trinacriabob

Just say no ... . . . ... to TESLA

I'm coming back to this thread and post above after having written it a year ago. I didn't see a thread on the new Camry. I parked next to one of these units today. Everything above pretty much stands. The way I noticed it is that it said Toyota and that the rear sail panel looked "acceptable" ... it didn't shout old Caprice or Impala coupe. The front lamps are nicer but what's below them is not. The stupid diagonal in the console is gone! Everything looks more normal in the front of the cabin, even though there are a lot of horizontal slats everywhere. Looking back, I really liked that Honda Accord hybrid I was assigned as a rental unit at a South Florida airport and which I reviewed. If Honda did a good job with it, I'm sure Toyota will, too.

Astute. I don't think I would have been an American citizen as a child according to the current school of thought. Wait. Maybe they'll cherrypick and give Europeans a pass and give kids of parents from those s-hole country a thumbs down. It seems that things run on favoritism rather than on fairness.

Had I known you, I would have bought that 260 from you! Quietest domestic V8 I have ever heard when the exhaust is newer ... as in amazing. Also, being a debored 350 meant bigger cooling jackets within. I'm going to say your 307 was Olds and not Chevrolet, and maybe from a so-equipped Cadillac hearse. The small block fit should be interchangeable. Beautiful table. That must give you both satisfaction and relaxation from this hobby.

Tesla owners have become sort of cultish. They are very into their cars. One friend has one and was into showing me what it can do, including pin me back into my seat under hard acceleration. What's amazing is that a lot of rich West Coast liberals opt for them. You'd think they'd make a statement and avoid anything with Elon's mark on it. Here's hoping that other EV choices become popular. - - - - - Yep, your '78 with a 260 V8. I remember. And buyers had to spring even more for one of those over a '77. The most glaring example would have been the drastic drop from the big fendered '77 Monte Carlo to the anemic and cartoonish looking downsized '78. Cheap rat-tat-tat pods on the dash, a non descript bench seat, a base V6, and, drum roll, an unreliable Turbo 200 transmission. A couple of years later, they all brought out more engines. Two people I knew had a '79 Regal ... one had Pontiac's newer 4.3 liter (265) V8 and one had this tiny 3.2 Buick V6, which was only 196 cubic inches ... we're talking old Ford Maverick sized powerplants. All of these cars got considerably more attractive with the 1981 refresh, but they were on borrowed time. I loved my '84 Supreme Brougham coupe and won't easily forget the trip from an East Bay suburb up to Portland through the Napa Valley and meth lab plagued Lake County right above it.

Happy Monday ... may someone steal a Happy Meal for you ...

A lot of interesting factoids ... The number of plants producing the mid-1960s Impala were numerous, including 2 in SoCal (Van Nuys and South Gate) and 2 in Canada (Oshawa and St.-Therese). Imagine that ... working on the line with a Francophone in a herringbone cap who breaks out a baguette for his snack break. Then, other plants: up in Detroit, Atlanta, St. Louis, and the Arlington TX (Dallas) plant that made a lot of Cutlasses. Engines were varied: 230 in line 6 (not the 250 yet), V8s like 283, 327, and a 409 that gave way to the 396. I notice the absence of the 307 at this point. The great 350 came a few years later. - - - - - As far as Cutlass going from 1976 to 1977, they did a few stupid things, yet may have sold even more of them: - the waterfall grille up front got busier, thus uglier - they got rid of the spherical vents on the right side of the dash and made them rectangular as well - they went from a more traditional burgundy (for that type of color choice) interior to a red interior (called firethorn) and it was obnoxious - they slimmed down the bucket seats in the Salon coupe quite a bit - drum roll: the loss leader base engine went from an inherently balanced 250 in line 6 in an uncrowded engine bay to an "odd firing" 231 V6 (in its last year as "odd firing") and the area in the back of the engine bay around the engine itself was crowded. They should have left that one alone. No one should have had a nicely equipped Brougham model with an engine that had a faint shudder at idle. - and, of course, they raised the price a fair bit

Interesting bit of trivia. I couldn't believe the numbers, but, with the arrival of foreign imports coming later, it could be conceivable. In the 1965 model year, they sold 1,074,925 Chevrolet Impalas. That's far more than the 514,000 Oldsmobile Cutlass sales in 1976. I thought this was the peak. They report that 632,000 were produced in model year 1977.

Happy Sunday ... ... trying to "enjoy" my last day under the sort of democracy I've come to know and understand over a few decades *sigh*

I do remember the composite lamps. Ditto for '87 MC and Cutlass Supreme, at the very least. From '85 on, for a few years, power for these Chevy full-sizes could be had from a TBI 4.3 Vortec V6, which proved to be indestructible in Astro vans. After having gotten a crappy 5.0 V8 in a "toy" Camaro, a 5.0 is not to my liking unless Olds is the manufacturer ... where the debored engine's quality is comparable to that of the Rocket 350 V8. As for burgundy, the uptown interiors in that color on the last of the notchback Caprice-Impala sedans is something to behold, if malaise sort of excites you ... rather than give you malaise. Cloth version Leather version I appreciate bigger and boxier bucket seats from the last-gen MC and the Buick Verano, but I love what's up above.

More Italy than Amtrak. Amtrak is just slow. Regular seats are fairly priced. Little rooms with berths are ridiculously priced.

And I've got a good list of what can be wrong with it, too. Some is funny and some is sort of sad.

This cherry one is in "cherry" condition, it seems. There are some 45 photos. It's somewhere in Massachusetts. What a boulevardier. What a beauty. https://www.edmunds.com/chevrolet/caprice/1995/vin/1G1BL52W1SR117012/?radius=6000 It seems like people are taking to these Caprice Classics posthumously, given the prices on cleaner ones with lower miles. This is a base model, given the upholstery, and 200 hp indicates the 4.3 L V8, which is enough to pull this car around and, in 4th gear, return very good highway mileage.

Amtrak is an interesting beast. I have taken the Coast Starlight once, from Sacramento to Portland. You sleep on it, in your seat, and the Siskiyou Pass is slow going and I believe you can see Shasta. Even the cheap seats are extremely roomy. I have taken the Pacific Surfliner once, from L.A. Union Station to San Diego. It's funny that several subway lines meet at L.A. Union and, even during rush hour, it doesn't feel crowded ... because it's L.A. and not NYC. I have taken the Cascades once from Portland to Seattle. The price was right, the route is clean and green, and the train cars are not as tall and only 1 level. I have taken the train from Fort Lauderdale to Tampa. I don't remember the route's name. It is said to often run late. It did. Lauderdale is next to Metrorail. A real helpful Cuban guy checked you in and a sassy Black guy was the conductor. The people were the trippiest of any train ride I've been on. A little edgier and it could have had some Jerry Springer value. When we were kids, my parents would take us cross-country on the Amtrak Santa Fe to Chicago, followed by another train to New York. The only part I remembered was the eerieness of the Petrified Forest under thunderstorm skies and all the small bodies of water in Missouri. I was told that there would be water moccasins in there. We'd allow for 3 to 4 days in the New York area with relatives as a buffer before sailing from the city to Italy. It was done in reverse if coming the other way. My parents were a little weird this way. (The apple didn't fall far from the tree.) Two segments on TWA or Pan Am 747s would have shaved a lot of time off this trip! The U.S. is way behind in good train service. California High Speed Rail is way behind schedule. They are still working on the Merced-Fresno-Bakersfield segment. The Republicans hate the plan. It's always better to build these projects sooner than later. If anything, this project could further growth in California's interior since its coveted coastal metro areas are not feasible options for most people anymore. Having people trampling along the route and in those inland areas makes for a "multiplier effect." Don't get me started on topics like this.

Amen. Some people are pieces of work. It's not like when you're in school and in your 20s when people have far fewer ulterior motives and less of that convoluted baggage that it could still be considered workable.

Thank you. Makes sense in a way. But for 20 to 30 minutes? Yikes. Mirrored walls at the sides are much more useful. I've found them handy. I'll glance at them every now and then.

Random thought and pet peeve: Why the f*** do they position ellipticals so you're staring right into a ceiling height wall of mirrors? For 20 to 30 minutes? I wouldn't have wanted that when I was 20 or 30. It's obnoxious. I've seen the glass or mirrors be located behind the ellipticals or treadmills. Maybe they worry that someone getting off them might move too far back and hit the mirrored wall. That's the only thing I can think of. There is a lot of crappy design and layout of exercise facilities.

The LaX would have been 17 today. I was trying to have fun with it and eke out a 20 year old car. With so many 2002 to 2004 Aleros on the road, for example, and in great shape, that tells me it was feasible. I've moved on, but the memories are fond.

It is a little out of control. A lot of rich foreign buyers have these units. They probably don't live there and I wouldn't expect the towers to feel all that neighborly. I will say that driving down the A1a and Collins Avenue from Lauderdale to Miami Beach is a feast of architectural eye candy. A lot of it is flashy but a few of the structures, both older and new, are nicely done. The Fontainebleau is one, for damn sure. (Think "Goldfinger.") A room at the Fontainebleau set me back $99 before taxes in '99. Is a pool/ocean view available? Ha. Not for that price. The room looked out onto Collins Avenue and toward the Intracoastal. No complaints. The problem with South Florida is also the sprawl, with so many 6-lane boulevards where people drive too fast and endless swaths of soulless office parks. Then there's San Francisco and its Millennium Tower with its issues. Miami was once "reasonably" priced. It has gotten much more expensive, especially in the last 5 to 10 years, yet also far more stressful to live in. Then, take your pick - plastic people or people who don't speak English ... not much else. Hey, doesn't that sound a lot like the L.A. of today?

I'm cleaning up stuff on my computer, figuring what to keep and what to throw out. I see this and what a wow this is to me. It's staying. I once had the brochure. I couldn't believe the color choices, interior schemes, and stand-alone options they would once offer. This was what a great America looked like ... look at how dignified the presentation is, too ... things were comparatively benign, people could afford their cars and the roofs over their heads, there was no war that was raging in modern world countries that I can point to, and one of the biggest thorns in people's sides was a newly introduced catalytic converter. There is no "again" button. A lady in our neighborhood had one of these. This color was Persimmon metallic. Hers had the while vinyl landau roof. I think it had the Olds rally wheels. I may ramble, but I could take you on a tour of this car, or a similar one, in no more than 10 minutes, unlike that niche dealership guy in SW Florida whose YouTubes last 30 to 40 minutes. I once looked at its interior from the windows. (This hasn't changed.) She had the electric options, but the steering wheel didn't tilt. She had a bench seat with the armrest. Here you see the swivel bucket seats with the reversible cushions. And, yes, it's a colonnade. And, with that, I bid @balthazar a happy birthday. If only someone could drop a mint colonnade of my choice into my birthday stocking.

From this vantage point, it's great ... traditional and contemporary at the same time, with a sinister Gotham City look thrown in for good measure I don't think so on this one. I understand that it's supposed to be stretched. The rear has the imagery of the old bustle back Seville (which I dislike(d) very much) combined with the cartoon-like Kia Amanti (or other similar car with those thin taillamps going up the lowered rear flanks).

@bobo Thank you for the great write-up, as usual. In a weird way, a lot happened in 2025, but it's mostly in big chunks of much the same. As he always intends to do, Trump dominates the spotlight, as would any megalomaniac. The same has become more and more true for Elon Musk. However, the former has people finding all sorts of ways to defend him and support him when the evidence says they shouldn't. It's not that way with the latter. The public's opinion of Musk is mostly negative. How can it not be after his jumping up and down? Then there's his recent comment to Justin Trudeau. Crassness seems to be more popular than ever. The deaths number much the same as they always do, but Quincy Jones, OJ Simpson, Phil Donahue (the father of a genre, IMO), Dr. Ruth (96), Bob Newhart, Shannen Doherty (yes, with an e), Richard Simmons (76, he fell in his home) and, of course, Jimmy Carter (100) stand out to me. As for OJ, wow, a chapter of tabloid crap also went with him. When working in the PacNW, the OJ disaster came on the news and the hateful locals in the office had to shake their heads and comment 'yeah, what you'd expect in L.A.' when he was leading the police in a chase up the freeway with people on overpasses cheering him on. From what I could tell, the folks cheering were sort of ghetto. Not one person I know, and probably anyone they'd know, would have been cheering on OJ escaping in his Bronco. It's great that Notre Dame in Paris reopened. The trusses in older historic structures tend to be heavy timber. Perhaps this will lead to greater safeguards to protect such structures. As for a cause, they are offering an "or" scenario ... either a cigarette butt OR an electrical short circuit. I, for one, will miss the steadfast Chevy Malibu. It would be like guessing how many marbles as to how many I've rented and how many miles I've put on this car model ... enough to feel like it's my daily driver when I get behind the wheel of one.

There isn't much in the way of mixed fleets when it comes to airlines. I'm referring to Boeing and Airbus. Some do it out of loyalty (Alaska goes with Boeing, being in Seattle). Some do it out of efficiency. In Europe, the bigger airlines buy from both manufacturers (British, Lufthansa, Air France, KLM, Turkish ...) as they have both the Airbus 350 and the Boeing 787 in their fleets. Lufthansa amazingly uses both superjumbos - the Airbus 380 and the Boeing 747-8. Slightly smaller but still international airlines are now going with one vendor. In Europe, this would now be TAP Portugal, Finnair, and ITA (the successor to Alitalia). They have all Airbus fleets.

Cleaning up bookmarks as some are no longer valid ... 10+ years of accumulating and tentatively archiving them ... Thought I'd share this beautiful photo I found in my bookmarks of an Iberia 747, which they no longer operate, taking flight. I'm almost sure it's a home base departure from Madrid, but don't know where it's headed ... could be New York, Miami, Buenos Aires, etc.

I never knew that much about Elon because he is instantly not likable. I learned he has produced 12 children. People are always wowed by that. It's not mechanically that difficult. However, some people seemingly do it as a display of power because they don't have to worry about providing for their financial needs. Are they there for those kids? (Even more challenging when created with several different spouses.) I knew some kids in school from very large old fashioned nuclear Catholic families ... 8+ kids ... and there was definitely some neglect and indifference. Make them, feed them, clothe them, school them ... but they're just a number in some big families. The same criticism holds for Eddie Murphy. I didn't realize he had 10 kids. Throw Robert De Niro under that same bus, too ... making babies at over 70 years of age. A lot of business tycoons and movie star types are dysregulated.