balthazar

Not at all! Everything was named in the '50s & '60s. 1964 Pontiac: Wonder Touch power steering/ brakes Tri-Comfort Circ-L-Aire air conditioning Electro-Cruise cruise control Cordova (vinyl) Top Super DeLuxe AM-FM Non-Glare inside rearview mirror Safe-T-Track differential Vebra-Phonic rear seat speaker Custom Sports wheel discs No-Mar fuel door guard Roto-HydraMatic 375 transmission Tri-Power carburetion and there's more. Go back 5 years and your Buick also would have a Vista-Vision windshield, a Dyna-Star grille, a TripleTurbine transmission and Delta-Wing fins! Now your car's trans is more like a 4T65E or something equally stirring. yay. For years Nash called their heaters 'Weather-Eye'- always liked that one.

Welcome to my world: 1940 Ford HD truck, no heat, no turn signals, no radio, just vacuum wipers, a horn and 1 tail/brakelight. Only 2 fuses in the fuse block! Heat wasn't standard in mid-priced domestics until the late '60s in general. In '40 nothing was standard. We take a tremendous amount for granted these days...

Really beautiful lines. Very clean yet not... aggressive; more like purposeful. Like a shark. Also reminds me a bit of Winfield's Reactor in our Peterson Bodywork book: unique surface development & envelopment. I never would've guessed Abarth- had nearly forgotten the make. Nice find!

Friday I was looking over one of those brand new Elise fastbacks i my buddies detail shop- very crappily built for whatever it goes for ($50K??). Uneven panels gaps, bad paint flaws, cheap metal screening everywhere, dealer-installed (?) 'star sheild' with even more flaws in it. Neat looking but junk. Also sounded like crap when running. Yesterday a bentley GT coupe was tooling along the highway, sneaking sidelong glances at my F-150. I was quite surprised how relatively small this car is- in pics it looks like a hulking 18' monster. Nice lines, but restrained nearly to borderline generic; could use a bit more spark to it. Still overall: attractive. Too bad the interior is so dissappointing.

I would like to read some opinions of those who were loyal import buyers who now buy American, for a change. That would truely be a refreshing change of agenda...

I agree with those that say 'don't bring it'. It's not where Cadillac needs to go, esp. according to all those that clamor 'too much overlap at GM!!!'! And the 'saab rebadge' comments are NOT going to do Cadillac any favors in the least. The ES is fine as a volume booster to lexus, who seems to need it to avoid being known primarily as a truck-based brand. But as moltar mentioned, it is not a 'serious' entry. Cadillac should continue being as focused as possible- the BLS is a distraction and a dilution of formula.

"Antiquated"?? F-ing please.

Congrats!! Tip: do not watch the actual birth (by all means be in the delivery room tho)- there's something inately disturbing at seeing a little human being squeeze out of your girl's (|). Names are tough, indeed. Old world names are a neat idea... especially if your desire is to toughen up your kid by having the snot beat out of him weekly. Seriously- teasing wears down the strongest of them- be thorough. I went thru a relatively tough elementary & high school tho; not that my name was the issue but fighting was common over the stupidest and petty of things. Don't make the name one of them.

'Heirarchy' point taken, except for the fact that implies hyundai is somehow a notch above Chevy... when hyundai is more like the Geo and Kia is... I don't know what... beyond the world's LCD in vehicles...

E-mail me the pic and I'll block it out for you. You might as well; consider me stumped on this one. Like I said- I've seen it before, recognized the lines immediately, but I cannot recall the make (or apparently, the era).

The ever- enjoyable dan neil: Calling a Panhard bar "pan-hard" as if a reference to cookware was particularly timely. "...derived from the 120-series Prado, known as the Lexus GX470 in the U.S. market." Oooo: how continental: referring to the international nameplate as a primary tho writing for a domestic city newspaper. Further: there are 2 singular references to the clear market inspiration for the fj: Hummer (that's toyota for you- always reacting...): a second-hand anonymous insult and a note of a 1/2-inch less ground clearance. Could his article be more scripted?

Damnit- same angle! Front shot please!

'Volga GAZ' sounds like an intestinal problem. Ahh the good old days when all the imports were a good decade behind the U.S. stylistically (among other areas of comparison).

Smells like a marketing 'mop-up' after the engineering & testing was done.

Here in NJ CTSs are quite common, and I see STSs frequently too. Crossfires: on occcasion. RLs: wouldn't notice them. Acura gets my vote as the 'slowest make' as I am too often stuck behind a plodding one on the road, but they never seem to be RLs. new Ranger: Have not noticed any yet. insight: seen about 5. axiom: seen about 4. x-type & mazda sportwagon: wouldn't notice. Monterey: a handful. raider: only one- out front of the frighteningly overstocked dealer. Relay: maybe 10. s80: who can tell any volvos aparts unless reading the nametag? I do see a bunch of s60s with their curiously small-yet-still-made-in-3-pieces decklids.

I know the NorthStar was recalibrated to run on regular gas years ago... What am I missing here??

Olds Motor Vehicle Company was founded in 1897. Olds Gasoline Engine Works was organized in 1890. In turn, I forgive you. Appreciate your high expectations. From memory- I am currently drawing a blank but I will mull this over during the day today, hopefully rendering direct research tonight unneccessary...

Yeah- that one's a beaut. Superior was at the top of the pro-car styling game in this era, IMO. I've got to get me a flower car one of these days, but I'm certainly not against getting a hearse, either.

consumer reports predicted reliability : much much much much worse than average.

I'm pretty sure I had a Matchbox of this one as a kid, and that may be where I've 'seen' it. Era has to be the mid '60s. Car has nice fluidity- the gentle nose-to-tail radius is real sweet. The 'skirted' rear wheels seems an unexpected element. Dig the mid-body sideview mirror.

I've seen it..... but it's ID is not bubbling up at the moment. Lotus?

Oh no, newbiewar- toyota themselves say the number is 400,000...

Hudson : When I saw the first answer, I thought you had me (and had read these questions when I previously published them six years ago. Nope- never saw this list of question before. But I am currently reading the AQ Packard book. Not "directly." Not the brand I had in mind. OK, but: GMC> Rapid> Pontiac Spring & Wagon Works; there is lineage there. Were you looking for: Buick, bought by the Flint Wagon Works in 1903? That's one of two. After a discussion, there are two companies who's incorporation dates are in debate...but Studebaker was the one I had originally. 114 years~ Studebaker: 1852-1966 Oldsmobile: 1890-2004 Looking forward to the 'incorporation date debate' specifics. I don't believe that the Pontiac brand was named directly for the person, but more for the town (which took his name). I'll give it to you and Nick, but there's another. Oh (duh)- Cadillac.

What was the first car to use the "H-pattern" gear shift? Packard Name a post-war American-built four-wheeled passenger car that had only one drive wheel. King Midget Of the current major ("Big 3") American brands, which one can be directly traced back to a carriage builder? Good one. GMC What American automobile company can trace its history back the farthest (total years in existence as a company, not necessarily building cars)? Studebaker What American automobile company began by building aircraft engines? Lincoln What company designed the earliest incarnation of the Jeep? American Bantam What two (current) American automobile brands were named for real men who never saw a working automobile? Pontiac, Lincoln For a time in the late 1950s and early 1960s, an American car company was the official importer for Mercedes-Benz. Who was it? Studebaker The late, great Larry Shinoda worked for a car company (no longer in existence) before he worked on the Corvette. What was the car company? Packard After Ed Cole worked for GM (you know, the guy who designed the Chevrolet V8 engine), he went to work for another American company. He died during his employment with that company. What was the company? Checker

Let's make sure this is mentally retained people... because I KNOW I am going to read "SSR" on a list of 'GM failures' within a year. The mindset is already gelling in some people's minds.