Robert Hall

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.

Doesn't sound realistic that someone making $102k would be buying a $940k home.

Yeah...it was my 4th visit to Portland, but wasn't that familiar w/ the street layout..back before smart phones and nav systems..I probably should have just driven across town than taken the southern belt line..

Yeah, I think I've related this story before...I was up in Portland on a 4 day weekend getaway... On Thursday, visited friends in Beaverton, went to the Nike corporate store there (my friend was a tech guy there then), played tourist and went to the Bonneville Dam, Columbia River Gorge, Multnomah Falls, Powell's Books and various restaurants and bars in Portland...was gray and damp but not icy. The next day, I went up to Tillamook and Astoria in the morning(beautiful little town on the coast). Then back to Portland for lunch w/ friends. Around 2 pm I set out from Beaverton heading back to my hotel which was out by the airport..spent the next 7 hours on the 5 and 205 in a horrific ice storm, inching along while semis were sliding off the freeway around me...the GP rental did great, though 7 hours of staring at gray and black cheesy interior plastics and red light gauges was enough. Next day, the weather was fine and went to a U2 concert at the Rose Garden.

And was a senior citizen by 50..

I recognized that GP interior, as I spent 7 hrs in one driving very slowly in an ice storm outside Portland, Or in Dec 06...still remember experience pretty well... The GM interior of that era I'm most familiar with was the early 00s Cadillac DTS...my sister had one in AZ, and I drove it a lot--commuted to work in it quite a bit in 2013-2015...always liked the interior in these. (first pic below is a DeVIlle--the DTS had buckets and a center console and floor shift, but much the same otherwise). Very comfortable car, drove it on several road trips from Phoenix to San Diego or LA...seats were very comfortable.

A bit different, though as the ICE Mustang is a 2dr coupe/convertible w/ a tiny interior. Apples and oranges. The EV Equinox is the same body style as the ICE Equinox and presumably similar exterior dimensions, so one would think they would have similar interior dimensions. Though interestingly, Tesla continues to sell quite a few vehicles...not sure interior space is that much of an issue for most buyers.

Can't imagine it would be larger inside if the outside dimensions are comparable. They have to take some space for the EV bits and batteries. Unless it has lower ground clearance or a taller body relative to a real Equinox, that space has to come out of the interior...

An 80s track w/ a video with a nuclear meltdown theme I like is Ultravox's 'Dancing With Tears in My Eyes'...

Manufacturing and delivering a product as complex as a motor vehicle to market with quality in quantity in a reasonable schedule is not an easy task or set of tasks. Maybe a BE powertrain simplifies to some degree compared to an ICE powertrain, but there are still many systems to integrate to produce a finished, complete vehicle...many of those systems and components are probably outsourced to suppliers, but there is a lot of work to be done to make it so. Obviously, big established companies like GM, Ford, VWAG, Daimler, Toyota, etc have decades of experience successfully bringing new models to market and should have an advantage--ICE or BE, compared to startups trying to do it all from scratch..

Beautiful sunny day today, out on I-77 south of Canton saw a couple strange sights...I saw a big rollback wrecker loading a presumably broken-down black current style Chevy Silverado HD 4dr that had been towing a large fifth-wheel travel trailer (like 35 foot or so)...was on a uphill section of I-77. Later saw two new (w/ temporary tags) Volvo three rear axle semi-truck cabs (googled the model--the 'VHD'), one red, one white, lots of chrome driving together...the odd detail was the red was flat-towing an older Honda CRV.. Saw a solid third gen Camaro IROC-Z in bright red, t-tops off rumbling along in traffic through Akron...paint was a bit faded in places, but it looked straight and solid. Had some Bon Jovi blasting.. Saw a new Land Rover Defender for the first time yesterday..wow, they are seriously ugly in person..esp. the rear with the weird taillights..they look tall and narrow... I was rolling along in my grubby JGC w/ the sunroof open blasting '90s U2. 4th trip to the farm in the last week, driven 800 miles over those 4 trips..fun, fun.. I washed it a couple weeks ago, but the automated car wash didn't get the caked mud out of the wheel wells..going to have to power wash it. Averaging 22-23mpg mostly highway.

I've put together a spreadsheet w/ all the info I've found...have all the VINs and license plate numbers and some registrations. Interesting how the pre-1981 cars and bikes have shorter VINs and less info available from the BMV. Definitely going to need a locksmith eventually. Will be working w/ my lawyer to transfer everything legally considering my brother had no will. My sister and I get along great. Her Trax wouldn't be very good in the mud and is very tiny inside, so we have to use the Jeep. Really wish I had a pickup for hauling dirty stuff. After owning and driving SUVs for almost 30 years, I love 'em, esp. JGCs. Comfortable and practical.