Robert Hall

Who knows, they might badge them both ways here...I don't see many Freightliner Sprinters around here, but plenty of the Merc ones, usually w/ plenty of chrome. One of the local Merc stores usually has a 1/2 dozen or so along the freeway-facing side of their lot..

There is a solid and restorable gold '66 less than a mile from me, a driveway car that's been sitting a few years, along w/ a '55 De Soto and other vintage cars..

Sorry 'bout that, Drew. You could always trade-up. Or have two of them...always interesting to have multiple variations of the same thing...my Dad had 3 '67-68 Cougars for many years..

Ahh..I interpreted it the other way...i.e. that 'DOORS DONT HANG' meant that they sagged and didn't hang properly. I could see that sagging would be a problem w/ long, heavy doors like that.

Wonder what's up w/ the doors...

Good news.

Saw a black '57 Chevy Bel Air 2dr sedan today, 3rd time I've seen it in traffic over the last week...minty condition w/ steelies and dds.

Probably for external travel like this, they use one of the older ones...

So, there are 3500 5 series GT buyers... there were only 35000 7 series buyers? Sounds odd to me. That was 10% of Florida buyers, not nationwide... Still doesn't make sense... divide by 50. Or 10, as I'm sure Florida is in the top 5 US States for 7 series... "350 5 series GT buyers in FL... there were only 3500 7 series buyers in FL?" Florida has to have 10x as many E65 7 series, I would think. 3500 7 series in FL in one year sounds high..the 7 series is a low volume car. If they sold 2000 7 series in Florida last year, then maybe about 200 5 series GTs...or something approx like that. (I wonder what the top states for 7 series sales are..probably California, then New York, Illinois, New Jersey...)

So, there are 3500 5 series GT buyers... there were only 35000 7 series buyers? Sounds odd to me. That was 10% of Florida buyers, not nationwide... The styling seems to be the big problem the 5 GT..it's painfully ugly from behind, just too thick in profile. I've seen Audi's A5 Sportback and A7, they are much better executions of a premium hatchback bodystyle...

Hmmm..or the air suspension failed...that round thing in the second pic looks like one of those popup security bollards they have at some locations...maybe it popped up. Maybe they should build the next limo off an Escalade w/ height-adjustable suspension...

I put the removable cup holder unit from my Jeep in the dishwasher and cleaned it this weekend. First time I'd done that in a couple years, lots of dried coffee stains in it.

Don't down a whole bottle of Shiraz whilst sitting by the pool...good thing I can swim while druk

Saw a rather obscure '80s car today---a faded silver 5dr Chevy Nova...the one based on the Toyota Corolla, built by NUMMMI. Hadn't seen one of those in many years..

Went down a street w/ a bunch of small used car lots and body shops, saw a black late '40s Lincoln Continental 2dr for sale, and a pale blue '59 Ford Galaxie 2dr ht.

The '73 is nice, but I prefer the '71-72 design w/ the more expressive rear end and the oh-so-cool offset rear license plate.

I would guess that Cadillac gets 25% of GM's R&D dollars if they are lucky. And 50% probably goes to trucks and the rest of the car brands and lines have to squeak by on the remaining 25%

Care to elaborate? Because if as we are led to believe, OoD/Herr Borger is a GM insider, then he knows the truth about these future developments and can just sit back and laugh at our speculation...

Different type of car--driving dynamics aren't important. True, Those are just FWD generic appliances...the audience knows nothing about handling or cares nothing about handing. Likewise, I would assume GM's CUV platforms--Theta-Epsilon and Lambda--are similar to the car Epsilon/Epsilon II platforms...

Ok...so is this going to suppliment or replace the Dakota? And why is the Dakota still badged a Dodge..thought it would have moved to Ram.

The Durango and GC are an example of platform sharing, like the GMC CUVs which are platform shared (Terrain, Arcadia) and well differentiated. That is different from simply badge engineered models like the Sierra and Yukon which have most sheetmetal, interiors, glass, etc in common..or the Canyon/Colorado and Express/Savana, which you can agree are trivially differentiated.. SUVs are trucks. You might be able to argue some Jeeps are CUVs, whose truck status is questionable... but I usually just go by what the EPA says... They don't have a SUV catagory, only "light duty trucks". There is some overlap... but not much. EPA categories don't count. SUVs are either truck based (Tahoe, Yukon, etc) or on dedicated platforms (GC, Durango, Wrangler, 4Runner, X6, etc). CUVs are FWD/AWD. No Jeep overlap with Ram, but with Dodge there is some platform sharing and overlap (GC & Durango, Liberty & Nitro) but they aren't the blantant badge jobs as with the Canyon and Colorado, for example.

Other than the Sprinter, they don't both sell trucks in NA.

Ram and Jeep are Chryslers two truck brands... and since Chrysler is part of FIAT now, I'm sure I could add quite a few more truck brands to that... FIAT Professional (FIAT's trucks), FIAT Industrial (Iveco and numerous minor brands). So FIAT-Chrysler has at least four truck brands. Diamler, has like 6 truck brands and had about 9 with Dodge Trucks and Jeep. I figured some smarta** would say that..I should have been more specific...Jeep is an SUV brand, Ram is a truck brand..no overlap or common models. I should have said 'no automaker has two cloned truck brands'... you know what I mean...and Daimler's truck brands are each distinctive, as are FIATs. Different concept...

Apples and oranges. The M-models are still BMWs. They aren't badged as a distinct brand. Now if GMCs were badged as Chevrolet GMCs, then that comparison might hold water. And the M differences aren't merely cosmetic--they have serious hardware upgrades. The problem with the GMC approach is that for some of the models (Canyon, Savana) it's about as lame as what Chrysler used to do with Dodge and Plymouth from around 1975 until Plymouth's demise--trivial badging/grille/taillight differences on otherwise identical models...like Dodge Omni vs Plymouth Horizon. Or Dodge Neon vs Plymouth Neon. Chevy Suburban vs GMC Suburban (which they were until the Yukon name), Chevy Colorado vs GMC Canyon, etc. I just don't see the point in keeping GMC around as is when GM could be more focused and competitive with just Chevy, Buick and Cadillac to focus on. GMC could make sense if they were distinct from Chevy trucks/SUVs. Though a focus on distinct Jeep-like models could be an interesting direction...but they don't have any platforms currently for such vehicles.

I would think making a model competitive w/ the 3-series, etc would be the main focus..anything else is secondary. Cadillac absolutely has to have a hit in this niche. It will be interesting to see if they can scale it up to midsize to accomodate 4000lb CTSes and Camaros. It would have to be able to scale in width, length, track, etc. An ambitious goal. Yeah, I don't see how you can make a platform to fit so many personalities and do them all well. As others have said the 3-series leads the pack for a reason. Are the IS and A4 and C-class platforms shared either? Well, the A4 is shared w/ the A5...but the larger A6 isn't shared as far as I know. I think the IS platform is unique, and the C-class may have some things in common w/ the larger E-class, but I don't know how much. I know that the E-class coupe has E-class styling, but is based on the C-class platform (like it's CLK predecessor was).