Robert Hall

January issue came yesterday. Lots of good stuff..focus of the issue is '70s cars. There is a goregous bright blue w/ white top '74 Buick Regal coupe (interesting cloth interior w/ black and white pattern on the seats, never seen one like that), a comparo between the '77 Caddy Eldorado and '77 Lincoln Mk V, an original, unrestored '77 Olds Toronado, and an article about a Cadillac resto parts supplier.

IIRC, my Dad had to replace the valve cover gaskets, oil pan gaskets, and maybe head gaskets once or twice over the years on the 454 in the Winnebago. The biggest problem was more with the RV itself, the interior assembly of components and overall assembly... a 20k lb vehicle on lousy US interstates of the '80s--lots of stuff worked loose over the years, the roof leaked after a few years, the shower leaked, various outside storage compartments leaked, poor fitting of kitchen cabinet doors,etc... The older Fleetwood (Southwind, Pace Arrow) RVs they had seemed to better put together than the 'bago.

So no Regal Classic trim level w/ bench seat, 3.8 V6 w/ column shift 4spd auto?

Which is why the mid engined Corvette ideas will never get of the ground..probably as likely as a Corvette based on a shorted Epsy Dos or W-body platform would be.

Kind of shocking to think of a NA GM sedan w/ such a drivetrain... but who knows? Sounds like Buick has a lot of interesting variations coming..

I would assume the main reason GM and Chrysler didn't long ago replace their pushrod V8s w/ SOHC/DOHC V8s is the cost and complexity for manufacturing them for trucks, since trucks are the main volume market for these engines? Chrysler has had an OHC V8 for trucks and Jeeps, but it doesn't seem to have been successful.

Shocking. A midsize NA GM FWD model with a manual. They haven't had something like that in a long time.

I've been through there a long time ago...my Mom is originally from Hindman, my Dad is from Prestonsburg and once lived in Pikeville..still have a few cousins and aunts and uncles living in the Louisville and Lexington areas.

A lot of motorhomes, esp. those bought by retiree snowbirds, often have low miles--just driven yearly from home in fall to a warmer clime RV park then driven back home in the spring. My folks' last one, the '85 33 ft Winnebago had about 30k when they sold it in '98. For 10 years they used it to drive back and forth from Ohio to their house in Florida after I went off to college, and for the occasional summer camping trip. One observation (from years of reading Motorhome Life magazine in the '80s) is that most of the front engined Class As in the '80s and early '90s used GM chassis and drivetrains. After Chrysler dropped out of the biz in the late '70s, GM pretty much had the market to themselves..don't recall seeing any Ford chassis/drivetrains in '80s Class As. The early pushers (in the late 80s) often had Oshkosh chassis and diesels.

Well, the forums were down last night, from about midnight EST or so. I'm seeing the same thing this morning.

Chevy 454 or 6.2 diesel (those models had the 620-50 designation).

I'm 8 months into my gig at one of the nation's largest banks, they normally keep their contractors 18 months, rotate them out, and often bring them back in after 6 months. Stable, pays well, boring as hell. I hope to be here 4-6 more months then out of Arizona... I'm really wondering if this is going to be one of those jobless recoveries...layoffs are slowing, but companies by and large are hiring very little. In my department at work, 3 contractors have rolled out this month after 18 months, 3 in (2 were away for 6 months at other gigs, came back). I have no idea when they last hired an FTE or converted a contractor.

Cool..that was the Itasca equivalent of the Winnebago Elandan. (Itasca was to Winnebago what GMC is Chevy). My folks looked at upgrading from their '85 Winnebago Chieftain to an Elandan around '90.

The only thing I never liked about the GMCs was the lack of a long model...IIRC, they were only 22 and 26 feet. I'd like a 35-45 foot motorhome for ultimate comfort..

I wouldn't mind having an '80s Airstream motorhome, '80s Holiday Rambler Imperial, or the sleek Apollo Sceptre (IIRC, there was a stainless steel variation). I like the '80s styling before most Class A's went to the flat nose coach pusher designs of today.

Misc: New York Yankees, LA Lakers, Ferrari in F1. They have the biggest budgets and many championships. Always nice to see them lose. Plus it's fun to rub it in w/ the Yankees and Lakers w/ my brother who is a long-time Yankees and Lakers fan. College Football: Also Ohio State, since I'm loyal to Michigan (my grad school) and my brother (an Ohio State alum) always rubs it in when they beat Michigan. Pro Football: Though I lived in Ohio 20+ years, I was in Steelers country, so I'm still a Steelers fan. Strongly dislike the Raiders since they are a main rival of my Broncos. Likewise for Dallas. Hockey, dislike the Red Wings as they are the enemy of my Avalanche. Rob

Sweet...reminds of the red '76 Electra 225 coupe a buddy of mine had in high school...what a boat that was!

Some of the Ford Class C Econoline based motorhomes also have the V10. Friends of mine have one, about 22 ft..mostly use it for tailgating at Broncos games.

There are two '10 Mustang (V6) convertibles at work today, both a metallic red (kind of like CTS red) w/ saddle & black interiors, California plates..maybe rentals since they are both in the visitor lot. I like that color combination, very sharp.

I assume a lot of the engine compartment issues are because engines aren't usually designed for a specific car, but end up in many different cars with different engine compartment layouts. I seem to recall reading that the 4th gen Camaros had to have the engine dropped to get to the spark plugs?

Those seatbelts attached to the doors and the motorized ones were some of the dumbest automotive ideas ever...they were just there because certain automakers were too cheap to put in airbags sooner. Thankfully, I never had a car with that nonsense.

A modern GMC motorhome would be cool..didn't the original use Toronado-derived FWD parts? Maybe a modern one w/ Lambda parts... I saw about 1/2 dozen of these yesterday on a local RV dealer lot.

+1. That red car is so worn out it would take 5x what it's worth probably to bring it to clean condition... Good way to look at it. Pontiac has so much EXCITEMENT!! that you really can't contain it in one thread.

Wow....people still have outhouses in the US in 2009? Shocking

The green '67 Firebird had been in really nice shape, until some moron drove a firetruck off a narrow road above this guy's driveway. The article was in the Denver Post a while back.