Showtime in Detroit

I stopped buying American iron in the 70s because I refuse to subsidize mediocrity. I would like to buy an American car perhaps, but none of them speak to me anymore. Instead, Mini will be paid off this year, and she gets prettier with each payment. She is all the car I need, and I will drive her till the wheels fall off, then I'll go looking for an electric Mini to replace her.
The older Corvettes and Mustangs and GTOs were great, the Nash Metropolitan was so cute-my grandmother had one-all the unusual Studebakers, the Chevys from 55-60, Bentleys, Jags, and Citroens were automobiles with character.
And then there was the 57 Thunderbird. I remember the first time I saw one-red, with black interior, portholes, and that big grin. And the white ones were so pretty, but then I found out that they also painted them pink, or desert rose as they called it.
Yummy, the stuff of fantasy.
What could Detroit possibly do to bring back that magic? I can't imagine.
Why are all the electric cars so UGLY?
I want an instant-on steam powered vehicle called a Huffmobile, so when I go, I can leave in a Huff.

I'm on my second Mini and gearing up for a third. I like to trade in when the warranty runs out. The first one was a standard Mini, and the second one is an "S". I'll be going back to the standard. It's cheaper and has plenty of power. I drove the standard Mini from Missouri up to Washington state, then down to Florida, then out to San Diego and back to Missouri and even with all my luggage aboard I had no problem passing and merging. I Love road trips. I've driven a number of cars in my life and this is the only one that I've actually bonded with. Has a way of putting a genuine smile on my face every time I get behind the wheel. Great sound system too.

OLIVIA:  Electric Cars are ugly, because the whole idea of electric cars is ugly .......

I have owned a Corvette whch blew me away in style and performance. I rented the Mustang Saleen engine and drove up and down the west coast with the top down and it was awesome. I bought a PT cruiser and thought it was a novel idea and a fun drive. The classic Jeep Wrangler is still a unique and truly American icon. Not to mention the trucks and the land yacht, my Chevy Conversion van from the 90's.  The list is endless what the American Automobile industry has done in its time. And is still doing in many ways. But...
 The lesson is always the same, the current market must drive the economy and not vice versa.  The car, like an individual's horse in another era, is a personal representation of style and movement in the U.S. so European business models do not work here in my opinion. So be it a cowboy in a F350 or an eco grad student in a Prius or a salesman in a Lexus, choice for the consumer dictates the winners and the losers and the losers have to innovate or get out of the game.   So from top to bottom, factory worker to CEO, they better long term start looking inward instead of outward and find that sweet spot that works for them in the NOW and let the past be what it was, a fond and beautiful memory. Memories are great but they do not pay the bills. 
 

I  love  my  Mazda  Miata,   the  MazdaSpeed  edition  with  the  turbo,   6  speed  transmission,  heftier  suspension,  and  low  aspect  ratio  tires.     An  affordable  convertible,  the  top  goes  up  and  down  with  one  hand,   and  it  is  a  true  driver's  sports  car.   Heck,  the  base  version  is  anything  but  stripped-down,   and  like  the  Mini  it  still  has  enough  power  to  accomplish  the  mission.      Now  they  make  Miatas  with  an  optional  smooth  automatic  transmission,   and  it  seems  that  the  demographics  indicate  that  more  and  more  women  are  in  the  cockpit.  That's  just  fine  with  me,   something  in  common  to  talk  about  at  cocktail  parties.....

That  having  been  said,  I  would  shift  back  to  American  vehicles  in  a  New  York  second,  if  they  created  affordable  vehicles  that  capture  the  imagination,  and  that  have  acceptable  quality  control  standards.   I  hope  that  the  companies  can  transition the  deep  recession,   change  their  product  lines,   and  put  Americans  back  to  work.

We tried buying American, we really did -- our car ran well, but odd things would happen:  the windshield wipers would fly off; the (then) tape deck would eat the tapes.  We now own Lexus and have been buying them for a long time; it is the best made, most well-running car we have ever had.  The downside:  very expensive to maintain unless you find someone who can repair foreign cars -- we did. 
 
Unfortunately, though unions had their day and were important in the past, I think the downfall, along with exhorbitant bonuses for the ceo's, are the unions in the auto industry. 
 
My own experience with unions was with a construction company for whom I worked.  One of the companies was union; one not.  We built corporate buildings for a large developer, so often, though the money was always there, it was a long time coming.  It would, at times, be difficult to meet payroll and pay the union dues which were hefty.  I called the union and said that if they would allow us to be late with union dues without a penalty, we would be able to keep their men employed.....it would be enough for payroll until the money came through.  They refused.  I said, "You mean you would rather that your men be out of work then to allow a late payment on the dues?"  They said........."yes". 
 
I too hope that the companies can transition the deep recession, change therir product lines and put Americans back to work.  But until they are more realistic and truly cut overhead, that just isn't happening.

morning!! i love my jeep wrangler.  it's a girl jeep!  she's gonna run until the wheels fall off.  her maintance is easy, repair simple, although she's needed none.  she has close to 180 thousand miles, being born in 2001, the oil changed every 2,ooo and kept clean, she's a jewel.  that said, the automobile industry is just a stones throw from education and banking, in that "leave no child behind".  government should stay out of private business and education.  dumbing and numbing down.

I've been driving Hondas and Toyotas so long I have to think hard and long about my 'Detroit made' vehicles.....  Hmmm.  My first car (which cost me $125 in 1968) was a 1949 Chevrolet Panel truck (I should post the picture of it here...).  My firends in Fabens, Texas, told me I'd paid way too much for 'La Quinceñera' (yep, it came with a name!).  It was handpainted a purplish blue.  I know it was handpainted due to (1) the brush strokes, and (2) the middle of the top was still tan.  After I quit my draft deferred government job in Fabens and headed for East L.A. to bunk with relatives of my Mexican American buddies, I ran into problems.  First a blowout (fortunately near a junk yard in New Mexico).  The owner and I clambered over a pile of discarded tires to find the same size tire (no longer made).  I found a bald one , paid him five dollars and was on my way....  until Socorro (which mean help or assistance in Spanish).   This time it was the water pump.  Gone.  And the new one cost me half of what I'd budgeted to make it across the deserts to California.  I rolled into Albuquerque (300 miles) having traveled two full days to get there.... So I looked up an old friend, staying at the Zia Lodge on Central, and I will mercifully spare you an account of my four months in Albuquerque (maintenance man, bunking in a rent house with two couples, a crazy New Years Eve party, my buddy Joe resisting the advances of our landlady, picking up the fine points of ping-pong from Louie Minero, pouring hot tar in the driving rain atop the roolf of Winrock Mall, etc).  Oh, I enlisted there, too.  In the Air Force.  (Another funny story I'll save for another day).  But I had to get rid of my car.  In Texas they (then) didn't have automobile inspections, but in NM they did.  (It never would have passed!).  Also, the recruiter told me I couldn't drive to basic in San Antonio, TX.  I called a junk yard and arranged for 'La Quinceñera'to be towed off. But my four companions flipped out...That car is an antique!', said Joe.   So I called back and cancelled the pick up.  'So what should I do with it?' I asked my 'friends'.  None had a clue, so I left it parked in front of our rent house on a side street near Juan Tabo and Lomas.  And off I went to 7-1/2 years in the U.S.A.F.  --- Sequel, in 1981 I drove through Albuquerque.  'La Quinceñera' was no longer parked in front of the house.  One more mystery....

Yep, the picture of 'La Quinceñera' and me uploaded!  :-)

Great car DOC.
 
Love the color and the windows.
 
All in all, pretty cool.

Hey, then there was the 1965 (?) Plymouth Barracuda, with the big bubble back.  In 1966 four of us drove from Western Pennsylvania to Greenville, MS in one of those.  Two hour shifts on rotation.  The two guys in back slept 'under glass' in their sleeping bags (flat), then one would be rousted to sit 'navigator' seat (and wake up), and then he'd shift over to 'driver' position, at which point the driver would rotate to the back for four hours sleep.  Now, when folks ask me, 'Have you ever been to Memphis?' the vision of the busstop cafeteria at 4:00 a.m. comes to mind....  'Errr, well, yeah, sort of,' I mumble. A few years later I bought my OWN 65 Plymouth Barracuda from Joe Filak (hey, Joe, you still eating pirogis in Cudahy?), one of my Air Force 'drinking buddies' at Westover AFB.  That car got sold shortly after I was told, 'Hey, you better come down here to the orderly room.  You got orders for Thailand.' 'Yeah, sure!' (What a bunch of clowns... but they weren't clowning....).  And THAT was the last American car I ever owned.... gee, that's 1971!  Man, time flies when you're having fun! ;-) 

I love cars. Always have. Our neighbor, the mayor, used to win bets with people on how many cars I could name. They gave him a nickel for every car I could name, he gave them a quarter for every one I missed. I was 4. That was 1956.

I never could warm up to American cars...don't know why. Like em, owned a few. First car was a '63MG Midget. Paid $400 for it. Bolt on side curtains and sliding plastic windows.

Been driving Lexuses for the last 13 years or so. The current one has 124,000 miles on it and has only lost one light bulb. Nothing else has happened to it....so it hasn't been perfectly reliable..but pretty close.

I just recently added a new Porsche Cayman S to the garage. Sports cars have changed a lot in the 30 years since I last had one.

CUUKOO- I have always wanted a jeep- lucky you!!!
 
I am a Subaru station wagon girl myself. It lets me carry lots & is great for traveling (1 L or 2???). No automatic transmission here- I love the power.
 
Would love to someday have an old Ford Bronco or an International or a real Land Rover- made for rough country- not the pretty ones that ytuppies drive.

that would be yuppies. is that even still a word?

I have never owned a car in my life and have never missed one.  So long as I remain a New Yorker, I cannot think of a reason to change this.  If I were to move elsewhere, my situation may alter.
 
I reached driving age two years before I came to New York.  I already knew I would be coming here at age 18 so it wasn't hard to sweat out the two years borrowing one of the family cars out in the Missouri farm town where I grew up.  From the day I arrived in New York, I have taken the subway every day.
 
Who wants to drive in a city with this many bars?

DPR- our friends who live in NYC say that not only don't they need a car w/ all the public transit, but that it would be so prohibitively expensive they would have to be quite wealthy to have one.
 
Do you keep your driver's license up to date? Just a curiosity question.

My first casr was a station wagon (four children and two dogs). On the first day that I owned this treausre, my two younger children paint the inside blue, yellow and orange. That car had a history of all its own. Drive ins, adventures where Mother got lost, christmas trees ets.

I look at what Detroit is putting out these days and think, "Why bother?" Take a gander at any of the classic designs of the 40s and 50s, then the early 60s.  By the 70s it seems that attractive design just went up the pipe.  My favorite car of all time is the Datsun 280Z.  Now, THAT is a sports car.  Second in the running is the early Corvette.  Classy!  Right now, I have a Toyota Highlander (non-hybrid), a VW New-Beetle, and two motorcycles. I understand that Iceland has moved to all-hydrogen automobiles.  Interesting.  Turn water into component gas, burn the gas, turn the exhaust back into water. And, yes, I find the current electric car designs (pun intentional) ugly.  Why not recycle designs from the 40s using modern technology?  The long hood, the sweeping fenders, external spare tire, sloping windshields, "gangsta'" white walls, and a rumble seat.  Kids would LOVE it!  Just my dos centavos...

My first car was an International Harvester Travelall. It was the car i learned how to drive and I think that education has enableed me to drive anything.  That thing was a tank.  Luckily gas was  $ .25 or so a gallon....but gas went up.  I think it was a 61 or 62 and my parents gave it to me because they  couldn't sell it. 
 
I quickly found out that there was nothing "standard" in the car.  It had school bus parts, Scout parts etc.  Often it would stall at a stop light becuase the fuel pump would stick.  I would have to get out, pop the hood and bang on the pump with a pipe...and off i would go.   Often I was dressed for work so that made it even funnier for by standers (and the fact i was /am 5' tall and at that time 90lbs.  The clutch was so stiff that I had to wear wooden glogs when i drove the car.  My mother still has nightmares about driving it.
 
As time went on it became almost impossible to repair.  I gave up when the last repair took weeks as there there was only one of whatever part it was and it was in Chicago.
 
I then got a Datsun pick up.  It felt like a sports car.  I traded it in for a Colt...not a good car and it has been Honda's ever since. 

OLD  IRON, Ladies and Gentlemen ....... Automobiles from the 30's up thru the early 60's ... Automobiles that had, Style and Character, so's we could tell one from another, dependable/durable/comfortable/usable/SAFE ... automobiles ... that hadn't been Japanized, shrunk and dinked out, made from old Shell Casings and unsold Tupperware ...
 
For a lot less that the $45,000 to $60,000 that some of these new GM Jokes cost, we take a Junkyard Dinosaur and bring it up to 2020 specs, with modern Technology, making it optimal in Safety/Performance/and Comfort, always with Ecologic considerations in mind ... Genuine, Intelligent Recycling ... People get to enjoy their "Dream Cars" or a '53 Cadillac like the one Dad had when they were growing up, or the '55 Chevy Wagon that wasn't a Nomad, but it was close ... Some people even find Nomads and fulfill their dreams

With some intelligent Re-Engineering Old Iron can be made Showroom New, serve every purpose excellently, and REAL Automobiles, Full Size American Automobiles can be made to perform flawlessly and deliver the same mind-blowing Gas Milage as the spindly, plasticized, Rice-Burning Tinker Toys, that are nowhere near Crashworthy, and when Good Sized American Boys drive 'em, they look like they're wearin' 'em .......
 
It is a sad fact that, over 250 parts and pieces in/on American Cars are made in Mexico, and Japan, and in Sweatshops in Indonesia, and I know Toyotas are being made in Tennessee, and SAAB is fixin on putting a Plant somewhere near Chattanooga ... But we use only Highest Quality parts and Materials, most Up-to-Date/State-of the - Art Technology, Heavy Duty American Made Durable Goods in our work .......  Buy American   BE American ....... Just think, if people didn't REALLY prefer High Quality Old Stuff, Peterman would be out of Business .......

I was never a car guy. When I was a kid, and really ever since, my part in car maintenance was as the tool monkey. Which I think was in part because, as our cars got newer, my dad knew less about what to do with them. Yes, I can change the tires, the oil, and know to back away when the hood catches fire. Beyond that, I got nothing. It is a far cry from the time when a well equipped car tool kit was a pair of pliers, a screwdriver, and a mallet, and that was all you needed for roadside repairs.

My first car was a 1983 Chevy Caprice. This thing was a tank. I never felt so safe in a car. But . . . the transmission fell off. It was followed by a 1979 (one year younger than me) Olds Eighty-Eight. That one decided it didn't need brakes anymore one day, while driving over a hill next to the college dorms.

That was followed by a 1992 Pontiac Grand Am. I think that car was built broken. We traded that away one day when the local car scammers had a deal - $2000 trade in on any car you can get into the lot. I managed to pull in with a flat tire, an oil leak, a broken driver's seat, and expired plates.

Then I got my mom's old car, a 1996 Oldsmobile. That was a fairly nice car, until some part of the engine went bad. I never did figure out what it was.

And then I got my current car. A 2002 Ford Focus Hatchback. I picked that out for two reasons. 1, I wanted a manual transmission. And 2, I had just gotten back from Ireland and loved the cars they had over there. This particular car is very popular, since they have many narrow roads. This is the first car I've paid for solely on my own. I paid it off early, and have enjoyed it quite a bit. The problem is, it looks like a bit of a clown-car when I get out of it. It is a sub-compact, and I'm a rather . . . um . . . lumberjack-sized individual.

But if I had my druthers, I'd have a late 1930's Mercury Coupe convertible.

OK,  you  rascals,  now  that  Jalopkin  has  reengaged  we  can  have  a  much  more  meaningful  discussion.....lol    

Ivan-YAYYY! You are doing god's work, dear man, and we should all be driving your products-how much happier we'd all be!
When I went for the Mini, it was between Mini and a Miata, which is another wonderful fun vehicle. Visions of my T-Bird and the 57 Nomad still dance in my head, and I forgot to remember the Terraplane, which John Hammond immortalized on an album cover and a great cover of the blues tune. Then there are Duesenbergs, Pierce Arrows, Lincolns, such a wonderful panoply of imaginative motivators.
Where did the car industry lose its way? Too many suits involved, not enough greasy coveralls. The movie 'Tucker' encapsulates the transition from inventors to bean counters...
 
On another note, automatic transmissions are nice in their way, but I always liked that feeling of control when I had my hot little hand around a stick connected to a powerful beast...mmmmmmmmmm!

I drive a Toyota.  It's never gone into the shop in 5 years I've owned her.  I've never owned a car that starts right up for 5 years takes you where you want to go and gets you home on no gas hardly and never goes into the shop.
 
In the olden days of buying new cars every couple of years I guess I would be way overdue to trade in my Toyota.
 
Good thing it's not the olden days, because she's staying right here in my garage where she belongs.
 
I couldn't ask for a better car.
 
 
PS:  Bebe, my husband is the Jeep guy.  He's got a Wrangler like cuukoo's, before that we had a Cherokee.  We drove the Cherokee for years, and the Wrangler is still going strong.  I like em, but a new one costs I don't know how much, too much, I'm sure.  But they're fun, especially the Wrangler.
 
 
 
My dream car:  one of those old "woody" station wagons from bygone years.  Shift on the column.  Heavy as a battleship.  Hard to turn.  Get's .5 mpg.  But looks great in the 1940's kind of way that I like a lot.  I'd drive it around the lake in the summertime only here.  And I'd name her.  If I had one.

All I really need is the Dining Car, Club Car, and of course... the Caboose.  With them I can go anywhere my heart desires.  After all, dreaming is the best way to travel. With that said, I'd take my 1965 Goat in a heartbeat.

I've owned both and I am most happy with the foreign vehicles. I now have a Subaru Outback and it's preformed beyond my thoughts. It's great on gas and can haul just about whatever I want or need to be carrying...including my 3 Golden Retrievers. I've packed it and loaded 2 mountain bikes on the back and driven from Texas to Oregon without so much as an idea of anything negative. Plus, I like the fact that they want to take care of me and my car with their free oil changes and other little things. Subaru is one heck of a product.

Racetrack Auto does the service on my '99 Ford Explorer.
 
They keep me up and running with 130,000 miles.
 
I'll drive this till the transmission falls out, which Troy and George won't let happen. 

Of course, from my NomDePlume, you understand my leanings. What you may not know are my creds ; of course,Milwaukee Vibrator has a good deal of my later history,discretionary income seemed to be easier to come by for those customers than the hard to scrape up funds for those in need of automotive help...Now if you know about that little get together that happens in SD, where you may see THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND machines that came from the same factory,but rarely will you find TWO ALIKE, you get an inkling into the American version of locomotion. . .rampant ,rugged,individuality.  And in each of our heads,that resides as we slide into the seat of our current ride ; be it just the name,(that we whisper in desperation,or admiration), or the thingy's on the shelf/dash/mirror string...   .   .so you may understand why I chose to retire to the biker scene...but,things happen,and that dream ended for me, and then I met Pinky,and the RV became the dream machine,towing our little ebay auction provided geo tracker 4x4...I,like Ivan,can fix most anything,with pract-ly nuttin'...duck tape?    I love cars. I love bikes. I love the road. Hear me roar

Did you read that headline? "...unveil 700 new cars this month" Is anyone in Detroit sober or in possession of their faculties? What am I missing here? We don't need more choices, we need FEWER, and we need BETTER choices. Yes, I'm yelling. A lot of good it will do.

Do you go up to Sturgis, in the summer, RY?
I forgot it was you who likes those things that go vrooooooooooooooooooooooom, just for the hell of it.
 
"What's your road, man?--holyboy road, madman road, rainbow road, guppy road, any road. It's an anywhere road for anybody anyhow."
- Jack Kerouac, On the Road, Part 4, Ch. 1

"Whither goest thou, America, in thy shiny car in the night?"
- Jack Kerouac, On the Road, Part 2, Ch. 3

 
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MjPtem6ZbE
 
 

Park4...one of those old "woodies" is my idea of a dream car, too.  I would tool around at my own speed in my own way.  This winter I am MOST grateful for the seat warmer button in my Accord.....but in dreams?  Hey...nothin' wrong with a little retro for a little lady, I say!

True, that, Demander!  Couldn't be more true.  I was hoping it was a misprint; I'm still hoping it's a misprint.
 
I was thinking exactly the same thing you asked, here, just an hour ago.  I was looking online for a kitchen appliance.  One store had 110 of them; another 93.  Another had a breathtaking 172 of them.  And there I was wanting just one that was reasonably priced and would work for a decently long period of time.  I wanted to get my money's worth, in other words; I wanted a fair trade.
 
And don't you know, I didn't buy any of those 300 options, because there were so many choices, so many gadgets attached to a simple appliance, so much nonsense that I didn't need -- no, I figured the hell with it.
 
When they offer me hundreds of choices for the same simple thing, I know somebody's lying to me somewhere, and I just wasn't in the mood to play the game.  
 
And mostly, I was disgusted. 
 
Like you said about our automobile offerings from Detroit this year:  we don't need 700 choices.  We just need a few that will do the job we buy them for.

http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z1956/Packard-Series-22-Woody-Station-Wagon.aspx
 
 
Hi Carol,
 
You have great taste...that link up there has some great pictures of some Woody Wagons.
 
I don't know if these were outlandishly expensive cars back in their day or not, one sold for around $68,000  in today's dollars, it says. 
 
But who cares, anyhow?  it's only money, and we're just dreaming, right?
 
 

and might I say, Par4, "right back atcha'"  it takes a woman of taste to know a woman of taste....

and I might add ....the typo in your name is "par4"the course!  

PARK4: A Good Woodie can be found, at a slight Premium, because of what it is, but it can be found, and brought up to 2020 Specs, if that is what you want ... Everybody should drive their Dream Car anyway ... SOMEthing has to be right in everybody's life ... why not feel good when you drive ???  All it takes is cubic dollars, and it STILL doesn't cost as much as most new Cars do ... Our Philosophy is, Safety, Dependability, Durability, Comfort, and THEN Performance ... We build Hot Rods and love doing it, and a few of us drive their own every day ... Most people aren't interested in Hot Rodding or Street Racing, but prefer ... Class ....... We can do whatever the Customer wants, and whatever he can afford ... We like to think of it as intelligent use of Resources ... Like the U.S.S. NEW YORK being built out of the steel salvaged from the World Trade Center ....... It just makes sense not to waste, anything ... especially gorgeous, glamorous, four-wheeled works of Art .......

OLIVIA:  The MINI is a Great Car !!! I had a '62, when it was still The Austin Mini-Cooper, and they are a marvel of Engineering ... If she ever dies, we'll make her New for you again .... They are fun, like Go-Karts ... and dependable, and a blast with studded tires on a frozen Lake .......
 

Carol:  excellent! Par4 the course.  You're a word-clever woman, as well.  Stick around, please!
 
Ivan:  You could sell ice on an ice flow...you're amazing.  You make everything you describe sound utterly desirable and possible and 'too marvelous for words.'  So your real and actual true loves have all had cylinders, huh?...and the red blooded variety were just daliances?  As I thought. ;) Ivan, I'm so glad you're back.

PARK- I watched most of "Lolita" last night- missed where Shelley Winters died because I was cooking & my husband turned to a show on shark babies. It blew my mind that Sue Lyons was only 14. Creepy... You are right- feel like a shower...
 
I love my car, I love the freedom it gives me, I love to load up the back, I love to drive w/ sunglasses on, I love to listen to pearl jam & neil young while I drive, I love to drive my sweetie, I love that he can fix anything-( RY & JALOPKIN- men who can drive & fix said vehicles truly do rock- I'm thinking DOC probably can too. Men who can use tools- oh my... On the other hand, men who are tools- yuck...)
 
 
 
 

PARK4: OK ... I'm Busted ....... My very first Love, at the age of TWO was a Car ... Yeah, they have all had Cylinders, you're Right !!!  My First wife used to complain that she would be happier if her competition were another woman ....... My Second wife complained that I talk to my Cars the same way I talked to her, and my Thrid was always suspicious that all my Cars were Girls (except for two of my Trucks) I told her that I couldn't help it, I just call them whatever they tell me their name is ... That seems only fair ....... Besides, none of them ever lacked, or wanted for anything, and they always knew where I was .......

Ivan,
 
I'm gonna buy you a horse.

We're about to make the transition from a two-car family to a no-car family. The harbor we live in now is right on a very functional bicycle corridor, so we can actually manage everything by bicycle - and as it turns out the thing the kids love most is biking, and going to the beach. The corridor of which I speak is the two-lane bike path along the Pacific Coast. I've rehabilitated my old mountain bike. I changed it to a drop handle bar, hood shifting Monster Cross-X bike years ago, and now it has a boom bike attached to the seat post for the five year old daughter, and then a Burley bike trailer hooked on to the boom bike for the two year old daughter to ride in - alongside groceries, surf boards, the sand pail and digging tools, changes of clothing, chocolate bars, small flasks of bourbon, etc. I can't wait to be done with the "needed a car" phase of my life. The cars and all the Sturm und Drang thereunto appertaining have been boring, and will not feature prominently in my autobiography.

woke up thinking about cars, cupcakes and men.  how much they all have in common.  transportation to anywhere, virtually or physically, is such a personal preference.  yet each choice includes many commons.  the bones, so to speak, are basically all the same.  what ever gets you from point a to point b is a choice.  cupcakes having the same flour, eggs and sugar, all deliver a unique taste depending on your choice of toppings.  perhaps a lots of choices makes for a unique journey.....yummy....

If you're going to talk about automobiles on here, please get your facts and your geography right.  Toyota DOES NOT have any ASSEMBLY plants in Tennessee!  Furthermore, please define your terms!  Some AMERICAN vehicles are built in Canada and Mexico, and many Hondas, Toyotas, Nissans, some BMWs, and some Mercedes-Benzs are built in these United States.  I'm a third-generation Chevrolet man, and I'll correct any factual errors I see in here.  You're all entitiled to your opinions, however ignorant and uninformed they may be.

by gawd!!!

Ye gods and little fishes.  I guess owning a Chevy is like staying at a Holiday Inn Express ..... it makes you omnipotent as well as boring.  Yikes

 

From the "B" hole to TimTam1958 who seems bent on laying claim to the "A," I would agree only with the premise (if you were trying to state it) that persons who, by their own admission, have not driven a domestic car since 1976 are not in much of a position to discuss the current state of quality.

 

Tamoid, your level of assholiness is truly awesome. Preach on, brother-somewhere else...

Twinkie Boy, I can't wait to see a pic of you with the pedal to the mettle!
Where does the scabbard fit, dude?