SAmadei

I know. And you can only sue the Federal government if they decide you can. Its BS.

Burn, baby, burn. Hate virtually all your Opel influenced cars. You perverted Buick so bad, you can take that with you. Let the down voting begin.

Yeah, I remember when this mini-fad happened the first time... guess it was mid-90s. Seems like a waste of good sedans and wagons to me.

Not sure what the reserve is, but if I had the money sitting around, I'd pay up to about $6.5~7K... the Maclarens are fairly rare. The seller probably has a reserve at least $8~9K.

Car doors were not 6" thick and you didn't have a 9" wide console taking up space. Also, cars back then were meant to carry two across.

Problem is, the new Riv will likely be a RWD modern version of the '86-'89 Riv.

So she should sue the EPA in small claims court next.

I don't think knowledge of the iPad in the Equus has reached critical mass yet. Otherwise, the 2 Equuii that didn't end up in limo fleets are apparently taking their cars' security more seriously... the fleet Equuii all saw their iPads quickly landed on Craigslist. Seriously, I'd say Equus owners are likely more tech-savvy and would remove the iPads from the cars and use them as, well, iPads. A certain percentage of XTS owners will not know how to turn the iPads on, let alone know they can be used for anything outside the glovebox. Wasn't some other, more common car supposed to have iPads included gratis by now? Personally, I like the idea of putting the manual on a tablet-like device, or even readable through the SatNav screen. But I feel like unless the device is useless away from the car, it will be a huge smash and grab item. Instead of a iPad, I'd rather see, perhaps, a Raspberry Pi based low power, hardware locked tablet that only acts as a dumb terminal for car's (perhaps iPad based) entertainment and information system. Then stealing the tablet is useless.

I kinda hope the Brits get Simon Cowell overload and start burning buildings until they stop playing his crap on TV. I imagine Cowell being the 2012 version of the BBC tv scene in "European Vacation"... where the only program on all the channels is a boring cheese documentary. That said, I suppose those of us watching on BBC America, still have half a "season" to enjoy... 4 episodes. Am I the only one who thinks six and seven episode seasons are pretty bogus to begin with. Sure, one could argue about episode quality if more where made, but then again, I could watch Clarkson just be followed around on a "normal" day, I find his antics so funny. He needs a secondary show, or at least broadcast here in the US, like Hamster and Mays have.

Is GM stocking up extra passenger window glass for all the iPad thefts?

10% was not meant to be the ratio of CV to F150... I'm saying that shoulder/roof ratio for a CV is within 10% of the shoulder/roof ratio of the F150. A Silverado with a 3" drop sitting next to a older B-bod is not far off. I feel part of the high roof feel in pickups is the short cab. Compare a crew cab to a Crown Vic. Unfortunately, I don't have exact measurements... but lets play this game... 5.3 ground clearance, 58.3 total height... 53 inches roughly floor to roof. Silverado (couldn't find easy stats for F-150) 12.8 ground clearance, 73.8 inches total height... 61 inches. It comes close to 10%... 53+7.8 (15%) = 61. Still, I'm just using this as a rough guide... the "sedan" version of a F150 could use some different parts to narrow any awkwardness. True, the truck uses a ladder frame, but the body still bends to cover it. Its not radically different in cross section than any other BOF/unibody car I ever sliced in half, as few cars are truly low slung anymore. Leaf springs... BFD. Half the cars I've owned had them. I'm sure Ford or GM could fix this in version 2, should the concept prove popular. In the end, this may be a solution for me in the future, since GM probably ain't building any more comfortable cars for football players. I guess I'll be giving a pickup a 3" drop and adding a locking hard cover to the bed. Blah.

Its within 10% the proportions of the outgoing Crown Vic. Look how thick and slab sided the 300C and Charger are. And who says tall and square is not the next fad? Its perceived as manly, otherwise it would not be used on the pickup trucks. The current styling has to end soon, as you can only design so many angry guppies. If it proved popular, they could cut the roofline in the 2nd gen. It would only be BOF because thats what the parts bin has. If popular a second gen could be non-BOF.

I love how these drive.

Speaking of large cars and styling, I do not understand why Ford and GM have not debuted full size cars based on their pickup truck lines. For CAFE purposes, they would be categorized as light duty trucks (if an '81 Eagle SX/4 is a "light duty truck", nearly ANYTHING can be classified as such). Otherwise, take the brawny and popular good looks of the F150 or Silverado and lower it to car height and weld on a rear section with a decent sized trunk. Most of the front end and doors could be reused. The extended cab becomes a full sized coupe... the crew cab becomes a sedan. Side windows and rear doors could potentially reused, as well. People are already lowering trucks in the aftermarket. Why not try a limited production run to see if this idea would work. I personally think a Crown Vic that looked like a F150 or a Caprice that looked like a Silverado could look pretty good. If someone felt like mocking up something in Photoshop, I'd love to see it. I know the detractors will immediately come back with full size cars are dead... or GM has no money... but that's why I would use 80% of the light truck parts bins.

There is 'clean' and then there is '8000-mile clean'.

Well, I think the real problem is that the fuse that blows disables nannytech like Traction Control and ABS, and driver's are left with *gasp* dark ages 1995 vehicle dynamics. And Chrysler's lawyers feel the need to scare everyone since nobody can make it a mile without both kicking in.

Like Panera Bread with a liquor license?

Chevette, not Chevelle. Did you guys not read the juicy center of this thread? He's looking for something superlight (2000 pounds or so) and RWD... and he keeps talking Pro Street. Besides Vegas and Monzas (and their rebadges), what do you suggest? A Pinto? A Gremlin? All of the above have been Pro Streeted already. So have Opel GTs... but Vega and Monza sheetmetal is 100x easier to find in the USA than Opel GT sheetmetal. Also, Vegas and Monzas are easier to get into than Opel GTs. In no way are we recommending Vegas, Monzas and Chevettes over RWD A-bods, B-bods, F-bods, etc... not in a million years. Of course, if he is truly going Pro Street, I would find something light and FWD and just convert it to RWD during the Pro Street conversion. At least then, you have a mountain of junkyard parts out there. If he wants to Pro Street a car built in Serbia, I'll recommend a Yugo... because its the only choice federalized in this country.

While I haven't checked out the Cruze's rear leg room issue, it seems to me that the room under the seats has disappeared, where one would normally park their toes. In some cars, the room under the seat is so narrow, you can only fit one foot... in others, there is a big cross brace across the car. Also, it seems to me that the seat back is pushed forward, I suppose to help the ever-shrinking trunk room numbers.

I agree with Cube. Put the DI Ecotec into a Vega. It weighs between 2100-2200lbs The early Vegas look like 2nd Gen Camaros, IMHO. Otherwise, for lightweight RWD cars, you are looking at early Corollas, Celicas, Supras, 200B, B210, 200SX, 240Z, etc. All have 10x the following in the Latino market.

Only posting to reply to your specific question. Police right now are only out there to generate income. They get a few people for easy violations... like speeding and harassing people in three groups... the poor, young and non-white. Do they remove dangerous people from the roads? A few... enough to look good for the statisticians to make positive graphs for them... but look at all the near misses around you and vehicular tragedy on the news. They aren't doing their job nearly well enough. Most of the people involved in these vehicular disasters are repeat offenders and should be IN JAIL. Even the people who do kill others on the road, are usually back on the road in a short time, doing a couple years or probation. Why? The jails are full of people for drug offenses... a wrongheaded prohibition that I will not get into. Remember, the police only solve like 60% of homicides... much of which can be explained by stupid criminals... so if you are dependent on the police to save you, I have a bridge to sell you. Anyway, when I am driving, I am assuming everyone around me is trying to kill me. It is my responsibility to ensure I get to my destination in one piece. I can count thousands of near misses that would have been an annoyance, but I also recall several times where my awareness kept me and my passengers out of the morgue by doing some extreme maneuver. Speaking of street signs, in some places, street sign density is high enough that even I (a fast reader) occasionally have trouble keeping up. I wish the DOT would legislate a upper limit to how much signage can be plastered out there... too much signage leads to people missing the important signs.

The 9th amendment states "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." In other words, there are other rights, and they are not denied by not being included in the Constitution. You can argue all you want about revoking licenses to keep dangerous drivers off the road, but its not needed. We have laws for that. Its called vehicular assault and/or vehicular homicide. People killed others with dangerous horse driving a hundred years ago, without the threat of losing a license. The presence of a license does not stop people from driving. It does stop them from legally registering a car or insuring it. But that don't help you when they slam into your car, destroying it and injuring you. They go to prison, you suffer. Roads are not absolutely safe, you have accepted that risk whenever you go on the road to travel. The bottom line is that driving a car is easier that driving a horse and carriage. While horses have some sense of self-preservation, they are also incredibly stupid and are easily spooked. Assuming you have the land to store the horses, you can ride a horse or drive a horse and carriage on the public roadway without a revokable license. You can lose control and easily kill people with such devices, as you can with a car. Anyway, I'm done on this, because just because the states have fooled you into thinking its a privilege, does not make it justified. Slavery was not justified, yet it was perfectly legal for many decades of US history. If it needs more spelling out by the federal government, perhaps we need a new amendment.

Agreed, but it has to exist as an option for it to increase in popularity... unlike alternate body styles, driven wheels, etc., which are commonly argued here as unwanted when they are only limited pickings.

You got it completely wrong here. You can have all the money in the world, but still have the right to drive revoked for nothing related to driving. Nobody here is arguing for free cars. There are no free cell phone service or cable TV. If you don't pay, you don't watch. If its available and you pay, and they refuse, you have a good case in court for discrimination. You do have a right to fair and equal services. Free Internet, well, libraries provide lots of free information services, within limits. Compared to the price of books, magazines, audio recordings, video recordings, the Internet is a bargain. If you meet the criteria to use the library's resources and are refused, you also would have a good case for discrimination. OTOH, driving a car on public roads, roads which are paid with your tax dollars, and cannot be opted out of, can be revoked for many reasons not related to driving. For example, failure to pay child support. Well, if you are down and out and cannot pay, removing your ability to find and attend work doesn't make much sense. Anyway, our forefathers were not able to code into law everything needed 200+ years later. The 9th amendment states, basically, that just because rights are not specifically spelled out they are still valid. During our forefather's time, they did not feel it was necessary, for example, to specify that one had the right to travel via horse on public roads. Since the car replaced the horse, it is only logical that you should still have the right to drive a car. While I tend to side with state, I am not happy with the power grab the states have, so far, performed here. It is well documented that the federal government recognizes your right to drive, but arguing with the state troopers will get you nowhere. In fact, in a twist of legislative insanity, illegal aliens, which are residents of no state, clearly have the right to drive anywhere in the US. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that anarchy should reign on the highways. There should still be tickets, fines, surcharges, etc. But in the end, taking away one's ability to drive is not right. And in practice, people who lose their licenses generally ignore it anyway. In the end, your argument of privilege is whats going to put you in a self-driving car. Privileges can be revoked without due process, unlike rights. As written by the state, not the federal government.

Nope. The Camaro had transmission issues. You fixed the clutch. Here's a step back in time... If you follow this thread, you later had lots of water in the oil. Head gasket, intake gasket... all top of the engine work, as far as I'm concerned. Then its a POS and has more problems than just the screwed up mix of '65/'66 parts. I've seen hybrid 2nd gen F-bodies get good money, if they were otherwise built well. Not crazy money (>$20K), but good. Is it a notchback? Then its worth less than half what a fastback would be... Or he didn't advertise it fully. Who knows. Apples and Oranges compared to an Opel GT. Oh, and as far as "tarp queen" goes... you know that slow projects usually degrade faster than one can fix them. Slow projects need garages, not tarps.