Robert Hall

Yeah, great role...I liked him in 'Accidental Tourist' and 'Broadcast News' also. A recent small part in the show 'Goliath' was very good also. Another good small role in a movie was in 'A History of Violence'.

^Yeah, I've never had a reason to have my legs in the center..not sitting cross-legged on the floor doing yoga. Without a trans/exhaust tunnel maybe more room in the center for storage. Can always use more cubbies.. Like a BOF truck or SUV..the cab sits on top of the frame..I assume the Ford Lightning is like this..

Yeah, always wondered how people parallel parked some of the cars in the ancient world...tiny rear window at a angle, no passenger side mirror, tiny driver's side mirror..I guess they parked by feel...stop when you bump into another car..

After about 9 hrs of driving yesterday (went to an Aunt's funeral in KY), I'm exhausted...slept in until 9-ish, got up, cold, snowing... yay....looking forward to Spring.

Not looking forward to the weather this weekend. Got around 200 miles roundtrip planned for this afternoon and 500+ roundtrip tomorrow. And it's supposed to snow all along the route. Just tired...looking forward to Spring..

Looks interesting..certainly has taken a long time...hasn't VW teased a modern retro styled bus for a couple decades now, even before announcing it being an EV? I seem to remember one or more concepts quite a while ago...(the EV concept version of this was 5 years ago!). Anyway, it should have the market to itself..no one else is doing a retro styled BEV van. (imagine GM building a new Dustbuster BEV van or Ford a new Aerostar BEV...could be fun!)

Yeah, that's just an MCE for the Ice version.

So thick (thicc?) with weird details and blingage. Like why the weird slots between the hood and grille trim?

I noticed when I filled up yesterday that diesel was $4.59/gallon here in my area. I noticed gas prices hit $4.12/gallon for unleaded in Phoenix this week...I can't recall what the prices were back in summer/fall 2008 when I was living there and prices went up...but the cars I was driving then were way worse in the gas mileage than my current Jeep.

And generally turbo 4s aren't known for their longevity and reliability, aren't they? More stress...maybe I'm old school, but I still view 4s as something for small entry-level subcompacts and compacts, and some small sports cars...not something aspirational or worthy of being in a luxury car brand, IMO. If I'm buying a luxury car, I'd want a 6 or a V8, not a plebeian 4 cyl..

At least it has some chrome to offset the ugly...better than the nasty work truck versions w/ all the black.. These trucks are so thick and tall today. Visually, I think they would look better with maybe 4-6 inches sectioned from them. The obesity makes the classic GMT-400 and older generations look clean and svelte.

Hmmm...moar chrome, and different gills.. looks like they integrated the bumper with the fender cleanly, rather than that weird gap for the gills previously...not sure why they put the bowtie up so high, looks better in the center of the grille, IMO..

I remember both of those songs and the Cold War mid 80s era...still relevant today.

I would also, since I loathe 4 cyl engines.

I guess we are living in the 'new normal'... reality is complex. I know lots of people are grousing about gas prices, it is what it is...paid $3.75/gallon for unleaded last weekend. I'm getting an average of 23.x mpg...been driving an extra 200-400 miles every weekend the last 3 weeks, probably will be for the foreseeable future (going back and forth to my farm). The Jeep has been great in mud setting and 4wheel low on the farm, but I kinda wish I had an old 4x4 truck out there...something I wouldn't mind getting scratches from bramble and tree branches and to haul in and out junk. Edit: filled up today, $3.99/ gallon. $75 tank full. Ready for the weekend

In olden days, GM had two near-luxury (what we call premium today?) brands that overlapped--Buick and Oldsmobile. Though the differences over time seemed to be mainly superficial styling details (grilles and taillights mostly by the 80s)...they always seemed to be two sides of the same coin to me.

I have a couple, and I think it's also for arguing w/ mr Blu...

Neat...my high school had auto shop classes, but I was on the college prep/AP track and couldn't take them.

Kia and Hyundai each seem to have a vertical ladder within each brand...both have cheap entry level cars and CUVs, but also semi-premium Buick/GMC-ish larger sedans and CUVs....each brand has a spectrum (though they both have cut their largest most premium sedans). Kia seems a bit more premium in some of their models? They seems to have a lot of interchangeable models that seem to differ only in styling between the brands. The Stinger and Velociter are a couple models that seem to stand out from the generic stuff..

Those resource units are on the dark side of the biz.

software engineers and IT folks keep the world working..without us, there would be only chaos...banks wouldn't work, airline reservation systems wouldn't work, cell phones wouldn't work, the internet wouldn't work, your truck wouldn't be drivable without the complex engine management software, etc... it would be the end of the modern world..dark ages.

That one picture, the seats look like molded plastic. Nasty gray interiors in several pics. Ick. The exterior is so bland, so poorly proportioned. Nothing imposing like an S-Class should be.

You are always posting old black and white photos of 50s cars and old dealerships, it certainly sounds like you have nostalgia for a world you never lived in.. As far as sales people, there are some good ones, I’ve worked with a few. But I’m general, sales is a profession full of sleazy, unethical people in my opinion. I don’t trust them. They are of little value when compared to people that actually produce something of value, like engineers, designers, etc..

There is plenty of examples out there about how bad car dealers are...no point in quoting. Sounds like your problem is you are looking at dealers with nostalgia for the 1950s... they aren't there to provide any benefit to buyers. I'm definitely pro-consumer, definitely not going to side with businesses.

You would have be awfully naive or simple-minded to assume most dealers have fair practices...yeah, maybe you got a good deal on one vehicle at one dealer that walks on water and everything is rainbows and unicorns in your view of them. So effing what? It's well known that dealers are still the scum of the earth and out to screw over buyers whenever possible. I don't see why you are taking the side of dealers unless you have a dog in the fight...