Robert Hall

I did it the FIRST DAY I drove my Mustang to high school. Had to call my dad who came to school with the spare set of keys. The embarassment of that situation (my friends all standing around laughing) kept me from doing it ever again (over 20 years now without doing it). I think what has kept me from doing it is the both the warning chime (when you open the door w/ the keys in) and that I now always use the remote to lock...

< 25.

As citizens, I think we deserve to see an accounting breakdown of precisely where th gas tax is going...doesn't seem to go to paving the roads...

Nothing wrong with the vintage Tempests...maybe he was referring to the Corsica based one they sold in Canada.

Hmmm..strange. You know, speaking of dreams (daydreams, maybe) I'd love to be able to buy a new G8 in the US with RHD and in Holden HSV W427 trim and badging.

One drawback to being addicted to caffeine...the need to go the bathroom and that can be a challenge sometimes....last weekend in driving from Phoenix to Denver, I had a selection of bottled water, Starbucks mocha and double shot cold coffee, and Red Bull to keep me going... unfortunately, every hour or so I was looking for a bathroom (the ones in NM aren't that great). This could be the start of another thread--favorite road trip foods and beverages. I love road trips. Esp. in the Southwest where everything is so far apart and the vistas quite often spectacular.

There's a big difference between desirable small towns like that, though, and the depressed, dying ones in Ohio and PA I'm familiar with, though---I wonder if there are more in the later category nationwide. And of course, there are the small resort towns, which exist in their own world... (I've lived in one, Marathon Florida).

Yes, beautiful cars...probably one of my favorite expressions of the Pontiac grille treatment... I love the Formula hood and the tail shape. Pontiac really had it goin' on' in the early '70s, from the beautifully sculptured Grand Prix and muscular GTO, to the Firebird and the big cars....

The best arrangement I've seen to date is that in my '00 Grand Cherokee. Left stalk has all the lighting related functions, right stalk has all the wiper related functions. No controls on the dash except for the center stack, which has the stereo up high. Cruise control buttons on the front of wheel, stereo controls on the back of the wheel. Window and mirror controls on the upper armrest extension on the door. Seat shaped controls on the side of the seat. It's still the best working and best ergonomical layout I've used, nicer than the 3rd generation model, IMHO.

What is surprising is how similar the Lexus concept and the Buick concept look... though with RWD, the Lexus has better proportions....(the Buick would look better w/ RWD proportions--the front is so short and the body crossection too tall, IMHO).

The war, and I wouldn't want to be associated with their core constituency..(gun nuts, fundie Christians, corrupt CEOs, etc). I'm an atheist and liberal to moderate on most things...just nothing for me in the Republican party.. a vote for McCain would be a vote for the status quo, which isn't very good after the last 7 years...he's another old white guy that should be playing golf at Moon Valley (Phoenix country club) and enjoying retirement rather than running for president, IMHO..

Well, if you can't find something to look forward to what can you do? World Wide Suicide? Things have to get better...I'm know I'm a cynical guy, but I have to live in the here and now and not drown in nostalgia or sentimentality for the past. The past is gone, I can't go back. I have to keep looking forward... and cars today are great overall..very reliable, lots of features, etc. I'm not one of those 'bitter people clinging to guns and religion' (as Obama so accurately put it)...I'm looking forward to tomorrow and continued personal and career growth..I'm too young to retire.

Unfortunately, I was only 1 year old then.. there are a lot of things I like about the late '60s early '70s---the cars, the music (Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, etc..). But I'm content to live in the here and now and look forward to the future..

Excellent article...kind of indicative of the sad state of affairs the US is in and why we are slipping out of the lead globally...who is to blame? The government? The schools? The unmotivated students? The parents? It seems kids are far more interested in playing video games than math and science and getting a good education.

And not to mention that the 'small town Main Street America' image is pretty out of date... it's not Norman Rockwell 1950 out there.... modern America is suburbia and the growth is in the major metropolitan areas...small towns ceased to be relevant a long time ago, and have been in a state of decline for a long time (in part due to Wal-Martization and other economic issues). My point being a 'homey' image won't help sell Saturn to people in cities and suburbs (where the population is--80.6% of the US) and where the new car buyers are, most of to whom the small town image is irrelevant, I suspect..

With the gas prices the way they are and will likely be going up even more, some times I wish I still had my '84 Escort diesel that I had as a teenager...that was truly uber efficient...45-50 around town, 50-55 on the highway. But other than the efficiency, I wouldn't want it today---vinyl seats, manual everything, am radio, a very basic car by today's standards, without any modern conveniences or safety features. Now if I could get a CTS with a turbo diesel and a 6 speed manual, I'd be very happy.....

Yeah, I occasionally see women driving cars like M3s and M5s and wonder did they buy them simply because they are the most expensive/top of the line of their various model ranges, or because they know how badass the cars are and how high the capabilities are. (though I'm sure there are some men that buy such cars the same way without being serious enthusiasts).

tommorow is the day before the day three days after yesterday. Profound.

Teddy Roosevelt was a looooong time ago.. I'm talking about the Republican party of today.

Unions are the one qualm I have about voting Democratic...but the alternative (voting Republican) would be far worse for me, IMHO...

2008, like 1988 (HS graduation), 1994 (moved to Michigan for grad school), 1997 (moved to Colorado Springs), and 2002 (moved to Denver) is another big transitional year for me. I'm optimistic that things will go well for me in Arizona..

Great song. A while back I had 'In The Evening' stuck in my head...was listening to it constantly...love the guitar riff.

And of course, the oil companies will keep making record profits...

Would be nice...but I have doubts about whether we will see Alpha....one scenario I see as very likely is GM sticking with it's current 90% or so FWD cars with only a few select RWD models (Corvette, Camaro, Cadillacs) and explaining it away as to meet future CAFE regs..

No, but I certainly don't like the Republican party.. their corruption and greed knows no bounds....do you think they give a damn about anyone but their own kind (white wealthy Christians)?