mustang84

I like it, but why in the world is the 3.5L not offered? The wording on this article makes it sound like the Milan only comes with a 2.5L and 3.0L. Mercury gets the short end of the stick again!

One thing that amazes me is how glossy the black paint still is. There are some small areas on the bumper and rear of the roof where the clearcoat is wearing off, but overall the paint still has a really deep shine to it. Bob: I too like the dash design. The ravine actually comes in handy to set stuff sometimes. The material fit really isn't that great, but the actual materials are pretty decent for a 90s family sedan and put many modern cars to shame as far as soft touch surfaces go. I like the steering wheel stitching and design too.

I was parked at the 4th Ave. Parkade across from the Iowa Building (right next to where Grafton's used to be). They hit it in broad daylight, sometime in the morning. I gave the police the model number of my CD player, but I don't think it's going to be much help. If you happen to run across a 3 year old Alpine model CDA-9847 in a pawn shop, let me know!

Always, but I do it on Sunday afternoons. I don't like get hassled by salesmen...I just like looking at them in peace.

Yeah, Cedar Rapids really isn't that big...about 250,000 in the metro. But it's sort of a ghetto city compared to Des Moines; grimey and more of a working-class town. It's been in decline for a few decades and while some areas are starting to turn around and look pretty nice, the flood brought a lot of seedy characters out of the woodwork. They've had widespread car break-ins all over town lately. I'd be willing to bet some are flood victims that lost their homes and are turning to "alternate" means to make money. A co-worker was telling me about a time when he was in high school, he was going to a KISS concert here in CR and some guy broke into his car and a whole string of cars in a row, taking tape deck after tape deck. The guy wasn't exactly bright, was hammered at the time, and moved a little too slowly. Eventually the cops showed up and busted him carry a bag full of stereos.

The Lumina was broken into today while parked in the parking garage near where I work. It happened sometime between 7:30 AM and noon. The asshole punched the driver's side lock in with a tool, unlocked the car, and then ripped my stereo out and left. The dash was damaged slightly and I'm not sure if they will be able to repair the lock on the door since the sheet metal was punched in pretty deep. Luckily nothing else was taken...I had a fold-out chair in the backseat, some CD's under my seat, and a set of golf clubs and a $40 battery charger in my trunk. The stereo was a $300 Alpine and has almost as much value as my car. I'm pretty bummed right now...luckily my insurance should cover everything. But the thought of someone else breaking into my car and walking away with something I bought with hard earned money really gets my blood boiling.

Anybody ever heard of this before? I stumbled across this today and it sounds pretty cool...I wish GM would have produced it. The Lumina Z50 idea was born in 1988 and was a Chevy Lumina with a 305 V8, AWD, and a five speed transmission. It would have had 285 hp and 280 lb ft of torque.

ZL-1: Do you have any pictures of an Arabian Lumina? I know what the current Holden-sourced ones look like, but did they sell W-bodies there too and were they identical to ours? The Z34 was coupe only, while Euro could be had in coupe and sedan. Z34 had a 3.4L engine, while I think the Eurosport models were only equipped with the 3.1L (I'm not 100% positive on that however...there may have been a 3.4L option for the Euro models). Aesthetically, the Z34 was basically the same as a Euro coupe except with added ground effects and a slightly different from fascia and rear bumper. There might be a few more differences such as suspension, but I'm not really sure. A Z34

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/bailout-w...money-or-worse/

I posted pics a very long time ago (2005ish), but I think a couple C&G crashes sent that thread into the abyss. So here are some more recent pics of the Lumina. It has some rust, hail damage, and the paint is starting to fade, but she still runs pretty well. It has about 142,000 miles on it now, which means I have put 62,000 miles on it since I bought it for $800 4 1/2 years ago. It's probably going to be with me for another six months, and then I'm looking to replace it with a used, RWD two-door of some type. With the way the economy is now, I've put off plans for a new car purchase until 2010. Anyway, these pics span from over the last year or so.

Toyotas are overhyped and overrated. I've been in a handful of new ones from all three T brands and their reputation is undeserved, IMO. I wish people would stop automatically putting them on such a high pedestal; Detroit has caught up in big ways and the noticeable gap that existed in the 90s is no longer there.

I usually have a pretty wide variety I play at work, but lately it's been a lot of heavy metal. A) it helps me work faster and B) it fits this crappy economic mood pretty well.

A G-body, preferably the Oldsmobile 442 variety Fox body Mustang 1992 Firebird Formula

We've already had a couple light snows (although it melted away as soon as it hit the ground). I like winter until about mid-January when the temps start diving down into below zero digits and the winds pick up. December is usually pretty mild for us. January and February are the months we get the arctic blasts from the north. I don't really mind the snow until later in the season when you're anticipating spring and it just won't stop. I'm not a fan of the slush-mush you get when the temps go above freezing and my black car gets nice and dirty.

I was talking to my mom tonight, who is a 2nd grade teacher, and she was telling me about an episode at school today where a special needs kid starting throwing a tantrum. Under No Child Left Behind and Iowa state laws, special needs kids who would normally be in a special education classroom must be part of the regular classroom per inclusionary policies. When this kid was having a tantrum and throwing things around the room, my mom basically had to make the entire rest of the class leave until the episode was over as part of the policy. The teacher cannot physically remove the kid from the classrom, so the rest of the class suffers lost learning time. And apparently by 2014, special needs kids have to be as proficient as regular kids in testing, otherwise the teacher can be reprimanded or even fired. Common sense says that is absurd and will never happen; learning disabilities can maybe be minimized, but it's not like ADHD or being mentally challenged is something that can be cured. The whole point of my frustration is this...how did we let people get in power to make these asisnine laws like No Child Left Behind? On a larger scale, this is why the USA is going to hell in a handbasket...we are destroying ourselves with bureaucracy and stupidity. Common sense has been thrown out the window. Look at the state of our economy and all the people who have ruined themselves by living far outside their means. I am convinced we are the Roman Empire of the new Millennium. History truly does repeat itself. Sorry about the doom and gloom rant, but it just baffles me how we got to the point we are at.

The problem is the apathy of our population...I can count on two hands the number of people I know here who actually care about this economic crisis. Most don't even give it a passing thought because it hasn't affected them yet. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait until things get really bad for people to wake up.

I remember in high school some girl drove a beat up red Ford Elite. It, along with a '79 Thunderbird and an '83 Delta 88 were among the few full-sizers in the parking lot.

Another great DeLorenzo piece.

They dropped black Metallica beach balls onto the audience to toss around

ZL-1: It was awesome. I saw them in '04 too and I think this one was even better. They did play quite a few off Death Magnetic (probably 7 or so vs. only 2 for the St. Anger tour), which wasn't exactly a bad thing since the new album is pretty good. I wanted to hear more off Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets (only 1 from each), but they did play 2 off Kill 'Em All and about 3 off Justice. I think the black album was the most played at 4 songs. They played none off Load, Reload, or St. Anger. Also, they played Last Caress and Breadfan, which was awesome! In a few of the pics below, you can see that they had four coffins hanging up as part of the lighting and speaker setup. The coffins would lower and tilt on certain songs. The pyrotechnics and laser light show was pretty amazing too. Anyway, here are the rest of the pics...November 8th, 2008 at the iWireless Center in Moline, Illinois. The Sword and Down were the openers. The Ecstasy of Gold intro w/ lighters going

Yep, Metallica! I'll post the rest tonight. I got some decent pics from my phone camera. And by decent I mean you can barely make out the shapes of the band members.

Guess correctly and I'll post the remainder of the concert.

In a broader sense, I see this as the decline and fall of America. Years from now, we will be remembered as those who had it all and gave it all away.

Sorry to hear about your dad, PCS. I haven't had to go through the loss of a parent yet and don't know how I will handle it when it happens. Just know that you'll always have your memories...your dad may be physically gone, but he will live on in your thoughts. As kids, we don't really appreciate the wisdom and care that our parents give until it finally dawns on us in their final years. I wish you and your family the best in this difficult time.

At my house right now, I have a bottle of Captain Morgan, a bottle of Belvedere, a bottle of Preludio (Argentine wine), and some assorted Bud Lights and Coors Lights left over from other weekends. I pretty much drink anything as far as beer is concerned...light or dark. My favorite dark is Guiness. I'm also a fan of Hornsby's apple cider, and I'm cool with both white and red wine. And yes, LONG ISLANDS ROCK!