SAmadei

Since GM can't have make bold corporate decisions anymore, I'm sure GM will follow the pack and American full sized vans as we know it will be a thing of the past... unless you count the Nissan NV, which is more like a full size van than these Sprinter/Transit/Ducato things. With such a short overhang and so much windshield, I can't see how the Ducato would pass our crash tests... even our more lenient truck crash tests.

There will be more than one wheelbase length for Alpha. I can't wait to see the XTS, trying to be a widened EpsII... adding length is much easier than widening the platform. In the end, I'm sure the XTS will have weird effects from the process or the cost of engineering will be way overboard. "Yeah! We made a wide Caddy out of a sow's ear... it only cost us $70K per car sold". Ding, ding, ding! Ah, yes, GM has had a great track record of building large cars out of small platforms. EVERY platform I can think of that GM has created since 1979 has grown to fit the buyer's wants... and each one has suffered from uneven growth problems, since certain small parts engineered on the edge cannot be used on a car 10% bigger. This is why GM cars suffered from weak handling or braking or space utilization... because the bigger cars had to suffer with the underengineered smaller car parts. I feel GM's best platforms started big and were cut down... for example the post '78 A/G bodies and post '77 B-bodies... which shared frames and major components with their earlier overweight siblings. I'll take a cut down Zeta that suffers from some weight (just like everything else on the market, it seems) than an Alpha that requires Frankensteinian efforts to enlarge it two a sufficient size. I do not believe its easier to grow a platform... just as its not easy to "grow" a 2x4 once cut. What do I want to see in the upcoming auto show? RWD Camaro with a Voltec drivetrain. Come on, GM, impress me.

Saw my first in RL, too. Black.

Just because '97-'99 was a troublesome design does not mean that every head will eventually crack... usually that becomes a problem after the particular engine has been driven hard or overheated... even slightly. If you find a cheap junkyard engine with somewhat low miles and no milkshake for oil, I would go for it. Assuming you don't beat it to death, it'll unlikely to suddenly crack after 12 years of staying intact. Yeah, its frustrating. I just went through it locating the tranny for the Bonne. Especially frustrating when you figure that it seems like half the GM stock in any J-yard has a 4T65e. Well, unlike a transmission, which is a more finicky match due to its internal programming, an engine is a fairly dumb device. The only "programming" is the camshaft... everything else is sensors... assuming the sensors all swap, and the cam is not radically different, I would say a newer 4.0 would be a fine swap. The junkyards are not going to tell you its a match unless Hollander's list it as a match. Otherwise, they are opening themselves up for problems if for some reason it doesn't work. Do your research on the Jeep forums... they will be able to detail a newer 4.0 swap with the least hassle. As for used versus new... used all the way. Personally, I would swap the head, clean the sludge out of the lower half... change the oil frequently the first couple months. Drive it and worry about a new engine if it eats a bearing. I did head gaskets on two cars for friends that were similar quick fixes and they had driven with coolant in the crankcase for an uncomfortable time and both cars ran fine, engine-wise, for years. My friends eventually killed them in other ways.

Sorry to hear about the loss, GMTG. Take solace in that Snickers loved and was well loved all his life and his suffering, if any, was kept to a minimum. Take some time to grieve and when you are ready, adopt from a kill shelter, so that you're not replacing Snickers, but saving another pet from the needle in Snicker's memory. Losing a pet is a tough lesson for a 6 year old, but pets can teach us so much growing up, and birth and death can be part of that. While heartbreaking now and I'm sure he's going through a bit of emotional confusion, in the end, he should value our every day we have together. To me, its better to have closure, even as a child. Making the decision to euthanize is tough, and I've been involved with the family decision process, which is tough enough... but I know I'm going to have hard solo decisions in the future, as my cat is 18 years old and "my" Golden Retriever (actually was dad's dog) is 12 years old, so both are deep into the twilight, and both had nasty health scares this year (when I can least afford it). The dog will probably be the hardest, as I have to channel Dad from the beyond to ensure I'm making the right decision... I have a feeling my cat might save me from needing to make a decision. But who knows? I hope they both live for another couple decades, but I know I'd be fooling no one, including myself.

Or transaxles... FWD transaxles.

Its definitely a beige car, so I'd say Yuma Beige is the color. In person, its quite obviously beige and I would venture to say its original and has faded to its current "somewhat mistaken for white" lightness. Interior is Parchment. Car looked complete, but I didn't look under the hood, as nobody was around when I checked it out about 3 weeks ago. Edit: According to http://www.oldride.com/library/1963_pontiac_grand_prix.html, there was no actual "Parchment", but it was called "light Fawn", and does have a touch of beige... which matches exactly what I saw in the car... I was afraid it was discolored by age, but I guess that not the case. For a local car, I'm shocked that I've never seen it driving around... so I imagine its been garaged for a long time... I can only assume someone died and the heirs ripped it out of the garage to sell so they have a nice garaged place to put their new Camry. The car has been left outside for 2~3 months now, and the owners don't even bother to keep the windows up. I saw similar treatment when a local (and old customer from my childhood plant selling years) I call "Mr. Begonia" passed away. The heirs took a mint, low mileage early '80s 442 Cutlass out of the garage and left it to rot in the field.

For you guys nearby, I've been driving past this poor car for weeks and its a real sweet car, just needing some TLC... http://southjersey.c...2582160262.html It was up for $5000, but its $4000 now. The photos in the CL ad DO NOT do the car justice. Had I had the money, I would have snagged it already.

You stole the word out of my mouth.

Its so sad, I have seen two somewhat low mileage Dodge convertibles like that 400 in junkyards in the last year, both in decent shape. Both white with red top/interior... I think one was a 600. I was shocked how much room the convertible top takes up, the room left was pretty tight. I just hate seeing something that is a potential collectible go to the crusher, even if it was a lame car to begin with.

They must think the awful chocolate brown paint job is all rust or something. I don't get the reaction to the whole thing. Unless the seller is really hurting for money, I wouldn't foresee that happening, as I would say its a pretty good price. I would stab in another I6 out of something newer and run with it... but I can understand if that's more that you can get involved with.

I'm just cutting to the chase. There are a few other other threads that have quickly moved from what cheap whatever should I buy to don't buy anything used which usually leads to "buy a Cruze". QED. Considering that half the folks here seemingly would only buy new, and a large percentage flinch at the idea of even changing their oil, I would venture to say that many people are not really qualified to offer a opinion... especially when 3 people seem to think this vehicle is so riddled with rust when WMJ has provided photos of the only two spots and described it as so. Now I'm not saying its a perfect project or that there aren't some other nasty bits WMJ didn't uncover... projects always have surprises... but the immediate negative reaction would indicate that _ANY_ project car not from built in the last decade would be immediately shot down, and I feel that it not a fair assessment. $20K in labor cleaning, tuning and stopping the decay goes a far way.

WMJ, sometimes I think asking the folks here about classic projects is like asking Congress if they would like a pay cut. "Just buy a nice new Cruze". It looks solid and its a pretty good price, considering scrap value would be between $400-$600 and it could be parted out for probably $2K. However, its not that far along... they aren't making any more of these, and so its worth saving, if you are willing to put the work in. Bring a battery and some fresh gas and just try starting it. Chevy straight 6s are pretty darn bulletproof. Even if the engine or tranny turned out to be a complete mess, you and a friend could swap in a $750 junkyard 350/700r4 combo in an afternoon. I think its interesting that it has a extra intake hanging on the back. Speaking of money pits, for the $20K a Cruze sets you back over 72 months, you could make this thing pretty sweet.

I've lived mostly on the barrier islands since '93, and I love the post-Sept season... shoobies leaving and the barren streets. Some islands get more barren than others... but the hurricane evac made even the most barren island seen downright crowded. Avalon at 8 foot... sounds about right. What I never knew until recently is how low level nearly ALL of Cape May county is, even the "mainland"... with the exception of Woodbine, I think all of Cape May is under 10'. Of course 8', 10', 12'... doesn't sound like much of a difference, but for storms it is a pretty big difference... hence why I jacked the car up on blocks. 16" makes a big difference.

One other crazy note... When we left Brigantine at 8pm... about 2 hours after emergency management wanted people out... we were probably in the last few households in the south end to leave. Since most of my nearby neighbors were gone, many people shut off their electricity and even Atlantic City over the inlet was oddly silent... even the seagulls seemed to have cleared out... there was no wind and the ocean was calm... the total effect was absolute scary silence. I've been some pretty remote places, but there is still noise, even that background rumble or buzz that never quite goes away... but it was gone. There was NOTHING. I've never experienced anything like it before and it was a very profound moment.

Spent the time cutting the massively overgrown grass. Normally the lawns at the two houses are kinda synched... but we've gotten so much rain at one and not at the other, I had no idea the grass was up to the waist. Ugh... grass was not even drying out during the course of the day... I barely got it cut with the riding mower... had to remow nearly every square foot twice.

In general, I agree. Panicking at the last minute helps little... but research ahead of time is the key. I can camp at the other house indefinitely with little more than a roof and the hand pump for the well... but I generally don't have to worry about being flooded out or loosing the roof off the house (even though its in poor shape) unless we get a freak tornado. At my home on a barrier island, I cannot put up such a confidant defense. If the house got a hurricane-prep during a renovation and was put up on pilings, I only would have to worry about my water supply. I normally already have some water stowed for emergency (bottled water bottles refilled with tap water) and a pretty good TP supply. Had Irene been a category 3 at high tide, I could have lived without cellular, power or 911 services... but having the house, my TP and water supply washed away, would have left me in a untenable position for riding out the storm. ;-) That said, I am not one of those people living on a barrier island barely above the water line... At 12 foot, I'm higher than most barrier islands, though I think some parts of Atlantic City may be slightly higher. I would still get disconnected from the mainland, though. Unfortunately, my topo maps are not granular enough to determine this info, though... I'd have to do a GPS survey, which is still iffy. In my area, people raided the stores for a lot more than water, TP and beer. They cleaned out whole shopping centers and even the dollar stores (where I normally buy my water). Even the Wawas closed... a sure sign of the apocalypse... or Christmas.

There must be some good incentives on Calibers right now. I swear I must've seen 20 of them in the last couple days... at one point I followed not 1, nor 2, but 3 in quick succession on the way home. It was bizarre.

iQ is out of the question for me. Because Toyota thinks all NA cars need 4 seats, I cannot fit in the iQ. I fit in the Smart. Also, the Smart is 10% shorter than the iQ... when parking is king, that foot of length makes a big difference. Drivetrain don't matter, as I would be searching for a Hayabusa. For more on that, go on Youtube and search for "Smart Hayabusa" for entertaining videos. Only problem is lack of reverse.

But it will not help you in the urban parking jungle. The Smart is a one trick pony... it can park virtually anywhere. In Manhattan, this is key... outside, for the rest of you, it makes no sense. I laugh every time I see a Smart in south Jersey. If I'm working in NYC again, I want one... but I intend to put a better drivetrain in, if that is the case.

Lutz joined GM in late 2001, not 2005. He couldn't have worked on the '04 GTO and '04 Grand Prix if he wasn't hired yet.

+ 3. I grew up with some nasty quasi-stray dogs in the 'hood. I learned how to stop them before they stopped me. I actually had some quasi-neighbor recently threaten my elderly golden retriever. Told me (while standing on my property) "Its a good thing that dog is not coming out of the fence, my pit bull (unleashed) would tear him apart." Dude actually stopped me while I was cutting the grass to tell me this BS. I told him that, unlike him, I am a responsible dog owner and keep him in a leash or in a fence, and unless my dog starts to fly, he has nothing to worry about... from the dog. Then I told him IF his dog somehow attacked me or my dog while he was on a leash, I would personally break his dog and then would do to him whatever his dog did to mine. I then walked out the gate to see if his big bad pit bull was feeling frisky. I guess he wasn't. Dude doesn't walk his dog near my yard anymore. Its a shame some of these pets have such crappy owners. I agree that a police report and a trip to small claims court is going to be the only recourse.

Well, its nice to have my computer/network plugged back in and operational. Unfortunately, my Internet connection has been less than stellar lately... So Irene was a bust at the shore... nothing even close to Gloria. I played a good stooge and followed the mandatory evacuation, but I had a ton of irreplaceable items to move and I wasn't happy to left the '95 Caprice or the '99 Bonneville in the path... but both are somewhat disabled, so I couldn't drive them to the other house and towing on such short notice was out of the question. Since I have lots of cinder blocks at the other house, I decided that was could not be moved was raised... lawnmower, spare tranny in the garage, my books and other media was all raised as high as possible, hoping IF the ocean or bay visited me, the extra height would keep things high and dry. How do you keep your Bonneville high and dry? Well... So now I know roughly what a "donked" B-ville would be like. Ugh. What annoyed me about my "evacuation" was that it seemed like I left the pan and jumped into the fire. There was much more wind and flooding in the areas I evacuated to... luckily for me, I was back home before the flooding got too bad in SW Jersey.

Nice color... but its not my kinda of car. I'm glad you are happy with it. Whats going on with the stuff behind the grill? Not sure I like seeing some of the stuff behind it... and parts that appear blocked off.

Great, so the Sonic will weigh 5500 pounds.