FUTURE_OF_GM

So.. I just bought a pair of SLP Loudmouth IIs for the Stang. That started me thinking about my '73 Camaro. I'm most likely going to try to replace the transmission in it early next year (hopefully my tax refund will be generous) The exhaust is all custom and welded up and that would be a perfect opportunity to put a better system on it. Currently, I'm running Hedman Shorties to 2.5 inch pipes into 3 inch Flowmaster single chamber Delta Flow mufflers (Probably the equivalent to what they call the 10 Series off road mufflers but I can't remember the series number from when I bought them) then reducing to 2 inches for the tail pipes (because at the time, they didn't make the stainless tips I need in a bigger diameter) The mufflers are definitely staying. Originally I wanted to do 3 inch all the way back, or at least from the headers to the mufflers. But I've heard different things about cars NEEDING to have some back pressure. So here are my options: 1) Leave it at 2.5 inch with an X-pipe to the mufflers and reduce it to 2 inches behind the mufflers. 2) Go 3 inches to the mufflers with an X-pipe and reduce down to (preferrably) 2.5 inches (but maybe 2 inches depending on tip availability) behind the mufflers. 3) Go with 3 inches (and an X-pipe) all the way through. The motor is built, but nothing radical. It's a SB 400 4 bolt main, 30 over (406) with a hot cam. It's *probably* running around 10:1 compression. Has a Holley 600 running into a generic Edelbrock aluminum intake and stock heads. (Honestly, I really haven't had the money to build much on the motor since it's been in there --- It probably only has, at most, 2500-3000 miles on it. I don't pretend to be much of a mechanic... My skills mainly relate to 2 things 1) Taking it apart and putting it back together and 2) Researching the hell out of something before I execute it.

You know, it's funny you mention that. Both the GF and I (4 degrees between us) are managers at a local restaurant trying to ride out the storm. All of my toys (cars) are paid for and all of my transactions are in cash. As far as credit... Well, I'll just say that things aren't too good right now because all I have to pay is student loans (that I can BARELY afford) But I'm not about to take on more debt to 'prove myself' for a flawed system. Really worried that I'll never be able to buy a house. But oh well...

But that would defy efficiency and piss off Wall Street, so NO GO. In Political Sociology we talk a lot about "increased efficiency" In an ideal world, "increased efficiency" is supposed to benefit EVERYONE. Employers (the elite, upper class) make more money and therefore bump up the middle class pay scale and time off. However, the reality is that this "increased efficiency" is NOT being passed down the line. That has resulted largely in the gap in earnings and the decimation of the middle class. The elite have GREATLY benefitted from OUR increased efficiency and it shows as they continue to become more and more wealthy. However, the wage for the middle class has stayed roughly the same for YEARS while the cost of living continues to rise. That results in a situation where a middle class person can either 1) Accept a lower standard of living (As I've said before, Sociologists believe that Gen Y -- my generation -- will be the first generation that has a LOWER standard of living than our parents) or 2) WORK HARDER to try and hang on to the standard of living that he/she feels they deserve. It's sad, really. And that's why I continue to maintain my bleak outlook on the future of most of us.

I've struggled with this myself. Not long ago I was a fulltime student and worked 2 jobs (Then I would come home and blog, LOL, no wonder I couldn't remember posting a lot of stuff) My education has taught me a lot about how stress affects our body and how ESSENTIAL it is to balance and manage those effects. I'd be a hypocrit if I told you that I'm excellent at doing it, though. I think one thing to consider is your personality. Do you enjoy working that much? Personally, I'm a big fan of structure and I'm very 'type A' oriented in that I have to be accomplishing something at all times. "Down time" (for example: sitting on the couch during the day) stresses me out really bad. So, with that type of personality, I find that working a lot actually decreases my stress because I feel as if I'm accomplishing things and advancing myself in life (through experience and pay) However. (And that's a big however) you have to be very aware of stress level and be able to 'turn it off' if you need to. For example; I'm very bad to stress myself out about the smallest details of life. And when that happens, I have to 'distract myself' (READ: unplug) from what is stressing me out. It's as simple as planning a day out or taking a walk around the block and enjoying the weather. I like to think of this as 'simple psychology' because in psychology, we treat people by altering behavior or establishing new behaviors. So, if something makes me stressed out, I find some way to alter my behavior (the walk -- getting out of the office) I have made the decision in my life (already) that I WILL NOT be a hired slave just to get more money. I'm very willing to forfeit a higher standard of living in order to actually be able to enjoy my life and the money I make. (Example: 60 hours a week and 6 figures is probably awesome, but I'm not that dedicated. I'd probably accept a lower paying job with 45 hours a week) I think, as a society, we are in a VERY bad place right now in relation to working and 'not being able to unplug' I mean, you ride the train to work in the morning and use that time to work on your job on a laptop. The you go in and pull 8-10 hours. Then you ride home on the train repeating the laptop scene. Then at home, you get on your PDA to either check email or take a call... WHERE DOES IT END? That isn't healthy behavior (IMO) and I, personally, refuse to be 'wired to a job' like that. And the same can be said about "the information age" in general. You almost cannot escape news, media, social media, entertainment media, etc... And that's something I have a hard time with. I'm one of those guys that's in love with his iphone and checks it every 5 minutes. And I've almost considered trashing it because of that.

Here's my beef (aside from what others have already stated) Why the F*CK do all cars have to look as if they're smiling now?!?! Let us drive our HAPPY, energy efficient cars through the peaceful, war-banning abiss to nauseum that births apathetic death. I miss the pissed off cars (my '73 Camaro, My '99 Mustang, the F4s, that gorgeous B-59 that balthy owns, etc.) BTW, that small Ford is pretty awesome.

It's pretty easy to see what's going on. 1) CTS is finally becoming a true 5 series competitor, as it should've been all along, (Instead of trying to be 5 series sized and compete with a 3 series) 2) ATS will come in as the 3 series competitor (complete with V8 power in the V-Series version) 3) XTS will serve traditional Cadillac buyers and be the weirdo model (Much like the ES is the 'demanded' weirdo model at Lexus) 4) The Zeta based car will come in and compete directly with the 7-series above the CTS. (coupe and sedan maybe?) 5) And there is also rumor of an even more pricey Zeta (and by Zeta I mean the new large global RWD architecture) based car to compete with RR et al. I think that would be a very good line up if GM would just execute and shut the hell up already. The SRX is a no brainer... GM is using one 'silver bullet' to go after as much volume as possible in the luxury ute market. To shut up SRX traditionalists, GM brought in the CTS Wagon (probably AGAINST better judgement given wagon sales) SWB Escalade will debut on C-3XX (No word yet on Escalade ESV. EXT is as dead as yesterdays sports scores) and continue to sell on it's own merit. My only question is: Now that Escalade will continue on BOF, how will GM adress the large unibody luxury ute movement? Should Cadillac have yet another (Lambda) model to slot in between SRX and Escalade?

I'm in love.

It seems to me that the 'mindless sheeple' are the people who continue to partake in a scenario in which their needs are never met (and, at least since the 70s, haven't even been a concern) These people have their power because those sheeple BUILD their careers for them. What would politicians do if not for talking up their agendas non-stop and receiving 'contributions' from people who will listen. Even if a politician is sincere (And I'll let you in on a secret here that many of you wouldn't guess, that's why I supported Obama, because I thought he was sincere) the system is so corrupt that we can't fix it. No man can, in 4 years, right even half of the wrongs accumulated over the last 30 years. And then, when one considers that at least 2 years of that 4 years is spent trying to guarantee said persons career path for 4 more years, it becomes really impossible. Like all of the other empires, we will be here for our allotted time and no more. Really, what I do could just be considered sound business... If a roofer comes to my house, talks about a grandiose slate roof that he's going to build with my help and takes my money and never returns, why on earth would I schedule yet another job with that roofer 4 years later? My needs were not met, so I have no reason to support that roofing company. Apathy is a bitch at first. But once enough people are apathetic enough for the wave of support to stop, the elites on top will tumble down. Now I don't expect that to happen anytime soon, if ever. But the point is still the same.

And I can counter that by saying 'the squeaky wheel always gets the grease'. If there is an agenda that politicians really want to accomplish, it'll get accomplished eventually anyway. Maybe not THIS TIME, but the same proposition will continue to float over and over again until "we the people" either tire of it or forget about it. That happens here in NC all the time. They'll either continue to push the issue until people throw their hands up or they'll sneak a law through, last minute. CAFE is a classic example of this in our industry. It's virtually worthless, everyone knows that, yet it was pushed and pushed until finally EVEN DETROIT said "Whatever, man" and the wishes of the whiners became the law. On a related note, we had a HUGE fight here in Charlotte last time over a $.03 per $1000 mass transit tax that would fund the expansion of the light rail. People were SUPER pissed about "increased taxes". I really didnt see what the big deal was. I mean, $.03, really? But watching people yell at each other was good for a few laughs.

I've always found the "if you don't vote, you can't bitch" argument to be juvenile. Again; as long as YOUR government has it's hands in my pocket and dictates the way I live, I have every right in the world to bitch. Voting is useless, because it WILL NOT change the way I exist or the way your government INTERFERES with my life. How much has your standard of living improved in the last 30... 20... 10... Even 5 years because of what you wrote on that ballot. Those people (the elite) are so far removed from the way normal people exist that it is impossible for them to understand. Im not encouraging anyone to take my stance. Frankly, it sucks that I feel that way about the state of our country and my life. But I'm just a realist and I have to find the best way for MYSELF to exist. (If anything, politics have taught me to look out for number one)

Those rights are/will vaporize/vaporizing anyway. As a conflict theorist, to me, one of the only truths in life is that EVERY human being is motivated ONLY by some sort of personal gain. You fulfill a need to exercise your rights by voting, that is your motivation. I reinforce my disgust with my life and the system by not allowing anyone my support; that is my motivation. What we called the american dream is too far gone too save; the people on top will continue to step on you and I until the tower collapses. That's all we have left IMO. The best I can do is live my life to it's fullest with what I have. And that means (for me, someone who is sometimes easily worked up) eliminating extraneous bull$h! that causes stress. Extraneous bull$h! tends to include MOST to ALL politics, people who exist in drama and 98.5% of the news and media (gossip). That's a bleak outlook, I know. But that's who I am. (I say this to justify my actions to those of you I respect) Besides, Gore vs. Bush proved that the popular vote means absolutely nothing. The people who hold the power (society's elite) will CONTINUE to hold the power.

A cake made out of horse $h!, is still $h! even if one changes it's contents to cow $h!. A.K.A. The system is screwed, and swapping one crook for another isn't worth my time. The way I see it as long as these incompetent politicians have their hands in my pocket and noses in my business, I have a reason to bitch regardless of my stance on voting.

Voting? What's that? Oh yeah, I usually take the George Carlin approach to that one.

HEY, HEY!!! We'll not be painting over the Dale Sr. Awesomeness... That's the point LOL.

http://charlotte.craigslist.org/cto/2029858837.html

Much as I hate to admit it. And I REALLY hate to; "The electrification of the car" could very well revitalize interest in personal transportation because of the innovation needed. But I could never see myself being a part of that. I feel that an ICE powered car is to an electric car as a steam engine is to a diesel locomotive. The romance is gone...

Yeah, a lot of people did the daylight crap here too. God forbid parents have to take responsibility for their kids after dark. The GF and I worked Sat night and went out last night. So each night we left a giant cauldron of candy out with the place fully decked, hoping people would get the picture. Sat night, it's as if no one even came and last night we came back to find all of our candy AND the cauldron gone as well as our decor trashed. Im pretty pissed about it. I mean, I half expected someone to take all the candy at once, but the cauldron AND trash my decor?!?! REALLY? Next year, I'm going more authentic with the decoration. And as part of that (if I wont be home) I'll be finding a real IRON pot to put the candy in. Even more reason to NEVER live in 'a community'

I agree... But I don't think it's a result of fear as much as the state of finances for a lot of families. The GF and I LOVE Halloween, so we try to 'do it up big' every year with AUTHENTIC COSTUMES (EX: when I was Jason from Freddy vs. Jason, I had a real machete and an under mask complete with a custom airbrushed hockey mask. When I was the reaper, I carried a real antique sickle, etc.) We have our annual (4 years running now) "Pumpkin Massacre" which amounts to a halloween party where you bring a pumpkin(s) and we provide the tools to carve. And this year we were SO excited because we actually live in a house now and our neighborhood is awesome, so we expected to get a lot of trick or treaters. But it SERIOUSLY strained our budget to even do anything this year. We spent probably $100 on costumes alone, $30 on candy, $40 on pumpkins and gourds, god knows how much to throw the party and a lot of $$$ on decor. Halloween is ridiculously expensive these days. The decor either 1) sucks altogether or 2) is super expensive and falls apart when a good wind gust comes. The costumes are a joke. $50 for a bagged rag that you can wear one or two times before it's trashed. That's one reason we go authentic, because if we're going to drop coinage on specific one night clothes they're going to be functional and look good. Our neighborhood is awesome, more of a sense of community than I've EVER found anywhere else (And that says a lot since I'm from a mill town) Our street is a bunch of college aged kids and we all did it up real well, but the rest of the hood. Well, it was hit or miss. I also think that's another factor. With my generation Halloween is increasingly becoming an ADULT holiday (Much like St. Patrick's day and Cinco De Mayo) I had to work Saturday night and EVERYONE in the neighborhood was dressed, and well dressed too. I was actually pretty floored because most of the costumes were SO good. My big 'beef' with Halloween is that the holiday has become so cheesy. Maybe it's just because I'm getting older or because I'm a cynical bastard, but NONE of the decor or entertainment creeps me out anymore. When I was a kid, sure, I knew the props were fake, but they were done well enough to creep me out (or at least make me a bit uncomfortable) It was fun! Now, even the programming on TV sucks. I wanted to see classic, creepy movies and enjoy ABC Family's 13 Nights of Halloween. But all I found was stupid slasher flicks or bull$h! like Pirates of the Caribbean. What ever happened to CREEPY (like Nosferatu) and spooky? Now it's just 'redneck vampires' (yes, that is a jab at True Blood) and stupid low rent crap like Paranormal Activity

An article I read just last week highlighted Texas for steady job growth and little to no taxes. The same article criticized our leadership here in NC for INCREASING taxes in the midst of a recession (We're now in the top ten most taxed states) and dancing around about decreased unemployment when, in fact, unemployment continues to INCREASE. We lost almost 7,000 jobs last month ALONE. But all the politicians care about is the 'official number' which we all know doesn't include folks who have given up on finding anything. And I figured that's how it would be anyway. Our NEW economic infrastructure has contracted to employee fewer people. They'll be the people with influence as the politicians and businesses alike will cater to them. As for the rest of us (myself included) I guess we just get to f*ck off. (1) Lift rug, (2) sweep lives under it.

Yepper... Or their parnets would rather them go that route. That actually touches on a rather disturbing trend that I've noticed lately. Many younger people (my age) seem to be unwilling to justify the expense of a new car. Depreciation is so bad and prices so inflated that even I would have a hard time buying something plebeian just because of the HUGE waste of money. How long until the 'realization' catches on? ESPECIALLY when all of the new CAFE bull$h! (because that's what it is) starts inflatiing prices even FURTHER out of the working class range (working class, because middle class no longer exists) And as far as V6 pony cars... Until someone really AMPS up the style of these cars or at least gives customers the option to do that (Ford is starting to) they will continue to be considered 'poser cars' to everyone but sorority girls and secretaries.

I agree 100%... I've been thinking this exact same thing since I saw the teaser commercials. You guys all know how much I hate Toyota, but I'll admit that the new tC is, by and large, more appealing to me than anything out of Detroit lately. Of course, I thought the old tC was nice too. (Even though we all know I wouldn't be caught dead driving one) God, that is such a hot car. Why did Ford have to (as always) water it down for us? I mean, the new Fiesta is nice and it puts the new Aveo to shame, but it's no where near as hot as the Euro version. I'm willing to bet that a huge chunk of them will go to Kia (except the hardcore Japan Inc. humpers who will trade for the new model or 'graduate' to a bigger sushi wagon) I love small cars as much as I love my old 500hp Camaro and the lack of choice from GM FOR YEARS is scary. The only reason I ended up in a Ford (my much beloved ZX3 Focus) in the first place was because I couldn't STAND GM small cars. I also think the current crop of pony cars is too big. The Challenger and Camaro are HUGE and the Mustang is big too. That's one reason I like my 01' GT because I think it's the perfect size for a pony car (even though it isn't much smaller than the afore mentioned) GM and the domestics in general have notoriously IGNORED the 'thrifty' segments and that's a very bad thing because that's where you pick up younger buyers. GM in the nineties churned out amazing trucks, performance cars and halo vehicles only to leave us young people with Cavaliers, dated Saturns and Sunfires to buy. I could excuse that, because I knew their financial situation. But now, it's no different... Even with the vaunted new Camaro, GM leaves all of the good stuff for the more pricey models. The base Camaro looks like the 'budget' rental car version of the awesome SS. This absence of cool is what I was targeting when I contributed the Chevelle Xtreme to our Skunk Works project. It's something affordable that conveys the IMAGE that people want to convey, because we all know that purchases are based largely on perception and image. Another thing Detroit needs to do is actually inform the consumer that it sells FUN small cars. I have a friend who is younger than me (22-23) and he's currently car shopping. He asked me if I'd ever heard of the Cobalt SS the other day. So I told him about the car (and the HHR SS) and he was floored. Mind you, this guy is no poser. He's always driven/built compact performance cars and he's even FROM Michigan. Get the point? The consumer has been CONDITIONED to expect crappy small cars from Detroit, so they don't even look. However, that same consumer also knows that Detroit is the place to go for trucks and large/performance cars. Unfortunately, a lot of these consumers who don't consider Detroit get hooked by the 'excellent perceived reliability and service' of the asisna brands and therefore lock Detroit out of future purchase decisions when it's time to move up. LUCKILY, this is starting to change as more of my younger friends talk Detroit in a positive light as opposed to my classmates (I'm 28) who were basically anti-Detroit. I agree and disagree... I don't think 'the kids' have anything against Detroit. But the preconceived notion is that one goes to Detroit to buy trucks and sports cars and one goes to europe to buy luxury cars and one goes to Asia to buy affordable, efficient cars. Naturally, these kids are looking at affordable and (thanks to the green agenda bull$h!) increasingly efficient, so Detroit isn't on their list yet. The pony cars are very sweet and EVERYONE knows it and EVERYONE admires them. But hell, people my age (young college educated professionals WITHOUT KIDS) can't even afford those.

I've experienced the same. 85% of the ads I email provide NO response. But it seems that the folks who do respond usually respond REALLY fast.

So, weird things always happen with me and cars. I happened to turn on American Pickers just now AND pull up this thread. At the same time I was admiring your route 66 arrow sign here (I've always wanted an old arrow) the guys found a metal arrow. The lady said it was on route 66 and the info screen caption that popped up featured THE EXACT SAME ARROW SIGN that you have in this thread... Interesting

As far as people already mentioned; George Carlin, for sure! I am honored to share the same birthday as him. Henry Ford and Harley Earl for obvious reasons. I also think Trent Reznor is a good pick, eventhough I'm not a big fan of his music. Me personally: My parents and grandparents for too many reasons to list. Anyone who has ever served this country in the military. When I was in JROTC way back in high school my SAI and AI both served in Vietnam. They had a profound impact on who I am. Dale Earnhardt Sr. because of his tenacity and will to NEVER abandon his dream. James Hetfield because of his intensity and what he represents. Johnny Cash because he understood the real difference between good and bad Andrew Jackson because he was absolutely fearless. Evel Knevel because he was just bad ass. Bob Lutz for obvious reasons. That's what I have 'off the top of my head'

Mine is pre-Droid. Had the Droid been around, I might've stuck with VZW. I was SO anti-iPhone until the GF bought hers. I started using it and got hooked.