Robert Hall

I can only imagine how much worse the anti-big 3 talk would have been with the bailout, etc had gas prices remained at $4.xx/gallon.

Maybe the Cruze will be GM's world class FWD compact. Their Last Great Hope.

I've met a few obnoxious Mustang owners... lots of 'em in Florida, for some reason. Though I met a lot of decent people at the Mustang Roundup in Steamboat Springs...were over 400 cars there a couple years ago. Speaking of '70s, a buddy of mine in Denver is restoring a '70 Mach 1 (351C, 4bbl, 4spd) that he found in a field outside Regina...he's been working on it for the last 6 years, should be on the road next summer. Grabber green w/ black interior.. When I was in the BMW world, I did meet a lot of pompous pricks, worked with a few of 'em..

I have good tires on my Jeep... I'm sure I could get around there when it snows. When there's an ice storm, though, I'd hide under my bed and not go out.. (I still have nightmares from driving in an ice storm in Portland 3 years ago).

Looks like it was a work in progress resto project, missing a lot of parts. I remember as a teenager w/ my Dad pushing our '69 around, in and out of the barn after removing the engine, transmission, exhaust, the full interior, etc. That was a 4 year resto project. It got NOS/salvage yard front fenders, doors, rear quarters, floor pans, bumpers, trunk floor, and misc. chrome trim. Had to have it hauled to a body shop for all the welding needed in replacing the rusted out front shock towers.. Years of Ohio winters had left it rough shape when we started in the summer of '83. We lived 9 months a year in Florida from '82-88 and 3 months each summer back in Ohio, often working on that car.

For some reason, when I see portholes now, I immediately think of Homer Simpson and 'speed holes'.

I've never had the pleasure of driving in Portugal, but do remember the insanity of driving the Amalfi Coast in a rented Mercedes C-class diesel w/ manual....rented it from Avis at the Rome airport, drove the Autostrada down to Pompeii, then out to Sorrento, down the coast through Positano and down to Salerno. Narrow twisty road with sheer rock faces on the left, drop offs to the Med on the right. Tunnels, places where the road narrowed to one lane, deranged scooter drivers; a psycho lady in a black AMG E class w/ German plates that rode my arse for miles trying to pass; tour coaches filled with Japanese tourists with cameras (one coach had to back up for several hundred feet at the edge of small town to allow a truck to pass in the opposite direction)...fun times. Stop signs in the towns seemed to be optional. Driving in N. Italy in a rented diesel Vectra was more mellow, up around Lake Como, Lake Maggiore, Milano... Got to get back to Europe in '09...missing it.

When I was living in Denver, there were some WRX idiots in my 'hood....kiddies that would be blasting loudly up and down and the residential streets in the early am often... they eventually hit a nearby bridge abutment at over 100 mph...

I like how the 'yanked forward front wheel' emphasizes the RWD ness....the 3 series will never be confused for a FWD generic. And having the front axle line ahead of the engine gives better weight balance. The G8 and new Camaro do the 'forward wheel placement' quite well also, IMHO. The short hood/long deck look has been gone for many decades...can't think right off of the last car to use it, maybe the 2nd gen Corvairs? For me, I've always liked the long hood/short deck look, but also like the balanced look where the hood and deck were of similar length, like on the '77-up B-bodies. The short rear deck look has been taken to extremes in recent years..

Personally, I love the proportions of the 3 series... relatively long hood and short deck, with the wheels close to the front giving a long wheel-to-door length. The '05-09 Mustang has a similar proportion that I like also. Such proportions emphasizes their RWD-ness in a world of bland, conformist FWD genericism.

That one I hadn't heard of... Special Speedster

Yes... I'd love to have seen a new mid engined RWD NSX. the V10 SH-AWD front engined car wouldn't have been price competitive with the GT-R, would have been an NSX in name only, IMHO. I love the old NSX.

D'oh...I forgot Queen and Rush competely on my list....'Hammer to Fall' is probably my favorite Queen song, along with 'I Want it All'.. and Rush, there is lots there that I like...love 'Limelight', 'Time Stand Still', 'Red Barchetta', 'Distant Early Warning', etc.

Packard 'Brown Bomber'? ? There was a concept car called the Packard Request...another was the Packard Predictor concept which had a vertical central grille not unlike the Edsel, as did the Black Bess concepts of the same era. The word 'Request' in yer description triggered memories of an article I read eons ago about the Packard Request and Predictor. Packard concept info Packard Concepts

Saw a couple oldies at lunch today--one of the last of the C-body land yachts--a tan '74-78 Chrysler Newport 4dr ht in good shape, and a beige '49 Chevy Fleetline (fastback) 2dr, beautiful condition...shocking to see a nearly 60yr old car in traffic.

It's not the long overhang I find unpleasant about most FWD cars, it's the absurdly short wheel to front door length that makes many FWD cars look awkward, IMHO. Of course, most mid engined sports cars have that same short wheel-to-door length + long front overhang, but somehow those proportions look good on a sleek 2 seat sports car, yet those aspects look ugly on a vanilla FWD 4dr.

It looks good, though...it still has RWD proportions and a long hood...the front would look wierd if it the nose were chopped off.

Flying to Denver tomorrow afternoon...staying with friends, having a house party. Then back to Phoenix Saturday and back to work next Monday.

The summer in AZ is horrific, definitely. Winter is nice. I don't really care for the people around here...too many old folks, too much of a red state, not enough techies compared to Denver. Can't get too interested in the desert appearance either, too much dust and tan. Too smoggy and hazy in the summer, not enough clear, blue sky days (though plenty in winter). For Colorado, I love the weather, the mountains, and of course all my techie friends are there. Though sunny, it can be a bit brown and dry, though there is plenty of green up in the mountains. I'm renting out my condo in Denver currently, enough to cover the mortgage, so that's good. I do like S. Florida, though the humidity in the summers and the hurricanes would get to me. The ocean is great, though the beaches in the Keys aren't that great. I really like the coast from Miami up through West Palm Beach, though. I don't think I could live in Florida full time, though, no mountains and no twisty roads. My ideal is a big, diverse city with lots of tech jobs, close to mountains, forests, and the ocean or lakes.

As to the adding the leap second, it's 'Global Slowing'...OHNOZ!!! OMG! NOOOOO! Call Al Gore!! All said, it's been a strange year for me... * Moved to Arizona, which I really don't like * Despite the economy, worked 3 gigs this year--2 have been pretty dull, one was kind of interesting but didn't last.. * Only worked 9 out of 12 months, but still made more $$$ than I did last year when I worked 12 months. * Had a few car issues, still have the Jeep and gained 2 old Mercs, sort of. * Got a new puppy. 3lbs of terrier love. * Got two new computers. * Went to my 20th hs reunion in S. Florida, which was a lot of fun. Looking forward to 2009 and new adventures.

theatre

Yes...good list. Good to see Denver on that list also. Alas, Phoenix is probably on the 10 least literate cities list..

Lots of morons out there...but I will admit to doing the occasional burn out and power slide with my 5.0 back in the day when I was a teenager and it was new... Never did anything crazy with the '69, though. Though I'm sure my Dad did when it was new.

Interesting hood trim...an alternative to the portholes..

Oooh..difficult to come up with a list..there is so much that I really I like. Mostly classic rock, some alternative, some popish.. My top five--no particular order: Gimmie Shelter--The Rolling Stones Layla- Derek and the Dominoes All Along the Watchtower- Jimi Hendrix Baba O Reilly - The Who Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd Other favorites, in no particular order: Won't Get Fooled Again- The Who Who Are You- The Who Eminence Front- The Who Sympathy for the Devil-The Rolling Stones Satisfaction- The Rolling Stones Tumblin' Dice-The Rolling Stones Wish You Were Here- Pink Floyd Immigrant Song- Led Zeppelin In The Evening- Led Zeppelin Telegraph Road- Dire Straits Thunder Road- Bruce Springsteen Born to Run-Bruce Springsteen Darkness on the Edge of Town- Bruce Springsteen Crossfire- Stevie Ray Vaughan Back in Black- AC/DC Hysteria- Def Leppard Welcome to the Jungle-Guns N Roses Wishing Well- Free Bad Company- Bad Company Bad- U2 Pride- U2 any U2 Joshua Tree track Live Forever- Oasis Bittersweet Symphony- The Verve Jeremy- Pearl Jam lots more Clapton, Cream, Traffic, and Springsteen in my top 100 also...