trinacriabob

Haha. Cute cat. Me, too! I've only had one cat ... when I was a kid. It was an all black female. Our dog came after the cat. Our cat would engage the kids in the neighborhood and visitors to the house to play with her! I've noticed that all black cats and "tuxedos" tend to be the most outgoing cats, based on what I've seen. Maybe there's another cat in my future. I think about it from time to time.

This is literally "being 5h!t on" exponentially! Plane Dumps Human Waste on Man While Flying Over His Yard: 'A Really Horrible Experience' (msn.com) I wonder if it's possible to track the offending planes.

Thank you! And, as a coincidence, I was just looking at a web ad banner and it's readily apparent that used ones don't come cheap! It's always great to head down to Flah-reh-duh. Truly a unique, interesting, scenic, and weird state. No "My Cousin Vinny" antics on the way down. Wait. You're safe. You won't have tri-state NYC area license plates. (This commentary is moot if you're flying.)

Also spotted in September ... Makes me wonder if this sort of taxi ride is cheaper ... probably not.

Tracy has this unmistakable earthy voice. Like many other performers trying their luck in and around Harvard Square, she broke through. Like I said, you might need I.V. antidepressants to watch movies with Frances McDormand in them. You might also need them to listen to Tracy Chapman songs.

It's a bad time to be a Brian Laundrie lookalike.

Beautiful song that was very smoothly rendered. The sad part is that the lyrics are more applicable, and still unaddressed today, than they were when the song was released.

Yes, it is clean. I wonder how much they want. It's a '77 Brougham coupe. That's not a color combo I would like. The expanse of white with a darker maroon interior was not so great. With the "firethorn" red interior shown here, it's too much. A girl I knew in college said white cars with red interiors look like "clown cars." I think she had a point. Very true. And the product itself (the next Dodge Charger) will probably be very similar. The next rendition is further down the pike. There would be a lot more speculation and consternation if a new Charger was at hand.

It's good NOT to fit in when there's a Subaru adjacent to you in the foreground. - - - - - It's October 18, I went onto the Dodge website, and the 2022 models are NOT yet shown. I'd like to see the trim levels, options, and pricing of the 2022 Charger. What's up with that?

I should be checking out this thread more. It's cool so that one doesn't have to create a new thread nor feel they have to put something in Random Thoughts - - - - - "ODE TO THE FIRST GM COLONNADES" This "catalogue" is all about how much I like this series of intermediate cars sold by B-O-P and Chevrolet from 1973 to 1977, with special emphasis on 1975-1977, which aged like a fine wine. With their long hoods, shorter trunks, and opera windowed greenhouses, set off by landau or full vinyl roofs, not to mention the typically creased backlite, I thought these were a stroke of genius. With rear wheel drive, weight coming in at close to 4,000 pounds with V8 engines, many exterior colors to choose from, and many interior schemes in terms of seating arrangements, dash configurations, and such, they conceptually seem like dinosaurs today. But for anyone who experienced these cars, and even got to drive them, they probably have a place in your heart and are a source of good memories. They were also, for the most part, reliable, and people kept them for a long time. Today, buying one in good condition does not come cheap. * the photos were obtained from the internet - with some of them coming up toward the top of searches - and are fully intended for fair use to share with our small community of like-minded folks * Mostly, I am focusing on the coupes with 112" wheelbases, which had sedan versions running on 116" wheelbases CHEVROLET Malibu Classic, Malibu, and Laguna The 1977 Malibu Classic was probably the best looking of the coupes, which looked better after receiving rectangular headlamps in 1976. The 1977 head the cleaner vertical grille over the diamond pane effect of 1976 grille. Chevy did a good job with handling the stacked lamp effect on these cars. The Malibu had the safest dashboards and interiors, and the dashboards were very logical. They could be boring with the strip speedometer (seen here), but circular gauge packages were also available for this same pod. A large clock, or blank, was also seen in the top RH bezel in the dash. Seating was usually bench seating, though this one indicates the novel swivel bucket seats that were available for a few years. PONTIAC Grand Le Mans, Le Mans sport coupe, Le Mans, and Grand Am This is a sleek 1976 Grand Le Mans coupe sporting the trademark Pontiac rally wheels. I'm showing this 1975 Grand Le Mans coupe because, for being the last year for round headlamps, it sported a nice front grille with those inset turning lamps. Every discernible car in this photo is a GM product! This is a 1977 Grand Le Mans coupe, with a similar rear fascia to the M.Y. before. The Le Mans series had fastback lites, as did the Malibus, leaving the creased ones to their slightly larger Grand Prix and Monte Carlo cousins. You either liked the pinched rear trunk effect or you didn't. The same would apply to PMD's unique offering of optional rear wheel opening skirts on these intermediates (shown above). Pontiac probably had the most interesting dashboards of the quadruplets. This vehicle was up in Canada and has NO A/C. Check out the climate control panel, but it does have a rear defroster toggle. This one has the instrument gauge cluster, with a tach that would otherwise be a clock, or blank. Here, a clock was placed low, right above the shift lever and the cursive emblem "Grand Le Mans." The top of the console is slightly slanted toward the driver. Here's a full view of the dash. It's shared with the Grand Prix, where the telling feature might be the steering wheel and especially GP's larger armrests that carry across and sweep upward on its larger coupe doors. Bench seating and 60/40 seating was available. This is what the most up-level seating in the Grand Le Mans looked like. Here, the armrest implies 60-40 seating. This same scheme, in different colors, could also be had with very "plump" bucket seats up front in the GLM model. This is really interesting: base Le Mans and Le Mans sport coupes were treated to a more sedate dashboard. There would be no strip gauge, but much less of the circular effects. Many of these option choices could have been viewed as wasteful. OLDSMOBILE Cutlass Supreme, Cutlass Supreme Brougham, Cutlass Salon, Cutlass S, Cutlass 4-4-2 While not a great color, in my opinion, and '77 not being my favorite year, this photo really captures the great stance of the Cutlass Supreme (this is a Salon) that made America fall in love with them. This is a 1976 Supreme and the year in which over 500,000 of these were sold. For 1975, designers worked some magic with the grille of the Cutlass Supreme and Salon (this is a Salon) so that it leapfrogged the 1973 and 1974 models in terms of looks. The turning lamps inset into the grille look great. This is a 1976 interior for a Salon coupe with its bigger and more comfortable bucket seats. The tiny seat belt warning pod atop the dash meant this had the full instrumentation package. This is also a 1976, but in a Supreme coupe, where a bench seat with an armrest was the norm. There were many velour and vinyl choices. White vinyl seating was seen with many trim colors, including the once only lime green of 1976. It would appear that the swivel bucket seats might have ended in Cutlass the year before, in 1975. These don't swivel. This is a 1977 with the Brougham interior. You can see the cushions attached to the seats. Broughams were set up in 60/40 mode up front. With all the money they made the year before, I guess they had enough in the piggy back to make some final year changes to the dash - you see rectangular A/C vents for the passenger, as well as the clock placed between them. There is also a bull nose type ridge defining the top of the IP for the driver. I'm not so sure I liked these changes. I liked the 1976, and 1975, Cutlass Supremes more. BUICK Regal, Regal Limited, Regal S/R, Century, Century Limited, Century Special Here's a 1976 Regal coupe (no fender badge, so 350 V8) from a still from a movie from the '70s. The front end was simple and nicely done, as were the subtly finned rear tail lamps possibly taking cues from the Eldorado. This was a big enough departure from its 1975 predecessor. I'm only showing this because of the V6 fender badge. Throughout this series, the use of V6s was the out-of-the-crate "odd firing" versions. It was always fun(ny) to see these, especially when on an even larger sedan. Some people bought them - I don't know who well they fared. Had they been converted to "even firing," they would have been much more compatible with this caliber of car. Outfitting the car with a V6 shaved off about 200 pounds. While this may be a 1975, this is a sweet photo. Again, the front grille is nice enough, with the Regal crest in both the hood ornament and the front fender. This has the Limited interior and the landau roof works great with this car and its rally wheels. Their use of enamel dove gray showed it was the division right below Cadillac, and Buick was the only one to have a finely upholstered gray velour 60-40 interior showing that, again, it was the closest to Cadillac. Compared to the Cutlass Salon, very few Regal S/Rs were made. The idea was the same as the Salon, as seen from its nicer, bigger bucket seats, steering wheel, and console. Kudos to this car for the very unique trestle shifter in the console. In the very basic Regal and Century, the base dashboard was a little weak for a Buick. It was closer to the one in the Chevrolet in both finish level and statement it was making. Compared to Chevy, there was more chrome and some nicer switches. It detracted from the car's being a Buick. - - - - - SEPARATE MENTION More so than intermediates, the next two cars were more personal luxury coupes than conventional mid-sizes. Since Olds and Buick had Toronado and Riviera, respectively, these could be seen as more reasonably priced Chevy and Pontiac personal luxury coupe options - on 116" wheel bases - to put a "pocket Toronado" or a "pocket Riviera" into the driveway of Chevy and Pontiac buyers. These two cars had even longer hoods and could only be had with V8 engines. CHEVROLET Monte Carlo This is a 1977, which I thought had slightly nicer details in grille than 1976. They didn't cost much more than a Malibu and, for the money, were a substantial car. Whether or not you bought one had to do with whether you were comfortable with a Chevrolet or instead wanted one of the higher priced GM marques. PONTIAC Grand Prix This is a 1976 Grand Prix LJ and, in its changeover to rectangular lamps, did a fairly provocative job with its front end. In my opinion, it looks a fair bit better than the 1977 Grand Prix, where the turning lamps are inset between the two rectangular lamps. An interesting fact is that 350 V8 engines (by the four divisions!) were the norm in all the 112" wheelbase mid-sizes and the Monte Carlo. Grand Prix was a latecomer to this stable, finally bringing on a 350 V8 in 1976 and even going with a 301 V8 in the similarly sized 1977 version. There were never 6 cylinder engines in these 2 cars from 1973 to 1977. - - - - - The V8 engines in these cars: All divisions produced a 350 V8 for their respective cars. From 1975 onward, bigger V8s for Chevy were the 400 and the 454. For Pontiac, they were the 400 and the 455. Oldsmobile had the Rocket 350 and the Rocket 455, with the Rocket 403 only available in 1977. Buick never had 3 V8s for these cars - just the 350 and the 455. In terms of smaller V8 engines, Chevy brought in the 305 in 1976. Oldsmobile brought in the smallest of the bunch, the Rocket 260, in 1975. Pontiac shared the 260 that Oldsmobile produced, putting it in some LeMans models. Pontiac added their own 301 V8 in 1977, and it was available in both LeMans and Grand Prix models. All of these smaller engines stuck around for downsized models that would be forthcoming. The six cylinder engines in these cars: Some divisions stuck to their roots. Chevy used only 250 c.i. inline 6s in their Malibus. Buick used only their 231 c.i. V6s in their Regals and Centurys. Oldsmobile and Pontiac paralleled each other with engine usage. They both used the Chevy inline 6 as the base engine in 1975 and 1976 for cars as nice as Cutlass Supreme and Grand LeMans, but they switched over the 231 V6 for 1977. - - - - - There's a lot here because this covers half a decade, hundreds of thousands of GM cars sold, and models of cars that strongly spoke to Americans at that time. I hope you enjoyed the photos and verbiage in this chronicle of the colonnades that initially took America by storm and for which Americans quickly signed on the dotted line.

The Jetta sure has come a long way in terms of looks from when it was a boxier and more utilitarian car that frat rats on a budget, but with every hair in place, seemed to buy to use in college or shortly thereafter. I'm amazed at how much it now resembles its bigger sibling, the Passat. Having only driven a Passat once, I vaguely remember it being quieter and handling more flatly. I believe 147 hp in the one I had, and definitely a geared auto trans, which is always a relief. It's possible that VW engineers squeezed more hp from it.

@balthazar I looked at that house to the right and immediately thought stucco ranch in a SoCal neighborhood. Then, I looked at the door of this car and it says Long Beach, CA. Bingo.

Like @Robert Hall said, they were in reorganization under the eye of the Italian government, burning through a lot of cash, and didn't meet the criteria to stay solvent. I believe the new entity tried to acquire the name, branding, and all that. They wanted too much for it. Yes, it saddens me because they were my first choice for any transatlantic trip. I grew up with this brand. I had pizza with a friend (coincidence) yesterday and he said the same thing for him and his family. All the things I like are going away - good music, first coupes and now sedans, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, 747s ... where does it stop? The one company that did make a go of an initialed name is T.A.P. - Transportes Aereos Portugueses - and it's known as TAP Air Portugal, or just TAP, to customers. I flew the outbound with TAP and the return with Alitalia. Let's see how this big change goes. They were migrating to this livery on their wide bodies, which I'm not sure I liked. A lot of carriers, such as Air France, got rid of striping along the fuselage. This was on a B-777 parked in Rome. They had also used this livery, with the stripe not going all the way to the nose, as it is shown here on a mock up of the B-747-400s they had intended to purchase ... until 9/11 came along, which caused them to retire all their 747s within the subsequent year.

Today is a sad day. It's Alitalia's final day of operating as it has been known for slightly over 75 years. Tomorrow, it becomes ITA (Italia Trasporto Aereo), which sounds very aseptic. Alitalia is an evocative name because it combines the 2 words "ali" and "Italia," which mean wings and Italy, respectively. So, the alliteration means "the wings of Italy" and it rolls off people's tongues. I'm very glad I've gotten to cross the Atlantic aboard their 747 when they operated them, mostly from Toronto (YYZ). Those were great flights. Great logo and livery, too. Delta heads up SkyTeam and their key European partners are/were Air France, KLM-Royal Dutch, and Alitalia. Sure, some people have (had) their issues with them. In the past, they've not been the most punctual. In recent years, they've been very punctual. I've enjoyed every flight aboard Alitalia. Thanks for the memories.

It does. I focused on the cactus in the foreground. The climate is a dry Mediterranean type, but after seeing how parched SoCal is, this climate is a little bit more moist. The bougainvillea, gelsomine, and orchids attest to that. So, it's a little more vegated than the desert and sill suitable for growing citrus. crops.

Pretty much the southeastern tip of Sicily ... Pozzallo You can see the Mediterranean and maybe the ferry in the distance. It's probably the ferry to go to Malta ... not very far nor very different from Sicily, I'm told, but they drive on the left because of their historical ties to the UK. I'll have to put it on the list.

A couple of random thoughts: I don't see what the Urban Meyer situation is all about. The photos don't look good; however, it doesn't look like he approached her. She seems like a flooze who went over there and started gyrating on his lap. It also depends on how long the "encounter" lasted. His biggest issue is the 0-5 situation of the Jacksonville Jaguars. From quick glances over time, JAX has never had that good of a team. Too bad that Matt Amodio had to lose his winning streak on "Jeopardy." I get bits and pieces from the homepage. This is one smart guy with impressive credentials. I wondered when the streak would end. It came a little bit sooner than I thought. I guess he'll have to go from celebrity status back to Ivy League PhD candidate status. I used to have Matt Amodio (style of) hair at one time.

September 28 Sicilian wedding "getaway car" ... or ... part of the entourage for the wedding. Note the white bow up front.

The only two covered bridges I've actually been in were in the Laurentians north of Montreal and in Stone Mountain Park outside of Atlanta. The one in the Laurentians was way off the beaten path and painted that faded country red that some people paint their houses. - - - - - September 25 Of the smaller cars over there, I sort of like this Opel Corsa coupe. I like the unique coupe and window roofline. This car was over here for a while badged as a Saturn, making it an "American" product ... the Saturn Astra, I believe. Saturns turned out to be better than I would have thought.

September 24 Acoustical parking ... I think the person behind the small sedan had left, so this looked even more invasive. Dumb inscriptions - a few years ago, I posted one of a Smart car that said "Farting Shirt" on it. Do they even know what the words they select mean? Another one of those minis powered by unknown means and said to be cheap, as in under 10,000 Euros, driven by a younger person on a budget, it seemed.

I had forgotten all about this one and then I heard it on the radio. This one could run just on the instrumentals and the "ow" sounds.

How much D-I-R-T-Y Laundry does B-R-I-A-N Laundrie have? So I randomly thought of this song ... How and when that whole saga ends is anyone's guess, but it is both sad and trying.

September 22 I was turning around at a gas station about 35 miles south of Mt. Etna and saw this. Needless to say, I was sort of blown away. One wonders where they'd even buy this type of vehicle over there, and what the engine/trans would be. I remember I once saw a GM "dustbuster" minivan over there, though up north near Turin, and the powertrain was nothing like the one that would have come with those vehicles in America.

Still in September ... September 20 The old and the new in Sicily ... the Smart car still sells and, compared to an ancient Fiat 500, looks downright upright and spacious. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The truck is actually parked on a steeply banked concrete apron and the Fiat Punto behind it is not even touching it ... but not my much!

September 18 Also a day for spotting a trio of minis parked in public parking lots in various parts of Praia de Faro (PT): 1 2 3 I haven't a clue what these are, what powers them, how economical they are, nor how much they cost. But their being frugal and easy to slot into tight spaces is appealing.