Robert Hall

Saw a black '13 Caddy XTS in the parking lot at Trader Joes a few min ago...saw it from behind and down the side...looked tall and narrow, and the deck is really short. Strange. At the local Honda store, I saw a blue-green '61 Ford F100 longbed on their corner display dais..

Cool..

Was a nice cool rainy day today (high was only 97)...had thunderstorms the last couple of nights...I like rainy weather, sleep well on rainy nights.

Inspired by these drawings was this unusual custom Riv.. Here's another Tremulus Tucker sketch.. Lots more here...http://www.kustomrama.com/index.php?title=Tucker_Torpedo

Maybe it's a rear wheel steering design. Speaking of, has there ever been a 4 wheeled production car with steerable rear wheels (and fixed front wheels) ?

The current Econoline is 20 years old... as part of the 'One Ford' plan, they want a common van for North America, Europe, and other markets..

Smaller and lighter sounds like a good idea, make it more of a pure sports car.

I think Colorado has something like that, but a buddy of mine in Denver nearly killed himself several times the first year after buying a Kawasaki Ninja a few years ago...he'd had previous experience w/ a 50cc bike back home in India, but the Ninja was a bit more of a handful.. My brother had several British bikes in the '60s-70s, took off about 20 years from riding after a couple bad accidents, but in the last 15 years has bought several older Yamahas and Hondas...rides the backroads of rural Ohio, seems to have a lot of fun doing it. I've never ridden a bike, but wouldn't mind trying one sometime..though I think I'd prefer a Boxster or other small open sports car.

Shortened Gamma II I've read.

Interesting how the roof trim doesn't go all the way down the A- or C- pillars..

Would be neat to see it here...but with GMNA's fear of hatchbacks I don't see it happening..

Your originally from Ohio dude...camo and a gun rack FTW. Thinking black hood, some of the black wagon wheels, a lift and 35 inch Monster Mudders and black tube bumpers... This is cool...

I love the styling of those late '50s-early '60s sports cars like the BMW 507 and Ferrari California....fantastic proportions, and so obviously RWD...

Given the number of fat people that live here, maybe you should consider it round in the middle and round on both ends. I was on the roof of a convenience store, notice a guy that must have been 600 lbs plus getting out of a Grand Am. And I do mean 600 lbs plus....I've had a neighbor and a friend both over 500, and this guy was nowhere near skinny enough to be five hundred... So I come down off the roof to check the stat inside the store and restart the unit..watch the guy at the soda fountain. He downs literally a gallon and a half of mountain Dew, and takes another three liters of mountain dew at the sales counter...and then asks for directions to Mac Donalds. Ohio is pretty much fat and stupid....this in no way is meant as a slam against guys like Hyper and 67 IMP SS that also has to suffer though living here. But one of my fav. Authors often has people moving or driving to the west coast...they never so much as stop in Ohio for more than a cup of Coffee... I think she's on to something. That's sad... having grown up in Ohio, I knew a lot of good places and people in the state...and great roads...but of my old college and grad school buddies, most don't live in Ohio anymore...most are out of state now (Cali, Chicago, Boston, DC, Fla, etc)....

Still looks tall and blocky with a vertical nose..nothing new.

Saab is gone, so I don't think Aero is an issue...didn't know Dodge was using it. HFE reminds me of HSE, a Jaguar engine designation from the '80s...

Given the lack of snow and humidity, I figure that California (and the SW USA in general) should have no issues with rust or oxidation on cars at all. It's the sun....paint oxidation is a big issue here in AZ. And clearcoat peeling. Answer to that is too just LineX the whole outside of the vehicle and then you never have to deal with paint oxidation! You also do not have to deal with door dents, rusting, etc. LineX covered SUV's rock for off trail use also. LoL... I've thought about painting the hood of my Jeep matte black....too many paint chips, cat scratches, bird poo marks, etc as it is now..

Interesting... as far as the competition, Ford and Ram have minor facelifts between now and then, is Toyota or Nissan planning anything new (a new Titan seems to have been rumored for years).

The Corvette won't be on Alpha...the ATS is Alpha, the next Camaro will be Alpha...

Given the lack of snow and humidity, I figure that California (and the SW USA in general) should have no issues with rust or oxidation on cars at all. It's the sun....paint oxidation is a big issue here in AZ. And clearcoat peeling.

Nice...I can still see the blue paint on the floorpans of my Jeep...surface rust on some of the oily bits, but no salt corrosion...12 years in dry Colorado and Arizona...guess I'll have to get it rustproofed when I move to damper climes..

Not sure if I've had any experience w/ CVTs at all...maybe a rental car or two (about the only one I can think of that probably was a CVT was a Ford Five Hundred).

Here are the numbers: 2012 BMW 535i: 4090 lbs 2012 Cadillac CTS 3.6: 3920 lbs Difference: 170 lbs 2012 BMW 535i xDrive: 4233 lbs 2012 Cadillac CTS 3.6 AWD: 4118 lbs Difference: 115 lbs IIRC, the M5 was about 45xx and the CTS-v was 42xx..

I was surprised to see the LaCrosse has been outselling the ES...I had assumed it was the other way around...I rarely see LaCrosses (or any Buicks) compared to Lexuses, esp. the ES..

I was reading a comparison between the current CTS-v and new M5 in Road & Track last night...IIRC, the current CTS is only slightly smaller than the new 5 series..maybe 3-4 inches in length, 2 inches in width, 2 inches in wheelbase. But it's about 300 pounds lighter...not sure what the numbers are for a 6 cyl version.