Robert Hall

Yeah, those '71-72 LTD convertibles are goregous...I saw a '72 at a car show a few years that I would have loved to have taken home w/me--it black w/ a red interior, Magnum 500 wheels, 429...

The hot swappable battery is the approach Better Place is wanting to use with their electric car plan, IIRC. There was an interesting article about them last month in Wired..they have some pretty ambitious ideas for electric car infrastructure, trying to get it off the ground in Israel and partnering w/ Renault, I've read...

Hopefully the kid isn't going to demo derby it or used it for a race car..

The thing is, the vast majority of people for their $16k or $32k or whatever (or what is really their $250 a month or $500 a month or whatever-most car buyers look at the monthly payment), want a new car..or a late model used car...not something 30-40 years old with 100k miles. That's reality. Old cars are neat for car shows and the occasional weekend drive, but most people want modern cars with modern features (safety features, efficiency, AM/FM CD player w/ iPod jack, A/C, power everything, well-designed cupholders, heated seats, etc). That is why your logic doesn't work for 99% of car buyers. Reading your arguments in these threads sometimes reminds me of the arguments by the Flat Earth Society or the Luddites.

Yeah, some friends of mine had twins a couple of years ago..they were about 8 weeks early, IIRC...they spent 2 months in the neonatal ICU...was a difficult time for all involved.

The front reminds me a bit of the Kia Soul

I suppose they could bring it here to fit in the gap between the Corolla and Camry..

That front end looks like tribute to a '30s Chrysler Airflow..wierd

I like Biden..he was my favorite candidate when he ran previously. He seems like a no-BS kind of guy.

Anyway, it looks like a decent $20-25k commuter car. Not $30-35k.

You definitely should save your $$$, having a kid is very expensive, I've heard..and you'll need a minivan eventually also (maybe a 20 yr old Aerostar, since it is RWD and BOF and old?)

The crew my yard service sends every week is Hispanic, all speaking Spanish..seems common in Phoenix...and they are definitely many accented (presumably immigrant) fast food workers here as well. My pool guy is not, though.

Maybe the uneducated, poor Mexicans don't, but other groups do...I've worked with and known a lot of European, Asian (from India, Sri Lanka, China, S. Korea, Vietnam, etc), and a few African immigrants over the years, they speak English and tend to be well educated when they come to the US legally as students or on H-1B work visas..they come here and are productive members of society and pay their taxes..

Yeah, now that she's kicked her drug habit.

That's kinda cool...

I hear you. Big agri-business corporations, etc need their cheap labor. Corporations fund the politicians and have the lobbyists. Thus, nothing gets done.

+2.

I've been thinking about it... I've had a recruiter from Amazon call me a couple times in the last month. There are a lot of good tech jobs there. Ocean, mountains, green.... I know Portland pretty well, but only been to Seattle once..want to go up and explore some. And if McPalin wins in Nov, I really, really have to get out of Arizona to a blue state...

Yes! I love Italy. And also France, Switzerland and the UK. I'd love to relocate to Surrey...listen to Radiohead and enjoy the rainy, gray weather (England is kind of the anti-Phoenix..)

I try and check the LoLcats site once a week (I have it in my RSS feeds)...some pretty funny stuff there...

I've always liked Daft Punk..they have a strange cool quality, plus they are French.

Yes..same with Target in the Phoenix area (where there are millions of Hispanics, probably 95% illegals from Mexico)...I saw it in some Denver-area Targets also (Aurora). Problem is, the economy depends on cheap labor from Mexico...got to have people for the yard service, the drive thru at Jack in the Box and McDonalds, maid services, etc...

Hmmm...I had heard something about that..could be.

With investment from interested parties, Viper could become in an interesting little cottage car company, like a Panoz or Saleen, or the UK's many cottage car builders (like TVR was before the Russian kid ruined it).

Or a world with no religion, no Republicans... my dream world..