Nick

Silver.

Good...I think...There's a large portion of last night that I have absolutely no recollection of...I have never been so drunk to not remember that much. I'm still recovering of course...just actually got up about an hour ago... Thanks again everyone! I gotta take a picture of one of my gifts...you'll all get a kick out of it.

You can get them for 10 actually... It's a shame I picked up new ones recently. Maybe you can have BV send you some BMW roundels...or better yet, I have an extra one lying around from when I replaced one of mine. I can send you that one. Then you really will have a BMW. :AH-HA_wink: You guys are nuts...Regardless, I love you guys, and thanks for all the kind words. So far, reading through this thread has been the best part of my b-day (haha...that sounds really sad, actually). I just woke up though... On the idea of sending me up to Chico, I think I'll pass. Oh, and my guido chain is stayin'. What HS did you go to in LA, Bob? Providence?

Yeah..about that... It's cool...neither can I... Thanks guys! Still got another 45 minutes as a teenager over on this side...

Yeah, as much as I want to like newer BMW's, I just don't care for the interiors on some of them all that much...including the e60. I like the Audi interior for its cockpit style...It's a pretty well laid out interior, especially for a driver. I've always loved the look of the M45 interior. In my opinion, it is the best in class. The STS interior has always just been so boring and bland to me...the new refresh helps, but what helped the interior the most was incorporated into the Chinese SLS (unfortunately). Now that made the interior pretty amazing, and brought it way up.

The fact that you were the first to pick up on it shows nobody ever reads the articles...

How about instead of making cheap hybrids we make cheap muscle cars. Big blocks with gobs of power. Cars that when you turn them on, your neighbors down the street think the world is coming to an end. Cars that look good and go fastt and drink fuel like it's nobody's business. Make the hybrids and fuel sippers the expensive ones.

It's not that hard to design a car that looks good. I mean, come on...it's no harder or more expensive (or at least it shouldn't be) to design a car to look good than it is to design a car that looks bad, or even bland for that matter.

I'm looking at Suzuki SV650S's right now. From what I understand they are great bikes, and especially good for beginners. They can be had rather cheap as well for a fairly new one.

Oh, what do those Europeans know?! Their car's aren't so great...

I saw a bio fuel powered mid 90's E300 Diesel the other day. Pretty cool. Gave off a very distinct vegetable oil smell though.

Not quite...Lots of manufacturers hide their exhausts behind the bumpers on some models. Still just a chop though.

Yeah, in fact, I could've sworn I've seen these exact same images (same angles at least) somewhere else as camo'd spyshots. You can even kinda tell because the chop shares the same kind of matte finish that black camo gives off, as well as some other things, like ravenfreak pointed out (lack of hood line), among other things that give it a very strong "chopped" appearance. edit: upon further inspection, the chrom doesn't fit in at all with the lighting, that opel badge on the rear doesn't fit at all, same goes for the contrast on the taillights, and even the lines (same goes for the headlights, and there would be no reason for the headlights to have a matte finishe like that either). If you look close enough, there is still camo on part of the rear passenger windows, and in the first shot if you look really close you can see the edge of the camo on the hood (looking through the passenger side door through the windshield).

I believe these are just chopped spyshots...nothing more.

Damn, happy belated guys!

I love my V8, and I would never want anything less... (well, depending on the car, I might settle for an I6 of some sort...specifically from a BMW)...But as far as cars go, I can't get over the feel of a V8, and I don't plan on getting over it any time soon. Hell, I want to get an e30 325 just so I can drop a LS1 into it.

Didn't the old pre-GMT-800 (99 I believe?) Escanalis have a leather wrapped knob on the shifter as well?

What he said. I didn't realize your screen name was from a band...I always associated it with what happens after I lay the pedal to the metal and send all my fuel back into the enivronment in the form of noxious gas. Me and my sick day dreams.

Brings back memories if riding in my grandma's old 80-something chrysler Lebaron ragtop...(I never saw the top down on that thing now that I think about it). I just remember always getting a kick out of the interior with the digital dash and the guy that would talk to you and tell you the door was ajar...

Well, while engine covers aren't usually hard to take off (mine isn't anyway), that is pretty annoying that you have to remove the engine cover to get to the oil cap.

Seriously...For the most part with modern engines, they look a lot better with the engine covers on. Go ahead and take off your engine cover sometime. Go snap some pictures of your engine with the cover on and with it off. I can bet it doesn't look nearly as good or clean with the cover off as it does with the cover on. My engine looks much better with the engine cover on. It's not just an intake manifold under there..you have vacuum tubes, fuel rails, electronics and wiring, a whole plethora of things under there...granted, while it is still arranged somewhat neatly, it can still be somewhat of a mess to look at. Doesn't look nearly as good as if you had the engine cover on. Some cars especially get away with it, like the e39 or even e60 M5's whose intake plenums also double for an engine cover. LS engines seem to get away with it alright, but they still have covers, and you still get the rail going across the intake manifold...it's not bad looking though.

CPO E46 3er ragtop... I know you guys probably hate to hear it...but seriously, there isn't much available from GM other than the G6 (which I don't know if I would consider) and the 9-3. I suppose a used 9-3 would be a good car, but I bet you could find a comparable 3er for a good price as well and that would be a better car...the mustang is the only choice from Ford (edit: actually, I just remembered the Volvo C70, but I'm sure you'd be hard pressed to find one at a low enough price), and the only choice from Chrysler is the sebring which she doesn't want... You could actually find one for a decent price I'm sure. They're nice cars...the back seats aren't horrible, and trunk space is fairly adequate. If not that maybe an older CLK? To find one at a decent price though you might be looking at an older car than what would be CPO'd...

Yeah, ...And Justice For All is a great album

So, to answer your question, it is better to shift using the clutch.

It was probably "Blackened"...I have found music teachers (especially, music appreciation teachers and the like) typically play that song. Usually for the intro/crescendo.