HarleyEarl

I think this design change is a huge improvement on the current one. Never liked those oddball headlights with the chrome bar part way in. This is the way it should have been from the beginning.

Sky's the Limit on this Saturn Some dealers add surcharge, options onto no-dicker sticker By JAMIE LAREAU | AUTOMOTIVE NEWS AutoWeek | Published 09/18/06, 8:23 am et AT A GLANCE: NO-DICKER DICTUM Here's what Saturn spokesman Kyle Johnson says about the company's 1-price selling policy. "The price you see in the window is the price you're going to pay. It's no-haggle, no-hassle pricing." "By law, we can't establish prices. We can make very strong recommendations, so it's an honor system." "If people try to charge over and above sticker price for Sky, we do have limited options for dealing with it. There are certainly some strong conversations we can have." Saturn is famous for its no-dicker sticker strategy. But some dealers are ignoring that approach when it comes to the hot new Sky roadster. While most Saturn stores play by the division's one-price rules, a few are tacking on surcharges of several thousand dollars. Other Saturn retailers are ladling on expensive dealer options that boost the transaction price by up to $8,000. The base-model Sky stickers for $25,195, including shipping. Saturn is taking issue with dealerships that slap surcharges on the Sky. "We've made it a point to go out where we've heard that's happening and try to counsel with them and explain the bigger picture," says Saturn spokesman Brian Brockman. "Our reputation is based on customer service and satisfaction, and we want to keep that. We don't condone any kind of practice like that." When an incognito Automotive News reporter visited one Saturn store in the Los Angeles area recently, a salesman offered to sell a Sky for $3,000 over sticker "with dealer surcharge." "That's what the dealer charges for a car that's hot," said the salesman, adding that "every Saturn dealer is doing it." Indeed, some are. Jon Bresson, sales manager of Saturn of the Valley in Los Angeles, says: "A customer called and said there is one dealer north of us who is putting a $5,000 premium on it. We don't do that." Bresson declined to name the dealership in question. A letter to the editor in the September issue of Car & Driver complained that many Saturn dealerships in Los Angeles and Orange County were selling Skys for $2,995 over sticker. The writer said other retailers required buyers to pay for dealer options that totaled $2,995. The reader claimed to have contacted Saturn corporate offices and was told that dealerships were free to charge what they wanted. Saturn's Brockman says that's not so. He adds: "There are things we can do to encourage them to strongly follow the rules." Those measures include limiting a dealer's allotment of the popular car if the store does not comply with Saturn's pricing policies, Brockman says. Optional equipment A more common practice is for dealers to add options that make the car more expensive. Saturn doesn't quibble with that approach. At Saturn of the Valley and Saturn of Santa Clarita (Calif.), both owned by Galpin Motors, every Sky received from the factory is "Galpinized." That means the dealership adds several expensive options. Those stores won't take customer orders for cars that come straight from the factory, a salesman said. Galpin's customizing packages -- which raise the price $6,000 to $8,000 above sticker -- have been added to nearly all of the 30 Skys it has sold this year, Bresson says. Galpin's Web site last week listed a Sky in stock priced at $26,779. But a salesman contacted by phone said the car has $7,000 worth of dealer-added options on it, bringing the total price tag to $33,779. Among the options Bresson's store adds are Chip Foose 20-inch wheels, which cost $2,000 to $3,000 a set; tires specially designed for the Sky; a cold-air intake system; a LoJack security system; window tinting; and a Garmin navigation system. Sometimes the suspension system is modified. "People love it," Bresson says. "Though they might be paying more than the retail value, they're getting real, retail-value items." The Sky went on sale last spring. Through August, 4,774 units had been sold. The Pontiac Solstice, built alongside the Sky in Wilmington, Del., is also hot. The Solstice is priced at $21,995, including shipping. But the average transaction price this year is $26,086, according to the Power Information Network. A new Solstice sold on eBay last week for $27,599. A manager at one Saturn dealership says many customers offer to pay above sticker for the Sky. But he won't take their extra money. "We had one in stock that was about $26,000 sticker, and a woman offered me $32,000," says Bill Shotwell, executive general manager of Saturn of Raleigh and Saturn of Cary in Raleigh, N.C. "I said no." Shotwell says dealers who do sell for above the sticker price hurt themselves in the long run. "I've been with Saturn for almost 15 years," he says. "We started with the one-price selling. And when you tell the customer here's the price of the car, it's hard to go back and say 'because it's hot, we're going to add $4,000 to the price tag."

Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell Revealed Text & Photos edited by Clinton Deacon Source: General Motors 09-18-2006 Chevrolet To Launch World's Largest Fuel Cell Vehicle Fleet More Than 100 to Debut in 2007 in First Meaningful Market Test of Fuel Cell Vehicles General Motors committed to building the world’s largest fuel cell vehicle fleet today by announcing its next-generation fuel cell vehicle – the Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell. GM will build more than 100 Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell vehicles and will begin placing them with customers in the fall of 2007, as part of a comprehensive deployment plan dubbed “Project Driveway." Designed to gain comprehensive learnings on all aspects of the customer experience, Project Driveway constitutes the first meaningful market test of fuel cell vehicles anywhere. A variety of drivers – in differing driving environments – will operate these vehicles and refuel with hydrogen in three geographic areas: California, the New York metropolitan area and Washington D.C. “General Motors is demonstrating its commitment to hydrogen fuel cells as the answer for taking the automobile out of the environmental debate and reducing our dependence on petroleum," said Larry Burns, GM vice president, research & development and strategic planning. “The Equinox Fuel Cell is powered by GM’s most advanced fuel cell propulsion system to date, and demonstrates an important milestone on our pathway to automotive-competitive fuel cell propulsion technology development." Enabled by GM’s fourth-generation fuel cell propulsion system, the Equinox Fuel Cell is a fully-functional crossover vehicle, engineered for 50,000 miles of life. Importantly, the Equinox Fuel Cell is able to start and operate in sub-freezing temperatures during its 50,000-mile life. It is expected to meet all applicable 2007 U.S. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, and is equipped with a long list of standard safety features including driver and passenger frontal air bags and roof rail side-impact air bags; anti-lock braking system (ABS); StabiliTrak stability enhancement technology and OnStar, while providing all of the environmental benefits of hydrogen fuel cell technology. "The Equinox Fuel Cell is a real-world vehicle with real-world performance," said Ed Peper, Chevrolet general manager. “The fuel cell technology is seamlessly integrated into a uniquely styled crossover vehicle that is distinctively Chevrolet. The Equinox Fuel Cell joins Chevrolet’s family of advanced gas-saving and alternative fuel vehicles." The Project Driveway market test will provide comprehensive insight into all aspects of the customer experience, including reaction to the exciting, smooth and quiet performance of a fuel cell vehicle, and refueling with clean hydrogen gas. “These learnings will directly influence future fuel cell vehicle generations and ultimate market acceptance," Peper said. "With Chevrolet being GM’s global volume brand, it makes sense that Chevy will lead GM’s fuel cell vehicle commercialization charge."

Seems very Jeep Grand Cherokee...not Chevy.

Thanks WJ.......yes, suicide knobs. Here's a vintage one from the 50s.

Here's an interesting VE SSV with stripes:

Luv that!!

It's a mix of models, past, present and concepts. Wallpaper sized....nice site for photos.

No, it is more the two-door Blazer idea with the back cap off. If I were to choose between this and the Avalanche, I would buy this hands down. This is about FUN....not practicality. And I'll side with fun anyday.

It must be a cultural thing. Have you noticed the oddball names the Japanese have used?

Here's the Chevrolet K5 concept. GM, I beg you to do something like this again.

Now, is the sensation like those knobs they used to attach to steering wheels? Anyone know what they were called? I think truckers used them and car owners used them to be cool.

Ok I got sidetracked from the thread and am posting the coupe version. I ran out of adjectives to describe how this car looks. [

This is all I could find on-line, the Ford 'Big Red' turbine freight liner:

It is a good magazine. And what he says is absolutely true. It's exactly what has gone wrong, Amercian manufacturers 'building cheap clones of Japanese and European auotmobiles'.

http://www.globalsuzuki.com/paris2006_invitation2/

I found some more info...facinating time capsule.

It should be tan, you are right. Probably the most beautiful car in the world. In person even more so.

This is another GM concept truck, the Bison Bullet. Very limited info on it and the only photo I could find. It was designed with standardized containers on the bed.

Take a look at the Mustang's profile with top up.....the rear wheel is too far forward...out of proportion. Earlier 'Stangs were much better in that dept. To me the bottom rear edge of the soft top should not be more than half way over the rear wheels. Proportion baby, that's what it's all about. And thats according to the Earl of Everything!

In looking around, I was surprised how much GM was into turbine development over time. I wonder if it will make a return?

1966 Chevrolet Turbo Titan III Here's an article in Time magazine in '65. It mentions the Titan. From the Magazine | U.S. Business Toronados, Turbos & TV Posted Friday, Jul. 23, 1965 While Washington talked safety last week, Detroit showed off some stylish new and future wares. Oldsmobile introduced its racy, 375-h.p. Toronado, first U.S. car with front-wheel drive since the Cord phased out in 1937. Some foreign automakers, notably France's Citroën, also market front-wheel cars. According to Olds engineers, front-wheel drive offers more traction and stability than conventional rear drive; it also eliminates the hump on the floor (because the transmission and differential are up front). Other engineers contend that front-wheel cars tend to oversteer, and that the added weight forward causes greater wear on brakes. The Toronado, a two-door, six-passenger hardtop that is four inches shorter than Oldsmobile's 215-in. Starfire, will come to market in mid-October. Price in Detroit: about $4,500—in the same range as Ford's Thunderbird and Buick's Riviera. Further away from production (perhaps seven years) but potentially more important is Chevrolet's prototype of a turbine-powered truck, the Turbo Titan III. Its engine is lighter, quieter and longer-lasting (350,000 miles v. 250,000) than conventional diesels, but fuel bills are costlier. Among its many innovations: "dial steering" by which a driver guides his truck with two small wheels mounted on a panel in front of him, similar to the "wrist-twist" system now being tested by Mercury. Chrysler Corp. is field-testing turbine cars but is undecided whether to market them. Lest G.M. steal last week's whole show, Ford announced that it will immediately begin offering rear-seat portable television sets as optional equipment on all cars. Manufactured by Ford's Philco subsidiary, the 9-in. sets will sell for $169.95, can be plugged into the cigarette lighter or powered by a battery pack that costs an additional $29.95

Agreed. Very few look right with top up.

I hear ya......but I adhere to the old school of drop tops. When the top is up, it still tells the story...it's special, it's a droptop. Retractables look like a hardtop when up......it loses that 'special' appeal. And I agree, A-Ms are always special...no matter what.