longtooth

Had a '91 Beretta GTZ. For it's time a screamer of sorts. Acceleration felt as though I was being pushed in the back by something with strength of a fallen angel. Viva la Quad 4...

GM Covered With Giant Tarp Until It Has Money To Work On Cars Again http://www.theonion.com/content/news_brief...with_giant_tarp Enjoy. Quote from the article: "Goddamn piece of $h! American car industry."

Collateral damage. Hang in there Canada.

"Good Grief, what kind of family has my poor bro gotten tangled up with?" Posturing witless fools although since 56 out of 100 marriages end in divorce his may only be a temporary setback. Take heart in possibly being shut of them soon enough.

Mine did run the gamut as well. I can admire a nice looking ride most of the time. Even once I'd seen a beaten up '93 Z-71 GMC Sierra Extended Cab/Short-bed that still looked fit, fine and solid as though machined from billet-stock. Opinions vary with the day and the weather.

I'm age 52 and have gone up the ladder as it were with vehicles through the years. I was projecting my own views as it pertains to the concept of the vehicle-as-appliance. I had one brief moment recently where I'd actually conceived of no longer driving, then the moment passed as I realized the degree of self-reliance I derived from hauling my own self around. But I know that I'm not the gad-about on wheels as I once was. My girlfriend/fiance handles about 30% of the driving on our joint trips afield in her CTS (very nice vehicle btw). I'm becoming more of a homebody as retirement draws closer. So, there's no call from me to assert an Al Gore-like Puritanism across the board on the public-at-large. I believe strongly that folks should be able to drive what they want.

The BMW commercial which may still be running in some markets and had been running for the past three months bluntly stated that their vehicles were the subject of automotive lore. Legend no less. So even legends can be vulnerable and subject to dilution through the over-selling of a dream. Cars may just be relegated to being transportation for a while. The aspirational lust applied to what is basically an appliance is non-sensical. We may actually learn that lesson too. I hope everyone has at least one good memory of their favorite automobile as it may have to suffice for a while.

Canadian society has always seemed more grounded in the practical and the real to me. Contrasted with The United States of America where we're all given to believe that we are so mighty and special. The last remaining 'StuporPower'. Indeed we're all that and a bag of trans-fat laden chips.

I think it's mass coercion via fear. There was an urgency present in the upward spiral of energy costs which peaked in mid-July that didn't square with the ongoing collapse in the Real Estate Markets. We're re-setting the value of everything tangible and intangible and it isn't pleasant to weather a contraction especially one having the heft and scope of this one. It's got much to do with a levelling of the global playing field. Heaven help us if Chinese peasants, existing on the equivalent of $1 US funds per day, ever demand wage parity. Their government would likely squash any uprising but the kettle is near the boiling-point. In India as well, largest Democracy on the planet.

So really, globally, what has changed? Are people stricken in such a manner that they no longer want to engage in gainful labors? Did the need for shelter and sustenance suddenly evaporate? What has become so off-kilter that demand for every consumer item has fallen into the abyss? Why are so many fearful of the economy falling into a Depression, a concept that only those over the age of 70 and up may be acquainted with? So many questions and a dearth of answers.

That's an eye-opener. In this region (Northeast) the prices have generally been running under the Nat'l average quoted on CNBC and MSNBC. In New Jersey, they still do the filling for you. Nice at anytime of the year. Yesterday bought Shell 87 octane for $1.659 in Newark, DE on College Ave. about 2 blocks from the Lacrosse/Field Hockey stadium of The University of Delaware.

I would have said, if asked, that the last time I could say it was under a buck was prior to August of '90. After S. Hussein invaded Kuwait I saw the price climb from $1.02 to $1.25 overnight. I was on a fishing trip and ranging all over North Central Pennsylvania and refilling frequently. That was to me the steepest increase in any commodity in a short period of time I'd seen to that point. Must be a hole in my recollection. I do remember being extremely busy at work from late '92 through March of '07 and paying scant attention to little else but work during those years.

"I love the Money Fire!".

A little levity can go a long way. From "The Onion" In The Know: Should The Government Stop Dumping Money Into A Giant Hole? http://www.theonion.com/content/video/in_t..._the_government

It's widely known.

Those'd be 'epithets'. An epitaph is what is graven into one's tombstone. This is the reason you'll often hear a person described as a d*ckhead rather than seeing it chiseled into a monument.

Anyone that'd posture the 'Global-Reach'-ethic as you do is subject to the slings and arrows. You're too easily peeved and therefore playable for wearing your 'feelings' on your sleeve.

Not that I don't believe you...it's just that I don't believe you! "Modern times": When I was in Atlanta circa 2004-2006 I paid $1.93/gallon for 87 octane in January '05. In August 2005, while visiting Northern relatives for a couple of weeks for Labor Day I got out of town 12 hours before Katrina came ashore. Gas was already on the rise that Summer. When I left Georgia, it was $2.30/gallon. By the time I was turning around to come back it'd gone up as high as $3.55/gallon for 87 octane. There was word (and evidence) of spot shortages on the East Coast. The price per gallon went up $.08 from the time I had parked at the pump, gone in gotten coffee and returned to fill it up. This was near Raleigh, NC at 11 pm or so on Monday 09-12-2005. I filled it at every opportunity as I made my way back to Georgia until I knew that I had the fuel to get there and have half a tank in reserve. So I can remember recent events but I swear that I can't remember Regular being under a buck in the last 10 years even allowing for regional differentals. I'm a Doubting-Thomas.

I won't dispute your recollections though I doubt it's been under a buck for over twenty years. Springtime 1979 we were in 'shock' that gas was selling for $0.75/gallon. The so-called 2nd oil shock happened later that Summer and into the Fall of '79. It triggered a recession and subsequent slowdown in the U.S. economy that stretched into 1983. 1998, was filling my '97 Z28 with Sunoco Ultra 94 octane to the tune of $1.39/gallon. That's the best of my recollection. I was logging those fill-ups but I can't verify to myself what I seem to recall as I can't locate those old notebooks.

Sure. Get those "GM Family First" e-mails also at the rate of 2 per week or so. Irony. Are you still holding any stock?

There was a skit from October that was banned because it struck the wrong nerve with George Soros. http://www.narbosa.com/2008/10/saturday-ni...soros-skit.html More detailed explanation here: http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/myst...-version-today/

The grassroots aspect of this is fine, but for GM to attempt to manage it or to be seen as prime in it's orchestration would be a clusterf*ck.

My eyes are watering from the wealth of great articles out there right now. I'm saving this one for later. Thanks for digging it up.

They put forward tremendous ideas re: Making money with money. 'Investing'. Clever, and now since that's all coming apart at the seams they need us.

I'm imagining a scene straight out of Francis Ford Coppola's film "Tucker". Preston's influence for automotive betterment is still in full-effect today. Hold that tiger.