Robert Hall

The coolest sighting for me for the month so far had to be the '60-62 GMC panel truck 4x4 I saw downtown today. Primer gray, w/ traces of green paint, lifted on big off-road tires, spare tire on the roof, off road lights across the front of the roof, winch on the custom front bumper. HELLACOOL!!!! Also interesting were a well-worn '70 Mustang Mach 1, light green...great restoration potential... Also saw a sharp bright red '64 or so Dodge Dart convertible w/ the top down. I'm loving the cool fall weather, leaves falling off the trees, wind whipping them up as I go down the street w/ the sunroof open.

The Wrangler is too raw for a daily driver for me, the Grand Cherokee makes a much nicer daily driver SUV. I have thought about a used Wrangler Rubicon as a summer weekend and off-roading toy, though.

14 trucks--don't forget the Express and Savanna. I can see the Canyon going away..it's a pointless rebadge, and I could see the BOF Escalades going away if the next Escalade is Lambda based as has been rumored. Well, SAAB has 2 cars, so if you cut them, you have 29. Does the 31 cars include crossovers?

Well, Chrysler being a private company (unlike Ford and GM) I would expect them to keep it out of the public domain.

Interesting..that should make good reading tonight.

Interesting...Buick is way more niche than Pontiac is now. Though I wonder what Pontiac sales # are compared to Buick if you factor out fleet #s.

Hopefully they will move away from brick styling with tiny greenhouses. I'd love the have the RWD, V8 hardware w/ sleek styling like the 2nd gen LHs.

Then again, I couldn't imagine Nov being a good month for a convertible sports car, outside of Fla and the SW.

Blarch!

$35k is cheap for a V8 RWD sports sedan..only the Charger R/T is in the same price range as the G8 GT. The Camaro and Mustang are sports coupes, a different paradigm.

I wonder how bad GM and Chrysler's November # loss will be

Heh-heh..I've always wondered if there was a correlation between the fact I was born 9 months to the day after my Dad's 50th birthday, which was a few months after my folks' 20th wedding anniversary...

Kewl...throw in diesel options for NA, and they should definitely get better MPG.

I can only imagine how bad morale is within GM now--infinite dispair, a bleak future, the downward spiral...not to mention being stuck in dying gray Michigan. Hard to be forward looking and optimistic in a reality like that.

Those are growing companies, though. GM is shrinking...I still don't see how they can continue to adequately fund 8 brands in NA with 20% market share. Maybe 6 (eliminate Hummer and Saab).

Lexus is a global brand, Infiniti is going that way. Acura remains NA only AFAIK.

Saturn, though, like Pontiac, relies on GM platforms and engines. How do you separate those dependencies?

Global brands do work, though...look at VW, Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, etc. they each have many models common across many markets, coupled with many market-specific models in the mix (like the US Accord and Camry, etc).

Ya...Hummer and Saab have more autonomy and an identity separate from GM, they seem more separatable. Saturn and Pontiac are too tightly integrated into GMNA to separate, IMHO.

Since Pontiac is so tied to GM for it's platforms and engines, I can't see how this would work...and who would buy it? Avis?

I was at airport once in the loo and I think the guy in the stall next to me was watching pr0n on his phone/iPod/whatever...

My ex-g/f, my sister, my Mom, and friends have given me a hard time about hearing a flush in the background when I'm on the phone w/ them Got to watch out not to drop the phone in the toilet, a friend did that once, ruined the phone (poo and water aren't good for electronic gadgets).

That is cool..I haven't seen a '68-72 A-body wagon of any brand in a loooong time.

The office tower I'm in has a basement w/ a loading dock and two sub-basements, haven't been down there yet, but I think they have some offices down there.. The 10th floor cafeteria is actually pretty nice, with some great views of the mountains, downtown, and I can watch jets go by on final approach to Sky Harbor Airport..(downtown Phoenix west-to-east in right under the airport landing path, a couple miles from the runways).

Heh-heh... I'm working in a very drab office tower that looks like the cubes, carpet, etc are at least 20 years old or more. Quite different from the fancy suite w/ the catered food and the Mac Book Pro I had at the startup, but at least I'm paid more now and don't have to work with smartass 25 year olds.