SAmadei

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.

Thats only if the ring gear outer bit strips out, cracks, warps or falls off. When flywheels crack from fatigue, they can do it around the center without affecting the ring gear.

Heh, heh... I've thought of the train horn or semi horn... I wonder if they make a 'skreeeech!!!' horn? Actually, I've wanted a public address microphone system... our NJ Transit buses have them to communicate to riders outside the bus. I just want them to berate the worst of the worst drivers in front of me. I'm not sure they are legal, though. While one would likely get me more middle fingers, it also might get me thrown bottles, cans or bullets. I'm assuming you are talking about the a left turn into the center turning lane of the road you are turning onto... I don't like it, but at least there is space to do it. I've only done this a time or two from one particular parking lot... which is very difficult in daylight due to a long distance to the nearest light and lots of active businesses, so there is constantly a couple stragglers. I'm not a real fan of the center turn lanes... I prefer when the left turn lanes are specifically for one direction or the other. Of course, I'm biased as several 4 lane roads around here where restriped to 2 lanes with 2 half-width shoulders and a center left turn lane... one in particular HAS NOTHING TO TURN INTO except unbroken forest. At least its not passing in the center turning lane... that's just wrong. Well, we choose where we drive... I avoid these PITA roads, or at least take into consideration that I fully expect to wait a while. If one stops or slows to let someone out in this situation, then everyone gets confused (compromising safety, as protocol has been broken), traffic immediately starts to back-up (making things worst... especially for the people in line at the stop sign) and there is no guarantee that someone in oncoming traffic will also stop and let them in, so now you are giving up your 15 seconds, 30 seconds, etc. and holding up an extra lane of traffic. I always try to let people into traffic, especially if they signal properly... but I'm not going to stop from 50 mph hoping they can jump in across another lane of moving traffic. I have a inherent responsibility to the people behind me to use my lane space and clear it as safely and quickly as I can to keep traffic going. I also shutter at the idea of letting a person who does this into traffic, as the NJ courts have already said that you take responsibility for the safety of someone who your wave into traffic, if they get in an accident... as absurd as that seems... its the same as being a flagman for a backing truck. Studies show that after 20 seconds of waiting, people start increasing the allowable risk in order to get moving. You know, I was in a tough situation like this when I took my driving test... part of the test involved a left turn onto a very busy road... and while the car I was driving has plenty of go, I could not jostle the tester... so I had to wait. And wait. And wait. We sat there for about 5~6 minutes before there was an opportunity... I told the instructor that I never saw such a situation and he reassured me that we were fine to sit there all day. Even today, I would have had to sit... or make a compromise... a right then a U-turn, to avoid a 5 minute wait. The flaw is that the thinking here is that one can force someone to stop... but we know that's not a a good bet in today's cell phone texting clueless public. Somewhat related, but not quite, I saw this and thought you guys would get a laugh... http://files.sharenator.com/fffffffuuuuuuuuuuuu-25140.swf

Hmmm... and I actually know quite a bit of Italian... didn't know that one. I played some GRiD online, but it seems like they turn into a demolition derby (even on the non-demolition derby track). Some guy gets nudged into the wall, either intentionally or not and then since his race is ruined purposely parks somewhere and rams the lapping cars. PITA.

...and what does Forza mean? I don't Forza, as I'm not into Microsoft or the X-Box 360. GRiD has held me over waiting for GT5 on my PS3, but I don't play as much as I used to.

Don't get me started on 'more'... ;-) The tip of that iceberg is the dude who made a U-turn in the one way High Speed EZ-Pass lane in front of me recently.

I understand the idea of having a "purposeful near miss" to help clue them in to what could have happened, but they don't even look... or notice... you have to fly by so close that their vehicle rocks from the air wake of your vehicle. Then they just figure you are the idiot for driving so fast or not paying attention to THEM. I kind of blame the proliferation of ABS for some of these habits. When I learned to drive, there was no ABS... any mistake you made resulted in a loud skidding of brakes and much embarrassment. Now the other person does something stupid, and I have to slam the brakes hard enough to cause delicate objects to rocket off the back seat onto the dashboard, and they don't comprehend that they just missed a trip to the body shop and/or hospital. I wish my car had a hand brake... the parking brakes on my Bonne stop the car quickly, but I want some noise.

From my understanding, they were optional in the early '40s and standardized in the mid 50s... but I've seen a lot of '40s and '50s cars with aftermarket kits... it can be hard for someone to tell a factory part from an aftermarket part when the part is old enough to drink before you are born. ;-)

I don't have hardly any faith in humanity, as it seems like it has gotten impossible for people to drive a car worth a damn... but I've noticed a new trend in drivers' habit, at least in the Phila-NJ-NYC area, that I have so far called the Half-Ass Double Stop. So, how its done... you come to a complete stop at a stop sign, with the intention to make a left turn. You wait... but traffic is heavy in either direction. So you wait until there is nobody coming from your left for a bit and you pull halfway into the intersection. Now you sit... blocking traffic, as you wait until the traffic from the right gives you an opportunity to finish the turn. This is especially happens on boulevards, where there is a small median... but not enough space for a whole car to sit... but I've seen it happen all over the place. This is one of the most inconsiderate and, at night, dangerous things I've seen on a regular basis. And some of these idiots are pulling out into traffic that has to slam on the brakes, either because they are blocked or because they think the person is going to barrel into them. I imagine its also a real PITA if there is an accident... as the car blocking traffic is in the intersection first, but should not have entered the intersection since they could not clear the intersection... but I imagine that this is still a gray area, based upon the car that has rightaway's speed or ability to avoid the accident. Anyone else seeing this kind of behavior?

I finally saw a minor thing I really like about the Malibu. I got the latest issue of Car and Driver, which has a pretty high resolution photo of the Malibu in an ad. Looking closely, you can see that the little metal headlight reflector cups have a little, tiny Chevy bowtie in each one. Is this something new on the 2010s? Has anyone else noticed these?

Its also good to keep a log of your repairs on an older car... this way you don't forget what you have changed. It can come in handy when you are diagnosing a problem. There are two big mistaken perceptions when it comes to older cars... first is from the point of view of the person getting rid of it... they are getting rid of it in many cases because it has broke and it is the straw that breaks the camel's back. They have done the tuneup, replaced the suspension, replaced the battery, alternator, light bulbs, filled it with gas...and now... OH MY GOD! The mirror pulled off the windshield! F This, I'm getting a new car. Of course, the person buying the car has a car full of new parts that needs the mirror glued back on... they get a deal. Then there is the mistaken perception that the unrealistic buyer gets... they think they are going to get in it and drive... well, no... in most cases there are a few things wrong... and so you need to consider the total cost of the car... the car... and the parts/repairs to make it ready to go. Its like making two or three car payments ahead of time... but then getting 45 months without payments... a worthwhile investment, IMHO. Sure, older cars can be a boondoggle... you're going to get a lemon from time to time... but todays throw-away mentality sends most older cars to the crusher with plenty of life left in them. Cue the old commercial with the native American shedding a tear.

Use a pick or razor blade to 'feel' the cracks you might see... sometimes oil or dirt gathers around the bolts on spinning objects and can look VERY crack-like. IIRC, it would be kind of odd for a flywheel to crack at several bolts. IIRC, you don't need to drop the tranny to change the flywheel. You take out the torque converter bolts and then the torque convert will push into the tranny enough to give you access to the flywheel to crank bolts. Of course, my Haynes recommends dropping the the tranny. I'm wondering if the bolts are too long to get out... but IIRC, flywheel to crank bolts are less than an inch. It been a long time since I was playing in this area with a traditional RWD setup.

How to enjoy a 25 year old daily driver... Find a car that isn't completely clapped out... 100K or so. Women driven. Look for little details like damage that might indicate it was trashed then cleaned up... or a title that has changed hands 27 times in 25 years. Try to keep the rust down... note rusty fuel or brake lines. Bring it home and change all the filters and fluids... note any problem signs. Check out brakes. Do a tune up... new plugs, wires, rotor, cap, etc. Drive it for about 2000 miles as a non-daily driver and pay particular attention to the engine, tranny and rear. If nothing pops up, get new quality alternator, starter, battery, battery cables and tires... these are things that can leave you by the side of the road. Old GM cars are famous for having more problems than you can count, yet they get you from point A to point B. Catastrophic failure usually doesn't happen to a 100K+ car without warnings. Throw a little tool kit in the trunk. Have AAA. Have a backup car. Then the primary never breaks. An electric fuel pump or ignition module can also leave you by the side of the road, so put a junkyard ignition module in your tool kit and keep your tank above 1/4 full. Electric fuel pumps use the gas as coolant... and are a PITA to replace preemptively... luckily your Regal has a mechanical pump... which rarely just stop working.

Well, you CAN do that in a RWD... in a Fiero. Of course, if will shortly overheat (not rare for a Fiero), won't steer and you and your passenger will be the front bumper.

Careful about that comparison, as I've done a lot of 'armchair crash analysis' at Pick-a-Parts, as well... and while drawing similar conclusions, I also take my observations with two large bits of salt... First, most P-a-P junk yards don't put severely crashed cars in the lot. Ones drenched in blood or mangled to the point where most parts are damaged. These are crashes that can be most telling about structure or survivability. Second, I've noticed that the higher residual value of the imports keeps them out of the P-a-P. _All_ the import cars in the local yard are clapped out, have physical damage and are loaded with JC Whitney clearance items. There are domestic cars in there that have NO DAMAGE at ALL! Plus our yard puts notes on the cars, so you can note if a car has serious engine or tranny damage... these are cars with tens of thousands of perfectly good miles on them. So my theory is that a good deal of the import cars that take less damage are repaired instead of junked. Also, a third thought, and one I don't completely subscribe to, but if an car crushes more during an impact, it is that less energy is transferred to the passengers... so those imports with more damage were (to a degree) inflicting less injury on the passengers.

One nice thing about student compared to other bills... they can take your car... your home... your 65" screen TV and all your stuff... but they can never take your education away from you. Assuming you got a real degree, you can always rebuild your financial status.

I never cared for the combo on other cars, either... but I still like the Fleetwood like that... so I thought I look on eBay... one just like it cheap with no reserve... here.

Going to the dentist. Woo! Scary! Might hit the Atco Pontiac day on the way back, but I doubt it.

Nothing here is that out of line. I couldn't argee more. Battery technology is evolving very slowly, regardless of GM's investments or not, as the technology is used in SO many other applications. He's not being anti-Volt, as least as far as I see... Toyota and Honda's efforts aren't much farther along. To keep touting GM breakthroughs that aren't breakthroughs hurts GM's creditability.

Yet nobody really made a peep when the G-body turned into a W-body.

I don't think its being that maliciously negative, either. I chuckled... but then thinking about the situation... the Accord is a compromise... just as most of the four door appliances are... a compromise between cost, space and flair. The Malibu is a compromise, as well. OTOH, a Camaro, a Suburban, a CTS-V are NOT compromises.

I thought the same thing, but I've stayed out of the Politics forum because arguing about politics doesn't really thrill me... (I would prefer to DO something about politics, if I had the time)... so I haven't ever bothered to ask for access... so this was the best spot I could post in. That said, I hope this can stay above the politics quagmire.

The program, which cost taxpayers $3 billion, gave car buyers up to $4,500 in incentives to trade in their gas-guzzling clunkers to buy new fuel thrifty cars. It was intended primarily to spur sales, and the economy. But Edmunds.com says a lot of those sales would have happened anyway, with or without the clunkers program. Of more than 690,000 vehicles sold, only about 125,000 of the sales were entirely due to the government's added inducement, Edmunds.com says. The rest of buyers just got lucky by getting the government to kick cash into deals that they would have proceeded with anyhow. When the cost of the program is spread over just those extra incremental sales, the total is $24,000 per vehicle. That's just about $2,000 shy of the average amount paid for a new car by buyers in August, $26,915. Full Article

While most of the cars on that site look real, I think this is a Fiero-based kit car... the wheelbase is _way_ too short, and several other details look wrong.