Robert Hall

Reminds me..I've seen a dark red 240sx convertible in my commute 3 times in last few months...I had forgotten they even made a convertible version..

Pretty funny, and accurate to some of the threads on forums in general...

Boring..lacks the necessary wierdness to make it truly French, IMHO. Up front looks like Chevy/Daewoo Lacetti headlights w/ a Lexus grille.

Jaegermiester and vodka and I have an ugly history... W/ vodka, I did about a dozen shots in an hour on my 21st birthday when bar hopping w/ friends in Chicago..don't remember much of that weekend. After drinking over 1/2 a bottle of Gray Goose and passing out on my 30th birthday, I swore off vodka for about 5 years... My 35th birthday involved a lot of Jaeger shots and drunken Canadians in Denver.. My 40th birthday is going to be much more serene...

Another scarce '80s GM are the G-body sedans. Haven't noticed one in years, it seems. '79-85 E-bodies are pretty scarce around here also, though there is a Riviera coupe, Eldorado convertible, and Toronado coupe I see around my 'hood periodically...

I saw one of those a couple months ago..I think it was a 1990, since it had a gray eggcrate grille. A gold 2dr in clean shape.

I think Fiat has had very little to do with the Phoenix/Pentastar V6 so far, this has been developed over the last few years..the induction system looks like a typical late model engine. Nothing to see on most modern vehicles under the hood.

Haven't seen any of those Skylarks in ages...same w/ the Achieva. That Skylark may have the distiction of being the last GM NA model w/ an offset front license plate. I still see the occasional Cierra and Century, makes sense as they were built until '95-96 or so, while the Chevy ended in '89 and the Pontiac '90 IIRC...though I have seen a clean dark red late '80s 6000STE a few times lately.. One family of cars I never see are '80s-early 90s Chrysler Corp. FWD cars...from the Aries to Daytona to Laser to Lancer to Dynasty and the 50 different LeBaron variations... I haven't seen any of those cars in a long time. There are a couple beat up Sundance/Shadow convertibles I see around occasionally, though.

My favorite summer drinks- Mojitos and Coronas.....not listed.

I got my Droid a month ago and have been using it a lot..still use my laptop at home to surf, but everywhere else I'm on the phone. I've been playing around with Android programming, going to try and write an app or two this summer.

VVT of a sorts, sounds like.

From Allpar: Power ratings for the Jeep Grand Cherokee will be at least 280 horsepower (209 kW) [a later release showed 290 hp] and 260 lb.-ft. of torque (353 N•m) @ 4,800 rpm

Still in Missouri, or did you move out of state?

Moving?

I think the diesels lasted through '82 in the US, the T1000 came out here around '83...I wonder if Canada had a diesel version. Surprised GM didn't give Olds and Cadillac versions of the T-car (Buick got theirs in 'Opel' form)

If I limit it to late model (last decade), here is what I would go with: Chrysler: 2010 Dodge Challenger R/T (weekend fun) Ford: 2011 Ford Mustang GT convertible (weekend fun, sunny weather) GM: 2010 Cadillac CTS (commuter car) too many choices if I include older cars. If I expand it to what I would fill a large garage/barn with, I'd add these: Chrysler: '06-07 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, '11 Grand Cherokee Overland Ford: '03-10 Crown Vic PI, '03-04 Mercury Marauder, '03-08 Lincoln Town Car, '08 Mustang 'Bullitt', '06 Ford GT GM: '09 Pontiac G8 GXP, '10 Camaro SS, '11 Caddy CTS-v coupe All would make good daily drivers and some definitely weekend fun vehicles. plus some oldies.

Also India...huge country. Ireland, Thailand, New Zealand, and a country in S. America that I can't remember. The British Virgin Isles and Bermuda may also. Hong Kong did/does, but China does not.

Was the T1000 ever offered w/ the diesel? Back when my folks were into RVing, my Dad bought cars to use as tow cars..hook on the back of the motorhome so we would have something to drive when we got to the campsite. The family Lincolns were too big and heavy for this purpose, so my Dad started buying small cars. First was a '76 Vega coupe. He replaced that w/ an '81 Chevette Scooter, 2dr w/ manual. He said that was the worst car he ever owned. He traded that on an '84 Ford Escort diesel, 5dr 5spd, which I learned to drive in and drove to school for a while...the only FWD car he owned in 60+ years of driving and the only one I've ever driven regularly.

I drove sticks as daily drivers for 14 years in all sorts of traffic. Have had an automatic for the daily driver for the last 10 years. But I still drive a stick 2-3 times a year, so I can still walk the walk...plan to get a new car w/ manual soon.

Happy Birthday!

Wow...2hrs or 100 miles is my limit between stops...food, gas, or bathroom. I take some road food along w/ me--Goldfish, jerky, Red Bull, bottled water, Starbucks double shot cans, trail mix, but I like to stop and whenever possible check out local restaurants for breakfast/lunch/dinner.

Hard to argue against the Toyota model, though. Look at their US sales #s, profits, and market share over the last decade(recent recall issues not withstanding). Not that I'm in favor of Toyota, but it's hard to argue w/ their success. Clearly, Ford has their sights on them w/ the goal of beating them in the NA market. And Ford is doing plenty of model proliferation on platforms--Edge, MKX, Fusion, MKZ on the same platform, and Flex, Explorer, Taurus, MKs, MKT on the same platform...the NG Focus is supposed to have many variations worldwide. The two wildcards of interest to me remain their last RWD models--the Mustang and the Aussie Falcon. With the end of the Panther, are RWD sedans done for in NA from Ford?

The manual column shift thread made me think of this... I know a number of people my age (almost 40) and younger that have never driven a vehicle w/ a manual. I learned to drive w/ them, and drove Ford products w/ manuals most of the time for 14 years before getting my first automatic at age 30.

I really think they are trying to emulate the successful Toyota model--their wide mainstream US range goes from the tiny entry-level Yaris and Corolla to the upscale Avalon, with full size and compact trucks, minivan, etc in the mix. Lincoln is in the Lexus role, but at the lower price ranges. Will it work for Ford?

Interesting...no ventiports on the Regal.