Robert Hall

Rollin on 30s there yo'...

Definitely...I spent time looking at the door handles, hood ornaments, emblems, gauges, etc on a number of '50s cars today, absolutely fascinating....like the low mileage '50 Olds 4dr sedan, '55 Caddy Eldorado, the '58 Bonneville, '57 Ford Fairlane Skyliner, '59 Lincoln convertible (what a beast). I think I could literally spend hours studying some of these cars, there is so much surface detailing going on... found myself standing between a '64 Caddy Coupe de Ville and a '61 Lincoln 4dr sedan and just absolutely absorbed in the details..

I saw that '58 Impala convertible...there was a gorgeous '58 Bonneville ht in black & red. I don't recall seeing any '59-60 Buicks, but there was a gorgeous '59 Olds 88 convertible, and a rather ghastly customized '59 Olds 88 ht in bright yellow, with a weird custom grille and blingy wheels. One GM I particularly liked was an unrestored red & white '69 Bonneville 4dr ht. Lots of 1st and 2nd gen Camaros, not many Firebrids. I enjoyed studying a black '57 Chrysler 300C ht and red '60 Chrysler Saratoga 2dr ht, I love the 'Forward Look' cars, and the details like the mirrors etc are fascinating.. I've never seen so many '67-68 Shelbys at one time, fewer '65-66 ones than last year. Didn't take any pics this year, was rather tired today and it was pretty crowded.. I downloaded the 4 PDFs of the catalog, better pics than I would have taken.

Spent several hours this afternoon at the annual B-J event...was a sunny 75 degree day in dusty Scottsdale. Indoors, the new car displays from Ford, Chrysler, and GM were impressive--- lots of new Mustangs in a variety of trim levels--GTs, Shelbys, Boss 302s, and aftermarket tuners versions....really liked the MKZ, first I'd seen in person..nice interior, really interesting exterior design, esp. the rear. Loved the various SRT Mopies (Challenger, Charger, 300, JGC)...saw the new Viper for the first time, very impressed. At the GM stand, the new Silverado looked quite good in longbed crew cab form in a taupe color. The Hot Wheels Camaro SS was fun. Checked out a brown Encore---very interesting Juke-sized CUV with a really great interior. Liked the design of the new Impala, first one I'd seen. The two tone dash design is a bit strange, though. Sat in the the ATS and XTS, the XTS looks much better in person and up close, nice interior. The auction this year still had a vast array of '60s-70s muscle cars (loads of Mopies, Chevys, GTOs, etc) as in recent years and plenty of '50-60s full size cars, but there was also a nice group of classics--'30s Duesenbergs, Packards, Issotta-Fraschinis, Rolls Royces, etc. Some '50s concept cars--the Chrysler Diablo and Packard Mitchell as well as the Hudson Italia were standouts. Loads of '60s Shelbys, incl. the '68 'Green Hornet' coupe prototype/testbed, several '69-70 Boss 302s and 429s, Saw the '66 Batmobile briefly, it was so crowded around it I couldn't get too close. Good times...been popping the Aleves tonight though, I'm too out of shape for so much walking...knees, ankles, shoulders aching. As far as celebs, I saw Bob Varsha. Watching the TV coverage on Speed now, Rick Hendrick just bought a '68 L88 Corvette Owens Corning road racer..I saw that car today, beautiful car. Ed Wellburn is on the podium w/ a red 2014 Corvette they are auctioning off, I didn't see it there today. The Batmobile sold to a local guy for $4.2M, who said he's putting it in his living room...

Perfect for a cowboy...

I went w/ the 2nd option when I bought my Jeep new in '00. Next time around--which is probably this year--I'm going to go pre-owned late model, low mileage, well equipped. Living literally in the geographic middle of a major city in a large, sprawling metro area pretty much means any place I work will require some commuting...whether it's 10 miles each way or 40, I want to have something reliable, comfortable, and well equipped. As far as MPG goes, as long as my combined is at least 18 mpg I'm happy. I like keeping cars 10 years or more, so recent (5 years old or less) and low mileage (< 50k, preferably < 30k) is preferable to start with...

I haven't seen the Code 130R in person, but in some pics it looks rather tall and narrow and looks like it sits high. But the basic proportions are great, IMO.

Saw a black Tesla S in Scottsdale this afternoon, 2nd one I've seen recently. Saw a gorgeous black '50 Caddy Coupe de Ville pulling into my favorite Italian restaurant...had a vintage California black plate.

Don't be absurd. It comes from "futurists" whose political stripe I don't know as it wasn't presented in the articles and shows I've seen on the topic. The notion is that it is a more environmentally-friendly way for humans to live. Maybe it is. But it would be a dehumanizing reality, one which I reject utterly. I meant your comments come off as paranoid, not the 'futurists'... Futurists and other forward-looking people are always a bit out there, sometimes their prognostications align with shifts in the views of the public, sometimes they don't. It does seem younger people have less interest in driving and car ownership and are interested in technology and a greener world, so such consumers are more ameniable to trying shared use driverless cars (I can imagine a fleet of google self-driving Priuses from companies like Zip Car in the near future in leading urban areas) than older non-technology focused consumers...

That just sounds like the usual paranoid fear of a totalitarian state that I hear from the crazies on the right, though.

The current car is so mediocre it doesn't really matter, anything will be an improvement.

Facebook and pop culture is a waste of good time. So many better things to do than be into those items. Course Facebook could burn down and I would careless same with Twitter. I see no real value in either of those platforms for driving sales. In fact reviews of companies that have used them have shown more money spent then returned. GM has stopped Facebook and twitter advertising. They had their day and are slowly fading. Social networks are no place for sales or marketing, IMO. My company is getting ready to start a marketing campaign using FB, Linkedin and Twitter to announce our blog postings...I'm wondering if it will be of any value as far as growing our business (small web consulting firm). I like using Twitter as a news stream....kind of like the way I used to use aggregators like Google Reader. FB has it's place in connecting w/ people that I know and people w/ similar interests (autos, racing, terriers, politics, etc). Anyhoo, it's going be interesting to see driverless cars start appearing in traffic and real-world contexts...

Given the lack of interest in cars and driving in general amongst the younger generations, it's inevitable that driverless cars will take off over time....we have to face it, as car enthusiasts we are are a small minority, maybe about 1% of the driving public..the masses have no interest beyond getting from point a to point b. Most people would rather be on Facebook or watching Kim Kardashian/Justin Beiber/(whatever pop culture sensation of the moment) videos.

You realize that not everyone is a speed freak right? The 0-60 may be in the 8 second range but that doesn't mean the car will feel slow in normal driving. Drivers appreciate the low end torque of Voltec. The Fleetwood was also an 8 second car and few people would find that car to be slow in normal driving even today. I know everyone isn't a speed freak, that is why they should make a turbo 4 diesel for the ATS. It would probably do low 7's in 0-60 and get 40-42 mpg, and it wouldn't cost $60,000, it would be more like $40,000. The BMW 3 series hybrid starts at $49k.....I thought they a diesel in the US, but it's not showing up for 2013 on their website.

Interesting that it's taken this long to see that feature then, since pickups have had bed lights on the outside of the cab above the rear window for decades...

Is the in-bed lighting just a novelty, or is it a meaningful feature consumers have been asking for?

Been there, done that...here parents didn't like her dating non-Jews, even a well-educated chunky bald WASA...

Saw a black Dodge Dart tonight, making 2 I've seen on the road and both today. It was a light in the lane next to a silver blue Charger, need sibling resembalance in the taillights. Saw a silver ATS and a red Volt tonight also.

The Atlas concept is just Super Duty front end styling cues w/ a new ugly grille applied to an F150...same old, same old...

Saw a new red Dodge Dart today at lunch, first I'd seen on the road, pretty nice.

^ neat...I vaguely remember seeing those back in the day...

The white one is in R26. I think there may have been a black X11 also, but I don't have it.

Saw an unusual '80s Chevy Astro this evening...silver, black lower body, side sliding door window and one on the left side but no rear quarter windows, instead it had short, vertical louvers right behind the sliding door and window on the left...with red pinstriping above the black lower paint and around the windows....unusual, some sort of special trim package?

Neat..I have that and the white X11, and the regular Citations they have done also (beige, beige/tan two tone, silver blue)

Looking forward to seeing it in person....great interior, dramatic exterior...