<![CDATA[Comments from mytdawg]]> <![CDATA[Comments from mytdawg]]> <![CDATA[mytdawg commented on One Ford: Way Forward Or Way Too Late?]]> @my favorite car is a motorcycle: Well they did a lot of things that I'm not sure were necessary. I think they kept the stock levels artificially low to keep the prices unnecessarily high. For a long time some dealers commonly charged 30% over MSRP. And the dealer in my town is worse than the Honda car dealer so I won't deal with either one. They both act like they are doing you a favor by talking to you, incredible arrogance, borderline snotty. When faced with take it or leave it, I always choose leave it.

But they did a lot of things right. They certainly know what their core customer wants and that's more than a lot of these companies. With the economy the way it is now, I really have no idea how they are doing currently.

]]>
<![CDATA[mytdawg commented on One Ford: Way Forward Or Way Too Late?]]> @fodder650: Harley was on the brink of extinction, figured out what their customers wanted, capitalized on it and got profitable. And they did it without trying to copy a successful Japanese motorcycle, for the most part. I thought it was a good example of how it could work but it's all conjecture.

I don't know that you can beat the Japanese at their game. I'm just opining that maybe they need to play their own game, if they can figure out what it is. I (again personal preference) don't want or need a new model of everything every 3-4 years. It seems gratuitous but it may be the only way anymore given the tiny attention spans of the common consumer.

Just throwing it out there.

]]>
<![CDATA[mytdawg commented on One Ford: Way Forward Or Way Too Late?]]> I'm kind of torn because I really don't want everybody to build cars like the Japanese. I feel like I've got to run a lot of Japanese cars into the curb and bend a wheel to make one mildly engaging to drive. I'd personally rather have the flaws but I know that doesn't make business sense.

US automakers have to find a center, much like Harley did. Find what you do best and build the core first (again) instead of moving all over the map trying to hit a random homer every once in a while.

But the mavericks are dead and they took a lot of their companies character with them. The people these cars are named after are no longer around with their drive and vision and it shows. You can see it happening to Honda even.

Any decision arrive at by committee will be mediocre at best. Beauracracy inaction is more accurate than beauracracy in action.

Unless our corporations start thinking about working together to actually make the best products instead of what labor and management can get out of it for themselves, They may be doomed. And that problem does not seem to be limited just to business. There seems to be a rampant entitlement problem in this country.

And everybody should know it's all about me, dammit.

]]>
<![CDATA[mytdawg commented on 1970 Chevrolet Impala]]> Oh yes, these have always been some of my favorite cars. I've owned a 68, 69 and 70 over the years and my brother had several also. Not real flashy but damn near bulletproof.

]]>
<![CDATA[mytdawg commented on Commenter Of The Day: Gotta Have Priorities Edition]]> Well you know, some people just take their politics way too seriously. Everything for them is black and white...

]]>
<![CDATA[mytdawg commented on Commenter Of The Day: Gotta Have Priorities Edition]]> @buckymarino: At least he didn't give him a "terrorist fist bump" (whatever that is), boy would THAT be awkward...

We'll never forget ol' whatshisname....

Way to show your political beliefs ShadowGuitar, we can turn both left and right here on dis web site.

]]>
<![CDATA[mytdawg commented on 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution MR]]> I don't much care for the look but I love the performance and I love the level of hardware on the thing. I would not be able to pay the maintenance on it though. That's why I gave up my Galant GS (the old, cool one - 1990). $2000 for a normal brake and exhaust job is ludicrous.

But the world is a better place for it just being here.

]]>
<![CDATA[mytdawg commented on Robert Novak Hits Pedestrian With Corvette, Tries To Flee Scene]]> @the artist formerly known as dolo54: It's possible but doctors are commonly jerks (and wealthy) so that doesn't rate much of a blip usually, you have to be exceptional to get a reputation.

]]>
<![CDATA[mytdawg commented on Robert Novak Hits Pedestrian With Corvette, Tries To Flee Scene]]> @SwatLax: And maybe a "wide stance"? I mean geopolitically, of course.

]]>
<![CDATA[mytdawg commented on Robert Novak Hits Pedestrian With Corvette, Tries To Flee Scene]]> @SeanKHotay: You're on a streak man, try the decaf. You're having too much fun.

]]>
<![CDATA[mytdawg commented on Robert Novak Hits Pedestrian With Corvette, Tries To Flee Scene]]> If it's a C5 and he's driving it in D.C. then it's his beater, not his good car. We had a doctor at the last place I worked at that drove a new Vette as a winter beater. His summer car was a Viper with a vanity plate that read "MAD ASP". I never spoke to him but he had a reputation as a jerk.

]]>
<![CDATA[mytdawg commented on Bill Gates Buys Stake In AutoNation, Plans To Become Used Car Salesman]]> @Triborough: heh. 1 minute.

]]>
<![CDATA[mytdawg commented on Robert Novak Hits Pedestrian With Corvette, Tries To Flee Scene]]> I bet it's some kind of promotional Death Race stunt.

]]>
<![CDATA[mytdawg commented on Robert Novak Hits Pedestrian With Corvette, Tries To Flee Scene]]> @bozoerrebbe: paleocon - Was that around the neolithic era? Where do people come up with these labels?

]]>
<![CDATA[mytdawg commented on Do You Have In-Car Air Conditioning? No, Ours Is On-Car!]]> Than. Than our house. Sheesh.

]]>
<![CDATA[mytdawg commented on Do You Have In-Car Air Conditioning? No, Ours Is On-Car!]]> @beercheck: Good lord. I though my wife was hard core for leaving the fan on for ours and he's inside. Your dog has better climate control then our house.

]]>
<![CDATA[mytdawg commented on Bill Gates Buys Stake In AutoNation, Plans To Become Used Car Salesman]]> Anybody that can push off Windows ME onto the American public sure as hell can sell used cars.

]]>
<![CDATA[mytdawg commented on Bill Gates Buys Stake In AutoNation, Plans To Become Used Car Salesman]]> @layabout: Only one of them got the 959 legal for US (Paul Allen I think), the other one left theirs in Germany or something like that. Lost interest in the mountain of paperwork.

]]>
<![CDATA[mytdawg commented on Robert Novak Hits Pedestrian With Corvette, Tries To Flee Scene]]> @Shadowguitar: I think it may have been the Boiling bile-duct of right-wing rage part but it's hard to tell. Either way, joke you if you can't take a.. wait a minute.

Right wing, left wing, doesn't matter. Corvette, run away, pedestrian and bicyclist is just too much good material to pass up.

]]>
<![CDATA[mytdawg commented on Robert Novak Hits Pedestrian With Corvette, Tries To Flee Scene]]> I'm sure the last thing that went through his mind was "What are they going to do, try to catch me on a bicycle? - DAMN!"

]]>
<![CDATA[mytdawg commented on Robert Novak Hits Pedestrian With Corvette, Tries To Flee Scene]]> Anybody that has to walk must be poor and that's anti-American but it keeps them off the best golf courses.

]]>
<![CDATA[mytdawg commented on Robert Novak Hits Pedestrian With Corvette, Tries To Flee Scene]]> Ooh, a douchebag of demagoguery. Problem is that he will lawyer up and the person he hit likely will not be able to play at that level.

[www.cnn.com]

]]>
<![CDATA[mytdawg commented on How Much Did It Cost To Fill Up For Gas Today?]]> Apparently it's going to cost "us" about $720 million today. Oh, you meant just me. Probably about $45 for a half tank of premium. Or so.

]]>
<![CDATA[mytdawg commented on 1967 Porsche 912]]> Color aside, it sure is an elegant design. Always liked that shape.

]]>
<![CDATA[mytdawg commented on Obama Endorses $4 Billion Automaker Aid Package]]> @rlj676: You left out the massive public health care systems in most industrialized nations which tends to mean their industries can concentrate on actually building things instead of having to constantly adjust for the costs of paying for health care. Much of which is profit for a select few that have nothing to do with the health of our country.

Capitalism is fine until people have to die because they can't afford the cost of doing business. I think maybe the original intent has been somewhat perverted by those who seek to profit at a social cost. Call anything that resembles common sense socialism so people fear change, even for the better.

Even our cops have to worry about turning a profit. Crime doesn't pay but speeders will so let's concentrate on them. And seat belts. It's not about public safety, it's about paying the bills. You can have all the justice and health care you can afford.

I think you'll find we give far more of our tax dollars to the rich than we ever did the poor. I blame Ronald Reagan for making it trendy and they have no intention of stopping it now. Trickle down economics means "piss on them" in plain english.

]]>
<![CDATA[mytdawg commented on Do You Have In-Car Air Conditioning? No, Ours Is On-Car!]]> @the artist formerly known as dolo54: Well at first I was picturing the block of ice with the fan blowing over it. The real deal didn't really do my mental picture justice.

]]>
<![CDATA[mytdawg commented on Do You Have In-Car Air Conditioning? No, Ours Is On-Car!]]> That's not redneck, a swamp cooler would be redneck. And of course there is one.

[images.google.com]

]]>
<![CDATA[mytdawg commented on Obama Endorses $4 Billion Automaker Aid Package]]> I'd just like to see the same level of hate leveled at all our money that the current administration handed off to big medicine/pharma (Medicaid/Medicare), oil companies (tax breaks/subsidies) and Iraqi contractors. I'm sure I'm forgetting somebody. It's hard to keep up. And for some reason none of that got labeled "socialist".

Two or three years ago I opined that as Michigan went, so would the country. Our state has been in the trouble the rest of the country is just now seeing for quite a while.

Whether you like it or not, our country needs a manufacturing base. I'm not for or against any "bailout" at this point but I do know that once we don't produce anything, we're not going to need any workers except Walmart greeters and soldiers. Both of which are kind of closed end systems.

But I'm not motivated enough to get into an internet argument about it. It's just an opinion.

]]>
<![CDATA[mytdawg commented on Ten Worst Things Automakers Do To Make Their Cars Seem Cheap]]> @bugattatra: No argument necessary, my opinion is that anyone can pick apart a car but an enthusiast can enjoy one for what it is regardless of others' opinions. It may have been poorly expressed but it needed no response.

]]>
<![CDATA[mytdawg commented on Is the 2010 Camaro A Home Run, Strike Out Or Double Off-The-Wall?]]> @Maymar - now with 37% less anonymity: And a Camaro will still be cheaper to fix. Oh right, Japanese cars never break... heh, I know that's not true. I've broken cars from lots of countries.

]]>
<![CDATA[mytdawg commented on Ten Worst Things Automakers Do To Make Their Cars Seem Cheap]]> @west-coaster: You have no idea how cheap a Corolla is until you've pulled out all the interior panels to put in new stereo equipment. Trust me, they're all crap. More of it may show on a GM or Dodge but they are all made out of the same stuff.

]]>
<![CDATA[mytdawg commented on Ten Worst Things Automakers Do To Make Their Cars Seem Cheap]]> @Olyoop: I've been married twice which means I have no idea what activity you're referring to. Putting away the dishes? Bagging the trash and putting it in the dumpster? I'm stumped.

]]>
<![CDATA[mytdawg commented on Is the 2010 Camaro A Home Run, Strike Out Or Double Off-The-Wall?]]> If the turbo 4 is anything like the SC model... Don't hold your breath, the gas mileage won't be much better than the six (or possibly even the eight). Mine gets 23 on average but I like the afterburner so other people's mileage may vary. The 350 HP GTO was something like 19/26 which would put it squarely in my LSJ engines mileage territory. I might hit 30 on all highway driving but more like 27.

]]>
<![CDATA[mytdawg commented on Ten Worst Things Automakers Do To Make Their Cars Seem Cheap]]> but I'm in the minority here.

Here as in US, not "here" here. I'm sure there are others "here" that could care less about a Big Gulp fitting in the cup holder.

]]>
<![CDATA[mytdawg commented on Ten Worst Things Automakers Do To Make Their Cars Seem Cheap]]> @Ileee: I have no use for the cup holders 99% of the time. I really want my car to be a car first and foremost but I'm in the minority here. Most people lean towards rolling entertainment/communications center with a little car thrown in. I have the same reaction to them complaining about plastic dashboards. If it holds the gauges up where I can see them, it's doing it's job.

No nav system? Learn to read a map.

Cup holders not big enough? Get a smaller cup.

Can't play your DVD or MP3? Maybe you should just go home now.

]]>
<![CDATA[mytdawg commented on Malaise BMW E12 Power Shortage Remedied By Judicious Application Of Sprint Car 427]]> I need to go back and search for more Jill Wagner pics. At least I know I can't have that. I could BB+S $22K but I got no parking places left.

]]>
<![CDATA[mytdawg commented on Mercury To Become Ford's Saturn, Jill Wagner Celebrates]]> I don't know, she looks okay to me.

What were we talking about again?

]]>
<![CDATA[mytdawg commented on Malaise BMW E12 Power Shortage Remedied By Judicious Application Of Sprint Car 427]]> @PatFromGundo: You could save money and buy it for your idiot teenager.

]]>
<![CDATA[mytdawg commented on Malaise BMW E12 Power Shortage Remedied By Judicious Application Of Sprint Car 427]]> Buy it now is $22K now...

[cgi.ebay.com]

]]>
<![CDATA[mytdawg commented on Malaise BMW E12 Power Shortage Remedied By Judicious Application Of Sprint Car 427]]> Oh hell yeah. The perfect car (if it's posi) or at least very close. I wonder if you could get an Olds 455 in one...

]]>