Drew Dowdell

Kinda.... but it does look substantially different enough and has enough additional hardware to justify the price. The problem with the RL is, cover up the badges and people might think it's a Honda. You can cover up the badge on the Escalade, but no one is going to mistake it for a Chevy. Pheaton had the opposite problem. Cover over the badge and people would think it's some high end German luxury brand. Take the cover off the badge and people were immediately disappointed with visions of Beetle bugs dancing in their heads.

Because UPS <based in Atlanta>, Walmart <based in Bentonville Arkansas>, Proctor and Gamble <based in Cincinnati>, General Electric <based in Fairfield Connecticut> aren't global companies? Not everything needs to be based in Detroit. GM can have design centers around the globe. That's where you want the real talent.

I actually agree with you, however it isn't my car. He also doesn't want to pay to have the entire car painted. We're only having the front clip and hood painted. Removing the paneling would require the whole car getting done.

fine Show me the ROI.

2008 BMW M3 Coupe being marked up to $100,000 Link to AutoBlog We've been getting reports from all over that the 2008 BMW M3 Coupe has begun to arrive in U.S. dealerships. Dealers, however, have also begun taking advantage of the high interest in these Bavarian über coupes by marking up the price. Since we couldn't just take everyone's word for the extreme mark ups, we had to wait until someone surfaced with proof, which came today. Dragtimes.com is hosting an image of a brand spanking new M3 sitting in an unidentified California dealer with a window sticker displaying the car's $70,720 MSRP plus a $30,000 mark up. The extra monies demanded by the dealer is labeled as a "Dealer Market Adjustment" on the window sticker, which makes it seem like a special options package with heated seats and an extra cup holder. Rather, it's the reality that this dealer and many others know that someone out there will pay that much for a new 2008 BMW M3 Coupe. But as good a sports car as it the new M3 undoubtedly is, would you pay over $100,000 for it? Thanks for the tip, FikseGTS! ------------------------------------------ That's $30,000 worth of BMW Koolaid.... or a G8 GT.

I suppose that depends on the city you're in. I can see both sides. I would like to live in a downtown location as long as I can get away to the country when I need to. That's one of the nice things about Pittsburgh, decent downtown, nice suburbs, and in 30 minutes you're in Amish country.

California is what has produced products <and they are shrink wrapped, packaged products> like Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, all of the vapid, brain melting sitcoms, a disdain for anything "last week" much less 60 years ago, a race to the bottom with tackiness, trashiness, greed, and conspicuous consumption. Of all the states in the union, California as a whole has the least "class" and self respect. It's willing to pimp itself out for 15 minutes on a TV show eating pig penis. While I'm sure there are areas and people in California that do not fit the above description, the people that do fit that description vastly outnumber the former. I've grown more and more embarrassed of this country partly because of the Hollywood "culture" and partly because of GWB.

I'd have to agree with that final assessment there.

Nein.

Well, at the moment the Dollar is second class. I'm keeping money in Euros just because it's safer. Opec is getting ready to switch trading to Euros as well..... it isn't talked about in the news media, but this has the potential to completely cripple our economy.

Show me the ROI.

Oh yeah, I forgot. She also now has a proper, distinctive, four note Buick horn. Wagons come with only two notes.

But they're still "just Hondas" the same way the Pheaton was "just a Volkswagen". I'm not saying the Acuras are bad cars, however they aren't separate enough from Honda to warrant paying the price premium. The RL is a great car on it's own... but when you survey the rest of the automotive landscape it ends up feeling more like a Honda Accord Brougham Ultra Regency Super Executive - Platinum Edition.

fixed.

well the woodgrain is staying, however, we're not putting the woodgrain on the front fenders. Dominic's opinion is that original woodies were just wooden bodies, so it's ok to leave the wood off the front fenders. I am going to drive it for a bit as is because I need the wheels. I plan to go to Germany in late May so I might have it painted while I'm over there. I expect she'll be whole by tonight and a trip to the shop for inspection will happen tomorrow.

Hood test fit Hood bolted on and installed Looking out over the prow Sedan with wagon hood; does not fit The turn signals were a major bitch.... it took a while just to figure out what needed to be spliced much less doing the splicing. I also want to give a shout out to my engineer friends up at GM....Thanks for making the common wire for the headlight harness different colors on the wagon and sedan...... you rat bastards. Turn signal test:

Eh.... I went from paying $1000 per month for Car + Truck + Insurance back in January to paying $50 per month car + insurance starting in April...... I'm sure I can scrounge up a few extra bucks to feed the LT-1.

I have a 1996 Buick Roadmaster FrankenWagon to sell him for half that.... it'll cure his "problem" for sure!

Why?

Him!? I'm doing most of the work. He's mostly supervising or being an extra set of hands. Sure it's his car, but I'm the one driving this project because it's going to be my wheels for the rest of my time in the states.

I agree with you about the TL. However, even back in 1991 the Legend was in a weird position. I was priced at 29k, right between the 3-series, which could base at 20k for the 318i while the more reasonably size 325 started around 25k, and the 5-series which based at 34,5k. At the same time it was sized substantially larger than both BMWs. The Legend was 10 inches longer than the 5-series and a full 2 feet longer than the 325i. In fact, looking at what was available in 1991, it's very hard to match the Legend up to any of it's contemporaries. Either it's priced way above the competitor's entry models <ES250, G20, M30>, or pricing matches but it towers over them in size <190e, 325>, or size matches but it's price many thousands less than the competitor's mid-lux/full-lux entry <5-series, Q45, LS, 300SE, Continental>. Strangely, the cars that match the Legend closest in terms of Price and Size class are the Lincoln Mark VII, Cadillac Seville, Buick Riviera, Cadillac Eldorado, Oldsmobile Toronado Trofeo....... Not that I'm saying any of those were direct competition... they just all sit around the same price for the size. So, back in 1991, it sounds like the Legend was a screaming deal if you wanted a subtle yet tasteful midsized luxury car. It was also one of the most powerful, putting out 200hp with it's V6 while Cadillac was doing the same but with two more cylinders. Only the Mark VII had more HP. Fast forward to today and Acura is pretty much in the same spot with the RL.

Not with a recession here..... maybe in a year's time, but we're safe from interest rate hikes for at least 6-8 months. of course, they don't really have anywhere else to go but up right now....

Wouldn't a V8 RWD Acura Legend be M45/GS competition?

oh, and I was wrong about the mileage. It has 55,000 miles. He bought it with 49,000 miles for $750.

Starting to take shape....