Blake Noble

Uhh, well ... I'm not quite sure how to answer that one. I know that I know what I'm doing here, if that counts, and yes, my ears burn when someone is trying to constantly tug on them. Anyway, here's a preliminary photo of the Camaro. See? It isn't the rotted out rustbucket I bet most of you were betting on. More details later.

You know, if an unbiased source of financial backing were involved here, I think this could be one hell of a webseries or even a television program.

Oh, you ... Not quite. Speaking of that quake, I honestly didn't know an earthquake had happened until I had gotten a phone call and a few texts asking if I had felt it. I was outside vaccuming some crud out of the Camaro's floorboards when it hit. The epicenter was a few miles outside of Whitesburg, which is roughly about 85 miles away from where I'm at. Apparently it was enough to rattle dishes and shake a few walls here for a few seconds, but nothing major.

Here's the direct front view:

Well, here's the bottom line: I did some trading around and wound up with a '75 Camaro Sport Coupe. More details to come later.

Thanks, Olds. I guess I should elaborate on what I missed out on. I was going to go out on a limb and buy a '91 Firebird for $500 bucks. According to the ad, it ran and drove (sans a broken speedometer from a transmission swap, which I found out when I called) and was missing only the headliner as the result of someone starting the work to fix a small patch of rust in the roof (it was a t-top car). I couldn't pass it up. I found the ad late the previous night and called 8 am that morning to drive 30 miles out of town to check it out and, more than likely, take it home. I told the seller I'd get everything together and be there about noon. When I called when I arrived in his area, he told me someone already bought the car, which really pisssed me off because of the lack of courtesy to let me know ahead of time. As it turns out, the seller decided that he was asking too little and relisted the car a few hours later that night for $2,000. Again, I guess that's understandable, but he should've let me know first what was going on before I drove out of town to check it out. And, as far as I know, it's still listed for sale on Craigslist. It was for the best anyway.

I'll be honest, it's really hard for me not to spill the beans on this. Maybe tomorrow.

I'm surprised that car rusted out so bad, believe it or not. Hardtop second-gen cars are better about keeping themselves together.

Sinister and subdued. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/OeW2xGajogQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/YRdzLWX_ejw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Soon, I will awaken a sleeping giant.

Happy Birthday, sir!

Call me crazy, but I think the locks are supposed to do that, Camino. I know the power door lock and window switches in both my old Firebird and Camaro didn't work if you applied a certain amount of direct pressure to them, if that makes sense. I know I managed to get locked out of the Firebird multiple times and using a slim jim shimmied through the top of the window wouldn't phase the door lock switch when you pushed it. However, if you were sitting down in the car and you pushed the door and window switches, they would work all the time, everytime.

"It's nice to see ya. It's been a long time ..." If you clicked the link, you'll see that it is a 1998 Chevrolet Camaro, in black, with LT-1 style taillights and I think it appears as if the Camaro plaque on the center stack has been moved in between the fog light switch and TCS delete panel. Call it a hunch, but I believe that is, in fact, my old Camaro. I think I'll call the lot up and ask if it's a five-speed car just to see if my suspicions are correct. Don't worry. I'm not buying it back. That car was worse than the fucking plague.

"And this is his ..."

I'll add that there's no danger of the car I have my eye on going anywhere until I have the funds saved up to buy it and begin work on it. It isn't on Craigslist and probably won't show up there at any point in the future.

Nope. The rest of the story should flesh itself out once I have a better understanding of what will be involved. I don't want to say much more beyond that other than I'm fleshing out ideas for another project beyond sprucing up the Astra and it may involve a second-gen Camaro.

So, despite previous worries that the Astra wasn't going to hold up, it seems it may be here to stay for a while. At the moment, it's still having random issues with the fuel gauge and range readouts going out of synch (further investigation doesn't point to a weak fuel pump, but rather issues with the CANBUS controller), but otherwise it hasn't stalled or quit since having the camshaft sensors replaced. I realized some time ago that I didn't want to spend much money on the car, however there are "attention" areas that I'm going to deal with in the near future on the car. First, I've realized driving a car like the Astra makes it an absolute hell to drive at night when someone in a larger and taller vehicle is behind you, especially when the driver of the bigger vehicle wants to constantly drive around with their high beams and/or fog lights blazing. A rich, deep window tint is a must in order to make the car habitable in such conditions. Second, the factory rims are starting to show their age and the front tires have finally begun to wear out, so a few replacements here are a must. Finally, the factory stereo's lack of iPhone/iPod connectivity is highly annoying, so I'll be researching an inexpensive solution. In the end, we're taking about a small amount of money here. I'm also planning another build for the immediate future as well. Stay tuned.

And that's why it isn't the new Impala. While I'm beginning to see undertones of the late '60s Impalas in the glasshouse design, it's way too close to the Malibu overall.

Thanks everyone. Nothing crazy here, although I had to deal with someone "selling" (and by that I mean lying about it) my birthday gift out from under me.

How. The. Hell. Do you spend. $100 dollars. At a goddamn McDonalds? Seriously? That concept alone has just shat the biggest log on my entire day. How frigging fat do you have to be? Did they order the whole fucking menu? I've never spent over $6 bucks at McDonalds and I've never seen anyone spend over $20 feeding a family of three to four people. How do you do that at the America's cheapest third rate fast food joint? It just doesn't add up ...

Nah. While I think GM will revise the Colorado's front fascia for the North American market, it won't look like the theme that you're seeing on the Traverse or Impala. I would think they would bring it in line with the 2014 Silverado and the Canyon in line with the 2014 Sierra.

I'll drop my two cents in the cup, why not? <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/lnZxsTJHVrc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Here's what's really upsetting about the XTS proposal: it looks as if it were designed around the perameters of a front-wheel drive platform. The way the front fenders are pulled slightly behind the front windshield's touchdown point and firewall in addition to the chrome accent running the length of the car mask the fact you're looking at a front-wheel drive car. Also the roofline is lower and sleeker and flows better into the rear decklid. In all honesty, it reminds me of an old bustleback Seville (including that chrome strip), minus the bustleback. While it's a clean design and certainly handsome, I do have to tip my hat to the 2014 Impala here. The production car is slightly more organic and is evocative of the late '60s Impalas. I'm going to place a bet here and say say the front fascia and quarter panels are good indicators of what we'll see on the real truck. Some small details will change, but the essence will be pretty much the same.

The internet is a vast and interesting place, a new frontier in and of itself with plenty of dark and obscure corners begging to be explored. Some take some digging to reach, others can be stumbled upon simply by running a Google search for whatever trivial topic pops into your mind. The following sketches of a few interesting GM cars and concepts were found using the latter method. These designs were all done by industrial designer Jess Bailie, who was the lead designer for the Buick Verano at GM. He also played a major role in influencing the design of the upcoming Buick Encore/Opel Mokka, as well as the Cadillac XTS and Hummer HX concept vehicles. The following images didn't require any stealth hacking of GM's computer network to obtain – in fact, they were actually posted to his portfolio at Coroflot. Speaking of his portfolio by the way, it's nothing short of the finest automotive design porn on the internet. If you have any sort of affinity for automotive design, it's worth checking out. So, of course, I won't post everything on his profile here. Instead, I'll just highlight some of the more interesting bits and pieces – namely vehicles that we wound up getting cheated out of because of money issues, beancouting, and other myriad GM hang-ups, as well as a few proposals for some vehicles we did wind up with. * * * Remember all of the rumors circulating not too long ago about a two-door version of the new Malibu? Well, the following image would've likely wound up being it, if you discard the "SS" branded garb. While the design is by no means retro, it does have a particular flavor that's not terribly distant from the 1968 to 1969 Chevelle-based Malibu coupes. The sketch below is what influenced the final design of the subcompact Buick Encore and Opel Mokka soft-roaders. Pretty neat. Remember the Hummer HX? Well, if you didn't the following design should help to get you re-acquainted and start lamenting. Who votes on recycling the HX as a new Blazer? I know I do. Below is one of Bailie's proposals for the Cadillac XTS. Personally, I much prefer this to what reality gave us in the end. This design seems much more crisp and upscale. Sure, the band of chrome flanking the leading edge of the car's quarter panels and beltline is a little too Lincoln, but who cares? This just seems more stately, and more like a Cadillac. The following is what would've been the next-generation Cobalt coupe. Why, exactly, we didn't get this car I'll never fully understand. It's also interesting to note the front-end treatement isn't terribly different from the Tru140S concept car. Bailie labels the following sketch as an "HHR replacement" on his portfolio page. Notice, however, the Pontiac branding. If Pontiac didn't go the way of the dodo, would have GM replaced the HHR and Vibe with one vehicle? I guess we'll never know. This sketch is, obviously, of the Buick Verano. However, I think I personally like how the headlamps flow into the front quarter panels in the front three-quarter sketch in the lower left hand corner a little better than the real thing. The last set of sketches were done for the upcoming 2014 GMC Sierra. Fairly interesting, to say the least.

Thanks everyone.