Robert Hall

Speaking of Bugattis, I saw an article over the weekend on Autoblog about a 'barn find' Atlante from the '30s...pretty dramatic design.

The kid playing the 20-something JTK in the new movie looks a bit like a young Shatner... IIRC, I remember reading somewhere that in the '60s when ST was on, the Shat man drove a GTO and a Corvette convertible, Nimoy drove a Riviera.

I like the Morgan Aeromax and the KTM XBow. The coolest unobtainium car (available in the UK, not the US that I know of) is the Ariel Atom, IMHO...a go-cart for the road..would love to drive one on the Ohio backroads. The various midengined supercars not available here don't interest me, most look like a bunch of ugly fiberglass and carbon fibre glued together. The cars not available in the US that I find interesting are more down to earth, such as various diesel Mercs and BMWs, and various Euro models of Peugeots, Renaults, Citroens, Alfas, Fiats, Opels, Fords, etc..

The reality, though, for many years, is that most trucks have been bought by normal car buyers to be used as cars... so most people expect car like interiors in trucks (an industrial grade gray plastic interior doesn't cut it in a $40k truck), that's part of why most trucks today are extended and crew cabs. Which is why it makes sense that GM offers both commerical-grade and civilian grade interior lines in their trucks with the current generation.

I saw an '09 Dodge today in a med. metallic red...very handsome truck, IMHO. Regarding the visual width of the Silverado--it's the stacked headlights...the grille is wider than the competition with lights vertical out on the edges...

That's something older generations said, I think...my Dad was a Lincoln man but he said that occasionally. Never heard anyone my generation say it...my friends and colleagues that are my age range (mid to late 30s) that have premium brand cars have Acuras (TLs, MDX), Audis (A4s), BMWs (3-series, 5-series), Infinitis (G35,G37), a couple w/ Mercedes (C-class, ML) and a couple w/ Lexuses (ES,RX,IS), and Volvos (XC70, XC90). I'm the only one that likes Cadillacs and Lincolns..

An early '80s Datsun 280ZX in yellow with later 300ZX wheels. Decent shape...haven't seen one of those in ages.

Rainy, gray, about 50 here in Phoenix this AM. Brewing some coffee now..thinking about making an omelet.

I remember stopping at those in small towns late at night in E. Ohio/W. Pa....the song 'Darkness on the Edge of Town' running thru my head...while 'California dreaming on a winter's day'... (when I was young and living in E. Ohio, I wanted to get out soooo bad...finally did, to Colorado, via Michigan).

Ya, it's quite the design...I have a couple Matchbox diecasts and a 1:25th model of the Atlantic. The first time I ever noticed '30s-40s designs was when I was about 10 years old, 1980, and my Dad got me the Monogram 1:24th scale models of the '36 Cord 812 convertible and the '41 Lincoln Continental convertible. They were car designs he loved as as a teenager when they were new cars. Then I built other Monogram classic kits of the '31 Cadillac and a Duesenberg... I still have those kits stashed away somewhere..

Yeah, the front end of the Morgan Aero and Aeromax is rather off-putting, with cross-eyed headlights. But I love the profile (long hood, boattail) and rear of the Aeromax...

There were a number of lights that were on wierd timers in both the Colorado Springs and Denver area that would take forever to change at night. I would often back and up then pull forward a few times to try and trip them. At one in the city, I'd occasionally get out of the car, run across the street, and manually hit the cross walk button to trip the light. At other lights, I'd make a right turn, then a u-turn and then go right again if I had to wait too long..

It's funny..i kept looking at the pics of this car, thinking it looks familiar..then I read in the article that it's in the Petersen now, so that's where I saw it a couple years ago.

It's really a dramatic car....very Art Deco (I love Art Deco design..). For a modern car with a wild, classic dramatic shape, I'm really loving the look of the Morgan Aeromax, in profile and from behind. And yes, the Talbot Lago HW is what I was thinking of...I've got a bunch in different colors also. Morgan Aeromax:

I like the wheels on the Camaro...I wonder if part of the transformation process (into a robot) is to loose the B-pillars..

Heh-heh...my brother had a couple mid '70s ('73, 74) LTDs back in the '80s, both had serious rust issues...on both, you could open the trunk and see ground...was open between the frame rails..he made a trunk floor out of plywood...had the rear bumpers wired on. One he paid $50 for and drove for a couple of winters...the radiator fell out and he ran over it, and what eventually killed the car was when the rear axle fell off while driving...had like 350k miles. I still give him a hard time for his 'white trash' affectation during those years (and this is a well educated guy, Ohio State grad, but a perpetual f*ck up and the black sheep of my family). Back on point, I haven't anything really memorable this first week of February.

It doesn't...the DTS' competitors are the Lucerne and Town Car.

I've thought 'BAMF' (Bad Azz Mo Fo) would be a cool plate, but the DMV likely wouldn't approve it. The best I've seen is 'GEEKSTA' (Geek Gangsta) on a Tahoe in Denver.

Agreed..the competition isn't sleeping, they are still moving forward.. Unfortunately, I don't see GM doing that..I see them sticking with the vanilla FWD V6 automatics that have been their main focus in cars for the last 25+ years..

Aren't the rural folk of a lot of states like that? Other than having family in rural Ohio and having lived there part of my life, I feel like I have nothing in common with the locals back there. Maybe I'm jaded from years of traveling and living in major metro areas (in cities and suburbs), but I feel no connection to the people of small towns or rural areas.

Ya, it's a huge, complex state with a lot of distinct regions and demographics...I've visited many times over the last 15 years... always enjoyed my visits to the Golden State ranging from San Diego--(downtown, old town, Pacific Beach, La Jolla), OC (Aliso Viejo, Irvine, Newport Beach, San Clemente), LA area (LA, Santa Monica, Studio City), and the SF Bay Area (San Francisco, San Jose, Sunnyvale, Palo Alto, Milpitas, Emeryville, Oakland Hills, Napa Valley, Petaluma), and Sacramento... I have a number of friends in the Bay area that I enjoy visiting, and I do regret sometimes that I didn't move to San Jose in 1997..would have been fun to have been there and been part of the dot.com action before the bubble burst (I had 3 job offers there in '97-99). I want to take the time and go explore the national parks. I find California more interesting than probably 75% of the other states in the US.

Nice..it's very much like that here, but not as warm...the highs have been in the low '70s and sunny, with the occasional low 60's and raining...supposed to be that way this weekend. It's been very nice here in Phoenix this winter.

I've thought the wind/solar farm idea could work on my parents' property in Ohio. 150 acres of land, partially forested, w/ a couple lakes. Has it's own natural gas well, so Mom doesn't have to pay for heating in the brutal winters (there is a fuel oil backup furnace for if the gas goes out due to frozen lines from the well). If she had her own electricity, that would be cool (there is a large Onan gas generator for backup when the power goes out, as it did last week). My Mom has 2 German Shepherds and an Australian Cattle Dog for guard dogs (though there is a gate at the end of the driveway, which is almost a mile from the house), though my preference for guard dogs are my 3lb Yorkie puppy (very alert) and my Australian terrier (the 'bitey beast'--sort of a tiny hairy piranha)

Interesting old car...the styling reminds me of the Batmobile from the '40s comics. With that monster steering wheel, I couldn't imagine it would be very pleasant to drive today. The shape reminds me of other teardrop shaped, finned designs of the era, esp. one from Talbot-Lago. I have Hot Wheels of it, not sure the name of the car (Atlantique?). In a design with some similiarities, I love the Chrysler Atlantic concept from the '90s..I wish they had built that car... I much prefer it to the Viper as far as outrageous Chrysler cars go.

How about car pr0n--photos of engines taken apart, inside transmission cases, other dirty bits?