Robert Hall

Saw a dark gray new Aston Martin V8 Vantage and a yellow w/ black hood stripes '10 Camaro at the dog wash this morning.

Yeah, with the passing of Walter Cronkite yesterday I was thinking a lot about my Dad...he was of the same generation...my Dad was in WWII, passed away almost 10 years ago now (Dec '99). A few years ago, I was at the Pearl Harbor Memorial on the 65th anniversary, saw quite a few elderly survivors of the Pearl Harbor there that day, among other WWII veterans..quite poignant. Rob

Mmmm...Ohio rust. That white squarebird reminds me of the '59 my brother had about 35 years ago. Those Caddys remind me of the ones down the street from me as a kid in Steubenville, Ohio...a neighbor had a '52 or so and a '54, both Coupe de Villes..one black, one yellow, never moved over 5 years or so that I remember.

I'm thinking G8 headlights, a smoothed out hood, and a fascia w/ a Malibu-eque grille could work. Not sure how I'd change the taillights or rear. As far as the ME models, it seems they have a couple different grilles...the one with the center bar and bowtie on the Lumina (G8 equivalent) and on the Caprice (LWB Statesman variant) there is a clean chrome grille with horizontal bars and no bowtie. I like that front end.

Wierd. The clip should be the same as the G8 except for the hood, grille, and fascia. A year to re-engineer those few parts? Lame.

Yeah, wasn't the Cutlass Supreme the biggest selling car in '77? I remember as a kid and through my teenage years in the '80s that GM RWD A-, G-, and B- bodies were everywhere...as ubiquitous as the Accord and Camry are today. Rob

Heh-heh...I need to start collecting the S&H DVDs...was a big fan of S&H and The Rockford Files as a kid..enjoying watching the Rockford Files lately, lots of neat '70s cars in them. I saw a '72 Torino this morning..the yellow Gran Torino Sport fastback is in my neighborhood and I see it occasionally...has some wear/faded paint, but the metal is straight and rust free, would make good resto material. There is also an orange '72 Montego GT fastback nearby that I see occasionally, that's a pretty rare car. I had a neighbor when I was living in Florida with a dk green w/ lt green top '72 formal roof coupe. Loved the green '72 in Clint's movie 'Gran Torino'. Rob

First I've heard of an 'L' family, maybe the replacement for the current LX family (LX is current Charger, Challenger, Magnum, 300).

Veddy interesting.

I saw this in my Facebook stream, from Clarkson: I could make a cheap car if I built it in a factory made from wattle and mud, paid the workers in rice and motivated them into a 20-hour day with whips and flame throwers. I don't know if this is in reference to the Tata Nano or not, but thought it was hilarious

Ya, I remember Eileen Wournos in Florida years ago, sure their have been others..like that grandma somewhere that buried old men in her yard.

I realized the other day that the Vibe rental I drove in May is probably the last Pontiac rental I'll ever drive. Previously, I've driven many Grand Ams and a few Grand Prix rentals over the last 14 years..

When I was in college, I recall a kid in another dorm getting in trouble for microwaving a live rabbit. Ugh.

Given how much independence divisions had then, it's amazing there were even shared platforms between the divisions then... like inner panels, windshields, roofs etc on A-, B- and C-bodies....the F-bodies probably had the most commonalities of any shared platform. Even then, though, there were anomalies and division-specific one offs (like why did the '64-65 Chevy A-body 2dr and 4dr sedans have their own unique roof, C-pillars and rear door uppers that differed from BOP? Or why were there no 2dr sedans in the '70-72 Chevy A-body? Strange stuff.. ) Or the the '66+ Chevy Caprice coupe (unique roof, etc) and later Impala Custom Coupe, and the '63-68 Pontiac Grand Prix roof (though wasn't the GP's unique roof shared w/ the Starfire some years?). It's all very fascinating..

Interesting..never heard of Bentley..were they related to Fisher? I recall reading an article years ago in Collectible Automobile about a company Iona, MI that built station wagon bodies for GM and others..

Amazing the things that happened when GM had 40-50% market share. Different time, different place. Though there was some cross-pollination of engines--didn't the Chevy 6s make the rounds amongst BOP some in the '60s (or from '70 on at Pontiac, after the Sprint 6 was discontinued)?

Fascinating..didn't realize power tops were around back then.

Interesting. I have yet to see any Solstice coupes. Though I've seen two G3s in the last few months, though one was a Canadian one. Saw a G2 last month. Now that is Excitement!.

I saw a very odd plate on a maroon Expedition this morning...I noticed it after it had passed me, couldn't see closely, but the plate was dark red or black, with 4 digits/letters and a yellow triangle on the right side. No idea what state issued that.

I've seen a few interesting ones this week--- 'RGHTWNG' on a silver Miata, 'PUPYMOM' on a Civic, and 'BLARN' on a Challenger SRT8 (couldn't figure that one out).

And they drive on the left, and have V8 RWD Ford Falcon and Holden sedans, wagons, and utes. Too cool... Friends went to OZ and NZ for their honeymoon in '07 and loved it, they are thinking of working abroad in Melbun (Melbourne) for a couple years, since they have given up on having kids.

Won't Get Fooled Again..

I wonder how many US spec G3s were built? I assume the Solstice GXP will be the rarest of the last Pontiacs.

Fritz seems to me to be more of the same old, same old that Wagoner represented---stay the course, lifer bean counters.

Wow...a Grand Am ST. That's Excitement!. The '70s were when Grand Ams were cool.