveshaft (got those in RWD and AWD) or exhaust routing for FWD...can't have a completely flat floor and still have decent ground clearance.

I'd take the E39 M5. My favorite era of BMWs. The modern appliances are faster but so dull and soulless.

I saw one of those Rivs at a car show once that had been modified with a carbon fiber dash/door/console trim..got the dry heaves just looking at it (I despise the use of carbon fiber for interior trim, whether it is real or faux)..

The E-bodies in '66-67 (Riv, Toro, and '67 Eldo) were a high point for GM design, IMO...beautifully styled cars. IIRC, the photo of the gold Eldo in Palm Springs is a photo from an article in Motor Trend Classic about 15 years ago (short-lived premium magazine from Motor Trend). Love the Citroen SM, Jag, and Continental also. The SM is one of my favorite '70s European cars.

Reality is complex. Businesses make decisions for reasons. Reasons we aren't privy to. Next topic.

Yep, still there..saw the Garden of the Gods balanced rock many times when I lived about a mile from the park from '97-02...

Many. Olds enumerated a few above. And lots of platforms shared across makers—GM and Toyota, GM and Suzuki, Ford and Mazda, Etc. JVs happen.

Sounds like this isn't that much different than other joint ventures that have been common with automakers for years---different automakers sharing a platform or sharing dirty bits or jointly developing a platform or dirty bits.

Yesterday and Saturday I saw a solid looking black '75 Chevy Laguna coupe, and a auto shop that had maybe 1/2 dozen or more partially covered '58-59 Edsels and a premiered '70 Cougar shell out front in Navarre, Ohio (small town near Massillon).

Or CorEVette to emphasize the EV angle... or something like Corvette Z-0EV

Sun's out now, into the 40s...I think after work I'm going to go get grass seed, top soil, and mulch and get started on Spring yard work...then off to mud farming this weekend..

35 w/ sleet and snow mix for April fools...yay...was 25 and windy Monday, then 70 and sunny on Wednesday. NE Ohio Spring always up and down, unpredictable...reminds me of this neat list of Midwestern seasons that makes its way around the internets...

Kind of a guilty pleasure...discovered this new song from 80s-90s boy band New Kids on the Block w/ Rick Astley, Salt n Pepa and En Vogue..I was never a boy band fan, but the 80s references in the video are great...parodying Twisted Sister, Bill Idol, Max Headroom, Flock of Seagulls videos, etc...very catchy been stuck in my head the last couple weeks, get the warm fuzzies for 1989...happy memories of rolling in my 5.0 back in the day listening to 80s music.

The Nautilus/Edge seem to be somewhat overlapped from below by the Corsair/Escape and above by the Aviator/Explorer. What about a Lincoln Bronco variant to take on the Defender? Could be interesting...

I could see that as a very attractive dream car garage. I'd want a Boxster 4.0 GTS manual also, and maybe sub a Panamera Sport Turismo for the Taycan.

It's been a long time since I came close to the average for miles driven... IIRC, I drove under 2000 miles in 2020, and only about 3500 miles last year..this year, though, I've done over 3000 miles so far.. The '69 Mustang and '87 Mustang GT once they are road-worthy again would be driven maybe 100-200 miles a year, I wouldn't attempt to drive an old car daily, more as occasional weekend toys. It will be interesting to see how things go w/ old car values when I eventually try and sell some of my brother's vehicles.

Sounds like the FDA did approve a 2nd booster of Pfizer for people 50+, I'm definitely getting it when available. Tangently related to vaccination..I was at my office yesterday for the first time in 6 months, for an all-hands meeting (my company has been acquired by a larger company)...first time i've sat in a conference room for a meeting in about 5 years, 1st time meeting in person several of my coworkers of the the last year..we did try to keep some distance, used a lot of hand sanitizer.. but we did go out for beers and lunch at a local restaurant...first time eating indoors at a restaurant in quite a while, it definitely felt like things are getting close to normal again.. The acquiring company did say they were going to maintain the all-remote approach my company has, and keep the office in Ohio (they are based in Texas, and have been all-remote since March 2020). At the office, had my annual review and was pleasantly surprised to get an unexpected promotion and 15% raise.