trinacriabob

Q: What do you call a person who speaks two languages? A: Bilingual Q: What do you call a person who speaks one language? A: American

Very true. But it's a choice people make. Because while some 20-somethings are getting them, others are choosing not to. I see that the hip, older neighborhoods have way more young(er) people with tats while kids working in retail, coffeehouses, and supermarkets in the suburbs are way less apt to have them. So, while the observation above is true, it begs the question "why?" At least to me. We've lived in a society that has always touted good skin tone and healthy skin and have been bombarded by the media about maintaining good skin quality. And they look quite bad on those who got them at an advanced age. (Incidentally, the late Anthony Bourdain had one ... or two.) If I was 20 years younger, I wouldn't do it. I don't care who has them. Help yourself. A few places I don't want to see them is at a financial institution or on an airplane flight crew. But that's me being a fuddy-duddy.

Has anyone seen "Den of Thieves?" This thing was on my video screen in front of me on the plane but I didn't put on the headphones because of the engine noise. I am not good at watching a movie on a plane. It looked intense. I didn't watch to see how it ended. I will put it on my bucket list. What did you think ... if you saw it? Also, is there anyone in the last decade who is a hard ass, either by hoodlum ways or legit ways, who does NOT have tattoos? Any good movies around that anyone has seen? I think I mentioned that "Three Billboards ... " was a riveting movie, but that was a 2017 flick.

I see a CMSL in the rear window. (That could have been added.) However, I definitely recall these as being '81-'82 wheels. They were among the best alloy wheel designs of that era. They hearken to racing flags ... very cool. I will say that, in '81, the MC moved back into being acceptable, and even attractive, after looking sort of dowdy from 1978 to 1980, with over-the-top fender sculpting, even though 1980 had quad lamps up front that helped a bit. The weird thing about MCs was that, in their base versions, the bench seats tended not to have an armrest. That was just plain weird for this genre ... a personal coupe.

Admittedly, the CT6 is growing on me. The canting of the rear taillamps as it is pulling away looks good. It's well suited to be their flagship sedan.

A couple of days ago, I saw a bright red Pontiac G8 in a parking structure. The person parked it like an a-hole but, since it was near a major gym, I figured it was an arrogant muscle head who might be its proprietor. Then, across the parking structure, I saw this moments later and had to cringe. I also saw an immaculate 06-07 Monte Carlo LT coupe with the upturned spoiler and the larger five-spoke aluminum wheels leaving a McDonald's parking lot. A smaller, middle aged woman with auburn hair was behind the wheel. With the bigger wheels, it could have been a 3.9 instead of a 3.5. I'm not a fan of the metallic charcoal or dark silver color, but the car looked great.

Never mind.

Yes, I have seen a rare few with the small 455 badge. I'm thinking my rank ordering of all these recently reported sightings in this early 70s category would be: LeMans/GTO, Skylark/GS, Cutlass/442, and Malibu. Our family knew some people who had a 1970 Skylark coupe in light metallic green, a white top, white buckets, a console shifter, and a 350, who loved theirs. They loved Buicks. They kept that white interior spotless. Then they got divorced. Then they moved out of their SGV home bought new for under $50,000. Then he had a mid life crisis. Then they drove foreign iron. Yes, the cycle of life in SoCal ...

A real interesting character, that one ... the person, not the car. And I mean this in a nice way.

It's a beautiful car. The lime is a little weird. However, it's a timeless shape and I like the rear lights quite a bit. Is this going north or south on I-5? I don't think I've ever traveled on the lower deck.

Within the last hour. Wasn't prepared for this siting, so I couldn't take a photo. Coming toward me was a 1977 Olds Cutlass Supreme coupe. It was light metallic blue with a white landau and a white pinstripe, the color keyed rally wheels, and white vinyl buckets seats. It was a Supreme and not a Salon because the buckets had the thinner profile. It sparkled and looked like it was no more than 3 years old. At the wheel was a septuagenarian or octogenarian. I'm almost sure he was the first owner. I would have loved to have asked him some questions about its specs and mileage. At about the same time, I saw this 20-something girl walking around who looked just like a 20-something version of Caitlyn Jenner. I'm sure she's heard that and was probably never compared before the transition.

Wouldn't you really rather have a Buick? (I don't know what their current slogan is.)

"Happy anniversary." No more insanely hot summers for you. Knowing the SoCal desert and Las Vegas area, I might love being there to visit friends when it's 80 to 90 and bone dry but, in 3 to 4 days, I'm ready to leave.

The talk of architecture and platforms is something a person has to digest for a while. It can get confusing. But, as for the car itself, I wonder how much the sheet metal will change. I like the latest rendition of it but know it is in need of a refresh. I see many on the road. I've also read that, for being RWD, it handles reasonably well in bad weather. That's it, basically. I'm wondering what the next Charger/300 will look like, why the 300* doesn't sell as well as it once did, and just how quickly are consumers tiring of big sedans like this. That Charger would ever switch over to being just a sedan from having been just a coupe is something that would not have been envisioned several decades ago. * I noticed that it might get the axe, which saddens me ... I really think the Charger and 300 anchor two fairly different niches and consumer profiles, but I could be wrong.

It looks like this may be the 2019 Ford Focus. What an improvement ... Exterior view - spec model for Chinese market Photos of the dash don't look too good, IMO. I don't like the "laptop left open" look atop the center stack. Let's hope they get a step gear auto trans. dialed in. If this car is successful, that won't bode well for the Cruze. This market niche is tight, with so many foreign brands in it, too.

Definitely not my favorite interior color at all. However, that's what I've got now. I sure would have liked the metallic glacier blue (offered in the previous M.Y.) with a dark blue interior (never offered in the LaX). It's weird when people tint windows in places that aren't sunny. Each state seems to have a saturation ratio or percentage of what they will allow. It's needed in the Sunbelt. Not many things worse while motoring than a blistering hot dash and steering wheel. In my book, this is great stuff. People below a certain age may never experience this. And I don't think it's ever coming back. Had they put it in a SS, they would have had to set it up in 40:40 buckets and put an operating console in it.

Sunday night - I was in a shopping center and had just gone to Trader Joe's for some groceries. Upon returning, I saw an immaculate mid 2000s Impala with everything on it. It had out of state plates (from a state in which I had also lived) and the driver was getting in. So we started talking. It was his late mom's and he had it for a year or so. He liked talking about his car and he was really taken with it. It was a 2005 in a beautiful copper color, with tan leather buckets, a console, and a sunroof. He didn't know what engine it had, so he lifted the hood and I informed him he had a 3800 V6 and that he should take car of it because it could run forever. I didn't comment but it said Series II on the shroud. Since Series IIIs were in Pontiac Grand Prixs the year before, I was surprised to see this. I'm hoping they had cured the Series II of its issues with faulty intake manifolds by 2005. Last night - I was getting a haircut and, as I was seated with my back to the glass, a late 60s/early 70s mid size Buick Skylark convertible went whizzing by. The guy sitting next to me and also waiting also turned around and looked at it. I asked him if he knew the year. He definitely said 1970. He had a Chevy Silverado as his daily driver, so he knew GM. And that made sense. It was the same color as my dad's 1970 LeMans base coupe of the same year, in that metallic aqua called "Bimini Blue." It had a black top (in the up position) and the typical Buick sport wheels. Nice! (I wish I could have taken a photo of it.)

Maroons are funny - they can be too "candy apple" or be deeper and uptown. In the SS, that would have looked sharp with beige buckets. In Caprice form, it would have looked great with a corresponding maroon interior.

I get a grace period. It's actually June, but I spotted this one in May, on the 18th to be exact. It belongs to someone I know. It is a 1994 Impala SS (same as the 1994-1996 Caprice) and is equipped with a 5.7 V8. It is a hobby car for this individual and not a daily driver. It has the buckets and a non-operating console, so the shifter is located on the column. It was explained to me that the shifter was on the console in 1996 ... where it should be. Familiar shape (Caprice) but different execution (Impala SS): This bas relief applique on the rear fender came standard: Old school - turned the "right" way, with the transmission behind it and lots of room. Identical to the 4.3 "baby" V8 of the same years in appearance. The placard is the only way to distinguish them. Don't be scraping off the placard: Look at the clearance between the radiator/fans and the engine. Also, note the pulley diagram. It's a weird one ... all the stuff is on the left: Nice ... only the speedometer is digital (along with the odometer) but everything else is analog. Presumably less to go wrong: Old school center stack, with a cassette player, and a huge glove box bin. Buckets, in leather, but the shifter is not on the console:

Heard this one this morning when discussing investment banker types and the "business card scene" from the movie "American Pyscho" ... Q: What do you call going golfing instead of going to church? A: Christian bail (I don't golf. I'm not the best about going to church, either.)

So, I'm assuming they didn't "force" '70 to '72 buyers into the 455, meaning the 400 would continue as the base engine ...

I did not know that it was production issues that caused the Chevy engine to be swapped in. I figured it would be on the 88s since 98s did not run with that "small" of an engine. Owners of the 98s would have blown gaskets if they got a Chevy engine. We all know the diesels put in these Olds in these very same years were blowing gaskets ... and more. Also, this whole thing supposedly came to be when owners brought in their larger Olds sedans for warranty or repair work and the R&Rs required that items be fetched from the parts department. With all the GM brands doing well in those years, you didn't see multiple GM brands at one location unless it was a hick town. With that, customers had to be told that their 350 was a Chevy 350 and not an Olds 350 and that they had to get the parts elsewhere. When people graduated from Chevy and went up to B-O-P, like my dad, they didn't want to take a step back. So, based on that, these customers were really mad. With the Seville, the only engine that went in there at the beginning was an Olds 350 but, since it was modified via fuel injection, it was only Cadillac that used it that way, so it sort of became a Cadillac engine. (It was funny to see a fuel injected engine with a massive round air cleaner housing atop the engine as if it had a carburetor.) I'm figuring these units in the early Sevilles lasted a long time. It would be interesting to know how many miles, on average, early Seville owners who kept these cars for the long haul racked up on their "baby Cadillacs," as they were called at their introduction.

The seating position in that Riv was a little low. There was a lot of hood and a lot of trunk on that one. I think it would have looked better as a slightly shorter car. Move over, Cutlass convertibles. Today, a late 60s/early 70s Pontiac GTO convertible coupe went whizzing by. The top was up. I thought it was a 70. Someone opined it was a 69, or maybe a 68. I wondered what the engine might be. I was told it was unlikely it would be a 350. And that it was most likely a 400. The color was a lighter metallic green. The convertible top was white. I couldn't see the interior and am not sure as to the wheels. I'm hoping they were the PMD rally wheels. The honeycombs were great ... but on later cars.

Haha. Good photo. It's hard to get pets to look right at you when taking photos. This looks like one rambunctious critter.

Yes. And I like those the best after an Olds V8. And because the small block 307 has the great attributes of a small block Olds Rocket 350.