traumadog

I've also seen a 3.5 on a dealer lot. Thought it was way weird.

This makes more sense to me than a Chevy variant. I mean, if it were a Chevy, then the volumes needed for it to replace the Impala are probably too impractical for Elizabeth to handle. OTOH, a smaller-volume vehicle like the Park Avenue might work; and the pricing can be adjusted accordingly. Besides, much of the engineering for the Chinese version's interior is already done. In any case, I'd also love to see the GXP version come over all in black/black... Grand National, anyone?

Dunno if GM-H will take that bad of a hit on this. I mean, the Federalization is already done. Just swap the Middle-Eastern chevy logos on to the G8, and call it the new Impala. The rest of the line is pretty much expendable - as the only Pontiac-specific model left that isn't seen elsewhere in GM is the G6 coupe/convertible and the Vibe (and the Solstice, if Saturn's gone - but GM said it wasn't redoing that one already).

My understanding is that the dealers are independent, but that Saturn as a division is an independent holding company (wholly-owned subsidiary, not just a division) within GM. Who knows, maybe Saturn can be spun off with Saab and Hummer as a unit.

Wouldn't be surprised. I wonder how many on Obama's auto team has looked into who's holding policies on GM debt.

I'm thinking that they're talking about a N/A 2.3 DI, not a turbo one.

I'd argue that you could have a wholesale turnover of the leadership of the Big 3 tomorrow - oust all of the corporate staff with no golden parachutes whatsoever - and people would still rather see these companies die than support their fellow Americans' jobs. In the end, it's irrelevant to who's running the companies NOW, because the errors were made when Smith, Ford Jr., et al. were running the companies, much less Wagoner, Mulally and Nardelli.

FWIW - I get alot of "WTF is that...?" Though I've had it called everything from a G6 to a Mustang to a Peugeot.... (nevermind that Peugeot hadn't imported a car to the US in decades...)

C'mon - I can hear it now: "No taxpayer money to bail out a crappy company". But then again, we should reply to them that the government isn't required to create/guarantee a job, either. You can't have one, without the semblance of the other...

Actually, the Mayan calendar ends December 21, 2012...

Couple thoughts... not sure between heads/cam vs. adding some pressurization. Depends on what falls in my lap, as it were. I still have to swap out the stock front rotors I have on now for new DBA slotted ones and Hawk HPS pads.

Oh, and just curious - where in PA is this? You could always re-sell it for cheap

Biggest issues IMHO is the condition of the body, and your inclination / ability to do any swaps. Swapping in a 4th gen 3800 would probably be relatively straightforward (if you want to keep the 6-cylinder), and I recall seeing a supercharged variant as a test mule in a magazine somewhere, that used Holden parts to make it work (re-routed the intake/TB to the rear, with the S/C pulley in front). Otherwise, I'd think an LS1 swap would be cleaner emissions-wise (and probably more readily available) than most other options. Personally, I'd wonder if I could fit a lighter LNF motor into a 3g body - but that's pie-in-the-sky dreaming. Just my $0.02.

Well, they killed off the Zeta more than once during this interval... But then again, now's the time to develop the next version of the platform. And I wouldn't be surprised if this Chrysler thing went through, and the headline changed to "Pontiac dead in 5 years"... Not that I think the 300's platform is any better than the Zeta - and hopefully GM's not thinking the same thing.

Or is Cerberus quietly putting the screws to GM by saying "you won't get financing for your cars unless you deal", covering it with a "legitimate business reason". Who knows... GM gets Chrysler, uses ~$1 Billion or so to shutter those dealers (and maybe a few more). Sells fragments (maybe Dodge/Jeep/Hummer combined) to Renault, and rides out the recession with the remaining cash.

Just a thought - the initial regulation might be part of the problem... FNMA/FHLMC had as express goals of increasing home ownership to lower income people (something that was a Clinton directive under the Community Reinvestment Act, IIRC). And I'd argue that it's this population (that may/may not have had any business owning a home) that's the big problem behind the meltdown. I think Fannie/Freddie went beyond what they were supposed to under CRA and supported additional sub-prime mortgage sales beyond CRA because it was profitable at the time. Now whether or not additional regulation could have avoided this is unclear. I'd argue that the prohibitions on lower-income/sub-prime mortgages that the regulations would have made during the big housing boom of the 90's would have been called discriminatory against the poor by the very people asking for them now.

Of course, there's this thing...

The press probably bit on a rumor, and spread it between all the news parties because of the enormity of it. And the "talking heads" assumed that the GMAC for Chrysler swap makes sense (it does for Cerberus, anyway). Therefore, the rest came out as conjecture until the companies squashed that talk (which still may have taken place anyway).

Obama and a Democratic majority in Congress will do just as much damage as GWB and a Republican majority did in '02. The Democrats will feel no need to negotiate with any fiscal hawks on the other side of the aisle and WILL spend what they feel is both necessary and whatever pet projects they'll want financed. In any case, the two options remaining are: 1) raise taxes for those below the $250k/year mark Obama has set out (as there are only so many above that mark) 2) deficit-finance the rest - until the US Government's credit rating drops out in which case our kids will wind up paying for it anyway. And for those looking for a "clear choice in President" - you only have to go as far back as Carter vs. Reagan. Not that Reagan was perfect, but he did take the country out of the late 70's/post-Vietnam funk it was in, and prepared it for the 90's boom times. And note, he did that with a Democratic majority in Congress. So I personally believe that the country works best when the parties split the White House and Congress - which forces people to work together more to get things done. And in any case, if I could have, I'd have voted for McCain over W 8 years ago (it's moot, as I'm a registered Independent). It's a problem in this country when the "power bases" of this country won't allow centrists to be nominated for President from either party.

Last I heard, GMAC was $1.5 Billion in the red last year. So I'm sure in this environment (and with GM's own credit rating in the trash), their loans won't be cheap. And therefore, they're going with the near-zero-risk market. And besides, GMAC might wind up being 100% Cerberus Financial before too long.

Another weekend project... a.k.a. "tore my baby a new butt-hole". I swapped from my one-sided SLP Loudmouth II to a split Magnaflow setup, so it's a bit quieter. This is where it started... And where it finished up: It was a PITA doing it on jackstands, but it looks better to me with the split exhausts... I just have to get the bumper refinished now (have to re-finish the inserts).

What's interesting in this is that Cerberus already owns 51% of GMAC... so I wonder how much of a meltdown this would really cause. In any case, GM's small-car portfolio is much stronger than Chrysler's, so I'd bet it'd be Chrysler's part that gets the ax. Of course, they could ditch Pontiac and make the G6 the new Sebring, the G3 a new Neon, G8 the new 300, etc... In any case, it could depend on how much cash Cerberus has on-hand - with GM's market cap currently around $3 billion, it could be bought outright via leveraging on asset sell-off (kinda like what happened with K-Mart and Sears).

Saw this, thought I'd share. From Here Cribs: Explorer t-bones into tank... Explorer loses. tank1.bmp tank2.bmp

Hey, it'll all be good... according to the Mayans, we'll have until Dec. 2012 anyway.

Ok - a couple updates... 1) I said buh-bye to the GTO lettering on my seatbacks... 2) I swapped out the front brakes. New vs. old rotors: The upsized calipers, with a custom touch... And added Russell stainless lines Now waiting on a bleed I hope to get DBA rotors and Hawk pads soon.