trinacriabob

I see quite a few Teslas around these parts. I am not at all taken by them. The more I see ostentatious and expensive cars (yesterday, I saw an enormous new Lincoln SUV monstrosity - their biggest, very squarish), the more I yearn for cars like my old 1984 Cutlass Supreme Brougham with its 3.8 liter V6 with a 2 barrel carburetor! While I don't miss the carburetor set up, that was the most comfortable car I have EVER owned, by a long shot. Incidentally, when I was recently out of town, I was talking to a salesman who was not pushing me in the least and looking at the new Regal sportback sedan, where I got to sit in it and the sample the visibility. Not. At any rate, he sort of mumbled that the new LaCrosse isn't moving as was sort of expected because the price point can get real high and, at that point, buyers will cross over to Cadillac, also sold by that dealership. Sure, there are LaCrosses that sticker at 37K, but there are also many that sticker at around 47K. I like the third and current gen much more than then chunky second gen, save the high console, but I wouldn't buy one ... even if I had the coin and was in the market.

That's right ... BA did/does fly a jumbo from Phoenix to London when US Airways folded into AA and PHX became a One World hub. But, when US Airways was Star Alliance (IIRC), Lufthansa served Phoenix to Frankfurt with a jumbo. We've gone from the Big 6 to the Big 3 within the last decade or so. I'm betting those heavies have to work harder if full flights and taking off when it's 110F outside. I remember being on a full Lufthansa 747 from Germany to San Francisco and it rotated effortlessly in misty 65F weather. Planes and either Arizona or the Mojave Desert are a match made in heaven when it comes to "retirement!"

I don't know. This plane was launched in 2011. The same was true with the launch of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner in December of 2009. There were two of them. I think it has to do with photographing, security, monitoring performance, etc. It would be an interesting thing ("chase planes") to look up. When I almost bought the Monte Carlo instead of the LaCrosse and found one in another state, they were going to sell it to me in my state, just over the line and at a DMV, so I could purchase it with the much better tax situation. They were very accommodating but I got cold feet on the Monte. At any rate, the guy said he'd also send up a "chase car" to bring the driver of the Monte back to the dealership.

A beautiful spring day to have made history and to have launched the latest rendition of the "Queen of the Skies:" Just incredible ... both the rotation from Paine Field in Everett, WA and the descent to Boeing Field in Seattle, with the Cascades in the background. Note the chase plane (a routine thing on inaugural flights) and the fact that the landing gear is in the operative position after the climb out. Sadly, airlines have not been lining up to buy these in pax form as was hoped. There have been way more orders for the freighter version. It's all good. Lufthansa was the launch customer and has/will have 19 of them. I believe there are Air Force One orders for this version ... it's about time. Either way, the 747(-8i) should live to see 50 years of flight next February 9, since it first took the skies on that date in 1969. If being the "King of the Skies" means one has to be as ugly as the Airbus 380, it's probably better to settle for being queen. I swear ... even today, when you're in an airport and one of these taxis by, everyone still turns to look! At one time, I believe there were 2 YouTubes - one for the take-off and one for the landing. I was just poking around and found this YouTube which consolidates the events.

A tribute to rear wheel drive?

Since your location shows STL, did your cruise begin and end in Galveston, TX? Carnival and Disney are the big regulars there, with some Royal Caribbean. I would think the New England - Eastern Canada cruise would be interesting: New York - Newport RI - Boston - Bar Harbor - Halifax - St. john's - Sept Isles or Saguenay Fjord - Quebec City (most or some of those ports). The QM2 does it once or twice each autumn. When I did see the QM2 there and it was departing Quebec City, the band was playing "New York, New York." People ashore got a chuckle out of that. I've only been on full crossings when I was a kid, courtesy of my parents' travel choices. They didn't like airplanes but then had to get used to them because the ship stopped being an option.

Agreed. Your caption is funny. I saw this yesterday. (Still, these group photos are always sort of cool.) This is the largest segment of the Royal Caribbean fleet. People derisively call them floating condominiums or cruise boxes. They are sad in that they are too big and mostly all about bling and bells & whistles. Traditional ocean liners were noteworthy and memorable because they were designed with the forecastle pushed back far enough from the bow and with rear decks that tapered nicely behind the funnels, and with the outdoor pools were typically placed on ample rear decks. On the British and French liners, there were also additional pool(s) indoors, on the lower decks. On the Italian liners, all the pools were outside. The QM2, the only true transatlantic liner today, had to do a balancing act. It was required that the bow was sleek enough, that the forecastle was pushed back enough, and that the rear of the ship would be tapered while upping the number of exterior and balcony cabins compared to the outgoing QE2. That was a tall order, but they did a good job with the design. Sadly, the QE and QV are part of the Cunard fleet, were built at Fincantieri near Venice, are boxy, are used primarily for cruises, and fortunately are NOT the Cunard flagship. This shows what I'm talking about, with the QM2 in the middle, looking pretty darn nice to me: Again, people respond to good design even though they may not be able to verbalize what they like and dislike. Many ships come into Quebec City during the cruise season, but the area's citizens generally only turn out in significant numbers to see the arrival and departure of the QM2.

For some crazy reason, I'd love to drive one of the very last Merc Grand Marquis or Ford Crown Vics with the 4.6 L SOHC V8 just to see what they're like. I'm betting they're super smooth. People are also hanging onto those.

Very sad that "pull out all the stops" New York style arrivals for yesterday's true ocean liners are a thing of the past. Also, an ocean liner is not a cruise ship. It is meant to function primarily for scheduled transoceanic service between two points (typically North America and Europe). Here's the arrival of the S.S. France in New York on May 11, 1962. There was no bridge across the Narrows (1964) and no WTC (~1971). (However, the last Italian flagship and Cunard flagships would sail under the Verrazano upon sailing into the harbor.) The French government pulled the plug on the "France" in 1974 because she was bleeding so much red ink. Love it at about the midpoint of the video when you get an aerial view of the ship passing the Statue of Liberty and all the tugboats escorting the ship.

I like seeing Mercury Milans around and in good shape. These would be with the latest grille (09-10). Some of them are Premiers. Most of them are 4 cylinders, including some of the Premiers. I once rented one and was amazed by how much I liked it. I drove it to Big Sur.

I like the forested areas and brick homes that show up in some of your photos. I'm going to assume most of these photos are in NJ ... where property taxes are high and fuel prices are low(er).

I'm laughing my ass off. I vaguely remember the occasional older pastel/enamel salmon, pistachio, and baby blue cars toward the beginning of my life! Yesterday, I saw TWO 2006 or 2007 Monte Carlos within 15 minutes of each other. Both were LTs. The first one was silver and the second one was charcoal. Both had the substantial bucket seats I liked in gray cloth. Both were in great condition, considering they were 11 or 12 years old. And, at about the same time I saw that boat tail Riv, I saw yet another Monte Carlo and took a photo of it: This one was in the metallic bronze color with slightly tinted glass. It was also an LT. Seeing these sets off more cognitive dissonance than seeing Grand Prixs. I still like these cars a lot. I've basically driven nothing but this genre of car since I got my driver's license until owning my current GM sedan.

I just saw a candy apple red (seemed to be the original color) '77 or '78 Thunderbird in the parking lot while getting some groceries. This is the long coupe with finned fender tops, a long hood, and a small intermediate opera window inserted into a very wide b-pillar. Of the domestic automakers, FoMoCo did the weirdest things with opera windows ... as in "fail." This was a weird car but it was in outstanding shape for its age. I'm thinking it ran with a 302 or 351 V8.

Here are some photos of the boat tail Riv which I posted about on April 14 For being 47 years old (1971), it didn't look too bad The front end is not at all subtle, nor is the rest of this car! It looks like a hoodlum's car from this vantage point Interesting beltline I wonder if the design team was referencing the Plymouth Barracuda of the mid 60s with this rear window The famous "boat tail" of this gen of Riv - they tried to make a statement with the strong oval shapes of the last gen (mid 90s Riv) but that car wasn't a hit, even though the dashboard that leaned forward was ... to me. I don't think any generation of Riv lived up to the statement of the very first-gen Riviera. It's cool that this cursive name badge remained with this car for most of its life - I believe they used block letters in the late 70s coupe that was scabbed off the LeSabre chassis and had the same dashboard and powertrain as the LeSabre in those years. I once got to ride from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, crossing the desert at about 75 mph, in the plush back seat of a '77 or '78 Riv fitted with the Olds 403 V8 and it was very comfortable and serenely smooth. I don't think the "ay-dult" (a friend's aunt) who was driving it that fast cared much about the speed limit or the gas mileage.

I was doing the coupon thing at BK tonight. As I sat there, a beautiful, clean 2001 or 2002 Pontiac Grand Prix GT coupe pulled into the parking lot. A kid in his late teens or early twenties got out, came into the store, and was probably ordering all those bags of food for his family. His parents probably hung on to the car and/or maybe handed it down to him. Right behind the front turning lamps, it had the 3800 V6 badge in slanted letters. As he drove off, the inspiring silhouette of the best looking W-body coupe faded out of sight. I was in Spokane WA in the summer of 2003 wasting time waiting for a childhood friend now living there to return to the house, so I went over to B&N and a Pontiac dealership. They had a Pontiac Grand Prix GT coupe in the bronze/gold color with a tan cloth interior and no one hassled me. I remember that! I was thinking "last call" (at least new). Within 15 minutes, a LaCrosse identical to mine rolled through the parking lot. Then, as I was almost home, a new black Cadillac CT6 was next to me at a light with a conservative business type behind the wheel. As the light turned green and I exerted moderate throttle, this Caddy blew right past me. I'm thinking it needed very little throttle. However, we ended up stopped at the next red, just like the tortoise and the hare. If he can afford that car, he can afford the gas. I saw that it was badged 3.0 TT. It's one very stately looking automobile.

I can't believe I once saw Bill and Melinda Gates driving on the freeway. It was on I-5 northbound, traveling down the "Southcenter Hill," as it's called, and just south of Seattle's city limit. They were in a late model, larger black Mercedes. This was in the 2000s.

I agree. Currently, I am not happy that GM does not have many cars to offer that interest me. For the kind of motoring I like to do, I'd probably buy a base (RWD) Dodge Charger in white with a black cloth interior and the base V6 engine (30 mpg highway) and these sticker out at about $28,000 MSRP. As for how they handle wintry conditions, some people have sounded off and said that, with the car's hefty weight, the RWDs track fairly well. I've rented a couple of them and loved driving them. It is definitely a substantial car for the money. And this is from someone who absolutely hated Chrysler some 10 to 20 years ago. In terms of GM, it would probably be a Chevy Cruze LT with cloth seats. For being relatively small, its driving manners are excellent. Looking at foreign cars, it would be either a new Sonata (with the letters nicely inscribed across the rear) or a new Passat. Both sticker out at about $23,000 MSRP.

So, I had a Costco visit to rotate the Michelins. In 24,000 miles and with rotations every 6,000, they went from 10s to 7.75s, which is pretty much on target wear for the tire. If you take it out ratably, they will fall a little short of the 90,000 mile mark. But that's o.k. I think this might even improve somewhat when I change out the OEM struts during the summer and have the ISS replaced at roughly the same time, along with a wheel alignment. I am looking forward to elimination of the minor ISS clunk that has been pestering me. And, because it was Costco, I did do the "sample lunch." Out of guilt or embarrassment, I tell each and every one of the demo people that "I'm in the tire shop."

I remember these! Rarely did I see them then and rarely do I see them now. But, good God, who can forget those funky diagonal slats that went only partway across the front fascia ...

Before I give CVT a chance, and that would be in a future purchase, it will have to have accumulated a positive track record.

Never in my sheltered (not) teenage life would I have ever thought there was such a thing as a 405 way up north! Today, within 15 minutes of each other, I saw: 1) a burgundy late motel Subaru Forester that was a taxi, and 2) a silver haired dude driving a silver VW Passat SE with the letters TSI or TDI over on the right side of the rear fascia. He had the windows down. The interior was black. It had nice finned alloys. I was thinking to myself that this has become a really nice looking sport sedan. Only within the last decade have I found any VW product to be acceptable and the Passat rules that small group.

Yes, there are way fewer parts - two conical spheres that work adjacently to each other and provide all these different rmp permutations. However, if this is the case, then why haven't they been able to dial in CVT technology to the extent they should have? I once asked a Nissan service writer if he'd ever seen one reach 150,000 miles and still function well. He said he'd seen a few reach that milestone. He said that, with those that needed work, they were just R & R jobs. There is no drop and drain (to change the filter) scenario here like there is for a conventional step gear transmission. It has to be a flush. And, from hearing owners sound off here and there, they say that, even with their maintaining their CVTs, they still experienced premature failure compared to what they expected. I was initially interested in CVT and now I'm not.

Well, my parents' car ownership history wasn't as long as some of you folks' parents because of when mine emigrated. My dad first owned a Ford, which was a lemon, a Chevy Impala 283 which was fairly reliable, then a Dodge, which we called "the bomb" and which was also problematic in the starting and fuel delivery system while decent in the powertrain, and ultimately the very first quad rectangular lamp, waterfall grilled Cutlass Supreme. (Which was "supposed" to be a new Buick Regal of the same year.) Partly because they got it new and partly because it was "America's sweetheart," they got quite a few compliments on it. I, too, loved that car, used it quite a bit, and, mostly, helped them maintain it. Hence, it was NO lemon. We bought another Cutlass Supreme (Brougham) new and then, alongside these, gently used, very low mileage cars like these: a Pontiac LeMans coupe with a 250 inline 6 (our most reliable car by far), an Olds Omega coupe with a 260 V8, and a Buick Regal coupe with the odd firing 231 c.i. V6. At the end, we were B-O-P all the way. My dad always eyed Buicks ... more so than Oldsmobiles. He finally learned Oldsmobiles were just as good, if not better. He never wanted a Cadillac ... too expensive and too pretentious. I'm probably even more B-O-P than they were! Other family members have gone foreign, though. I once visited a family member in upstate New York and saw that they owned a Subaru. I call that blasphemy.

I don't know if we are supposed to talk about "the past" on here but, over the last week or so, I was thinking about interesting people in C&G's past. Very few women have showed up to join the forum over the years. One once did and, in BOTH her av and signature, she had a photo of (what was supposedly her) ample cleavage with an arm covering up the "a(u)reas" that would constitute nudity. When the boys of C&G got frisky, and it had nothing to do with her, she'd call us on it. She didn't stick around very long and I believe a few of us confronted her on her strange and unwelcome M.O. Having a better handle on life and armchair psychology, there are two words for what was occurring - CONTROL ISSUES. Regardless, we did have one woman who stuck with us for quite a while, hailed from Oklahoma, actually worked for a GM dealership, and loved Cutlass Supremes. What a long, strange trip it's been!

The original Queen Mary was "rescued." She found a home in Long Beach, CA. The original Queen Elizabeth, of roughly the same vintage as the first Mary, did not fare as well. Its last stint was as "Seawise University" in Hong Kong, and it then suspiciously caught fire and capsized in Hong Kong harbor. The hull remained there for quite a long time before it was removed. Also, I was able to sail on the QE2 once, out of Manhattan, so it's nice to know it's conceivable that I might be able to see the ship again, even though that's a stretch. A trip on the QE2 is an unforgettable experience. I only wish Fort Lauderdale had bought the ocean liner to put it in its harbor. It would then be much easier to see it (hello Southwest!) and make for sort of a "symmetrical" situation with Cunard and Long Beach, CA!