Random Thoughts Thread

[balthazar]

[G. David Felt]

40 minutes ago, balthazar said:

At least they are protecting the auto with style with a generic appliance on top!  

[balthazar]

Dubai ~ 

[balthazar]

Camping season : 

[trinacriabob]

Random thought ... and photo:  one of my favorite dashboards of all time ... and in a car within most people's budgets ...

[G. David Felt]

2 hours ago, trinacriabob said:

Random thought ... and photo:  one of my favorite dashboards of all time ... and in a car within most people's budgets ...

Cannot read the logo on the steering wheel and do not recognize the plastic dash. Which brand and model is it?

[oldshurst442]

1 hour ago, David said:

Cannot read the logo on the steering wheel and do not recognize the plastic dash. Which brand and model is it?

 

[G. David Felt]

10 minutes ago, oldshurst442 said:

 

WOW, I do not remember that on that Pontiac model, thought to be honest, I only ever considered buying one Pontiac and that was the Bonneville SSEi SuperCharged sedan. Slept on it over night and knew it would not fit the family even though I loved how it drove.

This is that dash and what I remember.

[oldshurst442]

4 hours ago, trinacriabob said:

Random thought ... and photo:  one of my favorite dashboards of all time ... and in a car within most people's budgets ...

 

I much much prefer Oldsmobile's interiors of this era than any other GM brand. Of course when this Grand Prix entered service,  Oldsmobile was no more.  

Intrigue (of the previous W-Body platform as compared to the last Grand Prix before it became the G8)

 

Alero

 

1st gen Aurora

 

Those would be my favorite GM interiors of this era being the late 1990s-early 2000s. 

 

[oldshurst442]

4 minutes ago, David said:

WOW, I do not remember that on that Pontiac model, thought to be honest, I only ever considered buying one Pontiac and that was the Bonneville SSEi SuperCharged sedan. Slept on it over night and knew it would not fit the family even though I loved how it drove.

This is that dash and what I remember.

 

Love the exterior on that gen Bonneville. Like it better than the Aurora of the same year. Both of  the same platform.  But...I prefer the Oldsmobile's interior much much more.

 

[oldshurst442]

6 hours ago, balthazar said:

Dubai ~ 

 

Darn tootin'!

I reckon' that is a mighty fine Dodge!   Let's go  muddin'!!!

 

 

 

Edited March 24, 2022 by oldshurst442

[G. David Felt]

Awesome read on the Torture testing of the F-150 Lighting. 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2022/03/24/ford-f-150-lightning-torture-tests-offroad-towing/7151568001/

Very impressed with what Ford is doing.

[trinacriabob]

1 hour ago, David said:

I think they got this very last Bonne right, compared to the 2 FWD versions before this one.  The upside down boat that was the previous one was one big "NO."  

I think this dash was a bit much, though.  Those 2 center stack A/C vents at the far right are probably what takes it over the top.

I was sent an invite to test drive this car at a horse racing track or some such place when it was released.  For its size, it was agile.  I also prefer the basic LE/SE version because it's a "less is more" design to me.  Once all the spoilers, air dams, honeycombed this and that, and ribbing goes on, it gets too pimpy for my taste.

Edited March 24, 2022 by trinacriabob

[trinacriabob]

8 hours ago, balthazar said:

Dubai ~ 

After I picked up my cousin flying in from Europe and we were in the car about 20 miles from the airport, she saw things she'd only seen in movies, like a real life Mustang ... pronounced "MOOSE TUNG" with their phonetics.  Then, I saw a loud and raised truck driven by an obnoxious dude next to us and had to explain what white trash meant.

We were watching the movie "Erin Brockovich" and I told her to be on the lookout for the soap opera addict / Oreo slam dunking type babysitter lady who watched Erin's kids and told her that that would be an example of what Americans consider to be white trash.  She then remarked, "But isn't Erin Brockovich (maybe as played by Julia Roberts) white trash, too?"  She learned quickly.

As for this photo, one can only wonder if they have their own style of white trash in rich Middle Eastern countries.  (Look closely, this car has Montana license plates even though it's in Dubai.)  Most of us are wise enough to know that money doesn't buy class.

Here's an example of classless conspicuous consumption:

I read that these critters are more tractable than one might think and that they do well when there is also a big dog in the household.  Now that's weird.

Edited March 24, 2022 by trinacriabob

[trinacriabob]

3 hours ago, oldshurst442 said:

Intrigue (of the previous W-Body platform as compared to the last Grand Prix before it became the G8)

Alero

1st gen Aurora

Those would be my favorite GM interiors of this era being the late 1990s-early 2000s. 

The resemblance between that of Intrigue and Alero interior and dash, in hindsight, is incredible.  As if the Alero is a "baby Intrigue."  They share a lot of styling cues.  At this point, I'm seeing more Aleros still on the road than Intrigues.

3 hours ago, oldshurst442 said:

 

 

I had never taken a good look at the 1st gen Aurora's dash.  Really nice!  I like the insets in the cowl like they've done over the instrument cluster.  It has been done in other decades.  The first Seville had them, too, albeit on a much more dated interior and dashboard that was really nice in its day.

I probably like the exterior styling of the 2nd gen Aurora more, but prefer the interior of the 1st gen.

Edited March 25, 2022 by trinacriabob

[balthazar]

[Robert Hall]

I recognized that GP interior, as I spent 7 hrs in one driving very slowly in an ice storm outside Portland, Or in Dec 06...still remember experience pretty well...

The GM interior of that era I'm most familiar with was the early 00s Cadillac DTS...my sister had one in AZ, and I drove it a lot--commuted to work in it quite a bit in 2013-2015...always liked the interior in these.   (first pic below is a DeVIlle--the DTS had buckets and a center console and floor shift, but much the same otherwise).  Very comfortable car, drove it on several road trips from Phoenix to San Diego or LA...seats were very comfortable.

Edited March 25, 2022 by Robert Hall

[balthazar]

We were car shopping in '05 and looked at that new generation GP.  Neither my wife or I cared for the interior, but the seats, esp the back seat, were horribly uncomfortable. So we picked up an '03 GP instead.

[balthazar]

[G. David Felt]

59 minutes ago, balthazar said:

Crazy, course people back then were even smaller than today. Would be interesting to see what they looked like.

[balthazar]

Average adult born 100 years ago was only 3’6” tall.

[G. David Felt]

6 minutes ago, balthazar said:

Average adult born 100 years ago was only 3’6” tall.

Interesting to see how fat we have become.

Four-Decade Study: Americans Taller, Fatter | Live Science

Interesting report that follows the last century.

PDF (usda.gov)

Interesting tool at this link, you put in your data and it tells you your size 100 years ago. I would have been 3.5 inches shorter.

Height: How Tall Would You Be 100 Years Ago? | Time

Loving how some sites give far better examples than our own government of the data to make it easy to understand by all. I realized this when I was going through the PDF from the gov site above and yet here is a simple chart of the same data.

Average Height for Males and Females in 1912 and 2012 – A Hundred Years Ago

Great study done on price and wages going back to the 1600's.

Introduction - Prices and Wages by Decade - Library Guides at University of Missouri Libraries

Love the attention to detail.

[Robert Hall]

34 minutes ago, balthazar said:

Average adult born 100 years ago was only 3’6” tall.

And was a senior citizen by 50..

[trinacriabob]

What was really surprising is that, with short longevities during the Renaissance era, Michelangelo lived to be 89 years old.

[G. David Felt]

4 minutes ago, trinacriabob said:

What was really surprising is that, with short longevities during the Renaissance era, Michelangelo lived to be 89 years old.

WOW, did not know that about him. That is very surprising indeed. Wonder if diet played a part or just a lucky roll of the genetic dice? ?

[A Horse With No Name]

On 1/19/2022 at 5:51 PM, balthazar said:

'61-62 Pontiac final drive ratio options : 
2.56, 2.69, 2.87, 3.08, 3.23, 3.31, 3.55, 3.64, 3.90, 4.44, 4.67, 4.88, 5.13, 5.38, 5.57, 5.86, 6.14 

Holy smokes...6:14...a dedicated stump puller or?

 

Happy Friday everyone. 

On 3/23/2022 at 10:16 PM, balthazar said:

Neat picture!

 

[G. David Felt]

13 minutes ago, A Horse With No Name said:

Holy smokes...6:14...a dedicated stump puller or?

 

Happy Friday everyone. 

Neat picture!

 

Welcome back Chris, nice to have you posting again!

[balthazar]

Infant / youth mortality rates in the distant past greatly pulled down average lifespan numbers. There were plenty of old-age adults living to ages we see today back when.

[G. David Felt]

According to the latest story from the street web site, VW has increased their spend here in North America to 7.1 Billion  over the next 5 years as they aim to have 55% of their auto sales EVs by 2030 here. VW CEO of America has also stated that ICE auto's will start phasing out of their production lineup starting 2030 and that EVs for 2022 are sold out already for current capacity. They are working to increase it faster now than they expected due to such high demand as shown by the larger than expected investment in North America.

https://www.thestreet.com/investing/volkswagen-spends-7-1-bn-to-challenge-tesla-ford-and-gm-at-home

[balthazar]

[Drew Dowdell]

On 3/24/2022 at 6:18 PM, oldshurst442 said:

 

I much much prefer Oldsmobile's interiors of this era than any other GM brand. Of course when this Grand Prix entered service,  Oldsmobile was no more.  

Intrigue (of the previous W-Body platform as compared to the last Grand Prix before it became the G8)

 

Alero

 

1st gen Aurora

 

Those would be my favorite GM interiors of this era being the late 1990s-early 2000s. 

 

I’d love to find a final year of the first Gen Aurora, but they are almost always beat to hell. People didn’t preserve them. 

[trinacriabob]

15 hours ago, Robert Hall said:

I recognized that GP interior, as I spent 7 hrs in one driving very slowly in an ice storm outside Portland, Or in Dec 06...still remember experience pretty well...

The GM interior of that era I'm most familiar with was the early 00s Cadillac DTS...my sister had one in AZ, and I drove it a lot--commuted to work in it quite a bit in 2013-2015...always liked the interior in these.   (first pic below is a DeVIlle--the DTS had buckets and a center console and floor shift, but much the same otherwise).  Very comfortable car, drove it on several road trips from Phoenix to San Diego or LA...seats were very comfortable.

In December, no less.  That's a little early for a big storm in Portland, OR.  They are not equipped to deal with snow and ice, so they just shut down the town.  As does the Seattle-Tacoma area.  The hills don't help, either.

That top photo really threw me for a Cadillac.  That sort of curvature was not common for them.

In the following DTS that came along, the car became more rectilinear.  They did a nice job with it.  I remember checking out the car dealerships (after they closed in the evening) on Pensacola Blvd. around '07 and saw some DTSs.  I remembered thinking that it wasn't any bigger than a mid-'70s Cutlass Supreme (because the space was more sensibly used) and thought it was a really nice car, given that I don't much like Cadillacs.  I also remember thinking how I wouldn't have wanted to pay for the repair bills for all those bells and whistles and that the Northstar V8 under its hood was too sophisticated for my understanding of car mechanics ... and possibly a little thirsty after driving several V6s.

Sloped back grille, no hood ornament, slab sides, balance in its 3 volumes, engaged rather than finned taillamps ... less is WAY more, in this case.

Kudos for some gauges in the instrument cluster (Cadillacs often had temp. idiot lights, which I've learned are scary).  Kudos for having a console standard in the DTS.   The passenger side of the dash seems a little too tall, but, overall, I thought this was really nice for a Cadillac.  

[Robert Hall]

9 hours ago, trinacriabob said:

In December, no less.  That's a little early for a big storm in Portland, OR.  They are not equipped to deal with snow and ice, so they just shut down the town.  As does the Seattle-Tacoma area.  The hills don't help, either.

 

Yeah, I think I've related this story before...I was up in Portland on a 4 day weekend getaway...  On Thursday, visited friends in Beaverton, went to the Nike corporate store there (my friend was a tech guy there then), played tourist and went to the Bonneville Dam, Columbia River Gorge, Multnomah Falls, Powell's Books and various restaurants and bars in Portland...was gray and damp but not icy.  The next day, I went up to Tillamook and Astoria  in the morning(beautiful little town on the coast).   Then back to Portland for lunch w/ friends.  Around 2 pm  I set out from Beaverton heading back to my hotel which was out by the airport..spent the next 7 hours on the 5 and 205 in a horrific ice storm, inching along while semis were sliding off the freeway around me...the GP rental did great, though 7 hours of staring at gray and black cheesy interior plastics and red light gauges was enough.  Next day, the weather was fine and went to a U2 concert at the Rose Garden.

[trinacriabob]

43 minutes ago, Robert Hall said:

Around 2 pm  I set out from Beaverton heading back to my hotel which was out by the airport..spent the next 7 hours on the 5 and 205 in a horrific ice storm, inching along while semis were sliding off the freeway around me...the GP rental did great, though 7 hours of staring at gray and black cheesy interior plastics and red light gauges was enough.  

A person can walk from Beaverton to PDX airport in 7 hours.

But, yes, the build quality of that car could have been better, hence my purchase of another W-body.  Not to mention my dislike of the orange lighting in the GP.  Maybe that's why it was nicely priced at $21K or $22K in base form ... economies of scale.

[Robert Hall]

9 minutes ago, trinacriabob said:

A person can walk from Beaverton to PDX airport in 7 hours.

 

Yeah...it was my 4th visit to Portland, but wasn't that familiar w/ the street layout..back before smart phones and nav systems..I probably should have just driven across town than taken the southern belt line..

[balthazar]

Always a good idea to know where you came from. 

[balthazar]

[trinacriabob]

I needed to get around to putting this up ... it appears to be the house blend at the Confeitaria Nacional is Lisbon, PT, a 100+ year old coffee and tea house with tasty and sensibly priced cakes and pastries.

Happy Sunday ...

[balthazar]

I don’t drink coffee, but maybe that one would suit me… ?

[oldshurst442]

On 3/25/2022 at 9:42 PM, Drew Dowdell said:

I’d love to find a final year of the first Gen Aurora, but they are almost always beat to hell. People didn’t preserve them. 

 

Id consider restoring one, with an idea of electrifying it.  Dual motor, 100 KW/H battery from a wrecked Tesla Model 3.  To keep the restoration costs down since GM's E Crate stuff is expensive and the real hot E Crate set-ups are even crazier expensive. 

[oldshurst442]

3 hours ago, balthazar said:

I don’t drink coffee, but maybe that one would suit me… ?

I dont drink coffee either.

People, like all the time, are really really surprised that I dont drink coffee.  Then some of them go on a rant telling me how weird and rare it is for a restaurant owner not to drink coffee.  I dont know what to tell these people...

Id give it a try, this Balthazar coffee.  But it probably be coffee flavoured milk syrup more than coffee tho.  

I would prefer JUST to visit Lisbon and drop by this coffee place.  Have their pastries instead.   Although I dont drink alcohol anymore, Id rather try Portugal's famous port wines.   That would be more my thing if I ever visit Portugal.  Then drive myself to Spain, see Gibraltar, Valencia, Barcelona.   Then off to France.  Marseille.   And if there is any time and money left, onward to Italy.   The Mediterranean is where my soul belongs.    But I would ALWAYS come home.  North America is home!   

(North)  EAST COAST REPRESENT!!!

 

 

[Drew Dowdell]

33 minutes ago, oldshurst442 said:

 

Id consider restoring one, with an idea of electrifying it.  Dual motor, 100 KW/H battery from a wrecked Tesla Model 3.  To keep the restoration costs down since GM's E Crate stuff is expensive and the real hot E Crate set-ups are even crazier expensive. 

The rear suspension will be your biggest issue. They don’t have room back there. Doing it on a budget probably want to stick to the original setup. 

[balthazar]

[balthazar]

1:41:00 ~ 1:42.20

Sums it up perfectly.
 

 

[daves87rs]

On 3/25/2022 at 9:42 PM, Drew Dowdell said:

I’d love to find a final year of the first Gen Aurora, but they are almost always beat to hell. People didn’t preserve them. 

I just saw a white one a few days ago… ?  

[balthazar]

Early hybrid ~ 

[oldshurst442]

14 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

The rear suspension will be your biggest issue. They don’t have room back there. Doing it on a budget probably want to stick to the original setup. 

Original set-up as in V8 up front? 

Hypothetically speaking with all this conversation, I would prefer to electrify the Aurora.  If you are telling me that a motor and suspension set-up like a Model 3 will not fit in the back, then Ill just be happy with one motor upfront.  

A conversion of any kind regarding ICE to BE will be expensive no matter what.   Im talking hypotheticals because I really do want an EV sometime in the near future. And we are closing in on 2023 and I haven seen one EV from ANY manufacturer so far that peaks my interests.  

Reading @regfootball's posts in the Equinox EV thread, I share his sentiment that GM so far as of March 28, 2022 hasnt really offered any EV of substance to gain market control and share. All of their EVs so far seem to be compliance vehicles.   (Drama Queen statements, for sure.   Trying to make a dramatical point) 

The ones that are not, are unobtanium and really really suck as daily drivers. Great at being poster dream machines (the GMC Hummer EV), but that is it.  And that goes for all other EV makers.  (In not producing EVs that I want to own and drive) 

After 2023, I dunno who will make an EV suitable for my needs with an exterior that I enjoy, but I do enjoy an Aurora and hypothetically speaking, spending about the same amount of money that buys a Cadillac Lyriq, or at  least to try to keep a project within a Cadillac Lyriq budget,  Id much prefer to own an electrified Aurora. 

I realize that a Cadillac Lyriq is gonna please plenty of people, and hopefully for GM, it will be an EV success along the lines of a Tesla vehicle, the Lyriq falls way way short of pleasing me.   I see more and more of Ford's Mach E where I live, and that EV pleases me, sigh, I really really dont like CUVs.  

Edited March 28, 2022 by oldshurst442

[Drew Dowdell]

27 minutes ago, oldshurst442 said:

Original set-up as in V8 up front? 

Hypothetically speaking with all this conversation, I would prefer to electrify the Aurora.  If you are telling me that a motor and suspension set-up like a Model 3 will not fit in the back, then Ill just be happy with one motor upfront.

Yeah, the independent rear suspension on the Aurora (and Riviera, Eldorado, and Seville) is a pretty compact setup, but it had to be. The Aurora has a tiny trunk relative to its overall size as it was a 4-door outgrowth of the Toronado which was a "personal" luxury car. The Toronados from '79 - '92 have relatively tiny trunks too.   I'm sure you could put a second motor back there, but you'd lose what trunk space you did have. 

You might be able to put the motor in the spare tire well, but then you'd need some sort of transmission/gearing to move the output and half-shafts forward to the axle line and with a motor hanging behind the rear wheels it would cause some .... interesting... driving dynamics. 

[G. David Felt]

18 hours ago, oldshurst442 said:

 

Id consider restoring one, with an idea of electrifying it.  Dual motor, 100 KW/H battery from a wrecked Tesla Model 3.  To keep the restoration costs down since GM's E Crate stuff is expensive and the real hot E Crate set-ups are even crazier expensive. 

Sad that GM talks about e-crate motor and packages for conversion but has not delivered yet. Would be nice to convert some full-size old autos to have the 3 motor 1,000 hp system that is in the hummer.

[Drew Dowdell]

2 hours ago, David said:

Sad that GM talks about e-crate motor and packages for conversion but has not delivered yet. Would be nice to convert some full-size old autos to have the 3 motor 1,000 hp system that is in the hummer.

Will any of them be for transverse applications?