balthazar

It's the pleasant counterpart to an recently-discussed unpleasant concept. ;)

>>"Once again, industry critics - from Washington, D.C., and the media intelligentsia in the Northeast, to the green movement on the West Coast - have been given carte blanche to tee-off on Detroit for all manner of sins..."<< You (Duhlorenzo) greatly overemphasis your & your industry's self importance. Again. Do a little research for a change, lay off the Cliche Handbook and the Sterotype Manual, and make even a half-hearted effort to matter and perhaps your blither will hold a few precious ounces of water. >>"the kings of short-term thinking have been caught out on the wrong side of the market yet again."<< Someone please link me to Dulorenzo's article blasting the asian automakers for being "caught out on the wrong side of the market yet again" in that they missed out on the truck & SUV segment for --what?-- 30 years?? Who stands more to lose in a deflating truck market, those manufacturers building new plants and new segment entries, pushed hard with millions of advertising dollars, or those manufacturers who have already raised the truck benchmark, have fully-amortizied factorys & engineering, who have turned their focus to cars & crossovers? Duh.

House paid off. Doubled morgage payments to finish 22-yr morgage in 11 years. 'Saved' a loaded '06 Z06 and then some.

Have any of you inspected one of these up close? A travesty in auto manufacturing. I would not entrust my hide to one in traffic.

I think the bottoms are real; there's a large reflected light source in the bumper which explains the highlight on her thigh. Matte black fabric can look fake in digital pics because it looks so dimensionally flat. Something this little miss is definately NOT.

That's wild, NOS! I never would've thought it, but then again; I'm too into that '40 Plymouth. I see it tho: the fact that the tail of the '40 is so low does make it seem very similar. The floor's been cut out and the body is dropped down over the frame ("channeled"). BTW- give me the '40 anyday.

I just cannot get into Ford cars of any era past the early '50s. For some reason they come off as bad approximations of GM cars or something to my eye. Poor detailing. The '68 Torino just looks.... blunt to me, like a scrap of 2x4. The '72 is godawful horrible. 'Racy' '72s are like a middle-aged woman with a pink bee-hive wig and layers & layers of makeup: both think they look good but everyone else is laughing in their sleeves at the sight. And I'm fairly certain it's not a bias: I love Ford trucks and pre-52 Fords & Mercs ('63-64 full-size Fords & Mercs aren't bad, either). The only palatable Torino for me is '70.

Jerry Flint does not 'write'. He wipes his ass with a sheet of paper then hands it to his editor. No; I didn't read it. Don't have to.

Yup- been having it here, too. Damned annoying...

Olds Gasoline Engine Works organized 1890. Olds Motor Vehicle Company organized 1897. Olds Motor Works incorporated 05-08-1899 via the absorption/merger of the above 2 companies. General Motors bought Olds 11-12-1908. You know- I wonder about that 1926 chrome claim. I wonder if there's some sort of qualifier to it, but I have not researched that one.

Only thing in this vein I can think of is that I used to think rainwater refilled the windshield washer reservoir. When I was a tyke, my grandfather used to say his car had a jet engine. He would point to this red light low on the dash he would warn me to get ready, it would light and the car would take off. Later I figured out it was the parking brake light: he must've lightly engaged the brake and floored it at the same time. I don't think I actually thought it had a jet engine...

Years back my sister hit a deer with my car. The hood was actually bowed upward and the entire grille was gone. It looked like it was snarling & pouncing. For the time it was like that, I would drive with the left tire on the center line; you should have seen people swerve to their right to give me as much space as possible.

Jesus; they're auto 'journalists, Ven: they don't EVER do any research!! I believe they think the "auto" portion of their job description means someone else, somewhere else is doing their research for them and somehow it'll magically appear in the article right before press time.

Olds co-introduced the first high compression V-8 along with Cadillac in '49.

The Granada is a '54. The beautiful Stude Starlight coupe design did appear as a '53, it's this particular chrome-dripping & protrusion-festooned '55 Speedster version that Fly is referring to. Actually, I have little problem with it, and it doesn't overcome the near timelessness of the rest of the body. "protrusion-festooned": :lol:!

There's a stand-alone GMC dealer not too far from me. I need to get a pic of it- it's looks like it hasn't changed in a good 4 decades (with the obvious exception of the vehicles parked out front)... and it sounds like a big change is in store for it.

Highway Hi-Fi actually worked(s) quite well on rougher roads; it's not merely a table-top record player in a chromey case.

Yeah- that makes more sense. Still, the Stude's palatable, the Granada is possibly the ugliest '50s proposal by a major manufacturer I can think of.

Fly: The T-bird & Granada look alike like Brad Pitt & Frankenstein's Monster look alike; same features but definately different in appearance. HE: Info on the Grananda is extremely sketchy. It was built by long-time station-wagon manufacturer Ionia in MI of all fiberglas, including bumpers, brackets & some structural members. In fact it DOES survive, unrestored, in the Joe Bortz collection in IL. I cannot locate any current online pics of it, however.

Agreed: the Granada is ungainly. I do not believe it still exists: I have never seen a later pic and a quick google turned up nothing.

The Trans-Portable radios were '58 & 59 options on Olds, Buick & Pontiac for sure. I have never seen this option available for either Cadillac or Chevrolet, but perhaps it was. I am certain GM never offered a RPO record player, but all ChryCo divisions did: '56 (for sure) thru '60 (off the top of my head). Just saw a gorgeous '56 DeSoto with a 'Highway Hi-Fi' unit this weekend.

You have a good point there about Roadmaster & Century, but the Riv was never dropped & re-upped. I'll agree with the 10-15 year interval for "LeSabre".

Really?? And I was going to add 'spit blood' in with 'scream up at'... Guess this sh!t makes me angrier than I thought... :unsure:

My grandfather interrupted a string of Cadillacs with 2 Olds 98s: a beautiful copper-colored '82 (I believe it was called Light Redwood) with a dark reddish brown vinyl top and a grey '87, painted roof, wire wheels. I felt at the time the '87 was a let down from the big, unapologetic '82, esp in that wonderful color scheme. But the '87 was certainly a nice car, too.

I went to the Lead East car show today; saw 1400 cars (anybody wanna see a listing??!! :lol:) of all makes & vintages... but nothing newer than 1972. {long blissful happy orgasmic sigh} One thing new I hadn't ever seen elsewhere: '54 Eldorado, only 2150 built, can't be more than 40 left in the pristine condition this one was in.