Flybrian

They were selling off their old stock of Anson Sevilles on DiecastMuscle for like $12.00 a pop. I'm trying to pick on up somewhere. It would complement my 1:18 Maisto DTS very nicely.

You killed a slug, Ocn, and now they're back with a vengence.

Dude, did anyone even read what he said?

Not only that, but GM chose to kill the alternative cars as well. If I wanted another 'Aurora,' I could've gone softer and had a Park Ave with a s/c six or less luxurious in a Bonneville GXP and retain a V8. Even a nice LeSabre Celebration would've qualified. Now, I've got nothing except one trim of Lucerne to look at. Honestly, axing Oldsmobile would've made sense back when it was first rumored in the early 90s. At that point in time, most Olds products were duplicates of Buick cars in both vehicle and qualities (soft, plush-biased sedans). However, Olds of the late-90s was far different with real desired products like Aurora, Intrigue, and Alero. Those Olds buyers found a better home with Infiniti and Acura to be totally honest.

Saw a valiant attempt at an entry-level luxury car V-Series. No, I'm serious. I assume it had the Stealth Group package, which includes truck rack, three-out-of-four wheel covers, and a vinyl top. I'm thinking of making my Aurora a 442 for fun.

I totally know it but won't say it.

Again... Explain how - accounting for regional differences - this list isn't accurate. BV, sorry, dude, but how many late-80s Grand Ams have you seen that look halfway decent?

Its funny because people still consider the Camry to be an automotive benchmark. They need to get out more.

ION

Or Acura's Civic-based Canadian EL.

I had a completely different response from GM, CARBIZ. Back in late November of '99, I requested information from Buick, Olds, and Cadillac for a 9th grade school project I was going on GM. I asked them for anything that could be useful for a 10-minute presentation - press releases, pictures, brochures whatever they had "laying around" - and that I needed it by January 10th or something because on the 15th I was to give the presentation. Three weeks went by with no response, so I thought I'd just have to ride my bike down to dealerships and get the stuff myself. Wrong. From Buick, I recieved a large envelope on Christmas Day(!) with not only fullline brochures, but huge individual model brochures, glossy 8x10 b&w and color photos, and old press kit for the '98 Sigma concept, and brand-new copy of a GM History of Buick book. A few days later, I got a box of 2000 LeSabre debut CDs to hand out to the class. From Oldsmobile, I got a document box with brochures, a whole bunch of information from the '97 Centennial celebration, a 50-page history book, and several 8x10 glossies, including one of Ransom Olds. From Cadillac, I not only got brochures and historical information, but the Assistant Media Director actually called me the week after my presentation and asked how I did! I mean, holy crap! All of them sent letters wishing me luck and to call their relations offices if I needed anything else. I still have pretty much all of that stuff, too, as well as my original presentation board. I mean, wow. What more could I have asked for?

A photographic assembly of white trash cars... Ford Escort: Reigning white trash king. These weren't desireable new. (Specifically IROCs) I should clarify by stating 'white trash' being defined as cars I see a higher proportion of in poor to barely operable condition or sitting dormant in a state of total disrepair. For example, the mid-90s Grand Am can be easily considered a 'white trash' car, but I see maybe 10-20% in below average to poor condition, as opposed to those Toyowagons, of which I've seen dozens recently, but none ever in decent shape. I've yet to see a Metro convertible with its ragtop intact nor a Tercel with all its wheel covers or in one solid color.

I'm sure you would... Let's just remember that though its the Lounge, this is still a site that's intended to be Safe For Work. That means no posting disgusting, pornographic, or risque images. Just a reminder since a few among us came awful close to that line...

Age: 20 Buick Park Avenue, Regal, LaCrosse, Lucerne, Terazza, Rendezvous Cadillac DeVille/DTS, CTS, STS, Eldorado GMC Yukon XL, Sierra, Canyon Chevrolet Monte Carlo, Impala, Malibu Maxx, Corvette, Silverado Pontiac Solstice, Bonneville, Torrent Oldsmobile Aurora, Intrigue, Bravada Saturn L-Series/wagon Jaguar XJ8, S-Type Mercury Milan, Montego Lincoln Zephyr Mazda 6 Infiniti M45(last-gen), G35, Q45 Maybach Bentley Azure Suzuki Verona Hyundai XG350 SAAB 9-5 wagon

I like the Vibe except for its emascualted joke of an engine. 118hp/115lbft in the AWD trim? Laughable.

Negatory. That's the fuel-cell GM Precept. This is the 1992 Ultralite: 420lbs. Think about that. That's what GM is capable of when it wants to do something. Best corporation building the best automobiles the world has ever seen - when it feels like it.

How irrelevant... Anyway, I think Lakefire's right that we've reached a point where private industry will provide the motivation for continued flight into low-earth orbit at least. Bush's pulled-out-of-the-ass plan to send man to Mars is a pretty ridiculous one, especially given our other massive fiscal projects (Iraq, New Orleans, NMD, new Space Shuttle, etc) and an almost sad lack of interest among the general public.

Ford Escort. Period.

Speaking of which, I saw a very, very nice riced Civic awhile ago. In fact, it was so tastefully and well-done, I'd prefer to call it 'customized' or 'modified' rather than rice. It was a blue late-90s coupe with diagonal white stripes across the longitudinal of the car, nice Momo rims, a sensible wing, a chromed exahust tip (no obnoxious fart car), and best of all, extremely clean. 'Rice' by my definition is a car that's been asymmetrically-modified, i.e. brand-new rims and double-tier spoiler with a pealing front clip and duct-taped sideview mirrors. Gotta get the basics first.

Good idea. Let's see what happens when a modern BOF car gets rear-ended at high speeds by a large vehicle... Oh yeah. They explode.

The SR-71 is the most fascinating aircraft likely ever created. The huge inlet nacelle cones on the intakes of the jets are necessary to 'convert' the engines from turbojet to ramjet function; positioned incorrectly, they cause the SR-71 to unstart in midair, causing an abrupt yaw to one side or the other. The aircraft didn't actually stretch; more accurately, the panels aligned themselves in flight due to the extreme heat at the SR-71's operating speeds. This meant that the plane would simply leak fuel all over the ramp when parked. But that's okay since the JP-7 fuel it used had an extrodinarily high flashpoint to prevent combustion in the heat of flight, so even dropping a match into a bucket of it wouldn't ignite it. It also trace Caesium compound mixed in to reduce the radar sig of the exhaust. Its said JP-7 was more expensive than an equal amount of malt whiskey. After the plane launched, it would 'warm up' the airframe and then rendezvous with a special KC-135Q for aerial refueling; that's how much fuel it burned on takeoff. Some more weird tidbits: the titanium skin actually grew stronger as it heated, the J-58 engines not only operate continuously on afterburner but become more efficient as the plane goes faster, and the exact airframe tolerences really are not fully known (at least what's declassified). Figures put Mach 3.44 as a max operating speed at which unstarts becomes a more serious issue. Note the X-15 rocket plane reached speeds of between Mach 5 and Mach 6.7. A few weird facts are that the titanium used to make much of the SR-71's skin actually originated from the USSR, the aircraft was really a very, very dark blue (not quite black), and - since this is a GM forum - the start carts used to power up the big J-58s were themselves powered by a set of two Buick V-8s. And, and as for the exhaust, its creating by the ramjet engine.

You're confusing the two. Skunk Works is in-house colloquialism (and now unofficial public name) for Lockheed's Advanced Development Projects Unit, located on the edge of the Mojave Desert in California. It was formed in 1943 and its produced America's first combat jet and also virtually all of Lockheed's advanced airframes.

1) Light interiors will show dirt regardless of who makes the car. Regular cleaning helps ameliorate this. 2) Impalas with a floorshifter have gear position indicators on the bottom portion of the speedometer bezel as show here... ...its digital and illuminated only when the ignition is on. Same as the last Impy and both the '00 and '06 Monte Carlo. 3) Agreed that a keyhole on the decklid would be nice, but not necessary with a good key fob with easy-to-replace batteries. And, there's always the interior release.

You would simply be amazed at the number of people who come within inches of a helicopter tail rotor or airplane propeller...

I should've clarified. There were originally three candidates for STS shuttle replacement - Lockheed's VentureStar, a very orbiter-like Boeing design, and McDonnell-Douglas' DC-X capsule that incorporated a more challenging vertical powered landing scenario. NASA chose the most complicated, challenging, and expensive of the designs - Lockheed's. 'Idiots' refers to the NASA budgeteers who chose the most daunting of the three knowing full well of the potential cost overruns in developing the Aerospike engines, the more unorthodox fuel system, brand-new metallic heat tiles, and the challenges of the lifting body airframe design. Take into account actually fielding such a budget-killing craft would have Lockheed dumping even more of its own money into development (it already had put quite alot into it). This makes even less sense because Lockheed-Martin earned a nice contract for its Titan IV rockets. It would've been competing with itself and spending its own money to do it. Sometimes it seems the administrators at NASA want things to fail because it sure seems like they try pretty hard to ensure it.