Robert Hall

I'm pretty sure there were 4 of 'em... what started the thought for this thread is that I saw one of these in a movie last night and it got me thinking..

For Ford, I think it was the Lincoln Mark VI, which had hidden quad round lights through '83...and ironically, was replaced with the Mark VII, which was the first US car with flush composite style lights, IIRC. I think the last from Chrysler may have been the '81-83 Imperial, which had hidden round lights...not sure, though, haven't seen one with the lights exposed in 20+ years...I think the '79-81 New Yorker had hidden round lights.. For GM, the '82 Corvette was probably the last. The 280ZX sounds right, I think the RX-7 had pop-up round lights through it's first gen, which ended in '85...2nd gen went to rectangular popups, I think. At some point in the '80s, BMW switched from regular round sealed beam to composites , not sure when... The Merc SL kept round sealed beam through '89 in the US, IIRC.

I've got that mag...great car...I never knew they made a Formula with the Trans Am hood (required by the SD engine)...it had dog dish hubcaps also.

I do recall seeing quite a few Avensises around the UK in my trips across the pond a few years back, don't recall seeing them in France or Italy though. Did see a few late '90s style Camrys as well.

What were the last models in the US market to be offered with traditional sealed-beam round headlights (single or dual)? By manufacturer? I can think of a few, but am not 100% certain.

Yeah...and even in the Rust Belt, their were some gems. My folks bought a couple in Ohio that way---in 1975, a silver blue '68 Cougar with 15k miles, mint, 302, for $2k. Around 1981, they bought a clean '69 Fairlane 4dr sedan, dark green, 390 4bbl, automatic, a/c, 25k miles, for about $2500.

Yeah, the stock hubcaps look fine...a set of Chevy Rallys would look good also. Something period correct.

Very nice car, though it has a bit of rust and the jack is rusty. For $59k, I'd put a nice down payment (10 or 20%) on a house.

Yes, they may want to retroactively strike.

Nice rust job...gives a patina of authenticity which you loose with a restoration. But seriously, lots of bondo, duct tape, and primer should cover it up fairly well.

It's been going that way since the '80s, when GM switched to FWD generics, Chrysler went to FWD everything, and Ford came out w/ the Taurus...the mass market has moved to FWD, V6 automatic midsize generics. Most people are not car enthusiasts, they just want a reliable, affordable, transportation device to get from point A to point B. Such is life.

Different people, different interests...not everyone has your tastes....something you can't seem to comprehend, but the world doesn't revolve around you.

Not really... exterior dimensions don't measure the utility of a car, which is what the size classifications measure...interior volume is a practical measure, plus factor in the knee room, shoulder room, etc. Judging or categorizing a car simply by exterior dimensions is pointless.

I hope they do a G8 and CTS...

Yeah, I think they did a good job on both... they captured the 1:1 differences between the concept and production pretty accurately.

I suspect HW will have a production version of the Camaro out by the end of the year or next year. They've done concept and production versions of the Challenger so far.

Ah, too bad to hear..I used to frequent a Bennigans in Colorado that was close to where I worked a few years ago..

Kinda cool...I recall reading about someone putting a modded Shelby turbo engine, etc. in a Caravan or Voyager..was quite fast, IIRC.

It's easy enough in my Jeep (automatic, good cupholders), but near-impossible in my Mustang (stick shift, no cup holders). I remember once trying to drink a Mc Donalds coffee, eat a bacon/egg/cheese biscuit, drive and shift at the same time...messy.

Yes, that seems like a really bad move...the G6 is the most distinctive of the NA Epsys, what with the coupe and convertible versions. To do blantant badge engineering smells of despiration and surrender.

Ugh...sounds like they need to use a tongue condom.

The best part of having a new car, though, is you don't have to deal with the old car headaches..the breakdowns, the constant repairs, etc. Plus, you get the modern features. 10 yr/100k mi is my limit for a daily driver.

A bidet also would help with that, or the occasional pressure wash and wax.

Amazing to see Honda get bad press...usually they walk on water, cure cancer, can do no wrong. But, also, IIRC, Clarkson on TG didn't like the current Civic Type R as much as the previous one.

That would be cool... how about a clone of the Y-Job....one of my favorite concept cars. Or the Phantom Corsair, which would have made a great Batmobile, IMHO. Another concept I'd love to see a running version of was Bill Mitchell's Pontiac Phantom from the late '70s...was very pointy.