Truth is stranger than fiction...LOL!
This part of the article grabbed me: "Earl had an eye for aesthetics, and injected swooping curves and bold embellishments to objects that had up to that point been, more or less, appliances."
Today we are back to the Appliancemobile Age for the majority of vehicles. I await the next Harley Earl.
The 396 by Chevy sure had a history in my area of blowing up when ran hard. The 348 was regarded as a boat anchor too. As good as SBC's were, the big Chevy motors didn't live up to the small block legacy based on my decades of experience.
Okay, you're oversensitive. Want me to call you a cab? "You're a cab!"
The next time some whackjobs want to do a 9-11, give them a 10 megaton warhead. No more Manhattan, no more problem...LOL!
It's no more fun to park in San Francisco on a Sunday too. However I do like Seattle for Sundays. Must be the rain chases people inside who aren't native to the Pacific Northwest!
Borderline price but what a car to get! If you're going to not get a bargain in the $$$ department, at least you come out of the deal with quite the rig! More of a "Nice Car" than "Nice Price" situation. Buy it if you LOVE it. It's not like there'a a bajillion of these particular BMW's out there.
I like the white too. The car looks clean and modern. Live in a sunny warm area and it's the color of choice.
Cadillac and Lincoln sedans. Why? Old people are the usual buyers of them new. They are well-off folks who take good care of the car, keep it garaged and they don't drive it very much. By the time they pass away or quit driving so the car has to move on to another owner, the value of the luxobarge has dropped precipitously and the next buyer gets the best of both worlds, a very nice car at a very reasonable price. The buyer after that can usually get a break on mileage vs the year of the car too so it's win-win as the years go by. The Lincoln Town Car is as bulletproof as it gets other than their flaky airbag suspension so I rate it a bit better than the DeVille/DTS and Seville/STS, with their more powerful but sometimes problematic Northstars.
These cars won't be around as fairly new low mileage cars much longer since the Town Car and DTS are bye-bye. Back in the day, the best luxury car deals were Olds 98's and Chrysler New Yorkers with their 455 and 440 engines mated to TH400 and Torqueflite transmissions. They went incredibly cheap compared to their new car cost and held up quite well with those drivetrains. How cheap could I get them? Try $10 for a 1968 Olds 98 in 1980. I cleaned it up and replaced the burned out bulbs, then sold it for $195. They were just about giving them away back then!
Remember, it took another Italian-American named Iacocca to save the day the last time around. The Germans certainly couldn't do it...LOL!
That rig would look right at home in Oregon. We have lots of Bigfoot 4X4's so why not a 6x6?
There's so many deer that like to run into the road over here and this rig makes sure you have the mass to take down a big brown bear once a humongous grill guard is put on this truck. I had to duck one of those bears on 101 a few years back and that's not always an option. Sometimes you gotta be in the roadkill biz so you don't become a headon fatality on our two lane roads. The real trucks, 18-wheelers loaded with logs or chips, can really ruin one's day for good...LOL!
Where the 6x6 gets used: An old friend of mine had a military 6x6 with a crane on it that he used to salvage buoys for the Coast Guard and also grab logs. Sometimes the buoys washed up ashore after a storm broke them loose and he was the guy who got them back. Big rigs, big weight, big torque....suddenly the obstacles that land can pose seem to shrink.
Now just toss in an "export" CB pumping out the watts on the freebander channels, a 102" whip and some chrome sexy girl mudflaps to bring it up to where it needs to be for fun out here. Confederate battle flags added on for those in the South and rifle racks for everyone!
Now let's go hunt with Sarah P. and show her how it's done without benefit of aircraft!
Showroom? Showroom??? Try looking at the blech and dreck at any mall, WallyMart or other large parking lot. If there is ONE cool real car there, it will stand right out amidst the appliancemobiles. Then go look at pix from the Sixties. Even the Plain Janes had at least a semblance of style and anything better than that was a surefire winner in the Suck In Those Eyeballs category.
I hate seeing what the 21st century turned into when it comes to vehicles. What's next? Turkish vans that are little stubby boxes? Oh right, yeah, we got those. Progress...LOL!
The Ultimate Diminshied Value Story: When GM trotted out the Olds 350 Diesel, there was a substantial premium to buy a car with them. After it was obvious that GM had screwed the pooch massively with this boat anchor, KBB values showed a huge deduction for any car equipped with one. That goes down as a multi-thousand dollar hit per car deal when that was still "real money"...LOL!
It looks more like a stretched minivan than a limo but since it runs, it's worth $550. Heck, it's probably worth that in parts to the right person...LOL! I'd love to see this stretched Metro turned into the biggest hypermiler of all time!
Ever see an Amanti? It looks like a downsized Town Car. I was looking on eBay at vintage shortwave radios and found a Sixties Sony that looks like a Grundig or Telefunken. If the Chinese want to copy an American style, that must mean we have the best style in their eyes, so figure this is proof of the old adage that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Thank heavens the Chinese aren't copying old Soviet designs as they used to...LOL!
One of these was seen on I-5 south of Eugene OR by me several years ago on a sunny day. They are even more gorgeous when seen in person than in the photos.
Now let's see if the Sultan of Brunei is rich enough to buy 'em all...LOL!
At least Ford has a positive one: First On Race Day!
First Rule Of Cats: Make sure you are bigger than the cat!
When the US Navy deploys one carrier to a station, that means it's Show The Flag time or that no real opposition is expected. When two carriers are put on station, that's a sign of Serious Business.
The problem with carriers is that they are blue water ships not suited for missions in littoral or confined waters. They would be best placed in the Indian Ocean with landbased planes on the Saudi peninsula providing quick response tactical air support and B-52/B-1 bombers being placed at Diego Garcia for strategic/heavy support.
Should Iran close the Straits of Hormuz, first priority needs to be the destruction of Iran's ability to provide protection to their blockade measures, then comes the actual removal of the blockading forces (mines, missiles, patrol boats, etc.). The real problem is not the military side of this, it's what maritime insurers will do in case of a closure of the Straits. Should coverage be not available, that will be even more of a problem in terms of interrupting oil tankers' voyaging than anything the Iranians can do.
However it should be noted that the Iranians have already backed down and now regard US Navy movements in the Persian Gulf as "normal activities".
Who sued the American government for not selling helium to the Nazis for use by the Hindenburg? I don't recall such a suit by any insurance company despite the massive loss of life as well as the loss of the zeppelin.
Oh well, in a nation that lets suits proceed and succeed over spilled hot coffee, why not have one over custom-made hybrids? I hope we get coverage of the story as it moves forward. Liability is such a tricky issue and one wonders how much of a chilling effect a successful suit would have when it comes to hybrid mods? There are some mods for the Prius so it can be plugged in and eventually there will be a fire where insurance coverage is involved. Later on there will be more techheads playing around with electric and hybrid cars. What about them?
35 years later and I find out why they drove the same...LOL! Old dog, new tricks and all that. Thanks for the info Tony!
