Blake Noble

That's funny you should mention that because my father said pretty much the exact same thing before he bought his Express and I'm thinking that he might be five to ten years older than you. What ulimately sold him on the Express model was that, for $21,000 dollars, you get an expensive-looking truck on the outside (the grille inserts and headlights are the only two items it needs to look exactly like a $35,000 grand Ram Sport) with no nonsense, low-maintanence features on the inside. Getting the Hemi V8 standard was another key selling point, that and the fact its rated for higher gas mileage than the Dakota he gave to me in return for trading the Challenger in for it. I put a set of chrome nerf bars on it for him just yesterday and, after I stepped back to check their alignment, I re-realized just how nice that truck looks for such little money. No worries. And you're not the only one who loves that truck. As of right now, I'd gladly drive a Ram Express on a daily basis if I wanted a truck, especially considering the good gas mileage he's managed to get out of the 5.7 liter Hemi.

I never thought I'd find myself saying this, but I guess I've had one too many cars. When someone else can keep better track of what went wrong with what you drove in the past, I guess that's a good indicator you might have a problem. It's a good thing I don't really talk about how many guitars and amplifers I've owned over the years then. Oh well. That's alright. I'll probably have yet another car under my belt soon enough. I've almost done everything I can do for the Dakota (most of my time these last few days has been devoted to that purpose) and I should have it for sale by the end of the month. I'm seriously considering a Cobalt or something, if I have enough money to buy one from a private buyer. I think I'm done with buying daily drivers that lead me down a path to dismal failure. Although, after having driven one fairly recently, I'd love to have an Astra over a Cobalt instead, but ... eh. What are the chances of finding one of those on Craigslist, especially on what will probably be a mediocre budget? But anyway, the Camaro was having transmission issues before I traded it off to the Challenger. I'm sure I mentioned that on here in the past. While driving it to work one afternoon, it began refusing to shift into gear< I refused to spend any more money fixing it, and things went from there. Yeah, let's just say that, from I understand, if you needed new doors for it, you're screwed. And, yes, it's a notchback. As far as value goes? Well, sure. But that's not the point. The point is that there is a lot worse than buying an Opel GT as a project car. Building one up into a Pro Touring car wouldn't be horribly expensive, either, except for fabbing a new suspension. Then again, there seems to be some aftermarket and restoration support for the GT in Europe, so who knows? Maybe there's an upgrade kit that you can have shipped over and avoid the hassle of building one from scratch yourself. Keyword there is "usually." Anyway, it's still a thought I'm seriously considering, once I clean my hands of my current agenda. When that happens, it's hard to say. If this doesn't wind up happening by year's end, then that's okay. While these cars are quite uncommon, they aren't hard to find. The US market was where the GT enjoyed some of its best sales figures.

Interesting, I didn't know a Jeep could sing "Your Cheatin' Heart". Kidding aside, you can still nab a 2012 Ram Express for $21,000 large after incentives, although the Tradesman has a few interesting features. My gut tells me that it will have the 4.7 instead of the Hemi V8, though.

Nope. The Camaro had transmission issues. The Cherokee was rumored to have a bad head gasket, which ultimately turned out to be a cracked head. If I remember correctly, he tried selling it with an asking price of around $10,000 large before, which could've recovered a decent amount of his investment. No one stepped forward with an offer anywhere close when he revealed the true nature of the car. Similar money can buy you a Mustang that's aged evenly, so its really a hard sell. If this concept becomes reality, none of this wouldn't be of any major concern. Honestly, you can find yourself underwater working with any classic car if you aren't smart about how you spend your money and, most importantly, aren't patient. Right now, considering what I could swing on this particular project, it would mostly be a tarp queen for a few years with an extremely slow rate of progress. Whatever work that would be done to the GT during that time would be whatever I could do to it myself. Once again, I haven't committed to anything yet. I still have to finish reconditioning what I can on the Dakota and move it out of my way. Then I'll be looking for a more sensible, later model daily driver once I understand what budget I'll be working with after it and a few other items are sold.

Welcome to the wide wonderful world of classic cars. I think it could be worse. My father works with a guy who is a few grand too deep into a crimson red '65 Mustang. And before you think, "That doesn't sound all that bad", it's worth mentioning that only the front of the car was made in '65. The back half was built a year later. Anyway, while the GT is something I'm seriously considering, buying one certainly won't happen overnight, if it in fact happens. The thought of a Pro Touring-style GT is what really gets me.

The Firebird? That didn't need a head gasket, the Cherokee did. The Firebird needed frame repair when it was all said and done. (I know, I know. I've had a billion cars, etc., etc.) I'm 6'1". I don't think I should have much trouble squeezing into the GT, but then again I've never tried squeezing into one before.

For some reason, I've been eying the old Opel GT lately. There's something about the thought of an uncommon vintage mini-Vette that just leaps out and grabs me. Of course, eyeballing gives way to Craigslisting the hell out of a 200 mile radius of your area and, as my luck would have it, I found a drivable example somewhere in Nashville. Did you click the link? Okay, okay. I already know what you're thinking. Yeah, the impromptu camo paintjob was more than likely done by someone at some point in the little Opel's lifetime with a few too many rattle cans of paint, a few too many cans of Coors, but far fewer bright ideas. Yes, it has its share of dents and dings and minor surface rust. But I really do see something here. I'd like to get it home, start sanding away the gallons of matte-finish Krylon primer and get it back to a better place of health. While I personally may have had mixed results trying to restore an older car in the past, I think that particular Opel GT could bear fruit. There isn't much to the car mechanically and the engine has fewer moving parts than Stephen Hawking. All of the exterior trim appears to be intact and it could just need some good old fashioned elbow grease to gleam again. While I didn't see any interior photos, I have a good reason to think that the seats may need reupholstering, and some new carpet may be in order. All in all, I don't think it's anything terrible for what you could bring it home for. It would be great to have the car brought up to a far more digestible standard for a few years then, when the money and time is right, rip the tired 90 bhp 1.9 liter Opel four-pot, antiquated three-speed slushbox, and creaky suspension out and toss in a naturally aspirated 2.4 liter Ecotec and six-speed manual gearbox from a trashed Pontiac Solstice or Saturn Sky and fit a custom suspension. I think that could yield one of the best Pro Touring cars ever, double that if I decide to go mental and toss in the 2.0 liter turbo Ecotec instead. In the wake of the departure of my Dodge Challenger, I've had a unspeakable yearning for something with charisma and class. Yes, the Opel GT is as far removed from a Challenger as you can get, but it still has that certain magic about it. I have to admit I'm in lust over this car, especially since it seems they're all sort of dirt cheap to buy when you find them. The question is, will lust give way to love? While I don't think it's entirely certain I'll bring home that particular GT I linked to, I'm crossing my fingers I will have one in my possession hopefully before the year is out, if it really is love.

Rock on, indeed. Balthazar, here's a band that might also grab your attention, given the background of your avatar. Church of Misery is a band originally hailing from Japan. Not to worry, though. All of their lyrics are in English (... okay, maybe just a touch broken, but not annoyingly). What's really interesting is that each song they've written pertains to a specific killer/serial killer. "Road to Ruin" was written about Charles Whitman, for example.

There's about a $3,300 dollar price difference between the base Cadillac ATS and the base Buick Regal. The top-drawer ATS will undoubtedly top out a price much higher than the Regal GS too. You also have to consider that someone checking out a BMW 3-Series will probably never set foot into a Buick showroom. The ATS, although still unproven, does stand something of a chance of stealing a passing glance or two away from someone playing hoochie-coo with a Beamer. Will there be that one buyer who didn't feel like ponying up the extra dough for the ATS, found what he wanted in the Regal, and wound up buying the Buick over the Cadillac? Sure. It isn't entirely impossible. Sometimes people do tend to cross shop a bit sporadically. I don't think, however, that will amount outright cannibalization at all. Boy, oh boy. Where do I start with this mess? I just ... wow. I hate to be an ass, but do you even read what you write sometimes? Any idiot can tell that Cadillac is probably going to undercut the BMW the first year or two its on sale and raise the price subtly as the model gains traction in the marketplace. By the time the second-generation ATS debuts, I'd say its more than likely it could wind up costing near the same price as the 3-Series.

It should show up next year at the 2013 Daytona 500.

For me at least, Cheers and Gears has always been a reader/user-oriented site, a place where everyone is involved in someway. So, since I know I'm taking my affinity for automotive journalism as something that could become a loving, paying career someday in the near future, I'd like to know how much automotive journalism matters to one person: you. What you would like to see different? What do you like about what automotive journalists are currently up to? Personally, I think automotive journalism has its place and I can think of ways it can evolve and progress, but this isn't about what I think. This is about what you think. As for why I decided to open this topic up for discussion, I decided to check out YouTube's drive channel and stumbled across a particular video of a segment they call "Road Testament". In the video, the hosts of the segment pose the same question and ask followers of drive's Twitter account to post their thoughts on the issue. Afterward, various automotive journalists are interviewed and give their insight (Spoiler/Warning: they chat with Ray Wert). EDIT: Since our post editor wants to tear my head off whenever I try to include the HTML code for the video in this post, I will provide a link . I'll try to repost a working copy of the video in a following post.

That GPW ... yikes. Again, if someone could build a brand new version of either one of those classic Jeeps from a kit for maybe a grand more than what it could cost to buy an original version before restoring it, then I'd say it would be hard to a company to keep up with demand. It would also provide a nice, cheaper alternative to those annoying all-terrain side-by-sides that cost as much as a nice used car. It think could certainly be done. There wasn't much to the original WWII Jeep other than four seats bolted to a few axles powered by a random engine.

No worries. I know you were just wondering, so if I somehow laced my earlier response with verbal vitriol, it wasn't intended. I don't mean to pull the "I was cranky" card, but that was my first post of the day and I had literally just crawled out of bed to check on the site and for any news alerts to post.

Yeah, speaking of the Astra hatches to show up Stateside to compliment the Verano, I wonder what's the status on that? I don't think there haven't been any recent American Astra sightings lately or any new news about it. If Opel didn't intend for the new Astra to comply with US Federal regulations like they're choosing to do with the Junior/Adam, then they wouldn't have bothered to bring it here for testing in the first place.

A thought just crossed my mind. If they're going to sell this as a Vauxhall then the Adam name wouldn't exactly make sense, would it? Maybe then Vauxhall will call their version "Eve". Agreed on the diesel 500. I'd say having one of the Multi-Air two-cylinders available for the 500 wouldn't hurt either, but it may not cope well with frequent interstate driving. If the rumors currently circulating about the 10,000€ starting price prove to be true, then it will certainly overlap with the Spark somewhat. It is interesting to note that Nick Reilly said last year that this car would probably have a starting price higher than that, though. Either the rumors are wrong or Opel so desperately wants this car to succeed they're willing to deliver a premium city car at a price that matches its corporate stablemate while undercutting its targeted competition. If the latter proves right, I won't honestly be suprised. Opel is betting a lot of the farm on this car. For Opel's sake, it better. Probably not this go 'round. Like I said, Opel isn't too concerned with selling the Junior/Adam in America. However, it is true that Buick and Opel's product portfolio will become more and more alike in the future. I'd say there's a good chance that the next-generation model could appear in Buick showrooms if the upcoming model is given a warm welcome on its home turf.

I believe I may have read somewhere the ATS would start around the ballpark of $29,995 but I could be very mistaken about that.

Does the Wrangler double as a boat? Nope. If you put a trolling motor on your $30,000 grand Wrangler Unlimited and drive it into a lake, you'll just sink the same as any other overpriced Wrangler. Okay ... I'll take my tongue out of my cheek for a minute and admit that there is honestly only one Jeep. But I think there could be a big market for a (steel) kit version of the classic Army Jeep that could also float on water as long as its cheap. Something you could build yourself in a shed over the course a weekend and immediately start bashing it out on some trails. And in all seriousness, the Wrangler has become too expensive these days to be anything more than something you buy for its image and the other Jeeps currently in the line-up, as much as I like them, seriously do lack the off-road prowess of their ancestors.

Build it out of sheetmetal, put the engine in the front, make it street legal, and get rid of the handlebar steering ... thing and I'd be all over this. Even built out of plywood, this is almost more Jeep than a real Jeep.

You know, I don't exactly have high hopes that this "Opel Adam" will snatch Fiat 500 customers away by the truckload. I have a good feeling it could wind up being overlooked in the company portfolio because it may not have style and charisma to match the 500. Selling this car in North America is one of the last things on Opel's mind right now. Just for the record, about two years after Fiat originally put the 500 on sale in Europe they had already sold 500,000 of them. Opel's hoping they can recreate that success with the Junior/Allegra/Adam because that obviously means a big profit and Opel seriously needs all of the money it can get. Let me also note that sales of the 500 here in America increased in the first quarter of this year to a point where the 500's sales trailed the Mini Cooper by less than 2,000 cars. I don't know. Maybe not everyone wants to drive a Toyota Yaris?

Do you see anything on Cadillac's webpage confirming what model year the ELR will be introduced in? That's why this is news.

Blake Noble Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com April 28th, 2012 Lamborghini has certainly been trademarking any sort of interesting name it can get its hands on lately. Earlier this month, we reported that the Italian supercar builder laid claim to the “Deimos” name. It wasn’t much longer after that rumors quickly began to circulate that Lamborghini also trademarked “Urus” — rumors that proved to be true when the super-SUV concept car debuted at the Beijing Auto Show. Now, according to Car and Driver, Lamborghini has snapped up another trademark and you can add “Huracán” to the list of names the marque has acquired. If you haven’t figured out the meaning of the name yet, we’ll save you the trouble. The word “huracán” is Spanish for the word hurricane. In fact, the English language pretty much borrows the word complete from the Spanish language. Ironically, the word isn’t native to Spanish either — Huracán is actually the name of the god of fire, wind, and storms in Mayan mythology. That also ties in nicely with Deimos, which was the name of the god who embodied fear and dread in Greek mythology. We know what Lamborghini applied the Urus moniker to, but we still have yet to see what the automaker intends to do with the Deimos and Huracán names. We know a replacement for the Gallardo supercar is in the works and may be renamed with either of the two names. Is it possible, though, that Lamborghini may elect to rename the production version of the Urus? Source: Car and Driver View full article

G. Blake Noble Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com April 28th, 2012 To say that Opel has been eyeing the success of the Fiat 500 would be something of an understatement. In fact, it’s almost well known that the German automaker has been hard at work on a new model the last few years to compete with the small Italian city car. Now new spy photos have emerged of the upcoming small Opel lapping the Nurburgring as engineers put its sporting prowess to the test. During the course of its development, the new Opel city car has worn a few different names. The first two monikers were “Junior” — borrowed from an old Opel city car concept designed by Chris Bangle dating back to the 1980s — then “Allegra.” Now some rumors indicate that Opel may choose to name the car “Adam” in honor of company founder Adam Opel. Whatever Opel chooses to call it, the automaker has chosen to formally announce the car on Tuesday May 8th, 2012. A debut at the Paris Auto Show is likely. Beyond the curious issue of what they’ll name it, there isn’t too much more information out there about the Opel Junior Allegra Adam. It has been suggested that the Adam will measure in at 3.70 meters long (or roughly 144 inches), making it smaller than the Opel Agila but longer than the Volkswagen Up! by 15 centimeters (about 6 inches) and the Fiat 500 by around 10 centimeters (or about 4 inches). There isn’t much word on what will be under the hood, but it seems likely that a three-cylinder engine co-developed with SAIC could appear on the spec sheets. Pricing is rumored to start around 10,000€ (about $13,000 USD) when the small Opel goes on sale next spring. Sources: Opel, CarPix via Autoblog View full article