SAmadei

We have many 20 somethings at work and they are paid well. Many have new cars and the only coupes I can recall is one 2012 Mustang GT. 2010 Mini and a 2010 Lotus. The rest are new sedans or SUV's. And generally, well employed 20 year olds are outnumbered by 20 year old who are suffering during the recessions... the same people reported elsewhere in a thread here to not care to even own a car. The bottom line is that the average age is 50... and therefore, the 50 year olds are calling the shots... which means there is something wrong with the auto industry. The industry claims to be making "activity vehicles" and such... then the 50 year olds buy 'em. Apparently Bunkie never considered that you CAN sell an old man's car to a young man if nothing else is affordable. I always looked at sedans as a compromise... and I can't figure out why anyone would want two extra useless doors and giant B-pillar blind spots at 10 and 2 o'clock if you never have anyone riding in the backseat. Might as well have a 6 or 8 door... "just in case". Of course, I still see that some people prefer them... but its shortsighted to not offer coupes in more car lines.

I'm liking the aggressive pricing strategy.

Still haven't seen a Spark in South Jersey or NYC. Still seeing lots of 500s... mostly in NYC, of course.

That's because the young are mostly priced out of the new car market and the ones who can afford it are 30 going on 75.

'Conventional' meaning engine in front, not technically a cabover. Those Koreans are just crazy in their ads.

My gripes with the cars significantly overhauled between 2000-2006 has nothing to do with interior materials, its all on parts holding up. Luckily, the drivetrains seem fine, but the brakes, wheel bearings, window trim, interior leaks, squeaks, clunks, rattles are nuts. Ergonomics are my second gripe... when a 2004 GP is over an inch taller than a 2003, but has like 4 inches less headroom.

If I was to guess, I'd imagine GM would pervert the Monte Carlo name onto a 4 door... and it certainly has NASCAR cachet. From the hints dropped, I'd think the name hadn't disappeared for long enough for it to be 'NEW' again. Chevelle, I'm not too sure on anymore. Its been gone for so long, that its remembered by the musclecar set... but not by the average NASCAR fan. I also have too many mixed feelings about it coming back. It would be nice if the new car came out as a coupe. I kinda hope its something completely new, but not Chevrolet SS.

Koreans like their cab-overs. Hyundai makes the Porter II. Kia makes the Bongo series... Hyundai did make a more conventional pickup, the Libero from 2000-2007. Not much on it, so I guess it wasn't successful in the homeland.

Ironically, I feel the high gas prices will eventually deplete the 1/2 ton pick up truck end of the spectrum, pushing those people into smaller vehicle classes... because they will eventually realize they aren't ever hauling anything that needs a truck. Diluting these trucks into CUV-pickups will only hasten the fleeing. OTOH, diluting the 1/2 ton trucks will cause the 3/4 and 1 ton models to become a separate line... because people who use them for actual work still need the hauling ability and towing ability... but like your Aveo driving friend, are going to leave the monster at home if they don't need it. Granted, people buying trucks to use as trucks is likely a vast minority... shame neither GM or Ford break the sales down between the weight classes.

Nobody is suggesting that separate bed trucks are not built all. The question I posed are what benefits does the separate bed have to the end user... commercial chassis vehicles have no bed in the first place. Of course, you need separate cab/bed units to satisfy makers of commercial chassis vehicles. OTOH, they don't make vans with a separate cab/cargo area... yet they still make commercial chassis vehicles out of truncated vans... more ironically, the vans are unibodies! Then the Avalanche technology should be folded into the Suburban... boosting its sales. Its was also a cab-over design. The Corvair pickup never caught on, either... but thats partly because it was a Corvair. Any issues bending in the middle would be because Ford simply made them too weak... like their 2011 Raptors that are bending in the middle.

I don't mean to call you out on this, but could you name a couple? Only plus I have for the separate bed is that you can remove it when it gets sufficiently rusted out and dented up... and put a homemade flatbed on. But most pickup owners seem to have truck beds that have never seen real work. As a van and wagon guy, I see few reasons for having a separate cab and bed.

Gorgeous... even in one of my least favorite colors, I'd keep it original.

It seemed to me that any major update GMNA did between 2000 and 2006 was problematic. I'm glad mom love her 2004 GP GTP... 'cause I don't. Honestly, the only cars made during the '00s I'd buy would be the F-bods (holdover from the previous decade), pre-2004 W-bodies and GTO/G8 (designed and built by Holden).

Yeah, they are kind of in a growth position as Toyota was 20-25 years ago...plus, they have Kia as well, which has been growing also.. Doing better, IMHO, that Toyota 20-25 years ago... Hyundai in 2010 was the 4th largest automaker. What I don't understand... does Hyundai own Kia or what? I see conflicting reports, but in the Hyundai Motor Group Entry on Wikipedia, it is reported that Hyundai only owns 49.2% of Kia... not outright... in fact, not even controlling interest. Likewise, the Kia page says it is partly owned by Hyundai. If Hyundai hasn't finished buying up Kia, then that helps explain why Kia and Hyundai seem to have so much product overlap.

Yeah, Standard Catalog says that all Starfire production was ended by December 1979. 8,237 total Starfire production. Also interesting is that this is a base Starfire with the GT option, by the T07 in the VIN... not a Starfire SX (D07). Unfortunately, there is little info on these options to suggest popularity in the Standard Catalog. Also interesting that the VIN starts with a '3'... Hecho en Mexico. I like it, but would have liked a SX with the Firenza package better for kitsch.

Speed read from where? GPS, which says Mr. Burnout is stationary? Non-driving-end ABS which also reports a negligible speed? Or the Driving-end ABS which says 80mph?

I guess sports cars will need to come with a line lock option for now on, to do burnouts. For some folks, this is going to be like the Skip-shift and Brake Trans Shift Interlock, which certain people will likely disable immediately.

The condition of the car is odd, so to me, that's debatable. To me, it appears the car was not properly stored, resulting on rust on some items, but other items seem nicer than would be expected on a 112K car. Particularly, the front seat. Both of my '80 B-bod wagons had the same fuzz and both were threadbare in spots by 100K. Also, the headliner, assuming its present, is not drooping... something that comes from high temperatures and open windows at speed. That said, 12K sounds low for a car only in a barn for 10 years... but perhaps it was seldom run due to mechanical problems or personal preference. After having a diesel in the '81 Cutlass, I can't imagine how awful a diesel in a wagon would be. It also has no title... bill of sale only... IIRC, Illinois requires titles for all cars... so either the seller is hiding something or lost the title. In either case, getting a title could be a PITA (though Illinois seems to have bonded titles) for out of state buyers not living in Alabama.

It would be cool to get ahold of one of these and modernize it. Chopped and channelled... tucked and smoothed bumpers... updated lighting. Maybe a phantom post coupe. I've seen hot rodded Checkers, but never a custom.

Well, Balthy covered several buying points. Simple, they held up 3-5x longer than the average car at the time... reasonable initial cost, commodity parts that could easily be replaced. The later Marathons could be customized to be quite luxurious (for the time).

My vote is for the 500 over the Spark or Yaris. Its not the prettiest thing, but for a city car, I like that its shortest, a coupe and more attractive than the Spark or Yaris.

Potentially. ;-) I'd have to swap in some wide buckets, thought, and a T56. Suede black with a skull and crossbones on the hood. *sigh* I haven't driven a car with skull and crossbones on the hood since 1996 or so. :-( Seriously, I have a love/hate relationship with Checkers. This Checker is quite cool, being a wagon... but most sedan Checkers don't thrill me, as they are not, LOL, 2 door coupes. Not only that, but I always felt the '50s era styling was a mish-mash of elements slapped together... of course, thats for a reason... the cars were designed to be infinitely repairable, with nearly replaceable parts all around (including rear quarters). Since this unit is fairly rare and Checkers are so hardy, it should live. Cheers. BTW, just because this was a wagon, its not necessarily a civvie unit. The taxi companies used wagons, and so did airports.

Well, the stories I have read earlier today indicated that this was NOT a Volt battery... however, it is a Lithium Ion battery... and knowing the chemistry going on, it does not surprise me. I'm surprised with all the Priuses crashing daily, that Toyota, especially with its recent quality problems, hasn't had a couple small explosions. Of course, that also shows the difference in battery sizes between the Prius and the stuff GM is working with. Well, assuming the battery was in the enclosure, that shouldn't have been too bad. With all the alternator/regulator/grounding issues I've battled with over the decades, I've never had one battery give me trouble, and because I jump from car to car and sometimes cars sit for months of years, I would have expected to have a problem, if it was going to happen. I remember having one Pep Boys battery damaged in a car accident during my poorest days... I ended up using first chewing gum to hold the top of the battery together, then I glued all the pieces together permanently with caulk a few years later... battery lasted about 2 more years. Actually, now that I think of it, I did have a battery explode on me. In my electric golf cart. It wasn't too bad... I think I glued that one back together, as well.

LOL, after posting in another thread that I hadn't seen a Chevy Beretta for years, one finally popped up. Light metallic Blue... in pretty nice shape. LOL.

GM does not have a history of cost overruns and mistakes? Sorry, I like watching companies that make silk purses out of sow's ears... like Holden... or even Dodge during the dark days when it was that the Magnum was not going to cover the Intrepid, and Dodge got the Charger out in short time. Last I checked, GM outsourced plenty of parts, so GM is no island. Tremec, CPI and A123Systems come immediately to mind.