Robert Hall

Sounds like it...I've never had to commute on the 17...it's the worst, along w/ the 10 thorough the downtown and to the west, I think. I commute on the 51, the 10 east bound to the 202 Santan in Chandler..since I'm going reverse of the heavy flow, it's usually mild...worse in the afternoon/evening around the 10/51/airport area. I used to commute on the 51 N to the 101 out to N. Scottsdale, that usually took longer though shorter than my commute now. My best commute was when I worked downtown, just surface streets all the way..

They can finger point and blame the bean counters... or point to history--when did GM ever make a really competitive world class compact or subcompact car? They've always been mediocre to average at best...

It could be like a new Berlin Wall...a DMZ area w/ land mines, trip wires, etc and sniper stations full of armed 'Minutemen' half wits (the Minutemen are an AZ ultra right wing loony group that patrols the border)...I'm sure that would be very popular here in AZ.

Beck is such a wacky guy..his radio show is on when I go to lunch, often listen to him in the car...hilarious at times.

'56, I think...'55-56 was a transitional period for Mopars between the upright stodginess of the early 50s and the lower longer wider finned '57-59 designs... Saw a clean '75 or so Chevy longbed pickup yesterday, orange w/ white roof and original looking (faded) graphics on the sides...

My shortest commute ever was in '07-08 when it was about 1/4 mile each way. The company I worked for then moved to an office in my neighborhood.

To make sense of this in the context of Arizona you have to remember AZ has a large right wing predominantly white ultra conservative demographic--a group that is inherently racist---remember, this is the state that 20+ years ago was against having the Martin Luther King Jr holiday. Lots of scary, armed white people w/ political power and a lot of poor brown people, some legal, some illegal.

In China they have the Excelle and Sail, Excelle was previously a Daewoo rebadge and the Sail an Opel Corsa, I think. Maybe call it Skyhawk..find some badging from the '80s era ones. Maybe a grille from a '90s A-body Century could work w/ some creative cutting..

My current Phoenix area commute is about 25 miles each way....about 35 min in the morning, 40-50 min in the afternoon. Quite easy, mix of city/freeway/suburbia on 3 freeways. I listen to NPR or music. I usually work from home 1 day a week. In the last 13 years, I've had a wide mix of commutes, some shorter, a couple longer. My worst was about 65 miles each way from Colorado Springs to the Denver suburbs in 2002.. I did it for about 2 1/2 months before moving from the Springs to Denver (which was my plan when taking that job). It was tolerable in the late spring/early summer, but I couldn't imagine doing it in winter weather. Though I know a number of people that are rooted in one metro area or the other that have been doing this commute year round for years. I don't think I could do it. A long commute that is tolerable in dry weather can be intolerable in incliment weather.

Today at lunch-- Saw a base '10 Camaro..first I've seen on the road w/ the steel wheels. Dark blue. Saw two current-style CTSes--one in the dark, dark red (black cherry) that I really like, and the other in a medium purplish blue--never seen that color. Saw a current style DTS in Mary Kay pink w/ Mary Kay graphics... Saw a minty clean triple gold '77-79 Lincoln Continental coupe (not a MK V, but the regular Lincoln). Love those 5000lb '70s land yachts.

To really confuse people, instead of Pontiac badging, try Buick badging...the grille would be a challenge, though.

No idea..I have seen plenty of Alberta plates around here. The DMV here can be interesting to deal with...didn't have any problems in moving my Jeep registration from Co to Az, the only issue was their screwup on my DL--big typo on it that I didn't notice for a month or so.

Applebees (they have a menu item called a Bourbon Street steak).

As far as brands, I like Hebrew National. I think in the last 6 years or so the only times I've eaten a hot dog is at the occasional baseball game...I used to go to 1/2 dozen or so Rockies games a year w/ friends, in AZ I go to the occasional Diamondbacks game (esp. if they are playing the Rockies). I like them w/ ketchup and mustard. Hot dogs for me are like ginger ale (which I only drink on airplanes)---a food or beverage specific to a specific occasion and not part of my normal diet. This leads to a subthread--do y'all have certain foods or beverages you only consume in certain situations, that normally in your daily meals you wouldn't eat?

It's looking more and more like the future will be like 'Idiocracy', and probably sooner.

Getting into the bad part of the year temperature wise (may be hitting 100 next week). By the end of the month, I plan to be taking daily swims..probably through September (as long as the water temp is above 80). Probably a couple weekends in the mountains, a long weekend in Ohio, a couple long weekends in Denver, and a couple long weekends to the beach. Taking off the week between my birthday and 4th of July--probably a couple of these trips in there.

Liters are used for engine dispacement also (been over 30 years since cubic inches were generally used on new cars--using CID on anything made in the last 30+ years just sounds strange to me.. Gallons per XXX miles could be interesting. What's the unit of measure in the UK? Miles per liter or liters per mile--strange that they are metric yet still use miles per hour.

The internets are not a big truck.

30 is fantastic for a V8...so is 23-25. Years ago, I saw 28 highway w/ my '87 5.0 before at steady 65mph in 5th gear on a cross country drive. Getting over 20 mpg with anything would be a big change to me.

bog

I wouldn't mind getting 23 mpg w/ a V8 for a daily driver. I'm used to getting 18,19 mpg with a 6cyl daily driver, in a mix of city/suburb/freeway driving. My V8 Mustang gets about 25 highway, not bad for a 20+ yr old car..

He lost a ton (2000lbs) from each somewhere...

I have a Sega Dreamcast and Playstation 2 from back when I dabbled in video games. Really haven't had much interest in games at all for many years now. More interested in travel and other non-gaming pastimes (building/collecting model cars, watching movies, listening to music, etc). My interest in Android and mobile technology is for side development projects/new skill areas (mobile development) as an alternative to the corporate enterprise application development I do in my day job. As far as iPods and iPads, I'll probably get a 120gb iPod Classic to replace 30gb iPod that I've filled up...do like to take a lot of music and podcasts w/ me. If I were flying weekly like my sister, I'd think about a Kindle or iPad, she's looking at getting a Kindle. But on the theme of the thread, access to information and connectivity has exploded over the last decade, no doubt. 20 years ago my internet access was limited to dialup and a PC at home or 'fast' connections at school via the text-based internet (telnet, ftp, usenet). Portable music was CDs in my Sony Discman. Nothing like the capacity and convenience of an mp3 player of today. I used to go to 'libraries' then to look up information in books and journals. Haven't been in one of those over a decade, what with the explosion of information on the WWW. Now, wireless high speed connnectivity nearly anywhere, anytime via a smart phone (or laptop w/ wireless) is pretty ubiquitous. It can get distracting.

With a 4cyl Regal I see no point in a 4cyl LaCrosse except for fleet sales...

Certainly nothing I'd attempt because of the time, effort or expense (not to mention the end result wouldn't necessarily be reliable). I'd just buy a Charger if I want a large RWD V8 Dodge. But I do admire the craziness of such an effort.