GMTruckGuy74

I like how you think!

Boy, that really saddens me. I really had my hopes out there that GM was going to make the GMC Truck line the innovators in the truck marketplace. However, I know you are always careful with your wording, and since you say that it has been withdrawn from GMC, can I be interpretting that to mean that maybe someone else (*cough* CHEVY *cough*) is getting it instead? Not that it makes me happy though if true

Cory, my condolences to you and your family on losing such a beloved woman. Hopefully she had a good life and lived every moment of it. She'll never be truly gone from you if you keep her memories alive. Always remember the good times you shared together and don't beat yourself over the last year having other obligations take you away; choices are what life is all about - some we make on our own, while others are necessary to make whether we want to or not. I know that your grandmother loved you and she will always be with you in spirit. I witnessed my mom's mother that I was extremely close with die of heart disease when I was age 10, my mom's brother that I shared a lot in common with die of complications from Polio & heart disease when I was 18, and my mom's sister (that was really a second mom to me) die from cancer when I was 29 (I'm 33 now just so you understand my point I'm about to make). While these people are no longer physically with me, and some have been for a long time, just about every day I think about the memories I shared with them and how much they meant to me in my lifetime before they were taken away. Let this be a lesson to all of you here fortunate enough to have the people you are close to still in your lives. Don't take them for granted; if you don't have the time to see them, MAKE the time somehow. My aunt's last year before cancer took her away was a difficult one for me, and as a result I couldn't see her much. So I made it a point to call her just about every day and talk, and when I could stop by, I did. I look back and wish I did it more often, but as human beings we always want more than what we can after the fact. Enjoy those you love while you can - you can't tell the future, and eventually memories are all that you'll have to cherish. Cory, Godspeed to you in dealing with the pain you are experiencing during this difficult time. You are not alone - as evidenced by all the posts here - feel free to call on any of us at any time if you need to talk.

I saw your other post already regarding the staining, and I am glad you mentioned that otherwise I would have waited until the weekend to clean her car. The first thing I thought when we saw the car before signing the papers was that they put way to much tire spray on it; of course the ride home in the rain made a mess out of that job. I told her to be home a little earlier tonight and to watch my younger son so I can give the car the bath it needs without interuption I have a spray can of tire spray with an adjustable nozzle (Meguire's Hot Tire shine). That should work okay still by spraying it on a cut-to-size sponge, right?

Congrats on finally bringing the new car home and already enjoying it. I see that myself with my wife when she's behind the wheel of her new G6. She was commenting to me today that she's very happy that she got the V6 model over the 4cyl, as it's peppy and spirited when driving on the highways to work. She's really enjoying her new Pontiac and that amazes me, as she really wanted the 2008 Saturn VUE and I thought she was just "settling" for the deal that was offered on the G6. I'm glad I am wrong and happy to have a thrilled Pontiac owner in my household. Oh, and congrats on finding a new loving home for the Caddy. From what you e-mailed me, it sounds as if it will be very happy and well-cared for with the new owner. And I'm sure you'll still be able to visit it when you want to. Go out there and enjoy the new car smell in the G6 while it lasts!

I have yet had the opportunity to take the G6 out for some newer pictures. As with Derek's ride home experience with his G6 GT Coupe, we hit a sudden rainstorm ourselves on the way home from delivery Saturday; it was parked at home in the garage during Sunday's storm. However, driving around the rural parts of Burlington County has led to many bugs giving their life to the front bumper, plus the tire shine spraying onto the body (I saw Northstar's post about cleaning that off ASAP; it will get a bath tomorrow night). This color is beautiful, but is showing stuff I normally might not see on the colors we've owned to date (usually darker colors). It's time for a bath to keep the wife's new car looking "new" still

That '87 Chevy S10 "Bravada" pickup is really cool looking. I've seen older 2-door S15 Jimmy's converted into 2-door Bravadas, but never a pickup truck. In my head, I've tried to picture what a '98-'03 GMC Sonoma converted into a '98-'01 Olds Bravada pickup would look like.

I think it's a shame that many here want to rid GM of another storied and historical GM division (remember that GMC got its start in 1902, with "GMC" showing up almost a decade later on the 1911 trucks). However, look at what that did for Oldsmobile I guess if GM listens to the words shared here on C&G, I'll see my favorite brand join the ranks of Oldsmobile & Plymouth. It just means that no matter the cost of gas is, I'll petition GMAC to cancel my AURA lease early so I can buy the Sierra I've always wanted. I'll keep it forever and never look to GM for my truck needs. It would be nice if GMC could become the heavy-duty workhorse for GM's commerical market, leaving Chevrolet to offer the BOF pickups and SUVs, and at the same time allow GMC to offer the innovative trucks for the non-commercial market ("green" crossovers and unibody trucks, such as the Denali XT concept). I do like that PCS stated in the "GM is Burning Cash" thread that he'd keep GMC around and pair it with Buick; I take that to mean that GMC would remain as an upscale truck manufacturer. Time will tell what is to become of my favorite GM brand/division

At least he'd keep GMC alive!!!

Well Camino, it may make you happy to know that my wife choose to buy a Pontiac G6 over a Saturn AURA! (both offered 0% for 72 months) Actually, she wouldn't even go to the Saturn dealer and look to see what inventory they had. Once she fell for the Pontiac, she knew there was no other need to look further :AH-HA_wink:

Ocn, they removed without any problem. I just started pulling from the top down real slow and all four came off within minutes. The car looks 100% better now

Off on a tangent here, but about the G5... the wife really pissed me off on Saturday when we took delivery of her new G6. As we pull into the dealer, there's a couple taking delivery of a beautiful Performance Red 2008 G5 GT Coupe. As we pass it to park, she comments, "That's a nice looking car!" She then asks, "Why didn't you show me that car?" At this point I'm furious, because at both the Philly Auto Show in February and the NYIAS in March I showed her the G5 GT Coupe in Bright Red on the floor - her reaction both times was "don't like it at all, and I don't want a 2-door". Now all of a sudden she sees one on the dealer lot and is like amazed. She says it's the color that grabbed her attention (if she didn't fall in love with the White Diamond Tricoat color, she really wanted her G6 in Performance Red). As we're waiting to do the paperwork, she asked if the G5 GT came in a 4-door, to which I told her no, otherwise we would have looked at the G5 too (all of this has been told to her many times; this just proves she never listens to me when I talk "cars" ). Back to the topic... in order to survive, Pontiac should no longer offer "base" models of it's cars (I'm not saying that 4-cylinders shouldn't be offered, but all of the 4-cylinders should be performance-oriented versions). The GT level is where all Pontiacs should begin; leave the base-equipment cars to Chevrolet. Offering a model "for every buyer" is old-GM Think, and Pontiac should adopt a more Scion-like approach, where the car is offered in one basic package from the factory and the dealer can customize the car with the extra features the customer wants (much like my wife's Chrome Appearance Package was installed by the dealer <rims & door handles were done at the factory>). The GT model is what the basic package can be, and then from there the customer can add upgraded stereos, remote start, rims, etc. as they see fit. All Pontiac would have to do is offer both 4-cyl and V6 engines to the dealers so that the customer can choose the car that's right for them and go from there. The Cobalt-clone needs to be replaced with an Alpha-based car offered in coupe, sedan, convertible and possibly wagon <to replace the Vibe> (and to match it to the G6 lineup). An Alpha car, an Epsilon car, and a Zeta car can cover all size requirements of the current car market. The Vibe in it's current form should go away to introduce an Alpha-based wagon, and the Torrent is moving to GMC anyway so that really isn't a concern anymore. And I'll state here that GMC needs to stay and continue to offer both "real" trucks and "soft" (aka crossover) trucks to meet fuel efficiency needs and keep customers coming to GM. I guess if GMC were to go away I would stay with GM <Chevy> for my truck needs; but that's not to say that I wouldn't buy one of the last GMCs before they're closed down and keep it (a'la some diehard Oldsmobile buyers). Trucks like the Denali XT concept, the Pontiac Torrent converting to the GMC Terrain, and new innovations with engine & fuel developments to make full-size trucks ready to handle future concerns (mainly fuel efficiency) for those that do need a full-size truck on a daily basis should be GMC's vision. Instead of Chevrolet developing the trucks and then rebadging for GMC, it should be flipped where GMC Trucks develop all of the truck lines for General Motors and then Chevrolet Trucks are engineered from there.

Well, it seems as my constant mentioning of how the black door edge guards detract from the white diamond paint and stand out in an awkward way has convinced my wife to allow me to remove them! That and me mentioning that when she shows off the car tomorrow at her job that I know several of her co-workers will tell her how strange black door edge guards look on the white car, has gotten the message through to her that they need to "go". I'll be taking them off before she heads out in the morning

1966 GMC Panel:

Boy she isn't kidding! The dealership I worked at - Coleman Buick, Pontiac, GMC in Lawrenceville, around since the late '40s - did this to all of its Buicks, most of its used inventory, and at the time I worked there ('99-'00) started on the GMCs. They left most of the Pontiacs alone, excpet the Bonnevilles. The G.M. and S.M. stated that older peopled liked and expected the pinstripes The VIN Etching was a sale the F.I. manager did, and one of the other managers would do it before the customer left (if so ordered). The Maguire Auto Group (Nissan in East Windsor; Chevrolet in Bordentown; Saturn in both Bordentown & Toms River), around since the '50s/'60s, all add the "package" <pinstripes, VIN etching, door guards, among some other things) to their inventory and make the customer buy it. I won't deal with them because of that policy. Sunday shopping at various dealers will let me know if I will deal with them or not, depending if that ADM sticker plus the extra crap is on their lot vehicles. I would like to deal with Burns BPG again, but I absolutely will not have or pay for (and remove on my own) pinstripes, VIN Etching (IMO it damages the glass), or stupid door guards. Since I've only lived and purchased cars in NJ (well, I did help a couple of people buy from Reedman-Toll Auto World in Langhorne, PA, and they too are guilty of this horrible act), I can't comment about other dealers in other states. But it's nice to see that I can buy in MD or DE and not have to deal with that crap!!!

Legendary GM Magazine - Premier Issue (July/August 2008) At the 2008 All-GM Nationals car show on Saturday, June 21, I saw a tent advertising the above magazine. At first I mistook it for GM High Performance magazine; taking another look before walking away, I realized the name was new to me and the cover (shown above) stood out in a postive way. I asked the lady behind the table if this is a brand new magazine and she replied "yes". A quick-flip through of the magazine and I was hooked. I decided to try out a one-year subscription, being offered at a reduced show rate, and got to walk away with the premier issue as an added bonus (everyone that subscribed did, not just me! ). It covers all of GM vehicles, not just one division, from the '50s, '60s, and '70s. There's old GM division advertisements in there, a 3-page pull-out poster (of the cover car, '56 Bel Air convertible), and sections include feature cars, tech & resto , special features, and departments. It's printed on a heavier paper stock and pretty much color throughout. The cars listed on the cover, plus more, are featured in excellent color pictures and offer many shots. For all the bad news us new-vehicle GM enthusiasts have been facing the last couple of months, this is a refreshing way to deal with that stress IMHO. I was told that it won't be available on the newstand until the September/October issue is ready, and that the only way to get the premier issue is by subscribing to the magazine (you'll get that issue as a bonus, plus 6 more if you opt for the 1-year subscription). If you're interested in this magazine, you can check out more info at http://legendarygmmagazine.com/ *NOTE: I have no connection to the magazine in any way, manner or fashion, and am not being compensated for this word-of-mouth advertising. Being a die-hard GM enthusiast, and knowing many more here that are too, I offered to pass the word so that others here can take advantage of this new magazine. If you have an issue with my topic, please feel free to PM me to discuss it.

Well, I've searched at least four different Toys R Us stores with no luck. Even at the recent All-GM Nationals show in Carlisle I only saw the Chevy, Ford and Mercury cars for sale. I'm dying to find the '55 Pontiac in the Turquoise and White (my favorite '50s color combo). I'll continue to look whenever I'm at TRU, and in the end of July there's an outdoor toy show being held inside of Macungie Park (Macungie, PA outside of Allentown) and I'm sure I'll see some there (hopefully not too overpriced).

I pre-ordered this book with the publisher at the 2008 All-GM Nationals car show in Carlisle on Saturday, June 21. I spoke with Mark (owns the publishing company) about the new release date and he said a September/October timeframe is expected (he said the book is ready to print - it's up to GM now to sign-off on it <I guess some of the vehicles in it are still being reviewed by GM>). Mark was positioned with GM employees Scott Settlemeir and David North <retired> and both the Camaro Convertible concept and Bumblebee. If you ask me, it was not the best location for this type of function (Scott holding sessions about the Camaro, Mark selling the book), as it caused many "traffic" jams and detracted from the purpose of the T-Building (invitational cars). It was to their benefit though, as everyone that walked through the T-Building had exposure to the book. There was a large oblong covered book ont he table; I'm assuming that this was the first completed book that GM was reviewing and that was not shown to the public. Mark had a softbound smaller version copy that he would flip open to show what the book will be like. When I was there, he showed off the '56 Buick Centurion concept - WOW!, it looked great in the book. I asked him ig GMC vehicles would be included and he replied yes (truth be told, I still would have bought the book regardless of GMC's inclusion). He took my e-mail address when I paid him, saying that he would add me to the contact list to receive updates. I haven't gotten any yet, but with the show being only a week ago, I don't really expect any this soon. If you are in doubt about this book, take my word for whatever it is worth and order a copy. I know you won't be unhappy once you get it!

I averaged about 16 MPG with a mostly city driving route; however, last weekend going to Carlisle for the All-GM Nationals show I got 26.1 MPG (that was based on calculations from the fuel used and how many gallons it took to fill back up - not on the DIC). When my wife drove it on her 32 mile one-way commute, it would give us between 18 & 20 MPG, with a mostly highway commute. The kicker was filling it up when on "E" - with gas prices at $3.97/regular where I live, I would see a near $70 bill. Now I'd go about 7-9 days between fill-ups depending on my driving, but with some recent car shows not local, not only was I filling up to travel to the show, I was also putting gas back in for the week ahead. The AURA has been taking between $50-$60 on it's own, if the wife allowed it to go to "E" (I told her to fill up at a 1/4 of a tank; she hates going to teh gas station for some reason!?!). The cost of driving does not come cheap!!

Maisto wasted no time in getting a license for the Hummer Hx! First out a couple of months ago was a 1:18 scale RC car, offered in black & gold and green & black two-tone colors (I've only seen this for sale at Target), now they are offering this combo:

1. 2 (Purcahsed: 2007 SKY; Leased: 2007 AURA XE V6) 2. Yes, depending on what my needs are and what models are being offered at the time

1. 0 2. I would consider the Hummer Hx concept if it went to production (heck, who am I kidding? Produce the Hx and make it affordable, and you've got me hooked! )

1. 1 (2003 Buick Rendezvous <leased>) 2. Possibly, depending on needs and models offered

1. 3 (Leased: 1999 Grand Am GT1, 2000 Grand Prix GT; Financed: 2008 G6 V6) 2. Possibly, depending on my needs and what models are being offered

1. 0 2. ? - I would like to consider a CTS (the wagon would be awesome!), but finances and costs will have to be heavily considered.