Robert Hall

That reminds me, I saw a dark gold base '90 2dr Lumina (gray egg crate style grille) in really clean condition recently. Not something you see very often in any condition.

The Magnum would be a natural for conversion into an El Camino style vehicle. I plan to do that eventually w/ a Revell 1:25th scale model kit. An El Camino based off the last W- Monte Carlo could have been interesting..

Ya...driving in E/NE Ohio (6 winters) and SE Michigan (3 winters) really prepared me for winter driving. And most of the Ohio winters were in RWD cars w/ snow tires. The 12 years of Colorado winters in SUVs were mild by comparison (lots of snow, but much less of the sleet, freezing rain, ice storms, and general slop).

I don't recall ever naming one of mine...but I named my sister's '84 Merc 500SEL 'The Big Dog' years ago, because that's the kind of car the big dogs (doctors, lawyers, CEOS, Wall Streeters, etc) drove back in the Big 80s. My brother has usually always named some of his cars, incl. a sluggish 4cyl Mustang II he called 'The Silver Bullet'.

A Lumina based one might have looked pretty decent. So would have a 2dr wagon, IMHO.

That's where I first encountered a trunk like that. A buddy in college had a 2nd gen Jetta..just like my sister's Mercs, it had a button for the trunk release. That wierded me at first out that you could shut the trunk w/o locking it. The hatch on my Jeep (and the Bronco II before that) work that way, but w/ a handle.

There was the guy that ended up running a bowling alley in Michigan....Sloan or Durant, I think?

I don't remember looking for the inside release on the rental Cobalt I had a couple years ago, I just used the remote to open it when outside, IIRC. So I'm not following w/ the '10 LaCrosse..is this a button on the fob (like many cars have) or does the trunk automatically unlock when you approach it w/ the fob...there would still have to be a latch to release and open it. And does it lock automatically when you shut it? One of the things that took me a while to get used to w/ Benzes and BMWs is that the trunks can be shut but not locked...never seen an American car w/ that property.

Heh-heh..I had to get into my Mustang from the passenger's side once, some asstard had parked too close on the driver's side. Not easy clambering across heavily bolstered buckets, a center console w/ parking brake and manual shifter... A couple times, I've had to enter SUVs from the rear hatch and clamber forward into the driver's seat when sloppy parkers blocked me in on each side. Not easy when you are 6'0", 220+...

I thought about that comment then went back and read through and realized nothing was said about it being necessarily present day vehicles. I started thinking about the usage scenarios and it suddenly made sense. Now for some reason, I think I sort of knew this factoid, maybe I read it in Collectible Automobile or Hemmings Classic Cars in the context of a particular model...

One detail Balthy didn't devulge is when. This might be something from 50 years ago, not necessarily obscure, but not necessarily current. I could see in olden days maybe having the only outside lock on the passenger's side, when cars had bench seats and people parked at the curb (get in from the sidewalk side, safer than in the street). Maybe a '50s 2dr car or truck? I've actually seen in movies people getting into a car parked at a curb from the passenger's side and sliding across to the driver's side. Would be hard to do today w/ buckets and center consoles in most cars..

That's why I was thinking of a bus of some sort...but they usually have more than 2 doors, and some don't have a LHS driver's door.

Was 70 and sunny this afternoon. Drove around w/ the windows open.

Saw a bright red w/ black interior '68 Shelby GT500KR convertible (rollin' top down on a sunny Sunday afternoon) and a bright red w/ black stripes '70 Chevelle SS, both minty.

The video also said 'First for India. Then for the world'. Toyota. Still planning world domination.

In the context of all that's been in the news this year about Toyota in the US, I found this slogan from a video about their new Indian-market Etios to be ironic-- "Toyota--the global Quality standard" Etios

My sister has been doing a lot of that lately, selling stuff on eBay. Getting rid of Fiestaware dishes she's never used, liquidating her doll collection, old furniture, guitars, clothes, too much stuff in the house that will need to go somewhere if she sells the house this year or rents it out to someone other than moi. eBay-America's garage sale site..

2009 was fine for me financially, just bored and frustrated w/ my situation otherwise. Looking optimistically forward to a better 2010. Time to hit the reset button and make changes in my life.

Job market in Az is horrible. It's economy is based on real estate appreciation and population growth. Isn't working now after 50 years of boom times. The desert is hideously ugly IMHO, the climate is horrid w/ triple digit highs for most of 5 months. I plan to get out this year. Even a humid climate w/ gray winters is preferable to this red state hellhole, IMHO. Being here, I realize I can handle cold much better than heat. Colorado really is the ideal climate for me--blue skies (don't get that in AZ--just silver-blue haze in the summer), dry w/ a bit of snow in the winter but sunny. But alas, I'm likely headed back east. Southwestern PA most likely, which is an area I do like..not a Colorado climate, but something worthwhile and resolves family and car issues. Kind of like you don't know what you have until it's gone.

Grumman mail truck? Those were on Chevy S10 platforms, I think. They do have doors on both sides, couldn't tell if the lhs one has a outside lock (just saw one about an hour ago).

Irrelevant. They've been Chrysler owned since '87. It seems when a company acquires another company or brand, they acquire that company/brand's history. Ya, kind of a 'Bullitt' homage to that scene.

Nice ad. I like it.

I just did a test. Set IE to be my default browser. Clicked on an arbitrary link on a page open in a Firefox tab. IE opened the new link. Set FF back to default, back to normal.

Exploder is probably set as your default browser.

Not unionized...for now. I'm concerned about when they rise up against us (i.e. when Skynet comes online).