hyperv6

I would imagine this is one of the first tandem trucks with modern tires ever used. Some of the Goodyear fleet.

Here is a crew with one of the trucks Goodyear built .Now here is some little known history and my Great Uncle was a part of it. In 1917 Goodyear Tire launched pneumatic tires on larger trucks and tried to show they could go cross country with them. Up to this point they were mostly soid rubber often with chain drive. [Mack Bull Dogs] Goodyear designed a tandam Rear Axle that carried heavier loads on smaller tires. Also both axles drove. This was for all intents the start of the first modern truck chassis. I think the guy who came up with the idea was names Tobin. He left Goodyear and went to the 6 Wheel motor company. Their claim to fame was guess what 6 wheel trucks and Buses. One model became well used the Model 57. Goodyear let them use the rights to the tandem rear axle if they used only Goodyear tires. Tobiin left and the company was sold and sorted over the next couple years. They left Phili and went to Detroit. My great Uncle Frank had followed Tobin to the 6 wheel company and then went to MI with them. It later became I think the American Body Corp. They made bodys for Dodge etc. Some how at this point he ended up at GM and GMC around 1926-27. This ius were he became a cheif engineer and worked on mostly large trucks and Buses. I still have a blue print of a Model 57 truck from 1926 that he signed off and approved for the company. Sorry I can't scan it but I may get a photo some time. Frank was an old time Sloan GM guy. He Worked with Ed Cole and many other well known names at GM over the years. They were in the same clubs and hunted together in the UP. He was even invited to the opening of the Henry Ford Museum dinner but passed as it was raining and he had side curtains on his car. He was living in Pontiac then. The dinner only had Thomas Edison, Henry Ford and the President as some of he speakers. To the day he died he said that was one of is few regretts. He was in WWI but the war ended before he left the country. I have a 3 foot photo of the ourfit he was in. It was a Balloon group and he would go up and map the battle field. They trained where Disney Land is today in CA. Frank traveled the world after he retired. He came to care for his sister my Grandmother after my grandfather died. Frank was a Grandfather to me and taught me my love the automobile. I can still remeber hearing him tell of the first car he saw. It was a International Harvester truck in Millersburg Ohio some time in the 07-10 range. Note he was born in 1897 on a country farm. His claim the best thing man ever did in the auto industry was set the SAE standards for parts. He spoke this as a true engineer. I was young but I still rember some of the stories. I wish I had been older now that I know more abut what he spoke of. I have many questions yet today I would love to ask. Here are some of his Goodyear photo's e gave me. Note the 8 wheel bus. Here is the tandem chassis Tobin designed for the Goodyear 6 wheel Wingfoot Express trucks. This was a earlier Wingfoot truck with 4 wheels but it gives you an idea of the conditions they faced as they went cross country back then.

What most forget is GM and GMC killed the trolly cars in this country and they did it with Buses. GM at one time held most of the market of the Buses in this era. Here are two of the most stylish post Art Deco Designs. I have others but they are pretty drab.

GMC plant Pontiac MI around 1942. Note the Military note in the photo. GMC at War

1942 Blackout Pickup 1942 Dump? These photo's were all war time so I assume this one is of that era.

I am starting to go through some photo's. Here is the first. I think it is a 1942 blackout panel

We have yet to really see how all the Alpha will be used yet. I expect some real suprised for this car. On the other hand the Zeta will ride off with some upgrade into the sunset in a couple years. The fact is it would be easier to make a new car lighter than remove weight from the Zeta. If it were that easy to remove the weight it would have been done by now and the ZL1 would not be over 4000 pounds. I see Holden getting a Alpha at some point and the new Omega the new Cadillac flagship will be on will not just be for Cadillac only. I see it picking up the larger Zeta market too. It also will go through the weigh reduction like the ATS. While it may not hit 3200 I see it remaining large but under 3800 pounds. At this point the only thing important about Austrailia and Holden is their markets need and want for RWD cars. The new cars are designed by nearly as many Americans and Aussies. They also do nearly as much work in Detroit and down under. The Camaro was far from a Holden only product and the future cars will be developed much the same way. The key to the OZ market for GM is that it has a large RWD market that permits them to help support selling cars in the smaller American market. Being global will be the best thing for the RWD market. We all need to stop thinking local market and start thinking global GM. As for Cadillac down under. Hmmm I am not sure how that would work out. I am sure they will sell but the problem will be how much will they cost. I think that is what has held them up in the past. They would need to import them as I don't see them selling in great enough numbers for a production line there unless they could export them to China. But China may make them send them in kits as they could not export them as a whole unit. I think they did that with the Holden based Buick.

I still have the tail gate emblem from the Sonoma yet. It is on the tool box. Also when I worked at the gas station when I was in High School my boss has a Sierra Grande just like the one on Rockford Files just in a long bed. We even had the bed rails. I used to drive that truck a lot. I even had it out one night and got my first ticket in it. I loved that truck. I will see if I can get these photo's scanned here. They are 8x10 black and white gloss photos. They were even in an envolpe with the old GMC logo on it. I will see if I can post a couple of the Goodyear photo's too. THey are so old they have a cloth backing. I think they are from around 1920-1923. Frank kept a lot of things. I still have almost all the window stickers and forms for almost every car he bought back to a 1927 Chevy. He would buy 1-2 cars a year. He always ordered them in may and they would come in late August and we would have to sneek into the dealer to see them as they had them hid from the public before the showings. He would order them every year sight unseen. He never knew what they changed but just ordered them anyways. I even have the letters from the plant managers letting him know when they would built his cars. I don't know if that was normal back then or because of his rank or who he knew at GM. I know the dealers would just bow at their kness for him on anything he wanted. Those were the days. He would let me inspect each new car since I was just little and find the defects. He would get a kick on how many I would find. I think that is why I get asked judge so many car shows today. LOL!

Hell has anyone here noticed that Opel has 7,000 preorders of the Ampera already. What the Americans don't by the Euro Geeks will. they are paying close to and over twice what we pay. Even with the high price this car is a creditable option for them. Not many places to pull over on many of their roads over there when your Leaf battery dies. Top Geat has great difficulty finding anyway to charge them on the road and it will take a good amount of time to correct this. This issue will only slow growth but this plarform will continue and adjust to the needs and wants of GM and the American public. This is uncharted territory and this is far from the last issue or change. Anyone else notice Chis's photo of the Volt with large Cadillac wheels floating around? The Converj looks to be on the way and a lot closer than some realize. With Volt body they can get a lot of work done with little notice.

Nice! My Great Uncle was a lead engineer for GMC from 1927 till around 1960-61. I found in our move an old envolope from the 40's with some old GM press photo's. I will have to see If I can scan them and add them here. They are black and white but look like new. There are thinks like a COE dump and even a plant shot. I also found my blue prints for a C cab truck from the late 20's. It is a Chassie cab. I am not sure if it is from GMC or one of the other companies he worked for like White Motors or Goodyear. It almost looks like it could have been a Goodyear Wingfoor express truck. The drawing is near 6 feel long. I really should frame it. I also have a lot of photo's of the goodyear fleet on old cloth photo's from the 20's of Goodyears fleet. I think they were based on Packards.

Hmmm! What part of Austrailia is he from. That accent sounds familier. He sounds like he is from that outback town called Detroit. Hmm! Cruze? is that a Holden or a Chevy. Hmm! Global platform? Chevy and Holden will become closer and closer. I do wonder if they will get a Alpha and what could traslate to Chevy too or will Holden get a Camaro finally.

Put together a Eco package with this that gets class leading MPG with gas and it will help make up for the loss of sales of the larger SUV's everytime gas spikes. Package it also like the Nox as a lot of good features but at a affordable price. This is why the Nox sells. It give many standard and luxury features in a package most can still afford. That is what the old S-10 Blazer offered.

The Nox kind of splits the Escape and Edge. It is a little bigger than one and cheaper than the other. The Flex is a non factor, I see as many of thsoe as on the road as a CS wagon. The Travers is kind of like the Nox and kind of splits gaps with the Tahoe Explorer. It really is not in direct compitition with either. and appears as much as a large minivan a it is a SUV. The Trail blazer would be more SUV like and have much better appeal to this group. Besides with the coming MPG CAFE issues the Trailblazer size could be were the Tahoe is going at some point.

That is what I have heard. The size was to match them and move it up a little fromt he ATS a little more.

I had heard the new CTS was to grow just a little in length. The Alpha will underpin the Camaro that is already on the way. If it is on time we are looking at 2015-16. It will prove to be interesting with a coupe that could come in at 3200-3300 pounds. If they can do the Turbo ATS at 3300 a Camaro turbo coupe could see 3200? Even the V6 and V8 would come in way under the present car. I just hope Buick gets an Alpha too. GM needs to make good use of this platform. I would be willing to give up an ATS coupe for a Buick coupe.

I would be glad to see this one replace the Traverse. It would do so much better vs the Explorer. Anymore I really don't beleive GM when they say no plans as this is what they have done with many new models. But I do hold back a little since Chris said he did not believe it would come here. His is informed enough to have a valued opinion. But then in this day and age of a quiet GM you never know what to expect anymore.

Boy fix that Heart andyou get Frisky! Go get em!!! What ever it is, It will still be nice to have a nascar that actually is almost identical to a real thing being bought on the lot. The old Fiber glass shells are a pathetic joke. Sorry they will look better but they will not be anything close to identical. They will all still be similar general shape and size. They will really just be sculpting the body to carry some of the lines of the real car to give them a more stock appearance and noting more. It will be nice that they will look better is a fair statement. The old cars were still steel too. The cars will still use the nose and tail from GM made of Carbon Fiber with decals for headlights and grilles. As for the name I take the statment that it is going to be a new name not presently being used. That would still include the old names not in production to be in the running. The name has been picked for a good while per Al's statment a year so ago. I expect Zeta as this will be a limited production car. If they hold to what was hinted to before it was to be a performance V8 sedan only. It was hinted to be a G8 GXP like package. With the pending future rules I don't see a performance V8 sedan being in GM's line up too long anyways. I could see an Alpha later on with a Tubo V6 replacing this later. Time will tell.

See the key thing you state is the little snow you get. That entails often that the area has minor snow equipment to cover large areas. Here we can get snow 30 out 30 days and the trucks are out 24/7 on the main roads and where I live now they can salt and plow my dead end road 2-3 times a night. Also we have brine trucks that spray a mix of water, beat juice and salt on the roads. They often start when it is sunny 48 hours before a storm and piss me off as often I just washed the car. Note too those slippery roads you get and show up on video are the same slippery roads here but we are just used to em. Not this winter but there have been some winters where that is my trip into work every day for a week or better. You just leave early and slog your way along. We get a lot of snow here but a little farther north near my work they get even more snow. There they can get into the 20" or better storms many times a winter. Now also the fact is there is a great difference in drivers who grow up and learn to drive in snow daily vs people who see it once in a while. People in the lake effect snow areas of the great lakes can take 18" in stride when other areas will shut down for days. Hell they sent us to school one time when a blizzard hit. They do close a little more now due to the liabiliies but back when I went to school we seldom shut down. I have had 4 wheel drive and it is fine if you have the need but to be honest I really have little need. I can get a car through about any kind of snow. My only issue is traffic and those who just can't drive in the snow. I often take to the back hill roads as only those who know what they are doing will go on them. We are in the foot hills of the mountains here so we do have some pretty good hills in some areas. I already often drive much faster than I should on snow covered roads. When I worked nights I used to come up a heavy snow covered freeway at 75 MPH in the center lane. I just have the itch to drive fast under difficult conditions as I find them a challange. As I get older I get wiser and slower but I still like to let a car hang out once in a while. I had a loaner Cobalt and it has no electronic on it. I took it and was doing j turns with the e brake with my son in a parking lot. He had never been in a car that could do it. He had a blast. Kids just don't know what they are going to miss unless you can shut off the electronics. I would love to see a Typhoon kind of vehicle again someday but the Terrain and Nox are the wrong vehicle for it. You would be better off waiting for and if the new Trailblazer ever comes here. It would be a much better platform for a performance vehicle. The Terrain is just way too heavy and it is more geared for comfort. Even with the GM Turbo V6 that is coming I would rather have it in in another platform. Somthing that had a more performance nature to it from the start.

Simple More money, less MPG, less performance and the FWD will get us anywhere we need to go with no drama. We may live in the snow belt but in all the years I have driven we have never gotten stuck or had the need to have AWD or a 4x4. Now if I had a half mile unimporved driveway or went off road I could justify it. The fact is most people with AWD never really need it. My wife has no issues driving in snow and I offered to get it and she said why? I do have to brag that she does have very good winter skills. When you grow up in snow and learn to drive RWD with no traction aids you learn car control pretty early on. When we grew up were were kings of the donuts and bootleg turns and thought nothing of taking a FWD Fiat off road chasing motorcycles on trails. To be honest to days cars with all the traction aides are down right boring and for the most part will only lead to people with poor car control skills. There are some that may need AWD but for the most if you have average snow driving skills you really don't need it if you learn to drive in the weather. Contrary to what some believe we got around for years with out AWD, Electric Traction aids and special winter tires with no issue. Even when I drove a 4x4 I seldom locked in the front unless I was plowing. The only car I ever had that was an issue was the Fiero. With no ground clearance, Eagle GT's, short wheel base and no weight in the nose made it a challange. A Pontiac engineer was once questioned on the cars snow ability and his reply was WE Build Excitment! I did two winters in the car and always made it. You do wonder when you hear the snow hitting the floor pan. I do find people who live in areas that see less snow than us as more intimidated by it. My companies office in Atlanta closes in weather we would think nothing off. Here at the headquarters in Ohio we can get 18" and they still expect us in and not be late. So we go and get there. The only issue I do have is with drivers who go along with what I call the death grip and will not go over 15 MPH. If you can't drive or if your tires are that bald stay home.

Thanks! This is a good car for me to just unwind and enjoy the ride. It has made me realize how uncomfortable the GTP was and how much this is more like my SSEI. In fact it is quieter and smoother than the SSEI. If GM could create a package like this at 3400-3500 pounds it would be class leading all the way.

One thing I did leave out above was the plastic on the doors is Malibu good. Which means it is better than old GM material but I would like to have seen a softer inset to the door panel over the arm rest. This would have soften the panel enough to make it look for upscale. Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Here are some of my observations of the Terrain after our first week of ownership. Note my observations are from some that did not like this vehicle when it came out and never really considered it till the wife put it on her list of cars. This was a car that had to win me over. The first thing I would like to get out of the way is not all compact SUV's are the same or even in the same class. Some are very car bases and made to feel like economy like and other luxury like, some are made to drive like cars and some are made to feel truck like and that is where the Terrain fits in. This is often why the comparo reviews don't always add up. The 2012 Terrain has just seen some small changes and the largest will be set for next year with the 3.6. We purchased a SLT-2 FWD 3.0 V6. We have all the options less the AWD and entertainment package. The styling we will get out of the way upfront as it is the most subjective. It is either you love it or hate it styling. It to me seems like a HHR and H3 love child. But I have found that like many GM cars today in person it looks much better. Also little things also make a difference. The SLT grill with the chome and black breaks up the large grill and looks more like the new face of GMC. Also a great factor are the 19 inch wheels. The issue is the Terrain has a large wheel well opening and like many of the full size Chevy and GMC truck the larger wheel just looks better as it fills the opening better. The larger wheels were a request of the wife as she hates little looking wheels on some cars and I could not disagree with her on this. The size of the Terrain is much greater than most in class. It looks and feels bigger than the Nox too. It does have a little wider track and a small amount of cargo room vs the Nox. It may even sit higher too as I pulled up next to a Nox and it looked much higher at the traffic light. The extra size pays off with a good amount of front seat room and back seat room. Many call the rear seat as limo like and it really is. The rear seat also has 3 recline adjustments. The rear seats fold down but do not go 100% flat like in my HHR. It is not a great issue but I know they did it to make the rear seat feel better to sit in. Lets face it people will be the prime cargo more than large objects. Head room is great as coming from a 04 GTP I feel like I am in a larger pick up. The vew out the front is good and commanding of the road. The A pillars are large and may turn some off but owning a HHR makes me appreciate how thin they are. LOL! Interior: The interior is a very comfortable place to be. The materials all feel a little upgraded over the Nox. We opted for the Brownstone interior that is Jet black and what I will call a Wilson football brown. It give it a warmer feel vs the Jet black only interior. There is stiching on parts of the dash, doors and armrest. It give the vehicle a little better upscale look. The red dash lights are well done. Coming from a Pontiac they feel like old times. The interior is very quiet almost Buick quiet. No wind noise and little road noise. The dash is a mess of buttons but that is not to say it is not hard to master. For the most many of the buttons are redunant. There are a duplication of door locks, radio and if you have climate control HVAC. The locks used to be on the dash only but GM has now added them to the doors too. The Radio is also part of the Intellelink system so you can either hit the button or the touch screen. Speaking of Intellelink I am impressed with the system. It works well and is easy to see. The Pandora and Sticher both link to my phone with no drama and so far no advertising on Pandora. The Bluetooth Phone voice activation works well once you learn how to phrase the request. GM does supply a list of words to use. The phone link sounds very good. GM should do well with this system. I can see we have not even seen the tip of the ice berg where they could take this system. The Pioneer Sound system sound very good and the 250 W sub woofer is nice for a factory unit. While it will not rattle my windows in the house it will fit the needs of 95% of the people who buy this vehicle. This is the same system in my HHR and I have not been disapointed. The engine is the VVT DI 3.0. It starts and is very smooth and quiet. It almost feels more like a Honda engine vs a GM. I did read that GM used the Nissan V6 as a target. The MPG for this 4100 pound vehicle this week is 19 so far and that is some highway and city. Note too that also is a lot of sitting with the engine running while playing with the options. I have friends with this engine and they see 19 city and 24-25 highway once the vehicle gets over 5,000 miles on it. Power is more than enough to drive this and not have to worry about pulling out in traffic or on the freeway. No you would not drag race a Camaro but that is not what this is all about. They do use 6 quarts and Mobil One in the engine. The transmission is a 6 speed and is smooth. GM has geared this for MPG and the engine will not kick down till you tell it to with your foot. Once you know the kick down points you can pretty much shift it with you foot. There is a manual mode too but I see it only good in low traction conditions. The engine pulls at low RPM but has more pull at 4000 RPM and up. This engine is a rever and it is not affraid to do so. It has a sweet sound to it too. Some may hate the noise but I like the sound. The suspension is 4 wheel independent and what they call a soft ride. Well it is not harsh but to call it soft does not do it justice. The suspension is firm but not harsh as the vehicle rolls over the battle scared winter damaged roads of Ohio. It feels like a Cadillac compared to my GTP. The Terrain in handling is great as the suspension takes a set and holds it. There is little body lean and the tracks well. The hydralic suspension bushing so a very good job. Even the high center of gravity has little effect. The only thing I would like is a little more on center feel as this power steering is a little over boosted for my taste but most buyers in this class would be happy with it. For the most part you the Terrain makes you forget it is a FWD vehicle. I would say if some one did not know they would be hard pressed to know what end drove it unless they did a full lock turn. The key to the Terrain is the upscale options and little things they do like the Back Up Camera, memeory seats, tiilt down mirrors when backing up and the seat moving back when you want to get out if you choose it. GMC did a very good job making the Terrain fit the small space between Nox and SRX. The styling and feel of this vehicle is more to the larger SUV and Truck feel. That is a good thing as Chevy make their efforts to attract those who like the car/minivan buyers with the Nox. To sum it up the Theta as GM has it is a good job of platform sharing considering they did these while going through chapter 11. You can see the Lutz effect with the better interior feel and look along with the small details like GMC in the side of the rear tail lights. All of this speaks to a much more expensive car vs the real cost. I will check back with updates as we go. So far there is Zero Paint and build defects as delivered. I will have to wait for the cargo package as the dealer my dealer traded with would not give them the package. THey have it on order and it is just a snap in cargo cover and roof bars. Note I am happy with our purchase and my wife is really happy with her choice. We should get good service out of this vehicle. Now all I need is GM to build something I really want in about 5 years to replace the SS. I only turned 20,000 miles since 08 so it should hold me for a while and give them a chance to get the new product out by the time I start to look again.

Now that I have done a lot of looking around of late I am finding the Terrain is not so much a entry level vehicle. They even call it a compact SUV but it really is not. While it is not fully a mid size it is a far cry from the car like CRV and RAV 4. GM kind of shot the gap here and tried to give a bigger more upscale product and get away with calling it compact. This is why in many coparo's they love the big SUV things about it but kill it on weight and price. They rave on the ride and the features like the power gate few of the others have but complaine the on the things that come with price and size. The SUV class is not just one class of customers. They have the large medium and small but there are subsets to mid and small classes. Not every one wants one that feels like a truck but also not everyone wants one that feeels like a Forester either. My Terrain with the V6 and upgraded package feels more like a Yukon vs Minivan. I would bet many non car type people would be hard pressed to tell it if was FWD, AWD or RWD. It sits up high even with the low step in. While the Envoy was nice it also had many flaws too. The LWB one was a styling nightmare. Most people I know who have or still do own one like it but never really fell in love with it. As for size needs that is up to who ever is buying I have one kid and dog to put in the back and a wife who has to haul displays and other items for the Library and just could not fit them in the trunk of a Regal turbo. This one work for us with no issues. If you need more room the Arcadia has plenty. My Wife drove one and it was nice but she said I don't need or want anything this big. As for styling that is subjective. The present Terrain and Arcadia I feel are fine. The new Arcadia is even better with the best of the Terrain and Outlook styling added on. As for the Denali. I am fine with the outside as the Arcadia to me has too much bling. It looks like a bad conversion van. I do think if they are going to jack the price of the Terrain they need to give it some better hardware on the inside like heads up and other trick features. Haldex AWD? I just fear the Denali may become a pimp mobile and not much else. GMC pretty much has left the entry to the Nox. While shopping the Terrain most were loaded SLT or SLE models while the Nox we found were most times the lesser LT models with a few LTZ's for the few that buy them. These twins my be similar at the heart but they both have a different feel to them. It is hard to discribe but the Terrain feel more truck like and Higher value vs the Chevy that is more car like feeling and value market like. Keep in mind I am a new convert here. I hated the Terrain when I first saw it and had no interest in it what so ever. The wifes liking of it got me to take a real good look at it and the more I looked the more I found it was not just a rebaged Nox. GM did a good job disguising these two from each other to feel and look different and appeal to different kinds of buyers. Like I said there are more than one kind of buyer in this segment and they both are doing their job to appeal to the two different groups. Anyways do a first week review on ours soon and cover how this vehicle has converted me from a hater to someone who now loves it more with every mile driven. I told the wife I was glad she picked this one out as I would have overlooked it.

I expect the 3.6 to take over the 3.0.The $1000 off on the 3.0 now was claimed to be because of a shortage of 2.4 engines. Well that may be the case since they will be changing over to the 2.5 in the future but the money will help clear out the 3.0 too. While the 3.6 will be an improvment it will be a small one. With this kind of vehicle a gain like this helps but then again it is not a canyon carver either. For the Denali they needed to add things like Heads Up displays and duel zone climate controls. Standard V6 AWD and some other trick items that could not be found on a SLT or any other Terrain. As for us we wanted the extras that the SLT offered and with the price we got it was not a bad buy for a vehicle. Either way the wife is happy with hers and the more I have driven ours I have found it to be much more the vehicle than I had expected. It feels more like a truck than a car. But what I mean by that it feels like a good truck like a Sierra but with a better ride.

I've wondered the same thing this week... maybe he's part of the focus group for this car, seeing as how he had an Impala demo recently I heard they are testing for three new colors as the major changes for next year. Also they are looking at choosing the correct "Classic" emblem to use.