G. David Felt

Today, I took a lunch brake to walk the top of our roof at First and King St. in Seattle. We have two large areas for BBQ, eating, relaxing and enjoying the view. This is facing North East towards the Downtown core. This is facing Northwest over Puget sound.

Gotta Love this, HellCat Crate motor installed into Ram Rebel. http://www.trucktrend.com/how-to/engine/1806-ultimate-mopar-swap-installing-a-700hp-hellcat-crate-engine-in-a-2017-ram-rebel/

I agree that it does make sense especially a white auto that is a confusing color during the day to see. One would hope that the person could react fast enough if they were watching with hands on wheels, but I think that too many are lazy and willing to ignore their responsibility to pay attention.

Seems Skoda is setting track Records! https://www.motor1.com/news/247711/skoda-kodiaq-rs-nurburgring-record/ @balthazar Thought you would like this story on the 16 Russian made auto's. Some cool new and old stuff, but I think it is all old stuff. https://www.motor1.com/features/247900/soviet-cars-russia-world-cup/

Very cool story on 10 Forgotten Muscle cars that deserve to be restored. Love it. https://www.cheatsheet.com/automobiles/10-muscle-cars-deserve-restored.html/ Of the 10 on this list, which one if you could only pick one would you want to have?

Top 10 Fastest Depreciating Auto's I See Cars Study 4.1 million auto sales reviewed that became CPO resales and this gave I See Cars a clear picture of the top 10 auto's with the highest depreciation. In the Luxury segment, this led by BMW 5 Series and Mercedes-benz E-Class. iSeeCars 10 Best Bargains on Almost-New Vehicles Rank Car Avg. 3-Year-Old Used Price % Depreciation Depreciation Compared to Average 1 BMW 5 Series $ 30,846 52.6% 1.5 x 2 Volkswagen Passat $14,906 50.7% 1.4 x 3 Mercedes-Benz E-Class $34,010 49.9% 1.4 x 4 BMW 3 Series $24,024 49.8% 1.4 x 5 Ford Taurus $18,098 49.7% 1.4 x 6 Chrysler 200 $14,011 48.4% 1.4 x 7 Volkswagen Jetta $13,157 48.1% 1.4 x 8 Audi A3 $21,120 47.9% 1.4 x 9 Cadillac SRX $ 26,291 47.2% 1.3 x 10 Buick Enclave $26,620 46.8% 1.3 x Average for All Vehicles 35.0% 1.0 x According to their study, auto's on average after 3 years lose 35 percent of their value with Trucks being the best value holder at depreciating only 23.3 percent. Of the highest depreciation on the list is that 6 of the 10 auto's are german and they are on the list due to one very clear reason, extremely high repair costs that should make a potential buyer stop and think twice about buying them. Best value can be also had in auto's that are discontinued even if they are pretty solid auto's such as the Taurus and 200. Safety wise, I See Cars does point out that all the auto's on the list except for one are rated 5 out of 5 stars for crash safety. The Mercedes-benz is rated 4 out of 5. The study covers the following categories and is a worthwhile review if your looking for a solid CPO or New Driver first auto. Categories of the study: 10 Best Bargains on CPO auto's Best Bargains under $20K for Grads and New Drivers Best Bargains on CPO SUVs Best Bargains on CPO Trucks Best Bargains on CPO Minivans Best Bargains on CPO Luxury Autos I have to post the Luxury list as except for a single cadillac and Lincoln, the list is dominated by heavily depreciating German auto's and one Japanese car. iSeeCars Best Bargains on Almost-New Luxury Vehicles Rank Car Avg. 3-Year-Old Used Price % Depreciation Depreciation Compared to Luxury Average 1 BMW 5 Series $30,846 52.6% 1.2 x 2 Mercedes-Benz E-Class $34,010 49.9% 1.1 x 3 BMW 3 Series $24,024 49.8% 1.1 x 4 Audi A3 $21,120 47.9% 1.1 x 5 Cadillac SRX $26,291 47.2% 1.1 x 6 Mercedes-Benz C-Class $27,007 46.4% 1.0 x 7 Mercedes-Benz M-Class $34,628 46.2% 1.0 x 8 BMW 4 Series $31,196 46.2% 1.0 x 9 Acura TLX $22,319 44.5% 1.0x 10 Lincoln MKC $24,544 44.3% 1.0 x 11 BMW X5 $39,268 44.1% 1.0 x Average for Luxury Vehicles 43.4% 1.0 x Average for All Vehicles 35.0%

Morons are everywhere but these idiots take the cake.

Pretty clear that the Tesla autopilot works well up to the point it needs your help and then it needs your help faster than you can respond. Good 2 min video showing how this happens. Full story from BBC here: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-44439523

Very cool, Daily Driver Gen 6 camaro that can do an 8.8 Second 157 MPH Quarter mile blast with 1,238HP, 968 lb-ft of torque at the wheels on E85 fuel. http://www.hotrod.com/articles/8-second-sixth-gen-camaro-soon-fastest-kind-country/ That is called Sex on Wheels!

Wonder what other countries will go after money from VW?

http://www.rainiersquare.com/project/ The New Rainier Square project is a $600 million 60 floor mixed use building which Amazon will occupy the business space, top section is Apartments and retail and hotel on the lower first few floors.

Cool story is how Amazon is using the Heat from their Downtown datacenter to heat their office buildings. https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/blog/techflash/2014/09/heating-a-skyscraper-with-a-data-center-amazons.html They are planning on having a public Grand Opening Open House next Spring. I am planning on checking it out as I agree should be an interesting building to see.

F5 new HQ 28 story building cost $450 Million. It is interesting that they went with pyramid shapes that project out so that it is not just another rectangle tower.

Washington Mutual Building, I love the design of this building. 55 stories tall, 1.09 million square feet of mixed use space. Was voted one of the 3 best Post-Modernist designs in North America.

Interesting that while it was used till 1988 when Amtrak stopped service to Detroit, the upper levels that were supposed to be business office space never really got used and sat empty as the train station was pushed into service due to the old station burning down in 1913. Interesting history.

Interesting, so it cost $4 million to replace the windows and they are just single pane, but was done to appease the City of Detroit due to all the broken glass and how it looked. According to this story / interview with the past owners, renovation would be a minimum of $100 million and could be up to $200 million to get it complete. http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20170714/news/633851/redevelopment-of-detroit-train-station-a-marathon Great set of pictures of the place here, 42 to be exact. https://www.freep.com/story/money/business/michigan/2015/08/13/train-detroit-moroun-depot-michigan-central-bridge/31633393/ Cool Info on the wiki page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Central_Station

Perfect Unique auto for @ocnblu 1974 Baldi Frog is for sale. It has a manual Trans too. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1974-baldi-frog/

I get and understand your point and as Balthazar pointed out, it was already validated to be still structurally sound. That is the biggest point and makes it worth saving the building. Yet as I did post, not all buildings are just glass anymore as some are putting stone back into the buildings like the first one I posted. Even then while all glass to allow maximum natural light into the building, that has not stopped them from developing unique buildings that are just plain boxes.

Triple pane argon gas filled windows can be more efficient than the thick cement and bricks. Plus already built for earthquakes, modern electrical, plumbing, etc. I get if a building is structurally sound to renovate it and move forward, but not everything that is tagged historical really is or needs to be saved. Everything wears out over time.

Who knew that SAAB built a 6 wheel station wagon back in the day. https://jalopnik.com/you-should-know-about-the-biggest-best-saab-ever-it-1826778621 Course leave it up to the crazy innovative folks that build the concepts for SAAB.

Awesome Chevy Tahoe Sleeper: 6.2 L V8 638 HP https://jalopnik.com/we-all-need-this-totally-normal-looking-1998-chevy-taho-1826773855 FYI, what you see in the video is Issaquah Washington. A lovely area and the Lake Sammamish. Yes everything here is named after indian tribes or leaders. Plenty of details on the engine, transmission, differential and more on the story link above. Here is the listing where the Tahoe is up for sale. Sweet details. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1998-chevrolet-tahoe-2/

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/2018/06/12/feds-label-fiat-chrysler-uaw-co-conspirators/695076002/ FCA & UAW Co-Conspirators in Corruption Scandal From 2009 to 2015 the federal prosecutors have stated that nepotism was allowed to flourish at a FCA blue-collar training center. The law prohibits employers or those working for them from paying, lending or delivering money or other valuables to officers or employees of labor organizations and from labor leaders from accepting them. From 2009 to 2015 more than $1.5 million worth of illegal payments to UAW officials were made. Some of the illegal benefits are as follows: $365,000 Ferrari and two $35,700 each Montblanc Fountain pens for UAW leadership. $435,000 to a company controlled by late UAW VP General Holiefield. $262,000 to pay off Holiefield's mortgage, $30,000 in flight costs for UAW members, more than $30,000 for UAW party's, $3,000 tab for Wine and Cigars with custom labels that featured Jewell's name on them. The list is long in details on the lavish life of UAW leadership that was bankrolled by FCA for golf resort fees, lavish meals in Palm Springs, etc. FCA seemed to use their internal training center as a piggy bank to fund UAW leadership lifestyle. FCA says that this did not affect any collective bargaining for the UAW members, this was just a couple bad eggs who abused company funds to live a lifestyle with UAW Leadership. Yet many people who have been deposed in 2016 for this criminal investigation seem to call these so called Auto industry training centers "Centers for Hidden Relatives" due to the fact that so many relatives of UAW members have jobs in these centers and really do not do much.

Seems according to Volvo web site, that they will be passing on having a booth at the Geneva Auto Show in 2019. Seems that more and more automakers feel that their message on new autos launched at these big shows is getting lost and as such are wanting to go with a more focused intimate unvieling like at the Milan Fashion Week. https://www.media.volvocars.com/global/en-gb/media/pressreleases/230295/volvo-cars-to-focus-on-new-ways-of-introducing-cars-and-services-to-consumers So while Volvo has not backed out of the Detroit show like so many german brands have done, they have decided to skip the 2019 auto show in Geneva and Focus new auto roll outs at other venues.

Investing in Zero Emission Auto's by the Auto Alliance To Quote the Auto Alliance website: "The Auto Alliance, the leading advocacy group for the auto industry, represents 70% of all car and light truck sales in the United States, including the BMW Group, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Ford Motor Company, General Motors Company, Jaguar Land Rover, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz USA, Mitsubishi Motors, Porsche, Toyota, Volkswagen Group of America and Volvo Car USA.Headquartered in Washington, DC, the Alliance also has offices in Sacramento, California and Detroit, Michigan." This dedicated group of businesses sent a letter to the governors of the following nine states, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont. This group of states have not only embraced making CARB their states mandate for emissions but also have implemented the California's Zero Emission Vehicle mandate (ZEV). Yet with this done at the government level, holding their own agencies accountable to buying ZEV auto's and using them as well as having incentives to get people to buy ZEV auto's has stalled with electric vehicles sitting on dealership lots. The Auto Alliance states that as of June 11th there are 58 ZEV models on sale, including 34 plug-in hybrids, 21 battery electric and 3 hydrogen fuel cells according to the Department of Energy's www.fueleconomy.gov website. As stated by the Alliance, by 2021 there is expected to be 80 models of ZEVs on sale and action now by ZEV states are important to increasing sales and helping to reach the ZEV targets that these states have mandated. Quoting the Auto Alliance website: "In 2017, ZEVs represented 1.15% of total sales nationwide, or about 190,000 vehicles out of 17.1 million new vehicles sold. By 2025, under the CA mandate, sales of ZEVs are required to be 15.4% of total sales." Full details of the ZEV Mandate can be found here. Want to see how your state is impacted by the Auto industry, check out this map and click your state for a large amount of details on this. https://autoalliance.org/in-your-state/ Here is how Washington State is impacted by the auto industry:

All good as long as the profits come home to the USA and not stored in some other place like Apple does with their trillions stored in Ireland.