I have an idea: They need to barter. Camera Guy will provide 5 hours of help cleaning up in exchange for 5 hours of remedial videography instruction, which might be something Google Guy knows how to do. Back in the days of Super 8 film, everyone got from the camera store a couple of pamphlets from Kodak on good movie making techniques, and the first two pieces of advice always were hold the camera steady and don't pan like a maniac.
Better yet, do what should have been done in 1959 and bring back this car . . . as a Packard. The idea of using a mildly modified Excellence to revive Packard was seriously discussed. The proposal was killed, interestingly, by Mercedes. Studebaker-Packard owned the US distribution rights to Mercedes at the time, and Daimler-Benz was not thrilled by S-P competing with them in the European luxo-car market: [auto.howstuffworks.com]
I'm supposed to ooh and aah, I think, but somehow from a 2011 point of view the Deauville seems derivative. Mostly, it makes me think this is what you would get if you designed a four-door body off the '67 Camaro and gave it an Italianate interior. The windshield and A pillar also keep saying Ford Maverick to me for some reason.
1974 Caddy Fleetwood Brougham: 365 ft-lb 2005 Lincoln Town Car: 287 ft-lb
Somebody buy it and ship it immediately to Egypt. I hear the protesters in the street need more stuff to build a barricade. The first few years of Avanti IIs, which were built using many leftover Studebaker parts, are wonderful cars and we all owe a debt of gratitude to Newman & Altman for continuing the line. As time went on, and the company came to be controlled by others, things took a very wrong turn. This car is not so much inspired by an airplane as it is by the barf bag in the seat pocket.
I believe you are confusing us with South Carolina.
These days, any redesign that lowers the beltline and improves visibility merits a ticker tape parade. For that, I am willing to forgive a lot. I still think the rear overhang is too short and the new design makes the rear look even more truncated, but I suppose giving it the proportions of a '74 Fleetwood Brougham is too much to ask.
@MadHungarian: sorry for the repost, didn't hit "see earlier comments" enough times. In any event it's so ducky it deserves another mention.
1958 Packard Hawk.
Whadya mean no cool cars in Argentina? The list is long:
-- First generation Ford Falcons, refined and facelifted all the way up to something like 1991.
-- The aforementioned IKA Torino, basically taking a Rambler and turning it into a BMW-challenging sport coupe
-- The Kaiser Carabela, a continuation of the 1951-54 Kaiser in production up to about 1962.
-- Also the Aero Willys and first generation Willys Station Wagon had second lives in Argentina.
-- First generation Ford Falcons, refined and facelifted all the way up to something like 1991.
-- The aforementioned IKA Torino, basically taking a Rambler and turning it into a BMW-challenging sport coupe
-- The Kaiser Carabela, a continuation of the 1951-54 Kaiser in production up to about 1962.
-- Also the Aero Willys and first generation Willys Station Wagon had second lives in Argentina.
Umm, let's have some discussion about confounding factors, can we? The graph shows a precipitous drop in fatalities from 1988-92 and then a much slower decline after that. What happened in those years? Cars began to be equipped with driver airbags and ABS. Next, as for the 9 PM effect, what else surely happened daily after 9 PM besides cell rates going down? A big drop in traffic. This makes the recent controversial ESP study look rigorous.
Just about any car available for under a grand is Nice Price if it starts, steers, shifts and stops without undue drama or excessive fluid incontinence, even if you only get a few months out of it before something breaks. Add 4WD and being a wagon, and how can you go wrong?
Not very much extra weight. I would say that the difference between the empty car and the car with her in it is just a rounding error, but the real problem here is the lack of sufficient rounding, so to speak.
This '74 Electra was my daily driver from 1992-96. It was a tough choice between this Electra and my '92 Town Car, but the Buick gets the nod on a value-for-money basis, because she was a $500 beater I brought back to life on a budget. She was supremely comfortable and the handling and efficiency were not bad at all for such a huge barge. I took her to a show once and nobody believed the paint job was MAACO.
Yowza. What could he do if he got the tires to bite sooner? And is there a streetable version of that engine? Drop one into a Maverick for a real sleeper.
@gray totoro who wants to be a mechanical engineer because he loves cars.: isn't that a Chevelle?
@scotte: And a lot less lumpy than those fold-flat Element seats. Lord, getting one of those seatbelt buckles in the wrong place would bring the party to an end right quick. No problemo in the Nash.
@alexander_the_car_salamander: I'm not going to say it's weightless, but if the snow is dry and powdery, a wind-whipped drift like that contains a lot of air and is probably not as heavy as it looks.
@MadHungarian: Nash dealers even sold accessory mattresses and window screens.
