balthazar

I don't think laughing at people dying is something to boast about.

If you look at countries around the world, the U.S. certainly is not in '3rd world' territory AFA vaccination rate. 76% is right with Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, the UK, France, Japan, etc. I have read hundreds of comments on a specific O/T subject from around the world, and it can be surprising how ignorant some folk from other countries' impressions of the U.S. are. Another unrelated comment I remember reading was a visitor from Europe was visiting friends in NY, and wanted to know if they could drive and see the Pacific Ocean one day. Ignorance is well distributed, globally-speaking.

One more pic of a Tesla 60-kW pack being disassembled- the grid-like steel enclosure box is undoubtedly where the structural contribution comes from, but there battery packs themselves just sit in the 'trays' like ICe cubes. it's interesting to see how it's constructed.

It's being teased as an Escalade V-Series.

Stupid thing.

"Completely reimaged what a pickup can be." Jesus. - - - - - Where is the real pickup - when is GM going to show it??? What would be interesting is if Silverado went BE and the Sierra stayed IC. Of course- they've also hinted at the BE Sierra.

YEAR :: Plymouth -- Dodge -- DeSoto -- Chrysler 1957 -- 762,231 -- 287,608 - 117,514 -- 124,675 1958 -- 443,799 -- 137,861 - 49,445 -- 63,110 1959 -- 458,259 -- 156,385 - 45,724 -- 69,970 1960 -- 447,724 -- 367,804 - 25,581 -- 77,285 1961 -- 350,285 -- 269,367 -- 3,034 -- 96,454 Chrysler's entry-level Newport Series was new for '61, and ChryCo assuredly knew they were going to pull DeSoto's plug when developing the Newport (that announcement came only 6 weeks after the '61s debuted). It was still priced above DeSoto, but it closed the gap. Plymouth gained the Valiant compact in '60 but was seeing an erosion of appeal due to styling after the high-water designs in '57-58. Forget the '57 Chevy; it's impossible to dismiss the sheer appeal the '57 Plymouth design had with consumers (1956: 552K). Dodge had the Dart in '60 but it was still basically full-size in '60-62 (wheelbase 118-116"). Dart didn't go compact until '63, but the 1st gen Darts at least were price leaders. Dodge had a great year in '60 with a lot of appeal, but the '61s dimmed the porch light. DeSoto saw a shocking contraction. Why the '59s didn't gain in sales is a question. Buick did a lot of the same thing despite being in Chrysler's price tier; sales dropped from the banner year of '55, every year thru '58, and only saw a tiny increase for '59 (240K > 285K). The compacts really did add to the legacy brand's bottom (volume) lines in the '60s. Buick didn't eclipse its '55 volume of 737K until 1973.

Watched what I could find on Hummer EV assembly. GM has only released a bit of video, which numerous different videos sample from, it seems. From what I saw, I feel the Hummer best fits in the 'unibody' category, as the raw shell moving down the line getting spot welded up already shows chassis structure attached. Later on, the battery pack is seen being lifted up from below into the chassis's bottom. While I accept that there is a 'structural contribution' via the battery pack, I wouldn't be surprised if it's largely to do with the large bottom plate that bolts to the body structure & seals the battery compartment, making a huge, solid, rigid 'squaring' of the body. I don't think it would be advisable to have liquid-cooled batteries themselves subjected to repeated torsional stresses, esp in an intended off-roader like the Hummer.

Agreed. Whether the structural members are welded to the floor or are bolted to the floor makes very little difference- the vast majority of ride characteristics are in the suspension/tires. SOME examples of BOF probably can't be made to ride well due to the level of engineering incorporated, but it's not mutually exclusive. My BOF Sierra has an excellent ride, IMO. One thing I do agree with a bunch of other owners on; it could use a shock upgrade (which I'm planning on doing); that's more about sudden directional changes - highway/around town cruising is fantastic. Other than the Corvette (I believe) is there a GM non-truck/van/non-RWD-based SUV that hasn't been unibody construction in the last 20 years? Are the upcoming BE vehicle bodies welded to their structural chassis'... or bolted? Do you ever unclench your fists? ?

DeSoto had a banner year in '57, largely due to the gorgeous styling. But the '58 recession hit them very hard- down 60% (the mid-price tiered brands all got hit), and they never recovered.

Top of the line '59 DeSoto Adventurer convertible, 1 of only 82 built. Prolly a quarter million dollar car in this flawless shape.

I'm sure there are subtle differences from OEM to OEM, but looks like a textbook BOF to me. Rivian :

Yep. Funny how after decades of espousing the reputed virtues of unibody construction, we're now going to do a hard pivot back to BOF.

I never got that from the Escalade; the whole 'bling' thing. Not from the factory... but of course private owners have highly blinged out some of them after-the-fact.

What's 'too many'? 300K Cadillacs or 2,213K BMWs?

Not sure what year this was but not very recently - Wangers (pictured) retired from public life at 91 in 2018.

Consumers still think a toyoter is an excellent, problem-free vehicle, too. Agreed that mass-volume, mainstream vehicles are no longer 'luxury' because they're everywhere. Add in glacially-paced styling updates and it appears like there's 100s of 1000s on the roads around you. The antithesis of exclusivity. But... smh says whatever sells the mostest, is the bestest.

That must mean they're the bestest brand of all the brands, eh? Time to switch allegiance!

BMW is straight out of Rutville, Germany. Handling has fallen off, they're getting tons of blowback because their styling is going the way some say Pontiac's did (overwrought / heavy-handed / the subject of memes), and they're also way way behind on BE vehicles (in addition to killing off the miserable i3 in the height of a BE frenzy). They're about to throw everything out & start over, just like everyone else is claiming to.

Well, it's certainly light years ahead of -say- an old anemic, noisy Audi diesel- the LM2 is a smooth, quiet, powerful, compact engine. It would be awesome in a sports sedan. Only potential obstacle I see might be physical engine height.

- - - - - This whole 'they don't make it anymore so it's a "failure"' mindset has to die. It's illegitimate. Trends/ needs/ regulations/ demographics/ product planning change all the time, and many times, 'good things' get discontinued for the same reasons. I'll repeat myself ; when GM keeps something around for years & years, it's 'bad'. When they discontinue something after a few years it's 'bad'. Are we sure it's the longevity/lack thereof that's the problem... or is it just because it's GM?

Or..... use the 277 HP/460 TRQ all-aluminum, DOHC/4-valve Duramax TD in the sport sedan. Same configuration, 1.2 less liters displacement, 200 more TRQ... undoubtedly could be tuned higher; win-win-win. 5 displacements, 10 different model lines... what was the production volume??

'71 GP SSJ ~

Recycling (same car) ~ 2-dr fastback '49 Caddy, chopped & hard-topped ~