trinacriabob

Spotted September 15 This Renault is ancient!

I also saw "9 1/2 Weeks" and did not like it. Usually, when I didn't like a movie, I don't remember much about it ... like a blank slate. It wasn't like "Body Heat," where I had the lines down! Too funny. I saw the resemblance immediately. Thinking bench seat with no armrest, the cheapest of cloth interiors, the plasticky dashboard with those pods (which began in 1978), etc. But, if a person did buy a Malibu of those years, and it did NOT have a THM 200 and it did not have many problems with the CCC, it might serve its owner for quite a long time, though probably not as long as a Seville would. Hilarious that you drew this parallel: a poor man's Seville, so to speak. Edit: just found this ... the Chevy products of the downsized intermediates across 4 brands had the worst interiors and dashboards. You could tap on the side of the pods and hear rat-tat-tat. But the Memory Lane part is good fun.

Now that I look at it, the rear bumper is odd. As is the fact that any of the side badging is gone. True that. This car inspired GM sedans 5 to 10 years later. Case in point: my dad had one of these (see below), and it was a good little car. It was the enamel dove gray (thankfully, no vinyl roof), had the gray Limited interior, and wire wheels. It was nimble and rode very well. I was reading ads in the Times, stumbled into this one, we went to look at it, and he decided he wanted it.

I'm not much of a drinker at all. Plus, I'm cheap. But I have had port wine to finish off a meal when in Portugal a few times and it is tasty. Portuguese wine is reputed to be very good, in general. On this last trip to Italy, I was given a slip upon check in for a welcome drink at the hotel. I went to the bar and got my welcome drink. I tipped the bartender a Euro. The real highlight was scarfing down all these cashews he put in front of me. I tried not to be too obnoxious. Prior to that, I can't remember the last time I had anything with alcohol ... probably over 3 years ago. True. It was not a September release. It was probably a spring release. Either way, it looks like the eggcrate grille only stuck around for one M.Y. I didn't think it looked too bad. It might have been better if it consisted of vertically oriented rectangles to give it more of a Cadillac look.

Random thought about Portugal and Portuguese ... This was one wild movie - "Wild Orchid." Can't say I liked it, or any movie with Mickey Rourke who can only play sleazy types. In this movie, Carre Otis played a fresh law graduate of Northwestern from a small town in Kansas, yet fluent in Portuguese, who gets sent down to Brazil on an assignment and gets embroiled in all the horndog antics stereotypically associated with Brazil. I like the goofy bilingual part at around 2:50 when the local lady is showing her the parrots at this exclusive club.

Chunky grille seems to imply the eggcrate grille of ('75 and) '76. With the sunroof (and the finer, vertical grilled), that would make this one a '78 or a '79. It would have been interesting to speak to the proprietor or custodian of this car. It had to have come from America and I couldn't see it having anything other than the Olds 350 TBI V8. With their gas prices, they would mentally blow a gasket at the mention of anything around 5700 cc. To them, 1600 cc and higher is a big engine, it seems. Maybe one of its proprietors was still fighting the "civil war." This was on the south coast of Portugal and maybe whoever owned it wasn't fond of Spain. Younger people over there are getting over that sentiment.

Retroactive posting September 16 Driving down the highway in my rented Renault econobox, minding my business, and, WTH, I can't believe I'm seeing this car at what appears to be an automotive repair shop's front parking apron. It's a first-gen Cadillac Seville just about exactly 100 miles - as the crow flies - from Seville! I pulled over. How could I not? The grille might give some clues as to the exact year. There was no shopkeeper or proprietor around to talk to and ask questions. It would have been interesting to learn about this car's history. A sunroof in a dry Mediterranean climate that doesn't appear to be leaking. Underneath it are velour seats - probably a reupholstered interior. Left 3/4 rear view. Right 3/4 rear view. You may note that you see Cadillac badging all the way around, but there is no badging for the Seville nameplate. What a sighting!

One thing (a disco song) leads to another ...

I don't know who's scarier? This guy ... or the people he's chasing down. Just a random thought.

Of the colonnades, I really only liked '75 and '76. The '75 was the best looking one of the models with round headlamps. The '76 was the best looking of the rectangular headlamp models. It was stellar and that's why they sold half a million Cutlasses and over 1 million vehicles across the entire Oldsmobile portfolio that year. I feel that the '77 refinements weren't refinements at all - the busier grilles, dropping the spherical air vents on the passenger side, metallic candy apple red paints instead of "normal" burgundy ones, etc. '75 - last and best of the round headlamp colonnade Cutlass Supreme coupes (this was "Spectre Blue," which you didn't see that often but looked good on both Supreme and Salon coupes) '76 - first and best of the rectangular headlamp/waterfall grille colonnade Cutlass Supreme coupes ... virtually identical to the one my parents bought, except with a blue cloth interior. How I loved these cars. They brought me, my family, and so many others a lot of joy and many great memories. Things were definitely better all the way around several decades ago. "Innocence lost" ... or something like that.

Meant to say from the original (rendition of the) 262 to the 350 - so, 262, 305, and 350 V8s. These things could move with just a V6, based on the comments of some participants on other forums. I think the GM ones look a little clunky, with the Pontiac looking a tad better. The small Ford Mustang, especially in Ghia form, dialed in on the lines better. This one appears to have a small V8 badge, so a 302 (5.0) Ford V8.

Very true. Do some notchbacking with the sheetmetal, throw on a landau top, make the rear passenger window appear smaller, and even add some wire wheels (uh ... no, to the last one). The line up of engines was really interesting - the 140 4 from the Vega replaced by the Iron Duke, a 231 even firing as well as the smaller 196 V6, and THREE V8s, from the original 262 to the 250, all by Chevrolet. And something weird with having to move the V8 engine to get to the plugs! Vega's (not Monza's) engine had a "nickname" about its durability (cough) when the slogan could have been "melts in your engine bay, not in your mouth" ... or something like that. Too much. Obviously a '73. I'm wondering what state this person lives. "El Cutlassino."

Random, indeed: Chevrolet - can you say "Towne Coupe?" Pontiac - both the optioning out and the photographic effects on this one are hilarious

I was "listening" to this the other night. Here I am, walking down a street in Palermo and, one level above the restaurants and shops, are apartments with their French doors open onto their balconies. A dude wearing only some cargo shorts was rocking out to this song on the balcony. His lady friend or significant other was nowhere as into it as he was, and was making only a few moves. I wasn't going to take a photo or video. I tried doing that the night before with some lady lowering a plastic pail to the ground level while some Mama Celeste types were sitting on their chairs outside ... and these ladies told me to take a hike in Sicilian. So I wasn't going to push my luck with the dancing duo on the balcony. Young hearts run free! A sassy song from the disco era.

On my outbound flight a few weeks ago, I had a few movies to look at on my video monitor. I didn't really listen to it with earphones, but I kept glancing at "Nomadland" while eating, napping, looking out the window ... It had Frances McDormand in it. She was in "Three Billboards ...," another dark movie. I've come to the conclusion that you might need to be on I.V. antidepressants to watch a movie with Frances McDormand.

Two regulars are having b-days today on C&G, according to the homepage: William Maley and ccap41 Every once in a while, I spot these. I just returned to check the forum after crossing the pond, so I'm still a wet noodle. Happy birthday to both C&G members!

@balthazar I told this guy how my dad had one. I only saw the grille and nose of his 1971 as he left. I liked the grille with the simpler lines on my dad's 1970 base coupe. The upward and downward sweeps of his grille were okay, but I liked the 1970 grille more. I only wish that the one our family had had been equipped with front disc brakes. The front and rear drum system, together, was suboptimal.

Today is always a tough day. It's hard to believe it even happened. I remember where I was when I heard the news, what the day felt like, what the week felt like, what the month felt like ... And that was 20 years ago. It means I have not forgotten. None of us can afford to forget this day 20 years ago. So, enjoy Sunday (tomorrow, 9/12) and have a good week.

Spotted today at a gas station. It's a 1971 with a Pontiac 400 and no A/C. Its owner was a cool guy. I asked him if I could take a few photos before I fueled up. That's all folks.

Kathleen Turner is often discussed when it comes to this topic. Here's one of the clips from provocative "Body Heat," a movie I have seen many times. That's then. Then, time marches on. About 15 years ago or so, she was on Larry King and said she doesn't get any come ons. And it sounded like she'd accept them! (She reportedly has R.A. and all the meds caused her to put on a lot of weight.)

I once read that a lot of head honchos are basically a big blob of an ego with 2 legs and 2 arms sticking out of it. That would apply to some professionals, too. I've see in it both people who run companies and as well as in some doctors and lawyers.

All sorts of animal videos end up on my homepage. I was looking at this one, thinking, "Wow, that looks like a warm and familiar area, with those houses and that vegetation ... " Well, it's in a suburb of Los Angeles abutting the San Gabriel Mountains. How do videos wind up capturing these random events? This teenage girl was brave.

And, being the "late adopter" that I am, I wondered how the new cast iron block / aluminum head / SOHC of the 4.6 L V8 would teeth for FoMoCo. It fared well. And so did the Chevy 3.5 and 3.9 V6 with newly added VVT that was inserted into Monte Carlos and Impalas in the mid 2000s. With basic engines that were meant to be good (some Chevy small blocks in the late '70s with premature cam wear, Buick 252 V6s born of the 231 V6 that had their issues, some Iron Duke 4s that lost a tooth or a cog in their timing chains, etc.) and still gave problems, a prospective buyer gets a little wary of auto engine technology that hasn't been on the road for a few years.

I think it will be grand when it crosses Lake Washington and connects the east side to the city proper. I know that's coming and I can't wait to ride on it when it does. I still need to drive across the new 520 bridge! It's all on my bucket list.

Had the opportunity to drive a rented (big) Thunderbird with a 4.6 L V8 up to Vancouver, Canada and back down across the border. I was surprised how much I liked it. That, too, turned out to be a workhorse for FoMoCo.