Robert Hall

Oh well. It wasn't to be. If the market picks up eventually, maybe Chevy will do a Ridgeline competitor off the Traverse and call it El Camino..

grad school (I'm a PhD dropout myself....3 years in a PhD program warped my mind, but Prozac and vodka kept me happy then..)

Ya, kind of like Mercury's website--everything in silver, or Dodge's website--everything in red.

Strewth!

Another dude that looks like a lion is that Dog the bounty hunter guy.

Wow..that's pretty stingy...when I was salaried, I was used to working at places that have 9-10 holidays and 3 weeks vacation....

Heh-heh..I used to goofy-park like that with my Bronco II. It was really good in snow. I remember parking like that sometimes on piled up snow in lots at the U of Michigan in the winter.

Good news for Toyota!

Fun... what is funny is my Dad was a driving instructor then on the side---besides being the school district's superintendent, he was the driving instructor also. I think my sister flunked her driving test at least 2-3 times--she had a horrible time with parallel parking...then again, a '69 Mustang fastback or a '76 Continental aren't exactly the easiest cars to park, esp . the Mustang w/ it's blind spots. Both the right side trim rings on the Mustangs' wheels had curb dents (this is the same car my Dad and I restored about 10 years later). After she got her license, my Dad bought her a new '76 Pinto Runabout for her HS graduation. She didn't learn to drive a manual until her late '20s, until she bought an '85 Nissan 300ZX w/ a stick...then had 3 manuals in a row--a '90 300ZX turbo and a '93 Saab 900 turbo. My learning to drive experience went pretty smoothly...I mastered parallel parking out on the farm using sand-filled milk jugs with PVC pipes sticking out of them placed on 4 corners like a box. I did most of my learning to drive in an '84 Ford Escort 4dr hatchback, diesel w/ a manual. Great steering, very easy car to position. In contrast, I did a lot of my road driving learning in my Dad's '85 Lincoln Town Car (big, cushy, easy, but w/ huge blind spots) and his '79 Dodge Power Wagon 4x4 shortbed pickup, which had horrible steering w/ no on-center feel and would stall on left turns (hence my phobia of left turns without an arrow).

Back in the '70s, my folks house in Steubenville, Oh had a narrow driveway cut into the front yard with stone walls on each side (was probably 8 ft deep by the garage door) leading downhill into the 1 car garage (the drive was long enough for 2 cars). My sister, learning to drive, backed my Dad's '69 Mustang out of the garage, out of the driveway to the street, and managed to strike the left side several points along the way...the rear bumper corner, the door handle, the mirror ripped off, the left front fender arch, the front bumper ripped off, various other scratches. I don't think my Dad ever let her park in the driveway again. My Mom was always bottoming out the Continental on that driveway, dragging the rear bumper bottom. When you backed out the driveway, you couldn't see the street because the rear of the car was up in the air.. And of course, being Ohio, the driveway got icy in the winter... my Mom once couldn't stop on the ice and drove the Continental through the closed garage door...

Yah, back into the cube today after 2 weeks off. I have MLK day off, then President's Day (observing all the offficial City holidays, since I'm contracting to them). Probably going to take off a week in April.

from here

breeders

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.