Robert Hall

Yeah, both the Mustangs he had at Ohio State got totalled..my folks bought him a new '66 GT convertible for HS graduation, after a couple years at Ohio State a drunk driver hit him head on, totalilng it. Then he took the '66 hi-po coupe, and it got rear ended at a stoplight on Broad Street in 1970. About 10 years later, he had a rusty '65 Mustang coupe, 289...it caught on fire outside Pittsburgh due to a leaky carby. He's had better luck w/ the 3 Fox Mustangs he's had since then ('79 Indy Pace Car, '82 GT, '86 GT). Never had an accident w/ the '69 Mustang (which my Dad bought new) or my '87 GT (which I got for HS graduation), but my '86 LX was rear-ended and totalled the week after I moved to Ann Arbor, Mi in '94. I think my sister always felt slighted--she got a new '76 Pinto Runabout for HS graduation

I like it overall, esp. the interior. Should be a good competitor for the LaCrosse.

Hmmm..I like the front end and interior, but the rear looks too much like the Focus...and the character lines on the decklid seem too contrived, IMHO.

This thread dates back over a year..I wonder if they've popped out another or two by now?

Should be a good competitor for the new LaCrosse.

With all the doom and gloom and articles, I keep getting this nagging feeling that the US auto industry is going the way of the UK auto industry in the '70s-80s...the downward spiral towards oblivion.

Well, we are already helping them when we fill up at the gas pump... strange days, these are.

Wow....Kung Pao Camaro. These are surreal times. Maybe the Indians (Tata and Mahindra) will get in the game also... mmmm...Challenger SRT8 Vindaloo..

My experience w/ FWD has been limited to rental cars and the Escort diesel I had in high school (and it was my folks' tow car for their RV, not something I bought). FWD is fine for vanilla, mainstream cars for the mainstream driver that want a transportation appliance. If I'm buying something for myself--be it a daily driver or a weekend fun car, I want RWD...

I've taught college courses when I was in grad school, to college freshmen and sophomores... I don't think I could handle teaching kids..

Mmm....I like Roscoe's...gone there every time I've been in town. I've gotten acclimated to Phoenix, I'm afraid...mornings in the 50s feel freezing to me, and afternoons in the low 80s are perfect sunroof open, windows down weather....

Yes... it is interesting...my Mom has always had a keen interest in cars...she's told me in detail about the cars she drove before I was born ( my folks were married in '48, I came along 22 years later). My father drove a '39 Packard coupe when they were dating, their first new car together was a '49 Ford Fordor. Interestingly, they only had one wagon over the years ('63 Fairlane) but mostly drove full size Fords, Mercurys, and later Lincolns...in the '60s, she drove a black on black '65 Mustang 289 'hi-po' coupe (which my older brother later totalled).... Most people today--men and women--seem to have about as much emotional connection w/ their cars as with their washers, dryers, refrigerators..

Very cool....I've seen the Falken Mustang in action..there was a drifting demonstration at the Barrett-Jackson show this past January..the air was thick w/ tire smoke and the smell of burnt rubber.

I think he kept it maintained, just not clean. He had a hellacious commute..about 160 miles a day, 4 days a week, worked from home 1 day a week..was my boss (the chief architect of my development team).

By the way, didn't autocross events used to be called 'gymkhatas' or 'gymkhanas'? I vaguely remember that from my old R&Ts (I've subscribed to Road & Track since I was 7!).

Autocrossing a Suburban would be fun, I bet..

I figure I'll continue buying American w/ the occasional German (maybe Japanese) car here and there. I'd consider buying a new car now if the economy was looking up, but it's nice having no car payment, a short commute, and a reasonably high bill rate...building up the cash reserves now in case the job market completely crashes next year (I'm still getting 1/2 dozen or so calls and emails every week from headhunters, so tech isn't completely dead right now).

And 2 extra doors. Though the CTS coupe if it ever gets in production is shorter than the sedan, I think. The G37 is a nice size...a friend bought one recently, seems like a nice competitor to the 3-series coupe.

Yeah, that's why the constant use of the term 'bailout' is misleading... they aren't grants, but loan guarantees...

True..the Accord's natural habitat is a busy freeway in a metro area, doing the daily commute, like the C470 around the Denver area or the 101 in the Phoenix area..

Ya...speaking of sports cars for daily drivers, a friend of mine this summer had a Z3 as his commuter car, it got t-boned at an intersection...he replaced it with a new Boxster. He and his wife took a 3500 mile road trip in it in August... says it's a great daily driver. He's put on snow tires for the winter.

I used to work w/ a guy that had an '05 Accord that already had 50k miles in early '07...never washed it... asked why he never cleaned it, said 'it's just a Honda..will replace it in a couple years with another one"...

I've driven an E30..they are fun... a few performance cars I want to own eventually are an E46 M3--the last of the 6 cyl ones, a 993 (mid '90s) Porsche 911 (last of the aircooled ones), and an Acura NSX. I've driven a friend's NSX a few times, it's a sweet car.

I like the 1 series..I wonder how the sales are, though...I rarely ever see one, compared to the 3 series. I've owned 7 cars in a little over 20 years, one a BMW (loved my '96 M3) and one a Mopar ('00 Jeep).

+1 I'm sure things have only gotten worse in the last 30 years since my folks retired from that world--my Mom was an elementary school teacher for 25 years, my Dad started off as a Jr. High Math teacher, then became a principal then was a superintendent for 20 years.