balthazar

Shortly before the Mustang debuted, another make's product featured the same model name (albeit only locally) on a performance-built model. This vehicle (quantity built unknown) is terrifically obscure, I'm afraid. Can anyone name it? Within 1 year of the above mystery vehicle (a clue! for an impossible answer!), FoMoCo bought the rights to the name of a Mustang cousin from yet another company involved in motor vehicles. What was the name in question & what did they manufacture?

Theoretically, it can but in reality, it guarantees nothing. All those dimensions are exactly the same between a CTS and a CTS-V yet there is a handling difference. And how many smaller cars does the 'uncompetitively-large' CTS-V outhandle? IMHO, I still think you place way too much emphasis on this matter, LA; emphasis NOT echoed by the buyer.

Sheetmetal-wise: the 2 shared trunk pans- that's it. Just about every single sub-system was likewise brand new or re-engineered. Cadillac did not price the Seville at a then unprecedented $12K because it wanted to; the ground-up engineering & tooling forced it (the Seville was conceived as a $7500 model). It's another journalistic urban legend that hasn't yet been beaten down by the truth, unfortunately.

First gen Seville is approximately 95% unique and 5% X-Body. Why is it then that approximately 90% of the time I'm still reading misinformed statements like "gussied-up X-body"??

RE the bmw above: FlyBri you're right on the money. It's an 'econocar' in the luxury car field: dangling fogs, lots of exterior plastic, poorly integrated bumpers, exposed wipers, archaic round headlights, giant afterthought signals... some of it is due to 'styling' while some is just trying to catch up to modern hardware & integration standards. The whole package just comes off (within the segment) as cheap & dated.

Right: we disagree. And the overhype on foriegn makes is enough to turn me away from all imports.

\ I haven't seen any T1000s in years, but for some reason I have seen nearly a half-dozen Chevettes this past year...

I know, but the point is: the perception difference & the actual difference today is very small to nil in most areas. Also- 'refinement' & 'ATD' are widely interpretable and it still pales (talking ATD here) to vintage vehicles.

Problem is, if you've experienced vintage American autos, the "attention to detail" in modern foreign makes cannot compare, so for us, it all comes off as overblown hot air. Unfortunately, there's not enough of 'us' to turn around current erroneous perceptions.

Cadillac definately was thinking of mercedes in the '70s, as there were a number of internal and publication comparisons (in specs, anyway). And I have to agree with Oldsmoboi; the Seville was a big hit that definately caught the attention of mercedes & bmw (after all, Cadillac was at it's historical & dominating sales high in the late '70s). \ In the late '70s, mercedfes & bmw were changing very quickly to become more & more Cadillac-like (or suited to the American luxury buyers tastes, if you prefer). merceds & Cadillac at least competed very well together then, Cadillac in general equalling or exceeding mercedes of the same price class in performance. BTW- no one in the mid-70s looked in the luxury class for handling, and those that claimed to and bought the 5-series were a miniscule minority. Also- the mercedes of today is a lot closer in execution & intent to the Cadillac of yesterday than the mercedes of yesterday. The Seville is the nicest & most appealing luxury car of the mid- to late-70s, IMO.

Primarily: perception. I see no great gaps in the suggested reasons up top.

I swear I haven't seen a honda, toyota or datsun made earlier than the early '80s in forever. Did see a '72 Polara this past weekend. What I always wonder about is hugely popular cars like the Pinto; haven't seen one of those in years & years either. (>Insert quip about exploding here<) I used to kinda maintain a 'cut-off' year in my head: the year back-to that you'd still see infrequently running around. I remember when it inched up thru the later '60s, then it seemed to leapfrog over most of the '70s up to '77. Now it's seems to be at about '87 or thereabouts. The only exception is '70s Darts; I still them every once in a while.

I... I've... touched this car while alone in a room with her, but I swear she said she was over 18!

I saw it last night, tho unfortunately the sound was on 'mute' and I didn't have the remote in hand- so I heard nothing. Visually it looked great but I immediately thought of the similar Hummer commercials and I wonder why a nearly identical effect was used for another division.

Yer Toro sounds awesome, razor!

Hm-mmm... not many 3-wheelers to chose from. The '48 Davis had some sort of legal troubles, defrauding, perhaps, but I don't recall any allegations of cross-dressing there. ....From a Motorcities site: >>"Although Davis raised enough money from franchises to build 17 of the three-wheelers, he was unable to deliver on time to would-be dealers. Although steadfastly maintaining his innocence, Davis was convicted on 24 counts of fraud in January 1951. His request for an appeal was denied and in July of 1952 he was sentanced to an 18-month prison term."<< I don't believe from what I read that the Davis was intended to be a 'scam', however. I don't think that's it.

'Chevy' Astro III EDIT: Oops- it ain't that, tho they could be sibling models in the same division: Astro III

Also: the only person's avatar I can see is my own.

For me: pics in people's sigs & posts show up, but every board 'button' is there with a red X for the graphic. "Fast Reply", "edit", "Profile Card", etc... all of those types including the banner have text (banner: no text) but no icons. Even the lil' blue hashes under Harley's "GXP Member" are missing.

Written lots, published nothing (beyond the 'letters' columns of periodicals). I have a rewrite of Christine about 75% done. Actually, I am compiling a submission package to solicite a job from a automotive reference book publisher right now. Keep your fingers crossed for me...

It's the pleasant counterpart to an recently-discussed unpleasant concept. ;)

>>"Once again, industry critics - from Washington, D.C., and the media intelligentsia in the Northeast, to the green movement on the West Coast - have been given carte blanche to tee-off on Detroit for all manner of sins..."<< You (Duhlorenzo) greatly overemphasis your & your industry's self importance. Again. Do a little research for a change, lay off the Cliche Handbook and the Sterotype Manual, and make even a half-hearted effort to matter and perhaps your blither will hold a few precious ounces of water. >>"the kings of short-term thinking have been caught out on the wrong side of the market yet again."<< Someone please link me to Dulorenzo's article blasting the asian automakers for being "caught out on the wrong side of the market yet again" in that they missed out on the truck & SUV segment for --what?-- 30 years?? Who stands more to lose in a deflating truck market, those manufacturers building new plants and new segment entries, pushed hard with millions of advertising dollars, or those manufacturers who have already raised the truck benchmark, have fully-amortizied factorys & engineering, who have turned their focus to cars & crossovers? Duh.

House paid off. Doubled morgage payments to finish 22-yr morgage in 11 years. 'Saved' a loaded '06 Z06 and then some.

Have any of you inspected one of these up close? A travesty in auto manufacturing. I would not entrust my hide to one in traffic.

I think the bottoms are real; there's a large reflected light source in the bumper which explains the highlight on her thigh. Matte black fabric can look fake in digital pics because it looks so dimensionally flat. Something this little miss is definately NOT.