trinacriabob

I have seen this before. It's one of those things you keep looking at to ask yourself if it's for real and how close the margins are. It's scary.

Given how long I keep cars, y'all know I tend to be cheap. However, I saw this brochure on eBay by chance while looking at cars and such, came back around, and bought it - under $10, with taxes and shipping. We build excitement! What an improvement from the 1978 to 1980 rendition ... from every vantage point. I loved this dashboard. It's on the LJ. A leather wrapped wheel would have been nicer than urethane, but they weren't as common. Is it any wonder my interest in cars seems to have linearly waned over time? All the (post) malaise era accoutrements to pimp out your GP are here to choose from. J/K. I was really happy when I opened up the shipping carton and pulled out this brochure in near perfect condition.

These are smaller factions with the religion that do need the funding. My mom chose 5 of them. Not 25. Hopefully, the other 20 or so have their loyal patronage. It's very true how housing costs and debt (student loans) have shifted what the pie chart of disposable income looks like. It's a bad situation that hasn't helped anyone except the very rich. Writing the last check to flush out the student loans was one joyous event.

I have found that I have to get money orders when I make a donation. These are to bona fide charities everyone knows. The problem: you might just get onto their mailing list and on mailing lists that they share. With the money order, I just scribble a signature real fast, which is not the way I usually sign. The bottom line: they get their money, because I track the money order. It's offensive that, even here, "no good deed goes unpunished." - - - - - When my mom was around, she gave money to about 4 Catholic charities and a major research hospital. Eventually, she was getting stuff with pre-addressed prepaid envelopes from about 25 different charities - most of them still Catholic. They'd put little trinkets or mailing labels in their mail outs to make you feel guilty or obligated. She still continued to give to the 5 or so charities. However, after she passed away, I had to call those 25 charities, tell them she had passed, and to STOP! * something to think about for when and how you make donations *

Spotted August 3 With my tires rotated and my ride moved to Costco's regular parking area, I had lunch at "Cafe' 1.50," did NOT do the samples tour, and saw this upon leaving. The good: a tasteful looking up-line VW sedan in a nice color (to me) and with a DSG transmission (engine and transmission are sourced in Germany and Hungary) The bad: the price *thinking about Passat prices and their being gone ... sigh*

Spotted August 2 Wandered over from fast food land to a nearby lodging establishment. I am okay with color and it looks good on the car, but it's not safe enough for me to choose it for what could be a long ownership period.

Went to Costco to get the first rotation and balancing done on the Michelin Defenders I bought half a year ago or so. My appointment abutted the lunch hour, so I went into the store afterwards to feast at "Cafe 1.50."

@David Yep, there it is ... a 1990 Bonneville on the Bonneville Salt Flats. That's a funny name for salt flats in a desolate part of Utah given that "bonne ville" means good or beautiful city (or town) in French. - - - - - What I was going to say: I am often at a light and the car in front of me - often newer and often a SUV - doesn't pull away when the light turns green. This has been happening on the regular lately. After about 5 seconds, you honk at the horn. What's the situation? Typically it's a woman, more often a Karen or a younger woman, texting away. *sorry, I hate to bother you*

Nice. So, on both occasions, you bought the first year of the releases, albeit continuing on the W platform and both using the 3800 V6 - Series II (1998) and Series III (2005). As a side note, I'm seeing many LaCrosses on the road and in very good shape. Their owners like them. I now appreciate the 2005-2007 model with the smaller oval - but blacked out - grille. I like the grille on my 2008 just fine, given they sloped it back, but there's too much bling there. They could have toned it down and blacked it out to some degree as they did on the more recent Verano. Got it. Yes, I have a general idea where they are - to the west of Salt Lake City, UT heading toward Nevada. Apparently, they are smooth enough that they also run conventional cars on them to show how tough they are. And, maybe, they might have done a TV or print ad where a Bonneville was shown zooming around on the Bonneville Salt Flat(s). Not 100% sure.

Interesting. Which year/model acronym (GL, CX)/color/engine did you have with both of these cars? I could see the Intrigue's interior cheapening up over time. It was very similar to that of the Alero. If you want cheap interiors in later W-bodies, it would have been the interior of the '04-'08 GP. One can just tap on the sides on the console at its sides in the footwells and get rat-tat-tat. Sad.

Thanks for posting. Everything about it is nicer than the current one! Let's just hope they don't go 1.5T with this one. It looks like it needs more than those "90 cubic inches." Thanks, @NINETY EIGHT REGENCY That is a sweet looking interior, with a console and more bells and whistles to make this version of the 98 even more interesting. While I don't like leather interiors, they're easier on the eyes when they're burgundy or tan. You're right - I remember the transition from cursive to lower case letters with no serifs. Oldsmobile sure loved their cursive badging at one time - and their cursive has been in my parents' driveways a time or two. "Cutlass Supreme" was always scripted in the same manner for a long time! I can't say how I feel about the Aurora since I've never driven one, and don't remember if I've sat in one for any length of time. (Maybe at an auto show.) I recall that I really liked the dash on the first-gen. While I can't say that the GM full-sizes were dowdy, Pontiac was always the farthest away from dowdy in any segment they touched - be it Bonneville, Grand Prix, etc. At that time, I was thinking Intrigue and then shifted over to LaCrosse. That said, I'm pretty sure I would have enjoyed owning the last-gen Bonne in purist form.

I hope you're talking Pontiac, because the very last Bonneville was probably one of the nicest vehicles among GM's last full-size cars ... and a huge improvement over the "upside down boat"/"jellybean" Bonneville that preceded it. Front angled view Rear angled view They really did something right with these rear taillamps The dashboard was a bit much, and they could have simplified things, but this cabin was comfortable and the dash had all these goofy things going on

Wow, if you want to be bewildered, consider the seemingly limitless permutations of craziness and weirdness who just can't keep things simple and straightforward that you will come across at a flea market and through Craigslist.

I have not read books on diving on the "Doria;" however, I have watched some documentaries of exploration with mini-subs or equipment done on the "Doria." It was long thought that her safes contained all this money and all these valuables and, when they opened them, it turned out to be false. I've read a book and some accounts on what happened between 11 pm on July 25, 1956 and 10 am on July 26, 1956 when she rolled over and gave her last gasp. Everyone blamed the Swedes because their ship rammed the "Doria." Realistically, both sides were at fault. The Swedes had an unseasoned officer driving the ship through heavy fog in a heavily trafficked maritime lane, the radar was set at a scale that was 3x bigger, or smaller, than the true distance, and there was possibly some alcohol involved. On the Italian side, there was a breach of maritime protocols in which way you are supposed to turn (left or right) when you confront an event like this and they panicked. (To think that a sharp turn in the other direction would have avoided the collision is something that must have haunted many people for years.) As far as diving goes, she's on the shelf of the Atlantic before the edge of a big "canyon," so she sits in about 240 feet of water. Sharks are also a major problem in this area, as if we don't know that from the news. Some say that the "Doria" is considered the "Mt. Everest of dives." She was not a big ship. It was more about what she meant to a nation which had typically had good rapport with the U.S. healing from the ravages of WW2 and embarking on a rebuilding campaign that went for some 20 years, which Italians call the "boom." And how that nation would transport its people moving to the U.S., and back, including American tourists crossing the Atlantic that way instead of via the not as prevalent long haul jet. That said, while not big, they lavished a good bit of attention on the cuisine, the creature comforts, and how she was decked out. For Italians, when it comes to their transatlantics, it's the "Andrea Doria" and the "Michelangelo" - their very last and quite a bit bigger flagship (1965-1977, in my background photo; to 1991 under another country's flag) - that they more vividly remember. * I'm off my soapbox now *

July 25 - the day that the SS "Andrea Doria" was impaled and sunk by the SS "Stockholm" at 11 p.m. off the coast of Nantucket the evening before she was due in New York harbor the following morning. They were having an exhibit or something and I saw this poster at the Staten Island Ferry terminal when in New York last October. And, while on the Staten Island Ferry, looking toward Brooklyn showed the QM 2 (in the distance) moored at the cruise terminal. There's a new high rise in Brooklyn (surprise), which now has become fairly expensive because of the spillover from Manhattan and other people moving to NYC choosing it because it's a "little less" expensive. That's a light fog, as you look at another Staten Island Ferry going the other way inside the harbor. It was very heavy fog that also affected and contributed to the "Andrea Doria" disaster.

July 22 This might have been in the same parking lot Here's the first-gen of scaled down FWD Olds Ninety Eight. @NINETY EIGHT REGENCY The owner came up right after I had photographed it. I guessed '86 or '87. He told me it was a '90. That makes sense because they lost the cursive font for the badging. He told me he paid about a grand for it. It now had about 275,000 miles, but had significantly fewer when he bought it. The dark red leather interior had quite a few tears. When he cranked it over, it was hard to believe this 3800 V6 engine had that many miles ... it sounded great. It's always nice to see Veranos around. Most of the buyers keep them in excellent shape. They know this sort of car isn't coming back and it would be close to my ideal car at this point if it could be purchased new. Kudos for the sunroof. Demerits for the black leather interior, which I don't like and can get hot.

Here's a different brand of car later that same day This Caprice Classic was plated as a historical vehicle, but with an interior - not Brougham and maybe not even LS - that was not in the greatest of shape ... another boulevardier and nameplate that lasted for decades.

July 9 was a Grand Prix kind of day Morning GTP, thus supercharged ... no thanks ... - - - - - Afternoon It might have been a 1970. SJ version, thus most likely a 455 c.i., IIRC ... no thanks to the 455 V8

Spotted July 3 on my way back from the drive up to Toronto at a roadside rest area. This latest model has finally got me liking the Corvette. The driver did not look like someone who would drive a Corvette. For that matter, what is someone who drives a LaCrosse supposed to look like? LOL Spotted later that same day: We're talking sedan silhouette done right. I'm looking at you, Chevy Malibu sedan. I know several of us here have discussed the Mazda 6 for this positive attribute in the past.

Random thoughts and random visuals along these lines are going through my stream of consciousness these days ...

In a Kathleen Turner movie (1986) where she was time tunneled back to the '50s, her dad bought an Edsel ... I don't know how they'd compare ... some scenes of a younger Kathleen Turner.

Customer service at call centers has taken a nosedive that doesn't seem correctable anytime soon. Sadly, this is even in financial services - including brokerage! If domestically, it's because of the not-so-great caliber of people available and which they hire. If internationally, you might get someone who doesn't speak English well, is too obsequious and ingratiating in an annoying manner, and is not in synch with you in answering and asking questions as far as good timing goes. (I think we can do the mix and match real well with who I refer to in this last paragraph.) It can be exhausting.

Gosh, all this "work" to burnish and touch up these photos prior to posting them and no thumbs ups? LOL

June 26 Matosinhos (Porto district), Portugal I couldn't believe how many of these Porsche Panameras I saw in Portugal in such a short time. They seem to be the sporty luxury car of choice at the moment. This country seems to have awoken from its "slumber" of many years ago and there seems to be a lot more Euro and more conspicuous consumption floating around ... or maybe people are signing on the dotted line to have something with which they can make an impression. Here, and in other places in Europe, I have seen a definite move away from econoboxes, as well as a lot of people at motorway service areas with their expensive EVs of the better brands being charged up. - - - - - That's about it for June spotting for me.

June 25 Caldas de Gerez, Portugal - this is a cool little town with hot springs in the national park bordering Spain (it's a narrow country). I enjoy seeing these Opel products that were sold here as Saturns. There are many of these German made coupes around - both the Corsa and the longer Astra (like this one) - and they seem to be in it for the long haul with their EcoTec 4 cylinder engines.