mustang84

Happy birthday, Moltar!

A little late, but congrats on the truck Camino! Nice to see a rare 5-spd combo in good hands. Speaking of JB Weld and Duct Tape, one of my favorite parts from Gran Torino is when Walt is getting Tao started off with tools for his construction job, and hands him a can of WD-40, a vice grip, and roll of duct tape and says "any man worth his salt can fix just about anything with these three things."

Has anyone else seen or owned the series? I watched the first one a while ago, but last weekend I went out and bought the remastered Dirty Harry 5-pack DVD collection and am through the first four films. Even though The Enforcer seems like the weakest one so far (haven't watched Dead Pool yet), one of my favorite scenes of the set is the one from Enforcer where he rams the car into the store during the robbery.

I am so sick and tired of the belligerent ravings among certain groups and high-profile individuals in this country. People need to shut up and start working together.

I was completely oblivious to both MJ and FF dying today until I saw about 3 dozen people in a row post it on their Facebook news feeds.

Cedar Rapids....still in the process of rebuilding from the flood

I'm the same way with my new car. I've probably washed it 3 times in the last week and a half. I even have a little piece of plastic down on the driver's side floor mat since it has been raining so much lately, and I get a little anxious when I'm forced to park by other cars now. There are no dings in the body at all and I'm hoping to keep it that way as long as I can.

I wasn't trying to compare the two...obviously the LS is a more fun car to drive, but the Luminas put a smile on my face a few times too. Plus, you could beat on them all day long and they would take it like a champ. The Euro models had a stiffer suspension that did well in cornering, and there was a decent amount of torque to get them going even if they were a little underpowered for passing above 55 mph. I dunno, I liked them.

A necessary addition for any Man Wall purchase.

Definitely the car I have now, although I did have some fun times with the Luminas.

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday!

Well, I found out the CD player won't play CD-R discs (and I don't have Hardline on a real CD), but I have played some Y&T and Van Halen and it sounds great! I know the LS came with an Alpine sound system as an option...I need to see if mine is.

I love the styling on this car, but I kinda wish they had done the rear a little more differently by accenting the width. Had I been part of the LS design team, here is a quick and dirty chop of how I would have done it. New Original

Thanks DF! Two people I talked to who had previously owned them (one I ran into at a BPG-C dealership and was driving an '04 V8, the other is a co-worker who had an '01 V8) had nothing but good things to say about the handling and reliability. I think the LS's that had the most problems were the ones that were driven hard early in their life. Mine was taken care of and still drives like it's fresh off the factory floor.

A bunch of new pics up here: http://www.cheersandgears.com/index.php?sh...mp;#entry512005

Some more Me and the Lincoln

Here are the better pictures I promised. I will be adding some more later with interior shots, but both times I have taken the photos it has been too dark to do interiors. For those that haven't seen the other thread, it's a 2001 Lincoln LS V8. 79,500 miles, leather, traction control, memory seating, dual front and side airbags, automatic climate control, folding rear seats, etc. The exterior is Titanium Sliver and the interior is a trio of dark gray, light gray, and walnut burl wood accents (although the only "real" walnut is on the steering wheel and shifter). Mechanically, a unique thing is that the LS from 2000 to 2002 has a hydraulic cooling fan rather than an electric fan it had in later years. The battery is also in the trunk since there is no room for it up front, and it helps with the near 50/50 weight balance. Other stats: 3.9L V8 (252 hp, 266 lb ft), 3692 lb curb weight, 114.5 in wheelbase, 193.9 in overall length

Your mom goes to college!

I'll be putting up some better pics soon as I get the chance to take them (won't be for a while since this is going to be an 80+ hour week and next week will likely be over 60), but here are few I took last weekend. Man, is this car a blast to drive. I haven't driven too many luxury cars in my life, but everything about the way it handles just feels right. The engine has a muted growl, which is nice to hear even with the cabin being like a bank vault. I floored it up the onramp tonight and it had no problems getting up to speed in a few short seconds. After you've driven 140 hp FWD cars all your life, the switch to RWD V8 is like night and day. I'm actually coming up with excuses to make trips just so I can drive it more. Also, when you brake or accelerate hard there is no nose diving at all...the Lumina dipped and wobbled about and it's just so much fun to drive something solid and composed. Even though DEW98 was an expensive platform, Lincoln should have figured out a way to make it work because this car is so much fun to drive! One other thing that has never happened to me before...people are checking out my car. I've always thought the LS was a little bit conservatively styled, but among the average car it does stand out.

This is a loose ordering of my favorites 1. Scarface 2. At Close Range 3. 28 Days Later 4. The Godfather 5. Dirty Harry 6. Gran Torino 7. Top Gun 8. Collateral 9. Heat 10. Gone in 60 Seconds (1974)

With the loans, nothing has changed for me...I'll still consider GM (or Chrysler) as long as they build what I'm looking for. GM's survival to both pay back the loans and help rebuild the economy is worth far more than whatever "sins" it has committed in the past/present.

GM by any other name would just be too strange and no longer "GM" to me. I vote keep it and change consumer perception by making every single vehicle class-leading.

I third the Cube. I see it being another quirky styling fad that will be old news by mid 2010 and selling under 2000/mo.

I bought one! Pics will be coming soon, but I can tell you guys from the short amount of driving I've done today that I'm going to love this car.