tama z71

You are what we like to call a "beancounter"

Before new features, I think the forum design language needs to come back up to speed. This blue and white crap aint cuttin it, and I miss the old C&G logo.

The hot topic sidebars seem to update very, very slowly. The articles about a new Saturn logo and the Camaro test-drive were just posted today, but they were on the GMi ticker about 5 days ago. It just seems like this could be updated more regularly.

Meh. Not necessarily a poorly written article, but you have to understand that nobody cares what you think. That's not a slant at you, it's just true of all journalism. Try to write with a more all-encompassing theme next time.

Do you tend to ruin a lot of threads?

Nah... even if got out of hand for a little while, I'd rather it look like a popular thread. People are more likely to check out a read with 35 responses, not 0. It can be a good discussion.

It warms my heart to see three pages of response to one of my write-ups, but I'd appreciate you fellas not getting it locked. I spent 12 days refining a write-up for GMi some time ago, got 7 pages of response in less than a day, and had it subsequently locked due to stupid commentary, much like some of you are providing now. I'd like very much not to see that happen again.

This was just a humor piece. And everything you listed has been talked about endlessly.

Welcome Aboard! A Tama Fictional Letter May 10, 2006 Dear Toyota, Hi! I'm General Motors, and, welcome! You boys seem set to take my spot at number one. Hell, if I didn't know otherwise, the media would have me believing you were already on top! Oh well. Since you seem set on staying here for a while, I thought I should write you this letter, and let you know what things are like around here! When the time comes to pass that you've officially taken my spot, these tips are going to help acclimate you to the position. - When you've officially reached number one, you are going to find yourself making all kinds of new friends! Those who have so far supported you will toot your horn far and wide. If the past few years are any indication, expect such praise to last about a year. - Congratulations! It’s been one year on the throne! Though the monumental sales growth that got you to this point has diminished, there is no reason to stop celebrating. The media is still on your side, and competitors have grown even smaller! Pay-raises for everybody! - Now that you’re a big boy corporation, it’s time to invest in some little guys. Buy a minimal controlling interest in some of the more obscure fledgling companies still milling about. Nissan has gotten smaller, but a “mutual merger” with Ford would increase your “American Factor” five-fold! - Uh oh – conservative backlash! While you’ve retained old friends on the coasts, now-jobless union workers are upset at your continued presence here! Allow unionization in your plants to appease those you find desirable! - More growth! Introduce 3 new brands in five years to retain popularity! - Congratulations on your fifth-year anniversary as King of the World! (edit: car world! only the car world) Now that you’ve spent a fair amount of time on top, things will start to change. Your old friends in the press will start to question your contributions, and once-standard comparison tests will sway out of your favor. No matter – you’ve still got the ultimate propaganda machine! hint! belie such uncertainties by reminding people how much you’ve contributed to America. - Growth has stopped in all areas except union strength. Consolidate some platforms to retain profitability. - Uh-oh! Profits are down, and the auto monthlies now have nothing but bad things to say about your “vanilla cars” and “cheap-o-plasticity” interiors! Initiate final “Americana” campaign to retain consumer favor! - Well, it’s been 15 years, and already the kingdom is crumbling. The media is now totally against you, railing your company with a countdown until the little guy takes your top spot. Sales are off, reviews are negative, and conventional wisdom calls on your products as “soulless, carbon-copies of themselves.” Sell off all major assets, lose as much idle workforce as possible, and begin to import cars once again in effort to remind everyone that “hey, we are still Japanese, and still superior in quality.” So, that’s about it! Liquor is in the cabinet, but don’t get too used to the champagne. Eventually, everything you've worked for will be cast aside to make room for the next big guy. Hyundai is a safe bet, but don't count out the Chinese -- they're resilient, and word has it they've already plagiarized every car you will design for the next 12 years. How did that feel? Get used to it.

FANTASTIC idea!!! This takes the site further beyond the message board feel and makes it more of a legitimate news site. I can't wait till it gets rolling and I hope I will be able to contribute.

ROOAAAR!!!

Those things did not happen in one year. Everything that has happened in the past year is a result of work set in motion as long as five years ago. If GM wants to stay at face level with Toyota, they need to be as nimble as Toyota, and that means getting rid of overhead first. If they can deal with the union and legacy costs firsts, then the product will continue to get better. But I dont think we can expect a full turnaround for at least 5-7 years.

There's no way you can justify this claim.

Damn! Do a little bitchin and there are the replies! Thanks for the compliments guys. I've got a bunch of stuff in the works. Hopefully work will let off enough for me to submit some more.

What does it take to get a response around this site? Dammit

couldnt this kind of be a reply to the other thread? its not really an article.

Maximum Bob A Tama Article www.cheersandgears.com April 16, 2006 General Motors Vice-President Robert Lutz gives much-needed personality to the cars and the company. Before General Motors lost itself in the corporate anonymity that is now definitional of the company, it produced some of the most memorable and legendary leaders ever to enter the car biz. DeLorean, Duntov, Engine Charlie Wilson – these were car guys who presided over a true car company. It has been almost four decades coming, but GM has found its next charismatic car guy in Bob Lutz. In his book On a Clear Day You Can See General Motors, DeLorean detailed the systemic and anonymous nature of the 14th floor, GM’s infamous headquarters that bred a corporate culture of facelessness. This approach to business ultimately led the company to appear non-human; magnifying the size of the auto juggernaut (can you say 60% of the national market share?) However, since the heady days of the muscle car craze, the General has been completely lacking the kind of charismatic car guy who could build the one-hell-of-a-car that previously was the GM standard. In fact, the lifeless nature of the 14th floor soon leaked its way into GM cars, the catalyst for the “bean-counter” and “cookie-cutter” autos of the 70s-90s. The system worked despite itself for 40 years, until CEO Rick Wagoner, a man bred in the traditional GM hierarchy, did the unthinkable – brought in an outsider, straight to the top. Since then, the ex-marine, ex-Chrysler CEO, ex-Instrument of the Gods has shaken the company out of its comatose business approach. Five years after his initiation as resident car guy, Lutz’ work is starting to present itself, and we are in for a show. If not the work that Bob has gotten his hands on, it’s his mouth that is causing folks to take notice of the company again. Further distancing GM from the stodgy image of an anonymous business entity, Lutz has made bold predictions and boastful hints at future GM product, adding "Soon, all will be revealed to you, and the last skeptic in America will be convinced that we are well on the way to recovery. GM has its best days ahead of it." Perhaps second only to Lori Queen, Lutz is becoming more and more aggressive in calling out what many agree is a bias-driven and begrudging automotive media. A few of his best quotes have come from the 2006 New York International Auto Show, where he added "Most of the analysts living in New York don't even own cars, and have never even visited one of our dealerships,” and "At some point, I start to question whether they're [analysts] holding short positions on the stock." Referring to sold-out orders for GM’s sports coupes (Corvette, Solstice, Sky), Lutz added "Let's look at some of our awful, boring products and see just how unpopular they are." General Motors’ road to recovery is going to take change on all fronts. Rick Wagoner appears to be the man to take charge of the business of a car company. Though there are those who have recently questioned his leadership abilities, Bob Lutz is certainly not among them, saying "General Motors will come back and blossom like never before, and Rick Wagoner will be the celebrated hero at the head of the company.” Then there is the product end of the business. Wagoner and Co. made the pivotal decision of implanting an outsider to revitalize the company. Considering the resurgence of Cadillac, Chevrolet’s new spot as national sales leader and the apparent rebirth of Saturn, Lutz has already made his mark on the company. Will the new cars appeal to customers as Lutz has said they will? Only time will tell. For the time being, however, Lutz is in command. Here’s to the success of this cigar-chomping ex-marine – his work now is more important than ever.

Im glad they changed up the front bumper. The old one looked chintzy, too ricey for a sedan.

i have the photos all posted in photobucket, but i dont know how to make them publicly viewable

1975 Chevrolet Silverado K1500 MowerTruck Necessity breeds a monster. A Tama Article This is your land. Your domain is a backyard of which every man in America could be proud. You stand atop your kingdom, savoring your creation and challenging all those who look upon it to do better. All is as it should be in your world – until that son of a bitch next door does the one-up dance. Everybody has one. He is the guy across the property line whose accomplishments are always just beyond your reach. Your lawn is green – his is greener. Your sidewalk is clean – his is cleaner. Your shrubs look good – his look shrubbier. Every single inch of real estate you claim as your own has already been overstepped by this guy, who then has the juevos grandes to ask “Howdy neighbor! How’s your yard doing?” One-uppsmanship “Why? Because I can.” The words of the truck’s creator James Conley ring loudly with the principle of ingenuity – if it’s not there, build it. Build it he did. The concept of a MowerTruck was born to fulfill the desires of comfort and efficiency. Three hundred collective acres of grass to maintain makes a case for the quest of an upgrade. Comfort is invaluable during 10 hours of mowing in the oppressive summer heat, and the efficiency to knock down 300 acres of grass in one day’s time is equally so. Built without a blueprint or a prayer – “at least four complete tear-downs and refits,” says Conley – the MowerTruck is the consummate example of determination in the face of nonsensical creation. The Machine Before the hybridization of battery and petroleum was even a blueprint, there was a two-faced monstrosity being built in a lonely warehouse in western Pennsylvania. The truck is a 1975 Chevrolet Silverado K1500. It is a bare-bones work truck of the single-cab long(gone)-bed variety. Two high-riding bucket seats stand tall in the stripped-out yellow cabin, and along with enlarged rear-view mirrors serve to enhance the operator’s line of vision. A 350 Chevy Small Block powers the beast and an unstoppable all-wheel-drive system is paramount to maintaining the trucks mobility. Four massive Sidewinder Radials on 15-inch steelies further the ability of the truck to tackle any lawn. A heavy-duty quad-terminal battery sends electricity to the decks in the rear. Three hydraulic arms enter the truck through an aftermarket hole in the base of the cab, and are used to lift and drop the batwing-style mowers. An auxiliary fuel pump to the mowers is switched on and off from the drivers seat. Three enormous tachometers relay the state of the mowers during operation. The a/c compressor has long since met it’s end, and the lack of passenger cooling and radio presence serve to remind that this is indeed a work vehicle. Ironically, all means of soundproofing are absent in a vehicle that feeds the atmosphere with the collective roar of four separate engines. The business of the truck takes place rear of the cab. Three 5.5-foot mower decks have been lifted from a Toro Fairway mower and retrofitted to the bare frame of the Chevy. They operate in much the same style as originally intended: the mowers port and starboard fold straight up and stand vertically while not in use, and the rearmost mower lifts straight upward and remains parallel to the earth. On the ground, the mowers span a 15-foot cutline, more than enough incentive to build and rebuild the truck. Each mower deck receives juice from its own 15 horsepower Briggs and Stratton powerplant, a system far more appealing when those motors function smoothly. Connecting the mowers to each other and to the truck is a highly unorganized and explicitly dangerous cluster of wires, hoses and chunks of overly-welded steel. Tall in the middle of the bare framework sit two gas tanks totaling 20 gallons of explosive potential. Dual fire extinguishers inside the cab provide defense against bad luck and have been essential to resolving fiery situations in the past. No less than 8 fuel lines run throughout the wire and hose network of the vehicle. The Chevrolet Corvair was known for its explosive nature, but the firepower of the MowerTruck is enough to leave Ralph Nader in tears. The Drive The extensive amount of work in building this monstrosity (nearly a year) was not solely in the name of comfort. The truck was built with the problem in mind that it would be taking care of tremendous fields in at least three separate locations. Short of the hydraulic labyrinth that would have to be concocted just to make the system work properly, the greatest task at hand would be making the thing street-legal. Indeed, if not for the purpose of road going, the decks would not need to fold up to the sides of the cab. Though batwing mower systems are a more ambitious feature among pickups, by folding up and staying within the height and width regulations, the truck passes all inspection and license procedures. Such a system has allowed the vehicle to maintain different properties in a timely manner, while simultaneously making for the ultimate head-turning vehicle. The act of mowing is one of elation. Bring your favorite set of earmuffs and a cooler packed with your favorite beverage (okay, favorite beer), and you are set for a full day of endless grass-murdering goodness. The machine moves swiftly for its size. Weight is dispersed over a fifteen foot span in the back – combine this with four massively wide tires and the machine, despite a total weight of about 5000 pounds, will not leave the slightest hint of ruts in the freshly mowed ground. The turning radius is surprisingly nimble in a vehicle so large. Conley’s greatest foresight in the largely unplanned build-up was the turning circle. “When I built it, I aligned the mowers in such a way that when the wheel was turned fully in either direction, if the front corner of the truck missed the object, so would the mower decks.” The permanent all-wheel drive system is the MowerTruck’s ace in the hole, allowing it to climb hills and navigate grades like a champ. Mowing speed hits its highest acceptable point at about 10-15 mph, depending on grass height and moisture. The truck is somewhat a forerunner to the Hummer family, in that it is fantastic off-road and frightening on-road. The knobby treads make for an extraordinary amount of road noise. With the mowers in driving position (standing straight up in the air), the machine is a rolling weeble that will very easily fall down. Taking a sharp bend? Good luck. The Legend The sensation the MowerTruck leaves on an operator is that of massive and uncontested power. After driving a vehicle that is wider than a tank and equally loud, those who run the truck leave it grinning like idiots. Since its creation, the MowerTruck has compiled a reputation of biblical proportions. The machine has gotten stuck no less than 17 times. It has an estimated usage of about 4500 hours. The rear frame has been fortified, twice adding leaf springs to the half-ton suspension. It has spontaneously combusted three times – once while cutting, twice while in transit. Fuel economy is a spritely 35 mpg (mows per gallon). In winter of 2002, the truck underwent a complete overhaul, receiving new paint, body panels and hydraulic equipment. In summer 2003, the old mower engines finally worked themselves dead. In the past week, all systems have been revamped within the vehicle, and a few new ones added just for giggles. Don’t be fooled by its handyman demeanor -- the Chevrolet MowerTruck is a killing machine. It makes no distinction between grass or otherwise – 7000 golf balls have been fired out from under its ruthless decks. Built for the systematic slaughter of grass, the machine has come to spell the end of several groups of small animals. At final count, the brute’s nine rotating blades had laid waste to approximately 40 birds, 20 rabbits, three families of groundhogs and a bear. The vehicle was built to serve the purposes of comfort and efficiency. According to its creator, “The only way to cut grass is under the comfort of shade, air conditioning, radio, and with a beer in hand. The MowerTruck has given me this.” The Chevrolet MowerTruck is a machine that can knock down an acre of grass in an hour and fire a projectile golf ball towards the neighbor’s dog in excess of 80 mph. This is not a girly ride-on mower for the pickings of the public at your local Home Depot. Rather, it is a testament to that ever-shrinking category of American men who look to improve everything that can be improved by the tip of an arc welder. This is not the yuppie’s one-up lawn mower. This is a real man’s machine. And I can’t wait to hear what that smug son of a bitch next door has to say now. Stay tuned to see more pictures and videos of operation, once I find a place to host them.

You know, you never hear of a contingent of Irish people getting all pissy about stereotypes every year on March 17th. I understand that a group like this is certainly not reflective of the entire gay community, but you guys need to find yourselves a better spokesman regardless.

Greatest line ever.

If GM worried about the California market, they would lose focus on everything else. California is disconnected with every other facet of the nation. I think we ought to cut the border and let the state float out to sea.

Penn Trafford High School

dammit fellas, come on