Robert Hall

Yah, it looks like it will be a nice car...alas, I bet I will see some with whitewalls, fake padded tops and gold trim--there is a subset of the fogies around here that love that sh*t...esp. on Buicks, it seems.

Ah, just the Avalon is relatively high...no where near GM numbers, though--the GP was 77% at one point, and isn't the current Impala 60% or so?

Are Toyota's fleet numbers really that high in the US?

Nah, just thinking about how GM could create new genres---CUV and truck based sedans!

Looks like a Chevy wheel w/ a Buick center logo. Yawn.

As far as right now, the Ford Flex seems to be the closest domestic to a traditional station wagon...definitely not a truck, SUV, or minivan...more of a tall car. And the Europeans still sell traditional wagons here, albeit a small niche relative to SUVs and CUVs.

I'd love to see a convertible version of the 200C to replace the vile Sebring convertible.

GM could take the Avalanche and replace the bed with a conventional trunk. Instant 'Caprice'.. GM could take a Lambda like the Enclave and replace the rear cargo area w/ a conventional trunk.. Instant 'Park Avenue'..

Yes, I found C&G painfully slow this morning w/ Chrome. I've tried it also today w/ IE and FF, but it's less slow now, but not that speedy either. Felt like a flashback to 1999 and dialup days.

It would have been interesting to see what would have happened without the merger. I suspect Chrysler would have stayed w/ FWD.

Steel wheels and plastic hubcaps FTW!! They are probably for the Avis trim level. At least they deep sixed the pushrod V6 and 4speed automatic, though.

Yeah, one thing you have to give Daimler credit for is that they got Chrysler back into mainstream RWD cars during their ownership...prior to their ownership, Chrysler was as committed to mainstream FWD-only sedans as GM has been since '96..

GM itself has already announced Pontiac will be marginalised into a 'niche' brand, while Buick will remain a 'core' brand, that much is fact.

Craigslist Chrysler ad As seen on Jalopnik. A very strange Craigslist ad.. From Craigslist: I believe the car originally belonged to my Aunt Betsy, who was born in Wisconsin in 1931, and later migrated to California in 1954, while engaged to my Uncle Talbert. She had a Tabby cat named Blinky, who died in the spring of 57. Blinky had 6 kittens in 1955, all of whom she regrettably gave away at a fair in Modesto. The cats where never seen or heard from again. Betsy left Modesto in 1963, approximately at the time she allegedly helped purchase the car for her lover, Benson, whom Talbert was unaware of. Unbeknownst to Betsy at that period, a second Tabby cat, also named Blinky, gave birth to 8 kittens, who had made a home in the Chrysler, while it was parked in the garage of Bensons home, hidden from Uncle Talbert. Talbert took ill in 1966, quite suspiciously I was informed, and he later expired from the odd illness in 1967. Meanwhile the Chryslers interior had been moderately tattered from the matured cats, 3 of whom had made the car their permanent home. Betsy and Benson seperated ways in 1971, and Betsy took the Chrysler, and the two remaining cats, Philby and Jessup, with her to Berkeley. It was then that Betsy unfortunately became addicted to pain-killers, and the Chrysler was parked in a storage facility in Oakland for several years. Although Philby loyally stayed with Betsy, Jessup disappeared. Philby passed away in 1984, and Betsy was devastated. For reasons unknown, Betsy became obsessed with the 2 barrel carburetor of the Chrysler, and took it off the engine, and carried in her purse for the next 12 years. She eerily named the carburetor Jessup, after her beloved missing cat, and she was finally admitted to a rehabilitation center in 1996. The Chrysler was removed from storage in Oakland, and later transported to Talberts sisters home in Richmond. While packing Betsys household items for storage, her nephew, Melvin, found the beloved carburetor in the refrigerator of Betsys home, and he had the carburetor rebuilt. It had been placed inside a plastic bowl, and submersed in a green gelatin. Melvin applied for lien-custody of the Chrysler in 1998, and was denied the lien by the Department of Motor Vehicles. At that point, the distressed nephew abandoned the efforts to claim the Chrysler, and the car remained in the garage in Richmond, until Talberts sister died in 2004. For some odd reason, Talberts sister had willed the Chrysler to the deceased cat, and the car was restored to Betsys ownership once again in 2006, as the ownershp had been declared invalid. Betsy died in Dec. 2008, and at that time the car was given to Melvin, as he had wished, and Melvin then traded the car to me, in exchange for a 50/unit of 1/2 inch 4 ft by 8 ft cdx exterior grade roof plywood sheathing. I certainly hope that clears up the confusion.

QUOTE (YellowJacket894 @ Mar 21 2009, 09:01 PM) Ah! We have something in common, moltar. My parents and grandparents are also from eastern Kentucky; Leslie, Harlan and Breathitt Counties. I was actually born in Leslie County and moved to Lexington with my parents when I was five. And I have to say, compared to the more wealthy parts of the state, it is pretty bleak. I mean, it's not as bad a Dianne Sawyer made it out to be, but there are more than a few places are that rouggghhhh. Eastern Kentucky really needs some industry outside of coal (and, to a lesser extent, logging), but that isn't going to happen anytime soon, unfortunately. Cool...I have aunts, uncles and cousins in Lexington and Louisville...the area around Lexington is quite beautiful. Eastern KY, like West Virginia, is a harshly beautiful place...unfortunately, their have been few opportunities for people there for a long time.

QUOTE (YellowJacket894 @ Mar 21 2009, 08:42 PM) That's a tough act to follow. But I think I might have it topped. Back when I used to work at a Marathon station (which was located just a few miles away from Jackson County, one of the biggest white trash meccas of Kentucky), a white trash cracker redneck motherfucker pulled up to pump 3 in a green '80s Dodge Daytona that was, no lie, missing its hood. It also had a red passenger side door, which means he actually managed to find another Daytona to scavenge for parts. The passenger side headlamp was in the open position while the driver's side headlamp was in the closed position and the taillights were fixed with red tape. And, as he pulled away to go back to the backwoods shack he crawled out from, his engine sounded like a horrifying combination of Leatherface's Stihl chainsaw and a sperm whale queefing in a pool of tapicoa pudding. There was also a very disgusting Dodge Spirit that was a regular at that gas station. At some point, it had been drunkenly painted black primer (you could see the original silver-blue paint in patches underneath it), drunkenly re-painted gray primer (you could see the black primer in patches underneath that), then it had caught on fire (there were scorch-marks on the hood and roof). Ah, Kentucky. My parents and my grandparents are from eastern Kentucky, Knott and Floyd Counties (Hindman, Prestonsburg). I'm sure I have some distant cousins, etc that adhere to the WT ethic. Thankfully, my folks moved to Lexington when they were young, graduated from the U of K and moved to Ohio before I was born. I've been back to rural eastern Kentucky a few times for grandparents' funerals and other occasions, and it's a pretty bleak place.

Someone around here has a '97+ Century (W-body style) that looks like it's been spray painted with black Krylon primer, the entire car, grille, the wheels, etc. No shiny chrome trim visible. Very strange for something that recent to have a home paint job like that.

QUOTE (Dodgefan @ Mar 21 2009, 08:13 PM) Plenty of vehicles of various makes with a trash bag over the broken window. I actually did the trash bag over the window thing (twice) on my sister's Merc 500 SEL when the rear power windows failed (first the right then the left). Both times, they failed on Saturdays. But the bag only stayed on until Monday when I was able to drop the car off at the Merc shop. It's a good thing the shop is only a mile away, I felt like a total 'tard driving an old car w/ a bag over a window.

And apathy.. Recline back in my easy chair, laptop and terrier in my lap, remote control in hand and see what's on TV and TiVo...it's all good.

Hmm...my income bracket says I have had a Cadillac, haven't, but I've certainly eyed them. Some years are better than others..when I've been salaried, it's been in the 85-115k range ('02-07), when I've been contracting, up to around 150k (which '09 could be, @$75/hr)..

You say that like those products are a bad thing...I like my SUV, my widescreen HDTV, my TiVo, my DVDs, my wireless broadband internet,laptops, iPod Classic, cellphone, CDs, 7.1 surround sound, etc...having lots of choice is a good thing. Not to mention huge selections at the grocery, and a huge selection of groceries to choose from....and a huge selection of restaurants with a vast array of cuisines to sample...I would much rather be in the here and now than the 1950s...

Considering how much market share GM has lost, they have already lost a 'large customer base'...not much left, unfortunately.

As Kent Brockman said, "And I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords" . Got your tinfoil hat yet, 68?

Cool..I hope it makes it to production.

I saw an interesting album cover from Neko Case, has her '67 Cougar on the cover. (I read in a Rolling Stone article that it is her car). Have no idea what she sounds like, though.