Robert Hall

Yes, and the Thunderbird in '59-60 also had the 430 as an option...back in the '70s, my older brother had a white w/ red interior '59 ht for a few years, I remember him talking about it having a Lincoln V8. What a beast that was...

Mean Business--The Firm

Well, the first Mk IV was available with a 430, circa 1959..

Aphrodite's Child-The Four Horsemen ('70s Greek prog rock)

I remember the name as a old Buick name ( and I have a couple '61 Invicta model cars), but I also associate the name as a vintage small British car company, and the watch maker.

1975-1977.. I remember my sister being into the Bee Gees, Peter Frampton, Led Zeppelin, the Who and platform shoes in a big way...and driving a Pinto... when she was in high school and I was in kindergarden-second grade, we had bedrooms side-by-side... I played with Matchbox, Hot Wheels, read Batman comics and watched Looney Toones and Rockford Files w/ our Dad. I remember my older brother living in the basement, smoking pot listening to the Moody Blues, Pink Floyd, Eric Clapton, etc, with huge sideburns, long hair, a handlebar mustache, wearing bell bottom jeans, vests, leather jackets w/ fringes, driving a '65 GTO and a V8 '74 Vega. (I got introduced to cars and classic rock at a very early age!). My Mom driving me to school in her huge Lincoln Continental. My Dad driving around in the Continental, the '69 Mustang and '68 Cougar, wearing plaid suits with wide ties, big side burns, dying his hair, smoking a pipe, drinking PBR. The Steelers. Going to Pirates games at Three Rivers Stadium. Watching barges go by on the Ohio River. Playing in the fall leaves. Weekends out at the family farm, riding around on the John Deere tractor w/ my Dad. Blah blah blah blah...lots of fun childhood memories of the mid to late '70s..

aleve

Ya, my sister's '84 Merc 500SEL that I've been driving had $1000 worth of work done yesterday at the local independent Merc shop--fixed the left rear window power window regulator (it got stuck down a few days ago), the windshield washer motor, the accelerator pedal (it had broken loose and had to be stomped on to work), and the front brake caliper seals (seals dry out in AZ), and a heater valve (couldn't get hot air to come out). Equivalent to 2 car payments on a new car, but she loves her old Mercs (and I'm enjoying them also).

Quite likely..I studied the county-by-county red v blue maps after the election, every county in MA went blue, and at the opposite end of the spectrum, every county in Oklahoma went red (Oklahoma would be hell on earth for me, Arizona is bad enough).

It's what's called a shared platform...both are Deltas. The kiddies on here probably won't remember it, but in the old days (not that far back) GM often had 4-5 models across the brands that shared rooflines, door outer panels, etc but with brand-specific metal below the greenhouse...like the '80s J-cars, A-bodies, B-bodies, etc.

Speaking of good small cars, IMHO, the best small car that any US automaker has built in my lifetime was the first gen Focus (and it was European, of course). I've driven several 1st gen Focuses as rentals, and even with automatics, they drove very, very nicely...taut handling and they seemed to be well put together. I've driven a buddy's SVT w/ the manual and was quite impressed. FWD hatchbacks aren't my niche, but the 1st gen Focus was an excellent car, IMHO. On the other hand, Neons and Cavaliers of the same era I've driven felt like cheap junk.

Maybe they have the auto lights turned off... cars I've had with automatic lights have an on/ off setting.

I'd like a NAV screen that uses Google maps... would be nice to be able to key in the from and to and get a Google map, or Google street view, etc on the display. If I'm driving to a restaurant I'm unfamiliar with, I print out a Google map before leaving, would be nice to be able to do it in the car.

Cool..on the way to the airport this afternoon, I saw a '65 Pontiac Le Mans 2dr ht, faded lt blue w/ some surface rust. Probably the original paint. Looked straight and solid.

Nah, serious...it's a concept car from over 50 years ago...can't be that many people left that were involved with it's development.

As far as Nissan in the '90s, that's probably more opinion than reality.. I don't recall anything majorly negative in the magazines about '90s Nissans, and anecdoteally, I've known several people that put 150k or more on '90s Nissans---a couple Maximas, a Sentra, a pickup, a Pathfinder, and a first gen Altima..they seemed happy with their cars.

Ya, I recall reading that in Collectible Automobile a while back..the wierd canted taillights on the '60 Comet look similar to the '60 Edsel lights (which are vertical).

A couple gigs back I had a manager that was a huge NASCAR fan, and her husband works for NASCAR in marketing. They drive an Accord and a Tacoma.

Ya, that would be cool. Wouldn't necessarily need 2 4drs. SUV, sports/luxury coupe, luxury sedan, convertible. That would be a nice foursome for me (for years, I had an SUV and 2 sports coupes). I'm currently rotating between an SUV, older luxury coupe, and an older luxury sedan as my daily drivers. (I also have 2 vintage Mustangs in storage). I'm thinking of keeping the SUV for winter (the '00 Grand Cherokee has been my daily driver for 8 years), maybe adding a late model Town Car for a daily driver in the next couple of years (they depreciate too much to buy new), and/or maybe a CTS sedan or coupe. I'm thinking about a '10 Mustang GT convertible for my 40th--- I want a V8, RWD convertible w/ a manual, and I don't see the Camaro convertible happening anytime soon, and love Mustangs.. maybe wait until my 50th for a Corvette convertible. Of course, if gas prices go through the roof, I'd consider a diesel daily driver. Mmmm...diesel CTS coupe. Would be nice.

Heh-heh...my ideal garage would have both a CTS (w/ a manual) and a Town Car. One for modern sports sedan lux, one for old school land yacht lux. Both appeal to me.

Ya, it's a bad name, IMHO. They could have called it 'Fred' or 'Elmer' which would have been equally nerdy. I've read that they hired a poet to come up with possible names--they came up with a long list, some were pretty outlandish like Utopian Turtletop. In the end, they chose the name of Henry's son. In keeping with the planet name Mercury, maybe 'Saturn' would have been a good name. (Though I think Mercury was named for the Greek God more than the planet). Edsel did have some good model names, though--Pacer, Ranger, Corsair, and Citation, all of which have been used elsewhere since then. Also, I would assume the decision to create the brand was made around '55 or '56, when the middle market was quite strong...then it was launched just in time for a recession. Update: The Wikipedia entry on Edsel has a pretty decent analysis of the failure and some backstory...makes for interesting reading while I'm sitting at the airport waiting on my flight.. Edsel story

Well, the official EPA classification of subcompact/compact/midsize/fullsize is based on interior volume + cargo space, not overall length or wheelbase, so there are cars within the same category that can vary quite a bit in length or wheelbase. Fuel Economy Classes I'm not sure how rental car agencies categorize their cars, but I know in the past they've categorized a Grand Am as a midsize and a Taurus ('00) as a full size, so who knows.

Best post of the week nominee.

Heh-heh...sounds like the eastern part of Colorado...anything east of the Front Range is just a dull Kansas-like empty red state void.. the Front Range has the Denver metro area and Boulder which are pretty cool and blue stateish, the mountains run down the center and western half of the state, but to the south of the Denver area is Colorado Springs, which is part of the Bible Belt... I used to live in the Springs-- it does have some nice qualities (great scenery, great bike trails, etc but far too many evangelicals and neocons for my taste).

No idea, but at that time, Chrysler and GM each had 3 mid-priced brands, so someone at Ford must have felt Mercury wasn't enough...