Random Thoughts Thread

[oldshurst442]

suppression perhaps?

In any way, supression leads to oppression.  

 

Anyway...enough of that. 

Please link me the Cadillac C8...

[trinacriabob]

Each ISTJ write-up gives similar lists of occupations, which are worlds away from each other ...

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/finding-a-job/best-careers-for-istj-personalities

@oldshurst442

There have been a lot of (more recent) travel articles written about how dicey the Athens Metro is to ride from the airport into the city center, and vice-versa, in terms of property theft.  Before the Metro was extended into the ATH airport, which is when I rode on it, it was clean and "peaceful."  My station was Akropoli.

[balthazar]

Taylor TX 1939 :

[USA-1]

26 minutes ago, oldshurst442 said:

.......

CARS olds CARS!!

47 minutes ago, oldshurst442 said:

I clicked on the Cadillac C8 link but I got an error...

Well, you are Canadian, so maybe the Molson ICE is kicking in? ? ?

44 minutes ago, oldshurst442 said:

Please link me the Cadillac C8...

https://gmauthority.com/blog/2020/05/mid-engine-cadillac-sports-car-rendered/

[balthazar]

Atlanta 1936 :

[USA-1]

48 minutes ago, USA-1 said:

CARS olds CARS!!

Well, you are Canadian, so maybe the Molson ICE is kicking in? ? ?

https://gmauthority.com/blog/2020/05/mid-engine-cadillac-sports-car-rendered/

@oldshurst442 that link is broken now for some reason. Try the one below. I'm drooling.

https://www.motor1.com/news/367012/cadillac-mid-engined-supercar-rendering/

[ocnblu]

Crispy and wondrously cool this morning, went out on my back deck and stared at the moon.  The birds are vividly conversing.  It's going to be a beautiful day in SEPA.

[G. David Felt]

14 hours ago, USA-1 said:

@oldshurst442 How about Caddy's possible version of the C8?! Sexy AF!! ?

https://gmauthority.com/blog/2020/05/mid-engine-cadillac-sports-car-rendered/

A c8 Cadillac based sport Halo car would be good. This is a nice knock off of the corvette and I am sure many of us here can hear @smk4565 say this is a rebadged Corvette, not a pure Cadillac.

In this regards, I think we do need a true change in the body, not the mid engine tech details as everyone uses the same bones to build verious version, but a new skin that does say Cadillac, not Corvette.

Good Start to what can become a Great Halo Sports car for Cadillac.

[G. David Felt]

Starting work, took out the food scrapes from dinner last night to the compost bin, trash, etc. Cloudy, a break in the rain, but otherwise a lovely Washington day of clouds, rain off n on and a good day to get my work done for our new products coming out on 6/16. Another awesome day of working for Dell Technologies and I want to say to

@ocnblu @balthazar @oldshurst442 @USA-1 @trinacriabob @riviera74 and everyone else, thank you always for the challanging, stimulating and thought provoking discussions here be it mostly about auto's to the rare tangent on semi political news issues. 

I truly appreciate the ability to discuss our view points and think about the ways we can make humanity better in the awesome multi-cultural world we live in.

Want to leave you with these quotes which always is thoughtful to me.

"This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it." - Abraham Lincoln

 "I can imagine no greater disservice to the country than to establish a system of censorship that would deny to the people of a free republic like our own their indisputable right to criticize their own public officials." - Woodrow Wilson

"Peace is not merely the absence of visible conflict. Only a just peace based on the inherent rights and dignity of every individual can truly be lasting." - Barack Obama

"The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one who gets the people to do the greatest things." - Ronald Reagan

 "Any man worth his salt will stick up for what he believes right, but it takes a slightly better man to acknowledge instantly and without reservation that he is in error." - Andrew Jackson

Humor for us all:

"Being president is like running a cemetery: you've got a lot of people under you and nobody's listening." - Bill Clinton

[USA-1]

1 hour ago, dfelt said:

Starting work, took out the food scrapes from dinner last night to the compost bin, trash, etc. Cloudy, a break in the rain, but otherwise a lovely Washington day of clouds, rain off n on and a good day to get my work done for our new products coming out on 6/16. Another awesome day of working for Dell Technologies and I want to say to

@ocnblu @balthazar @oldshurst442 @USA-1 @trinacriabob @riviera74 and everyone else, thank you always for the challanging, stimulating and thought provoking discussions here be it mostly about auto's to the rare tangent on semi political news issues. 

I truly appreciate the ability to discuss our view points and think about the ways we can make humanity better in the awesome multi-cultural world we live in.

Hey your new products are coming out on the day that I'll be a year older

 

I agree and I appreciate the input on here as well, thank you for pointing that out. We all love cars and our countries!

I hope everyone has a relaxing Sunday, my pool is 86 degrees and feels great ??‍♂️?️  Cheers! ??

 

Here are a couple of very true well known quotes from #35 and #40 to leave you all with.

 

Edited June 7, 2020 by USA-1

[USA-1]

Hey I just found the 2021 8 Series Coupe and X5 with the new BMW "enhanced" grilles! 

 

[G. David Felt]

21 minutes ago, USA-1 said:

Hey I just found the 2021 8 Series Coupe and X5 with the new BMW "enhanced" grilles! 

 

Links do not seem to work.  

[USA-1]

49 minutes ago, dfelt said:

Links do not seem to work.  

It's a joke, they're photo shopped, see the headlights?  Bimmer kidney grilles just keep getting bigger and bigger as well as Genesis grilles and others. Like the actual X7 snout below.

 

[daves87rs]

Now for something shocking....

I am going to enter the “Radwood” scene.... ?

I still love my classic cars, but my thought behind doing this is because my son is interesting in it, and it is something we can do together, and grow his love of things on wheels..

While I would love a Grand National for this (love THAT 80s car) I’ll have to see what I would like to give a try to.

My namesake (Cavalier), Square body Chevy/Ford, Monte Carlos, Buick T types come to mind....

Sure you guys have more.... ? 

[Robert Hall]

I love the Radwood scene..the era of cars I grew up with.  I’d like to take my 5.0 Mustang to such a show eventually...

Great weather today, not too warm.  Spent very little time on the computer, grilled some brats, had some brewskis, planted some box woods and azaleas.  Really enjoying digging in dirt, getting my hands dirty, working in my lawn...really am becoming my father..

Got my new cell phone yesterday, got it set up pretty quickly.  Verizon and iPhones, pretty seamless to update from one to another. 

[USA-1]

44 minutes ago, daves87rs said:

Now for something shocking....

I am going to enter the “Radwood” scene.... ?

I still love my classic cars, but my thought behind doing this is because my son is interesting in it, and it is something we can do together, and grow his love of things on wheels..

While I would love a Grand National for this (love THAT 80s car) I’ll have to see what I would like to give a try to.

My namesake (Cavalier), Square body Chevy/Ford, Monte Carlos, Buick T types come to mind....

Sure you guys have more.... ? 

My vote is for a square body Chevy. Loved and miss the 3/4 ton 4x4 LB I had. Solid indestructible trucks.

[USA-1]

3 hours ago, dfelt said:

Links do not seem to work.  

You only see links and not two embedded pictures in the body of this page? Shows they uploaded below.

 

Edited June 7, 2020 by USA-1

[G. David Felt]

I see them now, but the original post does not show them.

Between work and when the rain stops been working on my garden. Should be a good year.

[daves87rs]

59 minutes ago, Robert Hall said:

I love the Radwood scene..the era of cars I grew up with.  I’d like to take my 5.0 Mustang to such a show eventually...

Great weather today, not too warm.  Spent very little time on the computer, grilled some brats, had some brewskis, planted some box woods and azaleas.  Really enjoying digging in dirt, getting my hands dirty, working in my lawn...really am becoming my father..

Got my new cell phone yesterday, got it set up pretty quickly.  Verizon and iPhones, pretty seamless to update from one to another. 

Yep, it started growing on me. Even have a neighbor in the scene- He has a 85 Lynx Wagon....never thought I’d miss those!!  I still love the classics of course- but I’d rather have the father/son bonding time...

Outside quite. A bit these last few days....

[Robert Hall]

5 minutes ago, daves87rs said:

Yep, it started growing on me. Even have a neighbor in the scene- He has a 85 Lynx Wagon....never thought I’d miss those!!  I still love the classics of course- but I’d rather have the father/son bonding time...

Outside quite. A bit these last few days....

Wish I still had my Dad’s ‘84 Escort diesel.  That would probably be the only one to show up at a show. 

[G. David Felt]

Wish I had not sold my Chevrolet 1976 Luv truck as it was restored to mint condition and the woman paid well for the truck as the money did help me in college, but would love to have that truck back.

Memories  

[USA-1]

3 minutes ago, dfelt said:

Wish I had not sold my Chevrolet 1976 Luv truck as it was restored to mint condition and the woman paid well for the truck as the money did help me in college, but would love to have that truck back.

Memories  

Aunt and Uncle in OR have a yellow LUV, bought her brand new in '74. She's pretty clean and still hauls the family Christmas trees every year and makes the dump runs. Good lil trucks!

[Robert Hall]

Speaking of Chevy LUVs, I recently picked up the reissue of the Monogram Chevy LUV model kit for my collection...it doesn't build stock, but as a '70s style street machine w/ an SBC...

[USA-1]

26 minutes ago, Robert Hall said:

Speaking of Chevy LUVs, I recently picked up the reissue of the Monogram Chevy LUV model kit for my collection...it doesn't build stock, but as a '70s style street machine w/ an SBC...

That's it! Minus the decals, canopy and the C3 Corvette side pipes. Has the standard mag wheels the LUV's had.

Are you going to be able to handle the desert SW scene on the canopy? Those saguaro's and the orange sky sunset might bring back nightmares! ?

[smk4565]

8 hours ago, dfelt said:

A c8 Cadillac based sport Halo car would be good. This is a nice knock off of the corvette and I am sure many of us here can hear @smk4565 say this is a rebadged Corvette, not a pure Cadillac.

In this regards, I think we do need a true change in the body, not the mid engine tech details as everyone uses the same bones to build verious version, but a new skin that does say Cadillac, not Corvette.

Good Start to what can become a Great Halo Sports car for Cadillac.

That design rendering looks bad, but I think Cadillac should have a sports car.  They could use the C8 chassis, with a Cadillac body that doesn't look as close as a Tahoe to Escalade transformation.  Make it a Cadillac interior and use the Blackwing V8.  

The problem with some Cadillacs like XT5 or XT6 is not only are they Chevy chassis, they are Chevy engine, transmission, steering, suspension, etc.  Why pay Cadillac money for that?  Especially when the competitors have rear drive and more power.  With the C8 at least they would have a good performance per dollar starting point, and Cadillac can offer 550 hp standard vs the 495 for the Corvette and Cadillac can blow away the C8's interior, and then you have a compelling case for the Cadillac price ta of the car.  

I think Cadillac could do a performance SUV also, take the Omega platform, Blackwing V8, carbon fiber hood to cut weight, etc.   The Audi SQ8 has a 7:42 Nurburgring time, vs 7:30 for a C8, that isn't that far off, I think it possible for Cadillac to make an SUV that can match the C8 on a race track or at least get really close.  With SUV popularity, I might go that route over a Cadillac mid-engine sports car, unless you have the money to do both, which I doubt GM has given the hit they will take this year in sales.

[balthazar]

I like the Cadillac ‘C8’ variant rendering; the best ‘exotics’ are able to incorporate a familial face instead of yet another door wedge.

[USA-1]

The XLR based on the C6 Corvette had the exclusive 4.6L NS and 4.4LSC NS (XLR-V) V8's and a 5 speed AT when the first C6's had the LS2 6.0L with a 4 sp. AT then later had the LS3 6.2L and a 6 sp. AT along with the 6 spd. man. and they both had their own exclusive interiors as well, XLR looked nothing like the C6 inside or out. In the last 20 years or so GM has been pretty good about differentiating their bread and butter division with their luxury division. If GM did this the Blackwing 4.2TT or similar would come into play, it will be a limited production high end halo car for Cadillac so very little if any parts bin sharing will take place. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadillac_XLR

 

We all know the XT6 was going to be on the CT6 RWD Omega platform before it was discontinued with the CT6 so it wasn't the original plan like you make it out to be. Omega was a very expensive chassis with all kinds of precious metals used to lighten it up so it obviously didn't make sense monetarily to just have it for XT6 so it was placed on the C1XX CUV chassis to keep it alive. You seem to get stuck in 90's GM when commenting about them, like Oldsmobile, Saturn and Pontiac are still around and all the parts bin sharing is going on like a cancer, but it's 2020 man. 

WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!  How would an SUV, ANY SUV, match the track performance of a ME layout sports car like the C8 Corvette?! It's not possible. Doesn't matter how low or wide they get it, it's still a top heavy SUV and the C8 is still a low slung ME track machine, soon to be a Supercar as Z06 and ZR1 and a Hypercar as ZORA.

Every auto manufacturer will take a hefty hit this year, none will be immune to the complete disaster of a year like 2020 is. GM has decent free cash on hand after a pretty good Q4 2019 despite the 40 day strike at the end of Q3.

https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/GM/general-motors/free-cash-flow

Edited June 8, 2020 by USA-1

[balthazar]

1938 :

[USA-1]

4 hours ago, smk4565 said:

That design rendering looks bad, but I think Cadillac should have a sports car.  They could use the C8 chassis, with a Cadillac body that doesn't look as close as a Tahoe to Escalade transformation.  Make it a Cadillac interior and use the Blackwing V8.  

The problem with some Cadillacs like XT5 or XT6 is not only are they Chevy chassis, they are Chevy engine, transmission, steering, suspension, etc.  Why pay Cadillac money for that?  Especially when the competitors have rear drive and more power.  With the C8 at least they would have a good performance per dollar starting point, and Cadillac can offer 550 hp standard vs the 495 for the Corvette and Cadillac can blow away the C8's interior, and then you have a compelling case for the Cadillac price ta of the car.  

I think Cadillac could do a performance SUV also, take the Omega platform, Blackwing V8, carbon fiber hood to cut weight, etc.   The Audi SQ8 has a 7:42 Nurburgring time, vs 7:30 for a C8, that isn't that far off, I think it possible for Cadillac to make an SUV that can match the C8 on a race track or at least get really close.  With SUV popularity, I might go that route over a Cadillac mid-engine sports car, unless you have the money to do both, which I doubt GM has given the hit they will take this year in sales.

The XLR based on the C6 Corvette had the exclusive 4.6L NS and 4.4LSC NS (XLR-V) V8's and a 5 speed AT when the first C6's had the LS2 6.0L with a 4 sp. AT then later had the LS3 6.2L and a 6 sp. AT along with the 6 spd. man. and they both had their own exclusive interiors as well, XLR looked nothing like the C6 inside or out. In the last 20 years or so GM has been pretty good about differentiating their bread and butter division with their luxury division. If GM did this the Blackwing 4.2TT or similar would come into play, it will be a limited production high end halo car for Cadillac so very little if any parts bin sharing will take place. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadillac_XLR

We all know the XT6 was going to be on the CT6 RWD Omega platform before it was discontinued with the CT6 so it wasn't the original plan like you make it out to be. Omega was a very expensive chassis with all kinds of precious metals used to lighten it up so it obviously didn't make sense monetarily to just have it for XT6 so it was placed on the C1XX CUV chassis to keep it alive. You seem to get stuck in 90's GM when commenting about them, like Oldsmobile, Saturn and Pontiac are still around and all the parts bin sharing is going on like a cancer, but it's 2020 man. 

WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!  How would an SUV, ANY SUV, match the track performance of a ME layout sports car like the C8 Corvette?! It's not possible. Doesn't matter how low or wide they get it, it's still a top heavy SUV and the C8 is still a low slung ME track machine, soon to be a Supercar as Z06 and ZR1 and a Hypercar as ZORA.

Every auto manufacturer will take a hefty hit this year, none will be immune to the complete disaster of a year like 2020 is. GM has decent free cash on hand after a pretty good Q4 2019 despite the 40 day strike at the end of Q3.

https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/GM/general-motors/free-cash-flow

[G. David Felt]

11 hours ago, smk4565 said:

That design rendering looks bad, but I think Cadillac should have a sports car.  They could use the C8 chassis, with a Cadillac body that doesn't look as close as a Tahoe to Escalade transformation.  Make it a Cadillac interior and use the Blackwing V8.  

The problem with some Cadillacs like XT5 or XT6 is not only are they Chevy chassis, they are Chevy engine, transmission, steering, suspension, etc.  Why pay Cadillac money for that?  Especially when the competitors have rear drive and more power.  With the C8 at least they would have a good performance per dollar starting point, and Cadillac can offer 550 hp standard vs the 495 for the Corvette and Cadillac can blow away the C8's interior, and then you have a compelling case for the Cadillac price ta of the car.  

I think Cadillac could do a performance SUV also, take the Omega platform, Blackwing V8, carbon fiber hood to cut weight, etc.   The Audi SQ8 has a 7:42 Nurburgring time, vs 7:30 for a C8, that isn't that far off, I think it possible for Cadillac to make an SUV that can match the C8 on a race track or at least get really close.  With SUV popularity, I might go that route over a Cadillac mid-engine sports car, unless you have the money to do both, which I doubt GM has given the hit they will take this year in sales.

Performance SUV's and Performance Cars are Night and Day. Stop trying to muddle them up.

Yes my Trailblazer SS is based on the Power Train, Brakes and a few other things of the corvette, or what GM says is a corvette based / Inspired performance SUV. 

With that said, it is NOT a Corvette nor will it ever be due to the dynamics of the two. 

I do agree that cadillac needs V series and V Blackwing series SUVs. Using the same engines from other performance auto's in the GM family, just like AMG uses the base starting point of engines and auto's from MB.

Cadillac does what AMG does and yet you do not bad mouth AMG for using the base bones of MB rather than engineer a clean sheet everything for AMG.

[oldshurst442]

On 6/6/2020 at 11:15 PM, USA-1 said:

CARS olds CARS!!

Well, you are Canadian, so maybe the Molson ICE is kicking in? ? ?

https://gmauthority.com/blog/2020/05/mid-engine-cadillac-sports-car-rendered/

I dont drink shytty Canadian beer.   

I drink beer fit for a king.  The King of Beers. 

And this. 

 

I must say.  This rendering of a C8 Cadillac is great.  

The other one, from Motor1, looks a lot like an XLR.   That too is great, but it does not look like it could be from a C8 platform.

 

8 hours ago, USA-1 said:

The XLR based on the C6 Corvette had the exclusive 4.6L NS and 4.4LSC NS (XLR-V) V8's and a 5 speed AT when the first C6's had the LS2 6.0L with a 4 sp. AT then later had the LS3 6.2L and a 6 sp. AT along with the 6 spd. man. and they both had their own exclusive interiors as well, XLR looked nothing like the C6 inside or out. In the last 20 years or so GM has been pretty good about differentiating their bread and butter division with their luxury division. If GM did this the Blackwing 4.2TT or similar would come into play, it will be a limited production high end halo car for Cadillac so very little if any parts bin sharing will take place. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadillac_XLR

We all know the XT6 was going to be on the CT6 RWD Omega platform before it was discontinued with the CT6 so it wasn't the original plan like you make it out to be. Omega was a very expensive chassis with all kinds of precious metals used to lighten it up so it obviously didn't make sense monetarily to just have it for XT6 so it was placed on the C1XX CUV chassis to keep it alive. You seem to get stuck in 90's GM when commenting about them, like Oldsmobile, Saturn and Pontiac are still around and all the parts bin sharing is going on like a cancer, but it's 2020 man. 

WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!  How would an SUV, ANY SUV, match the track performance of a ME layout sports car like the C8 Corvette?! It's not possible. Doesn't matter how low or wide they get it, it's still a top heavy SUV and the C8 is still a low slung ME track machine, soon to be a Supercar as Z06 and ZR1 and a Hypercar as ZORA.

Every auto manufacturer will take a hefty hit this year, none will be immune to the complete disaster of a year like 2020 is. GM has decent free cash on hand after a pretty good Q4 2019 despite the 40 day strike at the end of Q3.

https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/GM/general-motors/free-cash-flow

 

Im on the fence with a pure Cadillac engine in a possible ME supercar based on the C8.  Although a Blackwing V8 would be awesome in it, Ill question it anyway.  Dont get me wrong, I want to see a Blackwing C8 based supercar from Cadillac!!! Aside that Cadillac needs other product before this. But I digress...

1. Like you stated above, Cadillac tried a Cadillac engine in the C51/2  (or C6 light) platform XLR and it did not fare too well in the market place.  There are other factors why it failed in the marketplace (an interior not worthy of a Cadillac) but I digress. The Northstar was not a sports car engine.  I dont think the Blackwing is a sportscar engine either. I guess the Corvette engineers and Cadillac engineers could re-tune the Blackwing into one, I dont think the Blackwing was engineered from the get go to be one, like how the SBC is.  

2.  Lets face it.  A Chevy Small Block V8 is just about the best V8 in the marketplace....and since the 1990s...EASILY. A Northstar or even a Blackwing doesnt stand a chance against it. Although 550 or so HP is a good starting point for a BASE Cadillac new XLR, and it upstages the base C8 by quite a bit, but when the other Corvette versions come out, the Blackwing does not stand a chance.  And lets be honest here, a Z06 or ZR1 will have base XLR price tags, and THAT will make the XLR fail in the market place...again.  Like I said, a Chevy Small Block V8 is just about the BEST V8 in the world today...and quite possibly ever...  and I dont car if I just pissed off Olds Rocket 88 lovers or Buick big block lovers or Ford lovers or Mercedes lovers...

3. The Cien had it right.  A V12 engine was the way to go in a ME Cadillac supercar. It lends itself AWAY from Chevy Small Block Chevy V8 comparisons.  In hindsight, maybe for a C51/2  (or C6 light) platformed XLR might have been better off if Cadillac would have invested the V12 for it.   Today, for a C8 platformed XLR, maybe a V12 is the wrong engine choice, so Id go full on electric motor to compete with the Tesla roadster 2.0 rather than have an internal combustion engine in it and make it compete with the Corvette needlessly....because we all know, THAT comparison WILL be made. And unfortunetly for the possible XLR, it will be a losing battle.

 

Edited June 8, 2020 by oldshurst442

[oldshurst442]

On 6/6/2020 at 10:45 PM, trinacriabob said:

Each ISTJ write-up gives similar lists of occupations, which are worlds away from each other ...

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/finding-a-job/best-careers-for-istj-personalities

@oldshurst442

There have been a lot of (more recent) travel articles written about how dicey the Athens Metro is to ride from the airport into the city center, and vice-versa, in terms of property theft.  Before the Metro was extended into the ATH airport, which is when I rode on it, it was clean and "peaceful."  My station was Akropoli.

I rode on it twice. Once on my honeymoon in 2003 and the other time was 2 years ago.  That would be two times more than on Montreal's subway system in that same timeframe. ( Which is the same system as we both use France's system)

Montreal's subway network is quite safe as compared to other places in the world, but Ive heard that its not as safe as it once was. From the late 1960s all the way to the late 1990s it was a dream riding on it.  Since the turn of the new millennium, Montreal's subway has also become a crime "not quite infested" but not far off experience.  Maybe Im exaggerating for Montreal, but its definetely more seedy than it ever was. 

Edited June 8, 2020 by oldshurst442

[balthazar]

[oldshurst442]

9 hours ago, USA-1 said:

Every auto manufacturer will take a hefty hit this year, none will be immune to the complete disaster of a year like 2020 is. GM has decent free cash on hand after a pretty good Q4 2019 despite the 40 day strike at the end of Q3.

I forgot to mention.

Porsche is out of IMSA after 2020 due to money issues that Covid has brought to us all.

https://www.autoblog.com/2020/06/04/porsche-911-rsr-quits-american-racing-after-2020/ 

If @smk4565 thinks that all is well in the automotive world for his dear Mercedes. He has a rude awaking heading his way.

Say goodbye to the AMG-One project...   

Im targeting SMK and the AMG-One project because he seems to only target GM but when something similar happens to Mercedes, he doesnt return the favour...

parts bin economics might be the ONLY thing to save automotive projects right about now...

The AMG-One is all bespoke. Expensive stuff going into it...and with diesel scandals that Mercedes needs to pay and 1%ers NOT making the millions/billions projected for this year, the AMG-One is a project that is very not the right product in today's climate and will be scuttled if not already...BEFORE the Covid thing happened...

And THAT is the thing...  Through all kinds of difficult times that the American economy has gone through over the years and tough times GM has gone through over the years, with all the near cancellations of the Corvette program over the years, Corvette is STILL here and THRIVING and making money for Chevrolet for the greater part since 1953 and all the while, being cutting edge technology AND being a performance leader in the civilian market AND in the racing world...

Like I ALWAYS say. You could shyte on GM all you want, there are one-two things that GM ALWAYS gets right, and the Corvette is one of them.  You CANT and SHOUDNT shyte on Corvette.  

 

Edited June 8, 2020 by oldshurst442

[Robert Hall]

Saw these on FB...funny to compare the size differences in GM trucks between 30 years ago and today.

[frogger]

1 hour ago, oldshurst442 said:

I rode on it twice. Once on my honeymoon in 2003 and the other time was 2 years ago.  That would be two times more than on Montreal's subway system in that same timeframe. ( Which is the same system as we both use France's system)

Montreal's subway network is quite safe as compared to other places in the world, but Ive heard that its not as safe as it once was. From the late 1960s all the way to the late 1990s it was a dream riding on it.  Since the turn of the new millennium, Montreal's subway has also become a crime "not quite infested" but not far off experience.  Maybe Im exaggerating for Montreal, but its definetely more seedy than it ever was. 

I've been on the Montreal system dozens of times the last 5 years, never felt unsafe.  Like any big city on the streets and within the trains/platforms you see the occasional mentally ill person acting out. I'm there with kids so I cannot speak for what it might be like late night with the club goers etc.

 

[ykX]

8 minutes ago, frogger said:

I've been on the Montreal system dozens of times the last 5 years, never felt unsafe.  Like any big city on the streets and within the trains/platforms you see the occasional mentally ill person acting out. I'm there with kids so I cannot speak for what it might be like late night with the club goers etc.

 

Once you rode NYC subway system, I think you can pretty much handle any other subway in the world

[frogger]

1 minute ago, ykX said:

Once you rode NYC subway system, I think you can pretty much handle any other subway in the world

Haha maybe true, was supposed to bring the family there this August, haven't been in almost 10 years, but obviously not happening..  Not sure how I would handle some of the more crowded spots like Tokyo rush hours.  I guess India's rail transit is above ground so it doesn't count.

 

 

 

[oldshurst442]

5 minutes ago, frogger said:

I've been on the Montreal system dozens of times the last 5 years, never felt unsafe.  Like any big city on the streets and within the trains/platforms you see the occasional mentally ill person acting out. I'm there with kids so I cannot speak for what it might be like late night with the club goers etc.

 

Thanx for the info.  I havent used the Montreal Metro since the mid-1990s. I think I rode it once in 2002 or 2003.  Honestly,  I may have over exaggerated, but its what I hear with the students that work for me and the local news that report over the last few years that I posted with.  Like you said, like any big city, the crazies come out to play in these types of places. Especially an underground public dwelling like a subway system.   

Montreal, for the most part remains pretty safe, and its Metro system just compliments that.  Montreal hasnt really become more crime ridden over the years. The Metro system has however, but minute and when crime in Montreal goes up a tad, because crime in Montreal is relatively low, we Montrealers tend to over exaggerate it. And  I would agree with you fully on what you have said in your post though!!!  

At night, Montreal was always a tad seedier than in the daytime, but that is such a "duh" statement.  Yes, Montreal at night, one needs to keep his/hers eyes open for trouble, but Montreal remains very safe.    

[oldshurst442]

9 minutes ago, ykX said:

Once you rode NYC subway system, I think you can pretty much handle any other subway in the world

Like @frogger said about Montreal, I once rode the NYC subway, at midnight on a Saturday night in 1992 or 1993 and I did not see anything worth reporting. I felt safe. But then again, I was with 3 Greek Montreal boys (my Montreal firends) and 2 NYC Greek boys with 2 huge body building NYC black boys (our NYC friends).     (The American Greek boys are/were our friends that we met in Greece over the years while we both visit Greece on vacation and met there, our parents come from the same viillage...and the black boys are/were the NYC Greek boys' friends from NYC...)  

Maybe being such a big gang had something to do with it and ironically, we might have been viewed as trouble as we were loud and obnoxious...  LOL   Obnoxiously funny in [our minds] just cracking stupid jokes amongst ourselves and laughing...not causing trouble...just laughing and having a good time and enjoying our company together...in public...

 

[G. David Felt]

1 hour ago, frogger said:

Haha maybe true, was supposed to bring the family there this August, haven't been in almost 10 years, but obviously not happening..  Not sure how I would handle some of the more crowded spots like Tokyo rush hours.  I guess India's rail transit is above ground so it doesn't count.

Been in touch with my coworkers and friends in TOKYO, the subway has changed allot since the Pandemic and social distance really has changed how people stand, how many are on the subway / train systems there. Covid-19 has changed the world long term in many things.

[G. David Felt]

@oldshurst442 November 28th 2019 was the last update on the AMG-One and it was given a production date, then pushed back to 2021 as they are saying they did address the emissions issue and invited all 275 paid customers to Germany  to explain the issues and delays. But they are sure the cars will be delivered in early 2021.

I honestly will be interested to see how it comes out and I think the Tesla 2.0 Roadster will smoke this over rated AMG.

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a30029132/mercedes-amg-one-hypercar-production-2021/

[trinacriabob]

3 hours ago, oldshurst442 said:

I rode on it twice. Once on my honeymoon in 2003 and the other time was 2 years ago.  That would be two times more than on Montreal's subway system in that same timeframe. ( Which is the same system as we both use France's system)

Montreal's subway network is quite safe as compared to other places in the world, but Ive heard that its not as safe as it once was. From the late 1960s all the way to the late 1990s it was a dream riding on it.  Since the turn of the new millennium, Montreal's subway has also become a crime "not quite infested" but not far off experience.  Maybe Im exaggerating for Montreal, but its definetely more seedy than it ever was. 

Montreal's Metro and Toronto's TTC feel fairly safe, to me.  At odd hours, the crowd gets odder.

The thing at Athens is that it's younger gangs of pickpockets (gypsy, Roma, and Albanian are among the ethnic groups mentioned) who have it worked down to a science.  The train routes they work the most are Monastiraki in the center to Athens Airport and the route that goes out to Piraeus, the port for the cruise ships.  If you're fairly big and have your stuff embedded way down in your belongings, you'll be more of a challenge.  The wallets in the back pockets or phone in a pant pocket are the easiest things for them to pick off.  When I ride a subway in an area I'm not familiar with or have heard unfavorable things about, I stay in the first car behind the conductor and usually scan who's around me.  They also take advantage of when people are moving from the station platform into the car and vice-versa and might be confused.  The articles say that the police in Athens have not been proactive enough, such as by patrolling the stations and riding on the subway cars.  The police there could easily figure out who these gangs are.  There was once a sting and they arrested about 50 people.

Like I said, I really liked the Athens Metro, but I was there the year before it was extended into the new airport.

Madrid's Metro - which goes into both of its airport terminals - is great and tourists seem very relaxed taking it to and from the airport.  But, when it's crowded around the center of the city, it has had its theft incidents, too.

You always have to be on the defensive when riding on public transit.

[smk4565]

12 hours ago, USA-1 said:

The XLR based on the C6 Corvette had the exclusive 4.6L NS and 4.4LSC NS (XLR-V) V8's and a 5 speed AT when the first C6's had the LS2 6.0L with a 4 sp. AT then later had the LS3 6.2L and a 6 sp. AT along with the 6 spd. man. and they both had their own exclusive interiors as well, XLR looked nothing like the C6 inside or out. In the last 20 years or so GM has been pretty good about differentiating their bread and butter division with their luxury division. If GM did this the Blackwing 4.2TT or similar would come into play, it will be a limited production high end halo car for Cadillac so very little if any parts bin sharing will take place. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadillac_XLR

We all know the XT6 was going to be on the CT6 RWD Omega platform before it was discontinued with the CT6 so it wasn't the original plan like you make it out to be. Omega was a very expensive chassis with all kinds of precious metals used to lighten it up so it obviously didn't make sense monetarily to just have it for XT6 so it was placed on the C1XX CUV chassis to keep it alive. You seem to get stuck in 90's GM when commenting about them, like Oldsmobile, Saturn and Pontiac are still around and all the parts bin sharing is going on like a cancer, but it's 2020 man. 

WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!  How would an SUV, ANY SUV, match the track performance of a ME layout sports car like the C8 Corvette?! It's not possible. Doesn't matter how low or wide they get it, it's still a top heavy SUV and the C8 is still a low slung ME track machine, soon to be a Supercar as Z06 and ZR1 and a Hypercar as ZORA.

Every auto manufacturer will take a hefty hit this year, none will be immune to the complete disaster of a year like 2020 is. GM has decent free cash on hand after a pretty good Q4 2019 despite the 40 day strike at the end of Q3.

https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/GM/general-motors/free-cash-flow

XLR was a good looking car and still looks good today.  Problem was it was a C5 chassis and the C6 came out a year later, also the XLR had 320 hp to the C6’s 400 hp and the XLR interior was not that good for Mercedes-Jaguar price class they were playing in.   If the XLR was on the  C6 chassis with more power and more luxury and quality, then they would have been on to something.  
 

If Cadillac gave it another go with a C8 platform and more luxury and performance than the C8, then there is a reason to buy the car, I don’t know how much market demand there is though.

As I said Audi makes an SUV that is 12 seconds off the C8 on a 7:30 time, so they are close.  All I said was Cadillac had to get close to C8  track performance with an SUV.  Audi is already there and I suspect the Urus is faster than the SQ8, in fact I know it is.  

[oldshurst442]

35 minutes ago, dfelt said:

@oldshurst442 November 28th 2019 was the last update on the AMG-One and it was given a production date, then pushed back to 2021 as they are saying they did address the emissions issue and invited all 275 paid customers to Germany  to explain the issues and delays. But they are sure the cars will be delivered in early 2021.

I honestly will be interested to see how it comes out and I think the Tesla 2.0 Roadster will smoke this over rated AMG.

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a30029132/mercedes-amg-one-hypercar-production-2021/

I googled at got a more recent update.  April 2, 2020 to be exact. So Ill retract my previous statement about it being scutlled. 

One cool thing is the 275 owners will get a scale version of probably their own car.

[smk4565]

5 hours ago, dfelt said:

Performance SUV's and Performance Cars are Night and Day. Stop trying to muddle them up.

Yes my Trailblazer SS is based on the Power Train, Brakes and a few other things of the corvette, or what GM says is a corvette based / Inspired performance SUV. 

With that said, it is NOT a Corvette nor will it ever be due to the dynamics of the two. 

I do agree that cadillac needs V series and V Blackwing series SUVs. Using the same engines from other performance auto's in the GM family, just like AMG uses the base starting point of engines and auto's from MB.

Cadillac does what AMG does and yet you do not bad mouth AMG for using the base bones of MB rather than engineer a clean sheet everything for AMG.

Cadillac doesn’t do what AMG does, they don’t have performance SUV’s.  Also Chevy makes the most powerful and fastest cars at GM.  AMG doesn’t build slower less power cars than the Mercedes-Benz side of the house.

If the C8 is 495 hp, make a Cadillac mid-engine car with the 550 hp blackwing engine.  That is what AMG would do.

[oldshurst442]

55 minutes ago, dfelt said:

@oldshurst442 November 28th 2019 was the last update on the AMG-One and it was given a production date, then pushed back to 2021 as they are saying they did address the emissions issue and invited all 275 paid customers to Germany  to explain the issues and delays. But they are sure the cars will be delivered in early 2021.

I honestly will be interested to see how it comes out and I think the Tesla 2.0 Roadster will smoke this over rated AMG.

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a30029132/mercedes-amg-one-hypercar-production-2021/

I googled at got a more recent update.  April 2, 2020 to be exact. So Ill retract my previous statement about it being scutlled. 

One cool thing is the 275 owners will get a scale version of probably their own car.

[oldshurst442]

15 minutes ago, smk4565 said:

Cadillac doesn’t do what AMG does, they don’t have performance SUV’s.  Also Chevy makes the most powerful and fastest cars at GM.  AMG doesn’t build slower less power cars than the Mercedes-Benz side of the house.

If the C8 is 495 hp, make a Cadillac mid-engine car with the 550 hp blackwing engine.  That is what AMG would do.

Not any more...

Didnt I hear that AMG S Class coupe and conertible will nix V8s for TTV6s?

And FYI

The XLR was on a updated C5 chassis that was closer to the C6.  But only YOU will find that as a negative.  The C5 platform is STILL competitive performance wise in 2020 with TODAY's sports cars when HP is upgraded with suspension and brake tune-ups to match the HP...

Being on a PURE C5 platform (which it wasnt anyway, was NOT a negative)  It REALLY was on a updated C5, not quite full blown C6 platform.   If you knew...the C5, C6 AND C7 are really really closely related to each other anyway...

 

[smk4565]

15 minutes ago, oldshurst442 said:

Not any more...

Didnt I hear that AMG S Class coupe and conertible will nix V8s for TTV6s?

And FYI

The XLR was on a updated C5 chassis that was closer to the C6.  But only YOU will find that as a negative.  The C5 platform is STILL competitive performance wise in 2020 with TODAY's sports cars when HP is upgraded with suspension and brake tune-ups to match the HP...

Being on a PURE C5 platform (which it wasnt anyway, was NOT a negative)  It REALLY was on a updated C5, not quite full blown C6 platform.   If you knew...the C5, C6 AND C7 are really really closely related to each other anyway...

 

S-class coupe and convertible are dying after this year to clear room for a new SL that is supposedly a 2+2 set up and engineered entirely by AMG.  It will have I-6 and V8 with hybrid power on all.

Updated C5, but Chevy had C6.  And the Corvette was faster than the XLR.  It would be like today Cadillac making a C7 based sports car with 400 hp and charging $85k when a C8 with 500 hp is $60k (to start) and wondering why the Cadillac doesn’t sell.

[oldshurst442]

27 minutes ago, smk4565 said:

AMG doesn’t build slower less power cars than the Mercedes-Benz side of the house.

AMG is JUST a tuner devision...

In fact,  AMG wasnt even RELATED to Mercedes Benz at one time. M-B bought out the company. AMG was just a slightly more than a tuner shop hot rodding not only Mercedes cars,  but BMWs too...

AMG now, is just the performance arm of Mercedes taking EXISTING Mercedes vehicles and adding more performance to them .

AMG does NOT build its own vehicles. Only rare occasions they do. Like the AMG-One.  But the AMG-One is just a 275 limited production run.

Chevrolet is a full blown, complete line of production vehicles ranging from civilian use to police force to comercial line to racing cars and engines.  

Cadillac is also a full blown, complete line of production vehicles.

Both Chevrolet and Cadillac are mass produced vehicles under a LARGER owned corporation called General Motors.

NOT THE SAME THING as the relationship that Mercedes has with AMG...

If "SS" was a tuner hot rodding shop, that produced hotter versions of Malibus, Chevelles, Impalas, Camaros, Cruzes, Trailblazers, etc and Chevrolet would have bought them and "SS" would continue to build better performing Chevroler vehicles UNDER the Chevrolet brand and NOT General Motors...THAN we'd have an apples to apple comparison.

The closest we ever got to a Mercedes and AMG relationship with GM is with a tuner shop called SLP that did better performing G3 Firebirds, than G4 Firebirds/Trans Ams, then G4 Camaros with the Trans Ams that were bought straight from the dealerships and were sold as Trans Am WS6 and Camaro SS and then Grand Prixs and G8s...  But GM NEVER bought SLP...