Robert Hall

I saw a black 2009 Ford F150 Platinum Crew Cab in traffic today...looked pretty sharp. It had a Michigan mfgr plate, several antennas, and a strange thing on the roof that looked like a 2-headed spigot. Probably doing some high-altitude suburbia testing..(I saw it in Highlands Ranch--a natural habitat for SUVs and 4dr pickups, which is Denver's 'poster child for sprawl' suburb, that made it on the cover of National Geographic in the '90s).

My 20-yr old 5.0 Mustang gets 25-27 in steady 65 freeway driving, about 22-23 in mixed conditions. Pretty good for an '80s EFI V8.

At that angle, the rear shape reminds me a lot of the C6...

They are a pretty sweet car...I sat in one at an auto show, love the interior...though as far as exterior styling, I prefer the A8.

I like Pittsburgh also...having lived in that area as a kid and followed it's ups and downs, it seems to be a much better place all around now than it was then..it's one of the places I've considered moving to if I ever moved back to that part of the country. Re-adjusting to the gray, snow, ice and humidity would be a shock, though. But for my immediate future, it's going to be in the Valley of the Sun (I'm in the process of moving from Denver to Phoenix over the next month or so).

I'd love to see GM field a legit Range Rover competitor also..the question is which brand would it fit better under---Hummer, or Cadillac? An Escalade replacement that is more of a premium luxury SUV instead of a tacky blinged up Tahoe/Yukon could be a compelling RR competitor...

Me too...I've subscribed to C&D and R&T since I was 7 in '77..still have all of them...currently, I subscribe to them, Automobile, Collectible Automobile, and pick up CAR, Top Gear, Evo, Hemmings Muscle Machines, Hemmings Classic Cars occasionally.

One of the most important exports, IMHO, of the Golden State is the technology industry and it's products...the Silicon Valley is home to Apple, Google, BEA, Cisco, Oracle, Sun Microsystems, Intel, Adobe, etc etc... all important companies to the US economy and global players...since I work in the biz, that's a very important aspect to me of the Golden State.

Good riddance...one less 6000lb pig. They still have the GMT-900s, which are more useful.

You know there is a town of Borger, Texas? Your relatives, perhaps?

She's definitely an interesting character...I've read Jean Jennings (formerly Lindamood) articles for 30 years (since her C&D tenure).

Its the same thing that happens every spring..prices go up, articles are written, people complain. Same old, same old.

I wouldn't say 'wrong'... more like getting better, more modern, more worldly.

Heh-heh...I just want to schedule it around Oktoberfest.

Definitely... I like Seattle (and Portland) quite a bit..have thought about moving to Portland a couple of times...lots of techies there. The midwest just feels old, tired, worn out and depressed...not vibrant, growing, and alive.

Neu-Isenberg, actually..apparently a Frankfurt suburb..I may have to travel there for work later this year.

Yeah, and then you have all the hypocrisy...down in Colorado Springs there was this evangelical nutjob preacher Ted Haggard who was always railing against gays and immorality and preaching the 'family values' BS that the evangelicals obsess about, while he was secretly having an affair w/ a gay prostitute and had a coke habit.. I hate the hypocrisy of the 'moral majority'..they are neither.

I know alot of 20- and 30-somethings with Toyotas...it's not just a boomer thing, it's universal.

Yes, but Chevrolets in Europe aren't real Chevrolets..just Korean generics.

The Midwest heartland has been dying for decades, though.. I grew up near Pittsburgh and also lived in the Cleveland/Akron area and SE Michigan...it was economically weak when I left over a decade ago, worse now...I remember all the steel mills closing back in the '80s, and the decline of the coal industry. The West/Southwest and South are where alot of economic growth has been for over a decade, I don't see that changing soon.. (not to mention sunshine and warmth is a lot nicer than the depressing gray, humidity and damp of the Midwest).

They way I heard is that they wanted to be more central (and have shorter flights across the pond). Denver and Dallas were also considered before they chose Chicago. Several of the execs at my current client (a subsidiary of Boeing) are based in Chicago, even though the subsidiary is based in Denver (with a major office in Frankfort, Germany).

Yeah, here in Colorado, the octanes are 85, 87, and 91..... lower octanes because of the altitude.

Retention.

Meh...prices always rise in the spring in time for the summer.. I think I paid $3.05 for 85 last week.

That's cool... I've got that one and the Road Trip issue---the wagon in that series is an apple green w/ wood grain trim. The recent release of the 'Those 70s Cars' series also has a '71 Maverick, '71 Vega, and '72 Gremlin..