Blake Noble

(On the subject of a TB:) Trailblazers were pathetic on gas. My aunt traded hers in on a 2010 Tahoe and the Tahoe is getting about 17 mpg whereas the Trailblazer got 11. Forget the TB, long story short.

Speaking of the price of a new Tahoe, it's fairly ridiculous that the civilian versions have a base MSRP of 37k. A Vic is only what? About $25k and some change? I know the Chargers are somewhere in that general ballpark, so I'd have to assume that the Vic would be there too. In any case, cost alone is keeping most departments away from Police-spec Tahoes. And if it's true that the new Caprice stickers for as much as the PS Tahoe, well, that's going to doom that program as well.

The Challenger isn't going anywhere. Although I'll be going back to college this fall (going for a major in pharmacy), I'm still going to work part-time throughout the week somewhere local to pay the 300 a month on it. I will be quitting my current job (just won't work out in the long-term with what I have to do). The Jeep is for the upcoming winter months and to keep miles off of my car. I've only had my Challenger since April and I've already put 7,000 miles on it (80 mile 'round trips 5 days a week add up). That's insanity. Comanches with around 200k miles (which is nothing for an MJ/XJ) are going for a solid grand across the board and if I can score one for a few hundred bucks, it will be a worth wile project and a good truck for the winter. The one I linked to is a four-banger, which isn't bad, but I tracked down another one around Louisville that is a five-speed, 4.0, 4x4 truck in the same faded AMC red for the same money: http://louisville.craigslist.org/cto/2434804029.html What finally spurred this on is that I know someone with a '98 Cherokee Classic that's accrued almost 300,000 miles. It's beat to hell and back and is plagued with (common) small wiring gremlins (hazard signals come on whenever the left turn signal is engaged, for example) but mechanically, it runs like a top and has NEVER broken down because of a powertrain issue. An MJ/XJ is like a damn cockroach: you can roll them, run them into $h!, and bash them up, but you can't really kill them (especially mechanically) and even if you do manage succeed to do that, it fights back like hell. It's 1980 America's answer to the 1980's Hilux. Why Jeep didn't sell an absolute $h!-ton of them is beyond me. That, and I've always wanted to do a complete '97 and up conversion on an Comanche, front clip, doors, interior and all (I would also like to make the bed accept a set of Jeep Liberty taillights, but that's for another day when I have more money than I do now). A donor would only cost a few hundred bucks in non-running condition. Add to the fact that most of these $1000 dollar trucks have been spared by Kentucky's fair-weather climate and aren't totally rusted out like the ones you see up north only makes such a project/restoration easier. The last one I linked to had more dents than anything it seemed.

I just hope they do something with the sedan's dumpy buttocks if they build a coupe.

I would have to sell my '81 Fender Bullet so that I could have the rest of the money to buy it, but it might just be worth it: http://lexington.craigslist.org/cto/2451007578.html Of course, I'd want to do a full on '99 conversion with it; front clip, interior, and wheels. Finding a donor Cherokee for that would be easy and cheap enough. Here's also a runner up: http://lexington.craigslist.org/cto/2464101824.html

What was wrong with the Golf? I can't remember. I know you socked some dough and time into that one.

Not everyone will want the upcoming Rampage pickup minivan. I think the Ridgeline has shown such a truck is something of a niche product. A true compact truck with serious capabilities will be something buyers will clamor for so why not let Jeep step up to the plate again for such a product? I have a soft spot for the Commando, Comanche, Scrambler, and the recent Gladiator concept and a true production successor to those trucks would be a welcome sight.

AMERICA, PHUCK YEAHR!

That one character has a very phallic head with very phallic expressions. I wonder if John K animated that ... fits his style.

I like my 3GS. Do I love it? Well, no. That's too extreme of a term. What attracted me to an iPhone was this: integration. I was an early adopter of the iPod touch, having once owned a first-generation model running the first incarnation of the iOS. I felt comfortable using it, liked the fact it offered quite a lot of content for an iPod, and was at the point where I felt the traditional iPod click wheel was a rather cumbersome thing (that also became weaker and weaker with wear). When it was stolen, I replaced it with a second-gen model. I was lugging around various cell phones at the time and hated having that much stuff on my person since I'm constantly listening to music and having something portable that can play mp3 files is ideal. When it came time to get a new phone and a new iPod, well, the iPhone was the next step. iTunes isn't the best way ever made to manage mp3 files, but I'm comfortable with using it and it's still better than WMP. Is Android better? I don't think it really is that much better, although I will concede that I wish my phone could run Firefox (Safari sucks and Opera for iPhone is horrible) and The Weather Channel app for Android is light years ahead of what I have (TWC app for iPhone constantly crashes and the weather information is always 10 minutes out of date versus Android). Nothing there is an absolute deal breaker or anything that makes me tip the scales in favor of one cell phone OS over the other. iOS and Android both have their bugs and both can lag. As BV mentioned earlier, iOS is minimalistic and isn't really forward thinking but it I think it's a touch more stable than Android. Apple, though, still needs to allow for greater third party and individual customization; this is a definite Android strong suit as it's a much more open OS. Hopefully Apple will make the iPhone 4GS (5G? whatever they're going to call the damn thing) less of a turd than the current 4G model. Anyone remember The Grip of Death? I do and it was an embarrassment. I was quick to steer any relatives I knew of toward the 3GS when they were considering an iPhone. I'm due for an upgrade in November so fingers crossed that the 4GS will be worthy enough to replace my 3GS.

Bizzare weather this year for sure. The last few days in my area have been an absolute heat wave; 95 degrees one day with humidity pushing the "feels like" temperature to somewhere around 100 or so. Good to know you missed the bullet DF.

Just paid $3.66 for 89 octane. Regular is $3.54.

After a recent oil change, the Challenger is getting 26.5 to 27 mpg mixed. Granted, it still takes 89 octane to achieve those numbers, but that bests the EPA's rating of 21 mixed by, uh well, a lot in the big picture. It's been said before, but I'll say it again just because the proof is in the pudding: the EPA don't know $h!.

I'm almost at a loss for words. This is how far Westboro has gone? The KKK is berating them now? At what point will someone stand up and act to dissolve this "church"?

*looks around* Here? Women? What women?

Nope. Wasn't trying to be funny. For future reference, if you don't like it, don't finish reading it and don't comment. Thanks. ... Just going to leave it at that.

Bend over. You've got a tree-sourced object up there choking out your sense of humor.

YouTube FOTD: Kid Steals Shelby GT500, Hits a Deer by black-knight, C&G Editor/Reporter 19th, May, 2011 Words just simply cannot express the shear magnitude of stupidity and outright failure that surrounds the events surrounding the video of today's YouTube Find of the Day (or should that be Fail of the Day?). If you've already watched it, it will be very obvious to you that the following is true: The driver of the car does not own the car. The driver of the car is certainly under the age of 21. The driver of the car is joyriding with his idiotic friends. The driver of the car ran someone off of the road and stupidly fled the scene. The video was posted over at the SVTPerformance forum boards back in the last week of April and, over the last few weeks leading up to today, it snowballed into a massive 91 page thread (so if you plan on reading it, nuke up a bowl of Orville's buttered finest, grab a brew or brew up a cup, and get realllll comfortable). As the cyber sleuths over at SVTPerformance came to discover, the driver of the car was a poster there, an 18-year old named Grant Rose who used understandably used the Grant218 handle, which the mods appropriately changed later to "Grant Theft Auto" seeing how he stole the car. And he didn't steal it from his father, as you might would assume. No, he stole it from his neighbor's father and that's only the tip of the iceburg. As posters would later discover, a few weeks prior to Grant's grand thievery of the said automobile he attempted to steal and sell the rims off of the car, going so far as to inviting people over to his neighbor's house to showcase them for sale. On the night the car was taken out for the joyride of its life, Grant put a hard 300 miles on the car and when we say hard we mean it. According to the son of the owner of the car, someone posting with the "otownpj" tag, the check engine light came on at one point (what made the car throw that code is unknown) and the nefarious joyrider used a OBD scan tool to shut it off before continuing to hammer on the mean old Snake. It was during these 300 miles, Mr. Rose hit the deer and the events you watched in the video would unfold. Is that all? Nope. Nuhuh. After Mr. Rose hit the deer and ran some dude off of the road in his red hot Blue Oval, he then proceeded to return the car and hide the damage. Oh the humanity, oh the hilarity. It really is true, you just can't make this kind of $h! up.

Ram Goes on a Rampage at Windsor by black-knight, C&G Editor/Reporter 19th, May, 2011 Well, it seems the Pentastar folks now know what they're going to do to appeal to truck buyers who aren't macho enough to wander into a Ram showroom and buy the infamous Hemi-powered, semi-Kenworth, Chuck Norris-mobile. Speculation on what would finally replace the Dakota in the Ram line-up has ranged in recent years from something rear-wheel drive and body-on-frame to something probably front-drive and based on the bones of a Dodge Caravan. As it turns out, the latter is correct according to an article that surfaced over at Wheels.ca. According to the Wheels article, "Both AutomotiveCompass, a leading U.S.-based industry research firm, and Chrysler suppliers revealed Tuesday the automaker has decided to proceed with production of a niche vehicle called the 'TR Ram Life Style Truck,' in October 2012 to help keep the plant humming on three shifts." Chrysler is expecting to sell a maximum of 20,000 Ram "lifestyle trucks" a year. Currently, the Windsor plant builds the Chrysler Town and Country, the Dodge Caravan, and the Volkswagen Routan which is under contract to be produced until 2014 there. With rumors circulating that Volkswagen may build a van completely of their own, the Routan's long-term future most certainly is in question. If VW doesn't want the van beyond 2014, the extra capacity that would have went to waste would be picked up by Ram's new pickup. So, if you were hoping for a Durango-based El Camino rival (a real man's "lifestyle truck" in other words), you may want to hold your breath and keep holding out for the day GM finally wakes up and imports the Holden Ute over here. Otherwise, it seems the Honda Ridgeline may finally be getting some competition.

Actually, I've always wondered how difficult it would be to take the Catera and make it into a Commodore cosmetically.

I have a tattoo of a phoenix on my back. Trust me, if I weren't into buying guitars, spiffing up my daily driver, and just staying broke all around I'd have a few more of them. If you go to the right place, it's a painless process. I know it was for me and I had a needle flirting with my spine the entire time.

Correct me if I'm missing something but it seems to me that, in the end, GM's lying and Jalopnik's a whore. Wow, that's a new one on me.

You both like being snide. Question is, where would the snide be if this was a chromed out Challenger? It would be pouring out in snidey tidal waves.

Oh really? You may want to rethink your comment before you get on your soapbox and coach someone about being "snide," bud. And so what if I don't like it as a whole? I have the right to voice my opinion about it (albeit, indirectly in this case). If it seems to skew the article a little, that's alright. It's not enough to be factual when you write something, you also have to be entertaining, for better or for worse. If it's any consolation, I do like the fact that all three Camaros I've reported on have been so outlandish that I had to write something about them. You can't ignore them.

Camaro Crucifixion, Take Three: The Chromaro Proves Chrome Is Forever by black-knight, C&G Editor/Reporter 16th, May, 2011 The onslaught of Camaro-focused brutality refuses to let off of the throttle, leaving the bowtie pony car to continue to suffer for the sins of car customization. Last week we brought you a prematurely ragged out fifth-generation Camaro and Trans Am Depot's Ponmaro GTO thing. This week, a couple of crazy Czechoslovakian dudes have decided to wrap a -- you guessed right -- fifth-generation Camaro completely in chrome, which if you didn't know, is to a man what diamonds are to a woman and both are forever. Instead of some humble photos or renderings this time, we're bringing this particular Chromaro to you in sweet YouTube glory. Put on your best pair of sunglasses to prevent any potential blinding and click play at the top to let the madness ensue.