mustang84

I'm nearly stricken with tears at this beautiful and eloquent piece of writing. I highlighted some of the best parts. Ford and General Motors are Getting What They Deserve. By Editor (12/24/05) They have had over thirty-five years to figure out how to put quality in their products and still don't have a clue. (Explain to me how you "put quality" into a product. Horrible choice of wording.) Their attractive and flashy offerings often look very nice, but are poorly assembled and full of inferior quality components and parts. Once the word started to spread about the high quality of Japanese and recently some Korean models, the sales of American made vehicles started to fall rapidly. A good example was one of the best pickup trucks, the Mazda. Low price and great quality. However, Ford started building them instead of Mazda and they became very low in quality. (This sounds like something I would have written in my 5th grade communications class. Elementary school sentence structure at its best.) Ford and General Motors need to get their quality acts together very soon. (Chrysler is German owned if you didn't know) One of the few things helping them is that the product from Europe is generally just as bad or in some cases worse than the "Detroit Iron". If the European product improves, they will lose even more market share. American suppliers learned long ago that US vehicle manufacturers could really care less about true quality in the parts that go into their vehicles and so they don't have a care either. Much of public wants to support Ford and General Motors, but such a huge investment leaves little room for pity at the risk of finding out that they have been sold a piece of junk. The American automobile manufacturers owe it to themselves and the country to turn themselves around big time. -------------------- What is this guy...in 8th grade? Who says "big time" in journalism? What a bunch of unsubstantiated drivel. Link

Too tall! It looks like a Rolls Royce truck. The 300 has grace...this is just ugly.

I've heard you can burn the iTunes protected song onto a CD and then re-rip it back onto the computer in MP3 format. I've never tried it before, so I don't know if it would actually remove the protection or not.

Today I drove my grandpa's 2005 Mercury Grand Marquis he bought last summer. It's an LS Ultimate, which is the top of the line model. It's fully loaded with heated front seats, side airbags, standard wood trim and leather surfaces, power adjustable pedals, power moonroof....all the bells and whistles. *Note: Not the actual car, but exactly like it Inside, the dash may be a little dated looking compared to what's available today, but the materials and fit-and-finish were all pretty high quality. I really didn't find any hard plastics anywhere besides on the seat backs. The door handles all felt firm and solid and the doors closed with a nice thud. The wood trim actually looks like real wood with a deep coat of gloss on top. The door handles are chrome and there are other touches of brightwork throughout the interior. I want to emphasize how solid everything felt...when people talk about the Panthers being solid cars, they're not joking. The leather seats were comfortable and supportive; they have little textured bumps on them to give you grip when taking corners. On the electronic instrument cluster display, it has a portion that tells you your MPG, how many miles left before fueling, and a few other things. We were averaging 19 MPG (mostly city driving) according to the display. It has automatic temperature control where you set what degree F you want the cabin to be. Driving this beast was fun in my opinion. Even though it only has 224 hp, low end acceleration is pretty decent because there is 275 lb-ft of torque. Even if you stomp on the gas, the ride is so smooth that you're doing 60 before you realize it. That was one thing that bothered me a little though...the gas pedal is so light compared to my Lumina that a few times I discovered I was doing 10 over the speed limit even though it didn't feel like it. The interior was quiet...but I would've liked to hear the exhaust rumbling at least a little bit. This is a big car, so it won't handle like a sports car. It has a decent turning radius, but the overall length of the vehicle took some getting used to compared to my smaller Lumina. When my lead-foot sister drove it last night, I noticed there was some body roll but it really wasn't too bad. I believe Ford stiffened the suspension recently, so when you go over bumps you don't get the boat rocking motion nearly as much as my grandpa's old '90 Grand Marquis. This is my grandpa's fifth Panther car. He still owns a 2000 Crown Vic LX. The previous ones were a 1990 Grand Marquis LS, a 1986 Ford LTD, and a 1981 Ford LTD. He was originally thinking about getting a Town Car, but in his words "you get everything that the Lincoln has, minus the price." I love this car. At 6'4", I had no problem fitting in the front or back. The trunk is huge, the power is pretty decent, and the car is solid and rides smoothly. If Ford plans on keeping the Panthers around, they need to offer the 24V 4.6L from the Mustang. 300 HP and 320 lb-ft of torque would do wonders for the performance.

3.5 years into the 5 year arch program at Iowa State. I'll be in Rome for a whole semester in Spring, 2007. I'm still deciding whether to get my Master's right after I graduate or go back later and get it. Welcome back Bob! Long time no see!

Even though I've never been a big Supra fan (and even less now that it's on the tip of every ricer's tongue), Toyota needs another sport coupe if it wants to keep its edge as a brand. Go to a Toyota board and you'll see that one of the big complaints is that Toyota is focusing so much on family sedans that they've let everything sporty they had wither on the vine. Ford has the Mustang and GT, Chevy has the Corvette (and soon, Camaro), Dodge has the Viper and Charger (and soon, Challenger), and Toyota has the.... Avalon? Camry? Corolla? All FWD family cars with soft suspensions. Toyota gets ripped on all the time for being bland because they have no exciting, heart-pumping cars. Supra - dead after 2002 model year Celica - reduced to secretary-special, dead after 2005 MR2 - killed in 2005 The brand is so lacking in the sport department that I've seen some owners comment on their Camry as if it was a hot rod... :rolleyes:

I've never had any problems with my stalk. It took me a few times driving to fully figure it out, but like Paolino said, it's second hand nature afterward. It's convenient and it saves space. It works perfectly for me because 95% of the time I drive with one hand on the wheel, and that hand is always the right hand...so my left is freed up for the stalk.

I love the stalk. The one in my Lumina is exactly like the one at the top. Where else can you set your cruise control, use turn signals, wash and wipe your windshield, and turn on your brights all on one handy, plastic stalk. :P

Someone needs to shoot the bB with a BB gun.

A slightly rounded off xB? No thanks. If I wanted a musical expereince, I'd buy a home theater system. Or a Zephyr. Not this ugly contraption.

I love the supersized, chrome-plated Coupe DeVille barges of the late 70s. 1978 1979 1980

Merry Christmas!

I've been all over the Iowa & Nebraska the last few days for work...Sioux City, Omaha, Columbus, Atlantic, and Des Moines. In that time, I've seen a ton of cars. 1958 Edsel in North Bend, NE...decent shape, orange paint...not sure if it was for sale or just sitting there 2006 DTS on Highway 30 near Fremont...beautiful car, it really stood out in the sunshine of that cold December day...I saw another near Omaha 1967 GTO in Schuyler, NE 2006 Fusion at the Wendy's off Highway 30 in Fremont, NE...silver SEL Honda Ridgeline in Missouri Valley, IA...second one I have seen ever; definately not selling out here 2006 Accord in Omaha...I barely noticed it was an '06 at first, the rear end looks awkward 2006 Lucerne on I-29 south of Sioux City, first one I've seen on the road 2006 Sonata on I-29 near Sloan, IA Plus lots of '06 Impalas, Five Hundreds, Cobalts, and G6s...those cars are becoming fairly common around here. Also, I've noticed Hyundais are becoming more and more prominent on the roads...even moreso than Toyotas and Hondas for the rural areas around here. I can't even count the number of new Hyundai Elantras I've seen lately.

Maybe not exactly "proof" of the Camry's downfall in quality, but CarSurvey.org is a fairly decent website to show what problems owners are having with various vehicles. These are for 2005 models only...go check back into 2002 and 2001 and it gets even worse Meanwhile, compare with what they were saying about the 2004+ Malibu...there was only one really negative review, and all the rest were fairly positive...much more so than the Camry reviews of the current generation. I truly believe Camry quality on the current generation is overhyped...if you can't trust the owners, who can you trust?

If you end up using Fade to Black, here's kinda the idea I had of how the ending to the fourth chapter could go. Toward the end of the song (about 5:30 into it) when Kirk starts doing his crazy guitar work, you should show a semi-rapid succession of images or video of Camaros from all generations. Show burnouts, powerslides, whatever you have...and then about 6:40 into the song find a clip of a Camaro peeling out (with a camera angle very low to the ground and pointing straight toward the rear end). This would be in slow motion and the video would gradually fade to black as the Camaro pulls further away from the camera...right as the song is fading out completely. I think this could be a very powerful way to end the fourth chapter of the video. Watch the end of the Johnny Cash video for "Hurt" to see the kind of mood I'm imagining where he inserted rapid random video clips from his past at the climax of the song. The way it's done leaves a very haunting after effect. Maybe not as fast as they did it in the video, but so that it's in sync with the song Fade to Black. Just an idea. :)

But the difference with those cameras is that the information isn't fed into a central database. The footage from the camera at your local bank or convience store can be retrieved by the police if needed, but ultimately the information is in the hands of the establishment owner who would only call upon it when a violation of the law has occured. With this other centralized system, the information is fed directly into the hands of the few where it is stored and categorized. If I lived in Britain, I would be uneasy about a select few that had access to where I ate, shopped, traveled on the weekends, etc. I'm all for living in a safer world, but I'm not so paranoid that I want to live with Big Brother spying on me, my family, my friends, my neighbors, and my fellow citizens. Ultimately, someone higher up will abuse that power.

I'd pick your songs based on the generation; for example, during the second gen use something from the 70s, third gen the 80s, etc if that is how you are setting up your chapters. Here's some ideas for each chapter. Chapter 1 (1st generation): Birth Black Sabbath - Paranoid -- This is a classic Sabbath song that came out shortly after the Camaro's birth...it fits the time period and mood Chapter 2: Icon KISS - Detroit Rock City Chapter 3: Identity Great White - Stick it - this song has a killer riff that would be great, but it may be a little too hairbandish if that's not your thing. The lyrics would work pretty well for your video. Lyrics from that song: I wanna roll it, and burn it all night Me and my Chevy, don't stop for no lights Crankin' the metal, blastin' the plant They wanna catch me, HA, betcha they can't! Chapter 4: Death Metallica - Fade to Black -- I can't think of any more fitting song than one of the greatest metal ballads of all time Chapter 5: Resurrection Something modern--I can't be too much help with this one Ultimately, your video will decide what you use. I've made Flash presentations before for architecture projects and ended up scrapping songs I really wanted to put it because it didn't fit with the video. It's all about complimenting the mood in your video with accompanying sound. I'm not sure if any of these will fit the mood, but they decent suggestions at the very least.

From 2006 Britain will be the first country where every journey by every car will be monitored Britain is to become the first country in the world where the movements of all vehicles on the roads are recorded. A new national surveillance system will hold the records for at least two years. Using a network of cameras that can automatically read every passing number plate, the plan is to build a huge database of vehicle movements so that the police and security services can analyse any journey a driver has made over several years. The network will incorporate thousands of existing CCTV cameras which are being converted to read number plates automatically night and day to provide 24/7 coverage of all motorways and main roads, as well as towns, cities, ports and petrol-station forecourts. By next March a central database installed alongside the Police National Computer in Hendon, north London, will store the details of 35 million number-plate "reads" per day. These will include time, date and precise location, with camera sites monitored by global positioning satellites. Already there are plans to extend the database by increasing the storage period to five years and by linking thousands of additional cameras so that details of up to 100 million number plates can be fed each day into the central databank. The new national surveillance network for tracking car journeys, which has taken more than 25 years to develop, is only the beginning of plans to monitor the movements of all British citizens. The Home Office Scientific Development Branch in Hertfordshire is already working on ways of automatically recognising human faces by computer, which many people would see as truly introducing the prospect of Orwellian street surveillance, where our every move is recorded and stored by machines. Link ------------------------------------ It looks like "1984" is becoming a reality in some parts of the world. Does anyone else think that some governments are using the terrorism card as an excuse to infringe on the public's privacy? How many years will it be before each of our homes has a telescreen and black helicopters are circling about?

I love it all. BUILD IT! I guess the only thing I would change is the instrument cluster...I don't really like the fact that it's a big rectangle, but I love the rectangular look of the rest of the dash. The seats are cool as hell too...very 1970s. It's going to be a tough choice for me in the next few years when I'm in the market for a new car....Mustang, Camaro, or Challenger?

I only wash my car on days when it gets above freezing and long before sunset to make sure it can fully dry before the temp drops below freezing.

The Five Hundred only had 10.6% (as did the Mustang) and the Montego only had 4.2% in the first 6 months of 2005 for fleet sales. Meanwhile, the Toyota Camry sold 14% to fleets, and it sells nearly four times more than the Five Hundred. I'd say Ford has done a pretty good job of keeping new vehicles from fleets, and I see no reason why it won't continue with the Fusion. 10.6% seems to be the limit Ford has set for the new vehicles. I remember a figure from a while ago that Five Hundred resale value was 47% higher than the Taurus just due to the limiting of fleet sales. From one of my earlier posts: Fleet Sales for the First 6 Months of 2005

And the outside. The cars I checked out earlier this winter at the dealer had no mis-aligned trim and small panel gaps in the doors. It looked solid. The only complaint I have read about fit and finish on the Fusion was one auto mag that said the hood seemed like it was unlatched because the gap was so large between the chrome bars and the hood...but if you go look at it in person it's really a nagging complaint because the gaps on the hood are fairly small...it's just that the recessed bars make the hood seem unlatched from some angles. Polish Kris, have you even seen a Fusion up close yet? You seem to be speculating based on opinion rather than first-hand experience. Pics from last October

I saw a hot rodded '61 Corvair on the road last week in Ames that had the license plate "F NADER". :P I wish I would've had my camera with. I think it was the first time I've seen a Corvair in person, too.

I finally gave in and got Firefox. I don't know why it took me so long to download it...it was actually pretty painless and it seems to be a lot better than IE.

Years ago, my dad was driving a semi truck for the company he worked for late at night on a highway north of Omaha, Nebraska. A drunk driver completely blew the stop sign and he slammed right into them at highway speeds, hitting the rear driver-side fender. The car spun and wound up in the ditch and my dad's truck took a good few hundred yards to stop completely due to momentum. After he ran to the car, he managed to stop a motorist and told them to get help. This was before cell phones. I think there were three people in the car and two later died at the hospital. I don't think the two that died were wearing seatbelts either. Needless to say, it was a traumatic experience for him and one of the few times I have seen my dad cry. Drinking + Driving = Dumb. Always ask a friend who is sober for a ride or just crash for the night wherever you are. If you're even the slightest bit unsure if you'll be okay to drive...don't do it. You may save somebody else's life or your own.