Robert Hall

Happy Birthday, dude. Have fun!

Who is that on the far left in the bottom pic---C-PF?

Hmmm...3 names....something from Aston Martin Lagonda a long time ago in a land far, far away? Jag-u-war had an SS back in the '30s. But;... I suspect you are talking about the Mercedes-Benz SSK from the late 20s-early 30s. Designed by Ferdinand Porsche. I have a Lindberg 1:25th scale model of one of these to build eventually. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_SSK

There is just something really, really wrong in the world when some markets get a proper RWD V8 Chevy Caprice, and the US, the birthplace of the Caprice, gets stuck with an outdated FWD Impala..so wrong on so many levels..

I started reading 'Why GM Matters' this past weekend..pretty good read so far. I read 'On a Clear Day..' years ago, need to re-read it. 'The Rekoning' by David Halberstam was another good auto industry book.

Hmmm...Zeta morphs into Alpha...from Z to A...?

Probably Avis sales.. Nice to see the CTS and G8 is in the top 10...

Sweet...if those were more common, it would be nice to build one with a modern G8 GXP drivetrain...(the original engines were pretty low power, even for 1986).

Article today on CNN on this topic. Toyota: 160 acres of cars at Long Beach port

deleted. Found pinned thread on same topic

Yes...pretty funny to watch them...suckers!

Note it says 'April 2009' under the byline...most certainly is an April Fools article. Maybe in a race series with right and left turns? One of the SCCA sedan series--something like a US equivalent of the BTCC sedan racing? Cars that have relatively stock bodies that are recognizable as Chevys, Fords, Dodges with modern production-style engines rather than NASCAR's cartoon cars. The Corvette, CTS, Cobalt and Solstice already compete in various racing series, and don't look like cartoon cars... A race G8 would be nice to see, as would a racing Camaro, like a modern version of the '60s Trans Am series racers.. NASCAR today is dull advertainment, IMHO....watching colorful Skittles going round and round.

Cool...nice transformation of the interior so far.

NASCAR is irrelevant, the WWE of motorsport. But I suspect this is an April 1 post.

Not sure..in your terms of service of auction description, I recommend putting statements about no foreign bidders, no bidders with less than 98% positive feedback, no bidders with fewer than 10 ebay purchases and cancel any bids that don't meet those criteria...maybe language like this, specifically the items in bold) (this is what my sister the power seller uses for her auctions, some may not apply): "Due to ease of operation and so many non-paying bidders, the ONLY form of payment we accept is Paypal – please do not ask for exceptions.; we manage everything electronically – I use Click n Ship. YOU NEED TO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE YOUR ADDRESS CORRECTLY LISTED IN PAYPAL – NOT MY RESPONSIBILITY IF YOU DO NOT – THAT GENERATES YOUR MAILING LABEL. Thanks. Payment should be received within 3 days of the auction closing or the item will be re-listed. We only ACCEPT BIDS FROM US BIDDERS AND only ship to US, Puerto Rico – it is because of ease of operation – we have full-time jobs that require 100% travel and do not have time to deal with international shipping and customs– no exceptions. We ship USPS priority mail unless otherwise specified in the body of the listing – please do not bid if you do not agree with our shipping method; due to my job, I can only ship on WEEKENDS. We will not accept bids from users with zero (0) feedback (ANY AND ALL BIDS FROM ZERO FEEDBACK BIDDERS WILL BE CANCELLED – BURNED TOO MANY TIMES), feedback less than an overall positive (+) 5 feedback rating or at least 98% overall positive rating. Please do not bid if you do not intend to pay. We do not accept bids from users with 5 or more negative (-) feedback ratings. We will cancel bid from bidders who do not meet this criteria. We reserve the right to block bidders who are argumentative or unprofessional. Insurance is required for items selling for $50.00 or more.* Items selling for under $50.00 should be insured, but that is optional for the buyer. We will not be responsible for items damaged or lost during shipment that are not insured."

Update: found the article Long, but with pictures and a great read. Maybe DF should carve a wooden minivan and ship to the guy in the UK.. Powerbook scam story

One of the better scammer stories I've read was about a guy in the US selling his laptop on ebay. The winner was in the UK... the winner's story sounded odd to him, something about wanting to pay only on delivery or something.. he had a buddy in the UK that was in same town check out the guy's address, was a postal box or something. So the the seller made a replica of his laptop, same size and weight, out of wood...fed exed it to the winner. I'll have to try and find the article and post a link to it..it was hilarious.

Saw something interesting on the freeway tonite...a pickup was pulling a flatbed with a very worn '70 Chevelle SS454 on it (I could read the 454 badges). Looks like it might have been black or gray, very faded with rusted out rear quarters and doors (not an AZ car I suspect)..the front fenders, nose and cowl hood were all heavily surface rusted. Had Chevy rallys on flat snow tires at the back,rusty Pontiac Rallyes up front...interesting. A future resto project? Something that will be at Barrett-Jackson next year?

I recently discovered Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears...liking them...kind of a vintage soul/blues/James Brownish feel.

Ya, got to have the Mopies...all good choices also. From Ford, well, the GT500 is about the only one w/ that much power.

Agreed, I think it's a good thing to have a unified channel, as long as each brand has it's own identity and products. If GM can trim down to 3 divisions/sales channels (Chevy, BPG, Cadillac) and 5 distinct brands (Chevy, Buick, Pontiac, Cadillac, and GMC (try and focus it to get rid of the redundancy), I think that could be a good model going forward...

Good riddance. IMHO, HUMMER represented American vehicle design at it's absolute worst--oversized, brutally ugly, cheap and nasty inside, big on the outside yet small inside, thirsty and inefficient. It's a bad image for GM that needs to go. No innovation, no breakthrough products--just big, dumb, ugly turds.

True...but I doubt if the general public is capable of distinguishing between a 'brand' and a 'division'.

I still don't see how it matters...they are still 3 distinct brands, even if they are in 1 division/sales channel. GMC, Buick and Pontiac all have distinct models and identities.

To the layperson, does it make any difference? It's still 3 distinct brands... just like Lincoln-Mercury---one division, 2 brands. The combining of multiple brands into one division might have cost savings on many levels, but it's pretty invisible to the consumer. The distinction is one of those 'inside baseball' things...