Robert Hall

It's literally been nearly 10 years since I've had a transaction w/ a bank teller. I do all my banking online or at my bank's ATM (for depositing checks, getting cash, etc). Ya, Target, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Borders, and occasionally Men's Warehouse...that's about it for me..once in a while I'll go to a Dillards for shirts. Agreed on the rental thing..though it's pretty much impossible to rent performance models w/ manual transmissions, at least from the major rental agencies (the Mustangs I've rented from Hertz are V6 automatics). Rental cars have been my only exposure to late model domestic cars for years (besides my Jeep) ..have done a few ride and drive events (went to a one sponsored by Car and Driver for Cadillac a couple years ago, and also a few BMW and Mercedes events.

Taking a train, bus, biking is not a realistic option for many people...those options might work for 10% of the commuters, but in a large, sprawling metro area such as Phoenix, commuting by car/truck/SUV is still the only realistic option.

Those must be Canadian MPGs...those are definitely not the US numbers.

A lot more people drive than ride buses, the car is a much more visible product....i.e. municipalities and transit organisations buy buses, people buy cars. A full hybrid car is a much bigger consumer win.. What are the sales on GM's hybrid trucks and SUVs? Pretty small volume compared to regular trucks and SUVs...

Image sells..that's marketing.

Yes...about a '73 Skyline GT-R. I have an Aoshima 1:24th scale model and a Tomica 1:43rd scale diecast of them....neat car. The grille and headlight treatment reminds me a lot of the '70 Challenger.

Last few-- Same old Scene, Avalon, Jealous Guy--- Roxy Music

Saw a black S5 in traffic this afternoon, blacked out windows...beautiful car. I've seen a couple A5s before, this was the first S5 I've seen...the A5/S5 is truly a car that looks much better in person than in pics, love the contours and detailing.

Looking at the pic, that looks be the late '30s-early '40s. People had no concept of auto safety then, no seatbelts, plate glass windshields to break through, giant steering wheels w/ fixed columns to impale you, steel dashboards to smash your head on, etc.

Too much negativity in the news about everything these days... I've sworn off listening/watching the news for a while...just need to focus on the important stuff

Oh, well..at least GM is still making pushrod V6s and 4spd automatics for their larger cars..

Neat car...I always liked those monsters, last of GM's full-full sizers.. I think those are the same type of T-tops that were on the '78 Toronado XM...

Speaking of factory 8-tracks, I've thought it would be fun (in an offbeat sort of way) to find an original 1969 Ford 8-track and put in my '69 Mustang (it still has the working factory AM radio). Would be fun to drive it around occasionally listening to late '60s rock--Cream, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Rolling Stones, early Pink Floyd, etc... Of course, the black vinyl interior and lack of A/C would make it strictly a winter car if I brought it out to AZ.

First day at the new gig out in the burbs... surprisingly easy drive, 25 miles of freeway, was able to do 55-65 the whole way there and back at rush hour, guess I'm going against the flow. Saw a few interesting cars in the lot (big corporate office building in an office park, maybe 2000 cars in the lot)---a blue '55 Ford pickup came rumbling in shortly after I parked, saw a maroon and white '55 Chevy Bel Air ht w/ Cragars (then later saw a pic of it in the cube of a guy on my team), saw a black G8 GT (first black one I've seen--sharp), a yellow Z06, a couple E46 M3s (a gray convertible and a red coupe). I had a bit of time to kill this morning (got there a 1/2 hr early, misjudged the traffic patterns), so I strolled around, and noticed randomly 1 row in 1 part of the lot had 6 Hondas of all sorts, 2 Toyotas, a Ford Focus, an Audi A4, and a BMW 3 series.

Dave (as in the chain Dave & Busters)

I haven't had that many cars in almost 23 years of driving--less than ten-- (Sixty Eight has had more so far than I'd have in 3 lifetimes, probably (not a dig, quite an accomplishment))... didn't miss the 4cyl Mustang after it was totaled, didn't the Bronco II when I traded it, did briefly miss the M3--had it 9 years--but I'll have a newer one eventually, probably.. I've had the '87 Mustang GT since new, since I was 17, will probably have it forever...have had the Jeep almost 9 years now, will probably trade up in the next couple of years.

Odd sighting yesterday---a current generation black Escalade ESV w/ blue & red emergency lights (on, flashing) integrated into the roof rack, top of the windshield inside, behind the grille, strobing taillights, siren. No special markings. It was moving through heavy traffic yesterday, a very WTF?? sighting..(hip hop police?)

Interesting...the concept was a hardtop, IIRC. This certainly looks like a hardtop, if it were frameless door glass and a glued-in quarter glass over a B-pillar, I would think more would be showing between the door glass and quarter glass--looks like a very thin strip between them. That would be quite interesting if it were a hardtop....hasn't been a mass market ht in the US since the early '80s? --a Corolla or two, and maybe the (Mitsubishi) Dodge Challenger?

(by the way, a friend that is sort of OCD calls it CDO--he prefers the letters to be in alpha order). thread answer: CDL (commercial driver's licence)

O.C.

Yuck..pretty weak roof to collapse like that.

Interesting stuff... if my life had taken a different turn of events in 1997, I'd probably be going to Curitiba at least once a year (my ex-fiancee #1 is Brasilian).

I always found night driving in rural Ohio certain times of the year unnerving because of the deer... esp. on my favorite winding, wooded backroads that I loved to drive fast on in the daytime in my Mustang.... Over the last 40 years, my Dad hit deer at least twice (minor damage) and my brother managed to total 2 cars in deer collisions, all within 3 miles of my folks' property (it's in a remote, heavily wooded, hilly area of eastern Ohio about 75 miles from Pittsburgh, 100 miles from Columbus, 100 miles from Cleveland).

QUOTE (Satty @ Mar 9 2009, 04:18 PM) I saw a guy who looked exactly like Ludacris. I assume it wasn't Luda since he was driving a rusty, late-80's Accord through Springfield during rush hour. Who knows....as seen on the Simpsons, it seems a lot of big stars spend time in Springfield...maybe the Accord is his down low transport, keeping a low profile.

I was channel surfing the other day and watched a bit of Happy Gilmore--the guy who played Jaws was in it...