mustang84

That picture Z28 posted is hilarious! We're not a bunch of dunderheads; our brains just work differently and we value different things. I'm a pretty perceptive person...I know when a girl is hinting at something (whether I acknowledge it is another story). And just because five hundred words per minute don't fall out of my mouth doesn't mean I'm not thinking about something. Besides, it's not as clean cut between the genders as she'd like us to believe...I know girls that are straightforward, practical, and stable...and I know guys that are irrational, sensitive, emotional trainwrecks.

Each day I lose a little more faith in GM. I feel like we've been dangled all kinds of goodies only to have GM ultimately go back on its word. GM's reactionary, knee-jerk attitude will be the death of this once unstoppable company. You can't make great product if you are constantly shifting gears, scrapping plans, and wasting money. Killing Kappa after only one generation and two cars...what an utter waste...

I was still driving mine around when I was 7 or 8. I think the weight limit is 100 lbs, as long as she's under that age doesn't really matter.

Don't forget this little guy

New car spottings: Saw my first Ford Flex the other day...it's much bigger in person than it looks in photos I'm seeing a lot more new Malibus. Yesterday I saw a black LTZ that looks like one in the photo below. That car has a great stance, just like the CTS (tail end up in the air just a little). Also, I love how the trunk tapers off; it gives the car a pretty sexy shape I saw my first G8 on the road as well Old car spottings: 1963 Chevy Bel Air 1958 Ferrari 250 GT 1974 Buick Electra 1980 Mercedes 350SL convertible 1965 Mustang GT 1971 Oldsmobile Cutlass Early 70s Dodge Monaco 1977 Corvette

Haha, it sounds kinda like my situation when I was 5. I had to have ear surgery, and afterward my parents took me to Toys R' Us and said I could pick out one toy. What did I ask for? The biggest thing there, a Jeep Wrangler power wheels. Since my sister would also be able to ride in it, they caved and got it for me. We still have it in our basement, but the battery is shot as far as I know.

Total hoax. First suspicion; they have the body in their possession, yet they can only come up with two low-res images? And no video? Maybe it's because the "big foot" looks an awful lot like a $400 gorilla costume that you can purchase on eBay with some animal entrails thrown on top. Second suspicion; they make a huge discovery like this, yet rely on a bunch of hack scientists for "DNA evidence"? Just a couple Georgia good old boys looking for 15 minutes of fame.

Amen!

The problem with car design anymore is that it is so cliched; few original ideas are out there. I don't know if it is a combination of crash test standards and the never-ending "bigger is better" mentality, but cars today have become so ungainly and they all seem to carry the same styling themes. Before, you could easily distinguish different brands and makes; now they all kind of blend together. My modern design peeves: The high beltline thing has been taken to extremes in too many cases, and most of time it results in a huge, boring slab of a trunk. Now we have a trend toward stubby rear decks and everybody's doing it. Part of the reason I love Mercedes-Benzes and Jaguars so much is that they have generally ignored the ridiculously high beltlines and short rears...the new 2009 Mazda 6 also has a sexy profile. I love the CTS sedan, but the CTS coupe's beltline is just unflattering and makes it look stubby and toy-like. Huge, sweeping headlights. I don't like 'em, especially when they travel 3/4 of the way up the hood. Give me a horizontal layout anyday. The A-pillar / front fender swoop thing. This is where the A-pillar turns into a crease that swoops along the fender. So overplayed. Gigantic emblems. Some, like GMC, it looks ok, but the size of emblems on some cars is getting way out of scale. The waterfall emblem on the back of a Mercury Sable is huge! I think the biggest problem is that many designs are no longer cohesive because technology has allowed us to do so many things that some automakers just slap in a crease here, some chrome there, side vents, etc. without looking at the overall picture. Honda has been notorious for this the last couple years. The Accord and a number of other vehicles are a clusterf**k of design ideas that do not mesh together.

I kinda wish they would have put the Turbo 3.8 from the Grand National in the Cutlass 442. The Olds 307 wasn't bad, but something like a 442 deserves more than 180 hp. Oh, and I wish GM would've built the FE3X concept for the Cutlass.

Go to their Myspace page...they uploaded a live bootleg of Cyanide that is so much clearer than the YouTube video. You can really hear some of the guitar parts better and it sounds like a pretty intricate song! I love the bass too! http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea...riendid=4689215 Oh, btw, 2008 North American Tour Dates are up! Nov. 8 Quad Cities...here I come!

The RWD G-body platform would never have been axed. Chevy Nomad on the Kappa platform. Lincoln LS V8 coupe Ford Fusion / Mercury Milan / Lincoln MKZ coupe, Duratec 35 sport models for the Fusion and Milan

Mustang is my favorite car, and 1984 was the year of my birth.

Alice in Chains - Bleed the Freak

I hear ya, YellowJacket. I don't understand why there are all these delays/cancellations and why GM is suddenly behind the curve, why they can't be nimble and quick with their decision-making and stick to a plan. For the longest time, GM looked like it was far beyond Ford in terms of health and product development, and now it seems to be unraveling. Granted, they couldn't really have seen the sudden spike in gas, but some of the recent decisions like the Beat and delaying the Cruze launch are just baffling. Now with Cadillac losing the STS/DTS replacement, it just seems like that 5 billion that was thrown into rejuvenating the brand has been all for nothing. The CTS is a great car, but alone it is not enough to sustain Cadillac as a world-class luxury brand. GM's handling of the Pontiac brand is downright criminal. God help us if a G3 comes to showrooms. More than ever, I think GM needs leadership from outside the company, somebody like Mulally that will come in and rustle some corporate feathers. I don't think the good old boy mentality has been totally erased from the ranks.

Star Trek, Transformers, and the Family Truckster all rolled up into one. What a disaster.

Cedar Rapids, IA...about 250,000 in the metro area, but the city is only about a 125,000. For the Midwest, it's a decent sized city. Of course, everybody has probably heard about the flooding; we're slowly recovering. Downtown will be completely back in business by October, but some of the surrounding residential areas will probably never recover. Dozens of old homes will be met by the bulldozer. Attractions-wise, there's nothing too major. Plenty of bike trails and places to hang out along the river and downtown has (had?) a decent nightlife scene (by Iowa standards), but most of the city has a suburban feel. Wide streets, big box stores, strip malls, chain restaurants...the usual. Nearby are the Amana colonies, an Amish settlement dating back to the 1840s. About 20 minutes south is Iowa City, a big college town. The bar scene there is definitely more my type right now since I'm in my 20s. Cedar Rapids has plenty of events and festivals going on, so it livens things up. They also have a farmer's market every Saturday downtown where you can pick up all kinds of good food, taste wine, etc. We have a pretty decent industrial base. Compared to Des Moines where I used to live, CR is geared toward industry rather than the service/financial sector. The Quaker Oats plant downtown is the largest cereal plant in the world. Cargill and General Mills have major factories in CR, and the military and commercial communications / aviation giant Rockwell Collins is headquartered here. Also, we have a large ethanol manufacturer, ADM. Driving by that place on a hot August day smells like a combination of vomit and sulfer...glad I don't live on that side of town. Car culture is basically like any other Midwestern city...domestic cars are still the majority, but imports have been gaining a foothold the last 5-10 years. It's pretty common to see old hot rods and muscle cars prowling around the streets at night. I sorta like living here, but I want to eventually move on to bigger places. Chicago is practically my second home and it's a great city with a lot going for it, so that's where I want to wind up within the next 10 years. The benefits to living in a city like Cedar Rapids is that the cost of living is so cheap that you can really save up money. Crime is almost non-existent and the schools are pretty decent, so it's a great place to raise a family. But for a 24 year old, there's something left to be desired.

Sorry to hear that Z28, putting a pet down is the hardest thing in the world to do, even if it's the best thing for them. Hopefully the cancer is treatable, but if it isn't, it sounds like you have made the best choice for you both. I was a wreck after we had to put my 16 year-old dog down a few years ago...it was like losing a best friend. Good luck and best wishes for you and Lucky.

New: 2008 Shelby GT Mustang, black with gold racing stripes Old: 1966 Chevelle SS, black on black, with redwalls

I voted cheapness in quality, especially RUST. So many cars from that era bit the dust after a few nasty winters.

Even though Olds has been dead for a few years now, I still feel like I see a ton of them on the roads. Today I was driving to work and had an Olds Alero in front of me and an Olds 88 behind me, with an Olds Cutlass a few cars ahead of me in the other lane. Did Olds really sell that many cars in its last few years? Or maybe it is just a regional thing; the former Buick-Olds-Cadillac dealer (now Bu/Cad/GMC) has a pretty large store and does a lot of business here.

That story is a little sensationalistic, IMO. There are ways to work around this. My uncle recently started a job at a new Menard's distribution center, even though it is about 20 miles further than his old job (previously an 8 mile trip). He makes do by carpooling with four of his co-workers and has actually spends about the same on gas even with the higher prices and longer drive. A lot of highway intersections have gravel lots where people will park their cars during the day and then just carpool in one car to work...it's not like it's a new thing either, this has been going on since the last gas crisis. You see more guys leaving the F-150 or Silverado at home and taking the wife's Focus or Cavalier to work. Also, Des Moines has started a RideShare bus program, where volunteers switch off driving shuttle buses that stop in small towns. It has expanded the last couple years as its popularity has grown. You just call and ask them to stop in your town, then pay a small fee to ride.

I don't know, I think Europe is headed down our path soon. There are already growing fears of a recession there too. The next couple years, I think we are going to reassess our reliance on the global economy. As shipping costs continue to rise, factories overseas will be shut down and work will move back to North America. Wal-Mart has slowly been pulling back on Chinese-made products, and more companies are re-opening plants in Mexico. China has been building away like the US did at the turn of the century, but they are so reliant on the world markets for their industry and economy that they are going to feel even more pain than ourselves, IMO. China and India have not yet developed enough of a middle-class to sustain themselves if the Western markets collapse; as long as transportation costs continue to rise, the booming economies of the East will suffer with us, probably even moreso.

CTS by far. I hope future Buicks are as well done as this vehicle. I'd really like to see a full-size, RWD Buick with as much style and class...and if that happen, it will probably become my favorite GM vehicle.

Here's the guy who did it, Vince Weiguang-Li, 40 years old Some insight into the guy's personality: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/sto...-4800217c.html#