SAmadei

Its hard to judge any car, because even the idea of turbulance being bad is challenged by new tactics, like the golfball divot Taurus... which intentionally makes turbulance. Also, I have to question the importance of aerodynamics versus style when they are putting SUV cues on small cars (Neon turned into hideous Caliber), and I feel the high trunks are still a product of styling and functionality, and then aerodynamics... I'm not saying the high trunks aren't aerodynamic, but are definitely not on par with a perfect teardrop.

Dethklok - "Takin' It Easy"

I've already got 3 for Microsoft to count, but they all got reformatted, so I put no faith in Ballmer's PR... he would say the same thing if only 2 got sold, just like the ex-Iraqi Minister of (Dis)Information. I really like the two new Mac vs PC commericals talking about the 7 upgrade... hilarious.

It can be harder on the FWD cars, depending on the design of the engine cradle and space available. I did the two tranny mounts on the '99 Bonneville, since the little hydraulic mount part had debonded... I left the engine mounts on because they are still very solid. While the front tranny mount is quite large, so it was somewhat hard to get it out of the position, but actually bolting it up and out was easy... the rear tranny mount was a disaster. NO room to get the bolts out and then once loose the mount could not clear the steering rack and swaybar. I finally had to remove the tie rod, so I could pull the end of the steering rack up and slide the mount out the side. As for engine mounts, they both seem to have more space, and should be easier to change. Looking at the '04 GP, knowing the H and W bodies share DNA, its a similar setup but its tough to say if it would be harder or easier without doing it. Hopefully I won't need to do it for a long time. As far as opening a can of worms, the engine and tranny only need to be moved a small amount, easily within the tolerances of the mounts, so nothing should be compromised... but since the usual process is to pick and support the engine up from the bottom, a careless mechanic could put a nasty dent in either oil pan... I would check your pans before and after and suggest they use a nice big block of wood if thats how they are planning on lifting the engine. You may want to have them change all four mounts (or three, if you have three), becuase you may find that your tranny mounts are the ones loose, as was the case for me... I figured the shorter half-shaft gives the engine more leverage to wear the mounts out. I did both my mounts because its easier to jimmy the engine around if you have more of them loose or out.

NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! Its the beginning of the end! This is how Viacom ruined MTV... then VH1... then MTV2! Please don't watch these programs! I need my daily dose of cartoons!

Read article here.

One of the most aerodynamic cars of all time is the 3rd gen Firebirds... granted, they aren't a 3-box, but they don't have a high decklid. Imagine what they could have done with the 3rd gen's aerodynamics with today's technologies... Anyway, if high decklids improve aerodynamics, wouldn't stawags be good for aerodynamics? Though that doesn't seem to be the case, unless its a Kammback. Speaking of aerodynamics... Mythbusters had a great episode recently in which they put golfball divots on a Taurus and increased fuel consumption by 11%.

Yep... NOT the way to Westchester. Yep. All in the family was set in Corona, Queens. The house is at 89-70 Cooper Ave in Rego Park, Queens.

That's why I made the comment... he obviously likes Bea Arthur shows, theme or not, and Maude has four times as much iconic Bea Arthur... for better or worse. ;-)

So am I... can't wait for the styling pendulum to swing back that way... Hopefully Harley Earl is reincarnating somewhere (besides Buick commercials).

30-40 years... try 10. The '99 Bonne parked near anything newer looks like a dovetail. I think this is being done to make the rooflines look less tall and to bolster the EPA trunk space rating. Of course, I still prefer horizontal cargo area to vertical, because you can't stack everything and because sorting through a tall trunk full of crap turns into a game of "Towers of Hanoi".

Because they ARE narrow. This is the other reason I don't like Epsilon (other than it being FWD by default)... everyone praises the interior space... but they are still narrow cars, as they are tuned into what Europeans want, not us. The disappearance of the bench seat and the ever widening center consoles make this narrowness even more apparent. And as has been said before, Americans aren't getting any narrower. Sure, I need to lose some weight, but my widest point has nothing to do with that... its my shoulders... banging into the B-piller and hanging OVER the passenger seat... and my shoulders aren't THAT big.

With Bea Arthur in your signature, I would have expected you to me more of a 'Maude' type. ;-) Actually, I like the Maude theme somewhat... but I like the extended version from Family Guy even better...

Interestingly enough, I noticed that there is a RAM ad in the Car and Driver magazine I got the other day, as well. They are definitely not wasting time.

Got the latest issue of Road & Track... Dennis Simanaitis has a pretty interesting update to decade old article "Cheap Gas". Rest of article is here, packed with lots of tidbits about the current state of the oil industry.

While watching Mythbusters, I saw the new commercial for the RAM brand trucks. At least it appeared to me to be the first step in splitting RAM from Dodge. Did anyone else catch it? Curious what you thought.

Hmmm... some favorite TV themes... The A-team Munsters Addams Family Dukes of Hazzard Gilligan's Island Sanford and Son SuperJail Sure there are some more...

Don't worry, I'm not judging, as long as your help keep the traffic moving and aren't driving through a playground to do it, its cool with me. Phoenix seems to have grown since I was there last... in 1980. They floated using reversible, one way, taxi-only lanes in Atlantic City, but, luckily, it hasn't happened. I just don't see how it could work here, as we don't have real predictable traffic patterns. I think Newark still has reversible downtown lanes. We did have a reversible lane on the Expressway bridge... with a movable zipper barrier... paid something like a quarter mill to buy the barrier mover... they moved the barrier a half dozen times then came up with a new plan. Sold the barrier mover to the Delaware River Port Authority for a bargain. I still visit the thing from time to time on the Walt Whitman Bridge that my city income taxes helped pay for.

Ah, circumventing a traffic device... two points here. ;-) Years ago, when I was delivering a newspaper bulk route in a town with particularly ornery police officers, there was a intersection with a REALLY long light on a timer... there was a bar on the corner, and they got a unofficial free subscription to the newspaper in order to give us the excuse to avoid the light by cutting through the lot.

Not exclusive, but invented and very common here. It kind of goes hand-in-hand with Jersey barriers. Since many of Jersey's roads are ancient, and we are truly flatlanders in much of the state, we only have overpasses on the largest arteries... a lot of our biggest intersections have traffic lights and are 6 lanes or more crossed by another 6 laner, with Jersey barriers in the center of the road, so left turns are absolutely out of the question (however, some idiots still try). Instead you get sign with the familiar Jersey phrases "All turns from right lane" or the "U and left turns" with an arrow forward to continue throught he intersection... the jughandle is like a cloverleaf, but it puts you right back to the intersection you just crossed... a pet peeve of mine is when you have to wait through a full red light twice at the same intersection. One day they will be villified like the bird flu. I really like circles, and Jersey and Massachusetts both installed them wholesale 80+ years ago. They were great in the days before traffic light technology could handle a complex intersection and when brakes were a precious commodity. Unfortunately, they break down at high traffic levels... and the law right of way laws have been obscure, so people don't know how to navigate them. Jersey has been killing circles off since 1990 or so... I only know of a couple left. One of the issues is that NJ law was unclear if the circle was one intersection or four separate intersections... and years ago, they didn't have explicit yeild signage. If you treat the circel as one intersection, the car in the circle first has the right of way... but if the circle is treated as four small intersections, you have two cars coming to the merge at the same time, the car to the right has the right of way... the car in the circle would have to stop. Adding more confusion is the guideline used by police officers when a collision occurs, it to give right of way based on "historic preferences"... well, how can you expect to know the history of the circle the first time your approach it? I prefer the single intersection right of way... as the four intersection right of way can lead to people entering the intersection in high traffic volumes and spiralling in, unable to leave... leading to deadlock. This might sound absurd, but I've seen it happen on the route 52 circel in Somers Point... I had to drive through a parking lot to escape the traffic disaster caused by a nearby raised drawbridge. I still love circles... when goofing off with friends we used to circle around them endlessly... or use them as a skidpad. ;-)

Well, the old 500 was around for an eternity, so its iconic like the Beetle or the Mini. And most Americans have no idea what it is, so its new to them. Looking at these PDFs was putting me to sleep... I guess I just want the meat of the plan.

And so, this is what, 40 or 45 miles in their fancy little metric country? ;-) Just kidding, I know how big Australia is.

That's why Jersey invented the miniature version of the '3 rights alternative to a left'... the Jughandle. We even optimized up to three traffic lights out of the equation. ;-)

Oh, of course... My favorites will always be the 1968 rear side markers shaped like arrowheads, firebirds, shields and rockets. One year and gone... I just hadn't seen GM do anything as cool as the bowties on the headlights in a while. I had forgotten about the GMC markers on the Terrain. I hadn't thought of that... Very interesting. Of course, more people won't notice that they were there or not after getting their car back from Super Budget Auto Body.

There are normally quite a few more people waiting at the intersection, so do you stop and let everybody stop, go, stop, go and make their lefts? Thats one of the problems with trying to be nice... you get a pile of people trying to blow through a stop sign to take advantage of your kindness. Last week, I was in the left turn lane just past a traffic light making a left across two lanes of traffic into a parking lot... the light turned red behind me and traffic backed up to block the exit of the parking lot, but not the entrance... the next car looked at me and stopped short and waved me in... I start to turn, and the two idiots who were trying to make a left out of the parking lot drive the 'no left turns' concrete wedge, drive towards oncoming traffic and block me in. I can't reverse, as there is a person behind me and my vision is blocked... they can't back up because more traffic making the proper right has blocked up the exit. We all have to wait for the light to change, then finally there was enough room for use to untangle. The good samariton moves forward just in time to get another red light. Can't tell... they are in the middle of the street with that corner of the car pointed somewhat away from me, so I can't tell. I'd look in my rearview, but I'm too business getting my jaw off the floor looking at how fast traffic can back up due to the HADS driver. Sometimes you just can't tell... but it I'm sure they don't, they don't get any nice from me. "Sorry, I'm all out of nice today, and I'm currently dishing out indifference. Take it before you get a fistful of hate." ;-) Definately a case of don't enter the intersection if you can't clear it. But the problem is that it seems like only 14 people are aware of that law. Speaking of being burned by your own kindness... there is an red light I drive through that has a T-intersection fairly near... so, traffic commonly backs up the the intersection... and naturally, I stop short because I don't have enough room to clear the intersection and out of kindness because I know if I block the intersection even slightly, the idiot behind me will, too. So I wave the oncoming drivers to make a left in front of me... but the people trying to make a right in front of me onto the street I'm on block the intersection. Ugh. So the light changes and I'm screwed... I have the right of way, but the people making lefts in front of me won't stop making lefts... and if they do, I've got people blowing through the stop sign to my right wholesale and can't get into the intersection. What a PITA. Non-sequitor of the day. LOL. Reminds me of when I had a minor epithany that a certain NFL player's name was translated as "Vinnie Greenhead". Needless to say the term 'testamerde' was quickly added to the vocabulary.