Robert Hall

Nah..I need to get a new digital camera..we only had a couple disposable cameras, pics probably won't come out that good...

It was quite the circus..walked around for about 6 hrs, spent an hour or so sitting down watching some of the actual auctioneering. A little something for everyone, mostly '60s-70s muscle cars (massive #s of Chevelles, '67-69 Camaros, Impalas, Bel-Airs). Many, many Mopies ('68-70 Road Runners, '70-72 Cudas, Challengers, '68-70 Chargers, etc). Lots of Mustangs (incl. 2 red '69 Boss 429s) and various Shelbys.. There were quite a few '50s-60s big cars as well..the usual '57 Bel Airs, Corvettes and Thunderbirds, along with a massive '57 Roadmaster conv..a couple '59 Buicks, '59 and '60 Olds, a couple '59 Pontiacs and 4 '61 Catalinas and Bonnevilles.... Some '70s and '80s cars as well--a very clean '74 Impala sport coupe Bicentennial edition (all-white), a all-original, low-mileage '76 Caddy deVille (4dr ht, silver blue), a '75 Olds 88 convertible (lt green w/ white interior), and an '83 Olds Cutlass Supreme w/ 23k original miles (lt brown w/ brown interior). There were a bunch of the Monster Garage crap there up for auction also (a Panoz w/ an airplane engine, a Mustang lawn mower, a cut-and-shut shortened Lincoln dragster, a '90s Impala SS w/ odd mods, etc all very poorly done). Inside, amongst the automobilia vendors were hawking, Ford, GM and Honda had sizeable displays...in the GM display, there was the 50 Cent G8, a blue ZR1 (looked like the car from all the magazines), a black CTS, gray Malibu, Escalade hybrid, Tahoe hybrid, and a massive 1911 Oldsmobile touring car (with those massive wheels it was like an early Donk). At the Ford stand, they had the '08 Bullitt Mustang that I liked a lot, along with various other Mustangs and a couple of Flexes (incl. the Funkmaster Flex Flex). Outside, they had a drift exhibit w/ Mustangs. A lot of fun in sunny, warmish (65) Scottsdale... got to head back to frigid Denver this afternoon..

Chevrolet Europe: A Korean Revolution. All FWD generics, all the time. Will Chevrolet NA have the same fate?

Excellent.

???? I thought the Venza was a wagon based on the Camry..nothing like the Harrier/RX (the Highlander is related to the Harrier/RX).

Yeah, but GM's playing the same game... they have a lot more (and bigger) beasts than Toyota...(Hummers, Tahoe, Escalade, Yukon, etc).. yet they are hyping the hybrids and promising the Volt, etc...

Whatever... the downward spiral continues.

Interesting...they will probably use that platform for the next Impala also..

The new LaCrosse or Regal or whatever it's called is supposed to be on EpsyII, right? So it will likely be larger than the new Malibu?

That's a big if....who knows what form Chrysler will exist in in five years or so..

Basically, don't blame 'them'...you have to blame the American people...they want SUVs. They want vanilla FWD sedans. Very, very few want RWD V8 models..

You figure the Zeta Camaro will have a 5 year run at least... so after that, the Camaro could be Alpha or Epsilon II?

Yes, for the Challenger, that redesign is 5 years down the road.... If it lasts 5 years, like the original, that will be great. They don't need to continue it beyond 5 years....

Agreed..Nova is the only historical small Chevy name that still would work, I think..

Hmmm...if they do build a Alpha for Chevy, maybe it could be named Chevette, Vega, or Nova!

You forgot the 4Runner. The Venza is not an SUV, it's a wagon...kind of like the Taurus X. It's no different from Ford--look how many SUVs and crossovers they have.

The pics I've seen of the concept and production prototypes certainly look better than the 4th gen interior...remember, this is a cheap Chevy..I wouldn't expect Cadillac quality interiors...

Yes, Hyundai has gone and built a better Buick...while Buick sedans are still stuck in the mid '90s...

I think the Camaro will do better with the under 35 crowd and the Challenger better with the over 45 Baby Boomers. Being between those two ranges, I find both appealing, along the Mustang.

Yes, reminds me of a Simpsons fish... but with a license plate, it won't be as smiley looking.

I like coupes, but prefer the practicality of 4drs for carrying people, and for getting in and out in tight parking spaces....getting out of a long doored coupe is a PITA in narrow parking garage spaces (I'm always parking in garages, so this is a common use case for me). Not to mention 4drs have better side impact protection. I'll probably always have a 4dr something for a daily driver and coupes or convertibles for my fun cars...currently, I have 1 4dr SUV, 1 BMW coupe, 2 vintage Mustang coupes..probably will change by 2010 to a 4dr sports sedan (quite possibly a CTS) daily driver, SUV for winter, and maybe a convertible replacing the BMW.. hopefully all in one place, though...my current arrangement (the Jeep and BMW here in Denver, the Mustangs 1300 miles away) is awkward at best.

Wow...Hyundai and Kia are both in the top 10 in sales..never would have thought that. Probably are regional variations..I see a lot of more Subuarus (mostly wagons) around here than Hyundai or Kia products.

I did 4 years of Spanish (2 hs, 2 college). But it doesn't really help much.. though it would be useful, since the US is moving towards billingualism. I want to learn French...I've thought about the Rosetta Stone program or taking a class in the evenings.

I get the feeling Hyundai/Kia will be considered part of an Asian 'Big 4' pretty soon, along with the current 'Big 3' (Toyota, Honda, Nissan)..they have made pretty rapid improvements in design and quality. This brings up the question, who is currently #4 in the US in sales as far as Asian car makers? Subaru?

translated--Those words are not to be mentioned