Robert Hall

heh-heh...a 20s-30s car would be ok to haul to car shows, but the '80s Buick is new enough to be a daily driver.

Riiiiight...look how many decades it took for cars to have seatbelts standard..or safety glass...or padded dashes...or disc brakes..or breakaway steering columns...etc. Detroit usually never did anything related to safety unless it was regulated. Now it's a different story with Mercedes and Volvo, they actually thought about safety decades ago w/ the development of crush zones, etc.

How can management not be a significant part of GM's current crisis? Decades of mismanagement got them where they are today, going back to Roger Smith & co. From 35% market share in '90 to 18% today says they aren't building the cars that the buyers want..that is 20 years of mismanagement of the direction of the company..bad choices on products, bad choices on union agreements, etc. Not to lay all the blame on Wagoner, but he is part of the problem...look how market share and stock prices have tanked during his years at the helm. Someone has to go down for this, and as would be expected in any business, the CEO has to go when it's been this bad for so long.

Well, if GM is going to get more loan guarantees from the government, then it's reasonable to expect the government to request that GM get rid of the deadwood. Rick has proven incapable of running the company profitably. He's incompetent and part of the problem, not the solution. Ford is doing pretty well a leader than came from outside the auto industry. GM has been hurting for so long by having the same old, same old lifers running the company with no vision outside of the gray, dying Detroit area.

I remember in high school really being interested in the '80s Coupe de Villes and Fleetwood Brougham sedans... even though my Dad drove Town Cars that I occasionally drove.

Yes..I was trying to remember the name they used. That's it...and sometimes, convertibles were called 'convertible coupes'. I've read that some of the early hardtops were simply convertibles w/ roofs welded on.

ooohhh....you opened a can of worms there. I'm sure 68 will now post a delusional, 20 paragraph incoherent rant about why he thinks hardtops 'rule'.. Hardtops look good on the old cars, and are kind of fun to drive around town in ( I drive my sister's Merc 300CE occasionally) but I don't like them in freeway driving (rather have the windows up and A/C on, can't hear the stereo well with the windows down at speed). The downsides of hardtops compared to sedans/coupes w/ B-pillars are the extra weight of a hardtop and lesser side impact protection.

Nah...no one thought about safety 60 years ago, the early hardtops just collapsed in rollovers, since they were lacking the strength of b-pillars.

I think it's a term from ancient times to distinguish them from 'ragtops', i.e. convertibles, I think.

Sweet...I love those '80s B- and C-bodies...last of the old school GMs, along w/ the G-bodies.

Thursday to Saturday was long...one night of 5 hrs of sleep, one of 4....took a nap yesterday and then slept for about 8 last night..feel good today. Thursday during the day and into the night we had 40-50mph winds here, no rain. The dogs barked a lot from the wind, Bitey in particular..she was freaked out by the high wind and kept jumping in and out of my bed and growling. Worked for 8hrs Friday, then stayed up hanging out w/ my sister listening to music and drinking until 2am....was up from 5:30am to 2am. ...went to sleep @2 and was awakened at 6am yesterday by the dogs. ARGGH. The wind storm made a mess of the yard and pool, spent a lot of time yesterday fishing leaves, chair cushions, etc out of the pool..

Not a big deal, IMHO..they haven't raised the average requrement in YEARS.....just build fewer big gas guzzler trucks and SUVs (the demand for which has dropped like a rock over the last year).

I've never gotten into manga (the books) or anime (the cartoons)...I think there is a generational angle, mostly seems to be the under 30 crowd that is into it... though I do have a friend that is 40 and into it, but she is of Okinawan ancestry and grew up reading it, so that's understandable. I'll admit, though, I've never been a comic book fan...I largely missed out on comic books and video games growing up, always preferred more tactile hobbies like building model cars and collecting diecast cars. Though I do read a lot, just not comic books or graphic novels. I did like Speed Racer as a kid, though... and I have seen the Initial-D live-action movie (though it was an HK production rather than Japanese).

I've been on it about a year...use it mainly to chat occasionally w/ friends from high school (after our 20th reunion last year, a lot joined Facebook), college, grad school, and past jobs in Colorado. It's been fun....nice to reconnect w/ some people I hadn't talked w/ in years. Only people I know IRL and since I've lived in so many places over the years, people are spread out all over..even stay in touch w/ a grad school buddy who is in Sweden. I use Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, each has it's place and purpose.

Regular people are stupid. I've never confused it for a Cavalier.

Interesting...just realized that in '77 Ford, Chevy and Plymouth (and Dodge) all had midsize models w/ stacked quad headlights..twas a brief mini-revival of the '60s stacked headlight fad.

Ya...first 6 seasons were (last 2 were in LA). Lots of strange, creepy stuff went on in the dark, damp BC wilderness..

Odd...I'm not aware of any stigma of driving green or driving a Prius..if anything, it's a status symbol in places I've lived...then again, the West is different. Not that I'd buy one, but I understand their popularity and that how many believe they are an eminently rational choice.

I've driven a SUV that doesn't get over 18mpg since '00, and really, last summer, even though my commute was longer than the year before, I was only paying about $25 more per week for gas than I did a year before. Not incentive enough to compromise and buy a tiny car.

Heh-heh...with my English/Irish/Welsh/Scottish/Scots-Irish heritage, I'm white and pale, and have a Midwestern body type (round and pudgy--6'0", 230). Brown eyes and balding, friends have said I look like a cross between George Costanza and Tony Soprano..

I was behind a hypermiler this morning, I think. A Prius was right in front of me at the meter at the bottom of the ramp, and they pulled softly out into 65 mph traffic and barely hit 55, it seems...I got stuck behind them in the far right lane for a couple miles until a gap opened up and I could get to the middle lane..

I didn't see him, but my sister just called from the Sacramento airport where she saw and chatted briefly with Robert Redford at the airport bar...she's been a fan for 40 years, so it was a cool thing for her.

Saw a yellow '80 or so Honda Civic wagon today when I was out at lunch. Hadn't seen one of those in ages. Saw a very clean lt blue '70 Impala ht in the same parking lot. Nice, sunny breezy weather..only about 60 degrees today.. Falling asleep in my cube on a dull afternoonnn zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

H2 H3 G3 G5 Vibe

At first I thought this was a typo, as the Somerset was an N-body, but apparently there was also a Somerset trim level at some point on the G-body RWD Regals..don't remember that one... I only remember the T-types and GNs.