balthazar

I wonder if the likely insurance costs will end up drumming it right back out the door...

The exception the other way would be ferraris- they have God-awful frontal overhangs. enzo's is like 3 feet- I don't know how you can execute tight turns in one!

Most motorists lack common sense. I watch small cars like hyundais & nissans swing to the right every day in order to make a sharp left turn like they're in a school bus or a tractor-trailer. No one uses a turn signal anymore- instead of i-drive why can't bmw & mercedes work on a fail-safe signalling system? I haven't had the same motor home experiences you have, FB, but regular motorists aren't anything to write home about either...

No thanks to the media and the "journalists". Well... I guess I had better get busy!

Not in the market or 'family position' to buy what was and likely would again be a 2-person vehicle.

I like Grand Am & G6 equally. I am fine with G6 if NO MORE ALPHA-NUMERICS FOLLOW. Phoenix recalls iffy Pontiacs in my memory, and I agree with whomever said 'save Tempest for something with more bite'.

Pontiac tested both in the engineering phase- the 6-spd could not out-perform the the 5-spd. Why add cost & complexity for zero return?

Let's see- multiple admissions of lying & defect cover-ups stretching back 25 years.... yeah, give mitsu about 40-50 years and they might be able to start rebuilding their 'reputation'. Then again- that may not be enough time...

ocnblu: check this link: http://autocolorlibrary.com/cgi-bin/search...ontiac-pg01.jpg Fantastic site to look up the proper name for that babyshitbrown Gremlin you had back in the '80s! ;)

About a "few hundred" Fitch Sprint Corvairs were built by John Fitch & Co. It is believed that only 2 of the Fitch Firebirds were built, the surviving OHC-6 and the now-lost 400 CI car. These FFs were built in '67 with both performance & handling modifications. The subsequent Pontiac in-house Firebird Sprint Turismo engineering package built upon Fitch's efforts and led to the '69 Trans Am package. One source says he sold Firebird modifications packages for $1000, but I have no verification of that. Earlier, Fitch had built a sports car circa '49-50, simply called the Fitch. Using the smaller Ford flathead V-8, a fiat 1000 chassis and a highly modified Crosley Hot Shot body, his 1520-lb roadster did 0-60 in 6.3 seconds! Fitch built a "Toronado Phantom", tho I have absolutely no further info as to what that encompassed. He also built a single prototype of the unique Fitch Phoenix in '66, another sports performance car intended for limited volume production, but when he learned of the impending federal safety requirements, he abandoned plans to build any more. It was based on the Corvair & used a modified 'Vair flat 6. The one '66 is alive & well tho: More pics at: http://www.coolcatcorp.com/limerock/fitch.html Fitch is an interesting & innovative guy, as of '99 (at age 82) was working on liquid-cooled brakes whose benefit was greatly reduced unsprung weight.

The 'what could've been' is usually better than the 'what is'. My dream list is packed with one-offs & concepts.

My brother has a '68 coupe that's been quaranteened to the drag strip. Body is completely stock: medium blue, flat hood, painted roof. Only non-factory exterior items are a battery shut off in the rear fascia and no wipers. Oh, and the wheels don't appear stock either (Auto Drags). I have always liked the shape of the 1st gen way mroe than any subsequent gen, tho most all are appealing. There's something so pure & elemental about the '67-68; timeless.

I'd like to take something that was just dragged from a barn after a 25 year nap and toss a 600HP powertrain /HD suspension under it.... and not even change the wiper blades; just go out & rip 'performance cars' a new one. The more rust the better.

The idea of much lighter cars is a great solution, but it'll be damned difficult to greatly reduce weight when people are continually whining for sunroofs & NAV screens. We need a 'minimalist' car or we'll NEVER see the south side of 3000 lbs (unless it's as deadly small as a smart). The King Midget (yea; about the size of a smart) would get up to 93 MPG... but it only weighed about 700 lbs. A '65 Corvair weighs about 2600 lbs, can we approach that again in that size vehicle?? I dunno...

I don't get this: you don't want Fram because it's paper but you don't want a K&N because it's an oiled filter. I'm trying to think of a 3rd type and am coming up blank.... I can tell you that Fram oil filters are absolute garbage, again revealed by 3rd party extensive testing. They used to be competitive but Fram was bought out & cheapened immediately. Whether that translates to their air filters or not, I don't know.

Pininfarina and/or designed/built it. I've always known it as a 'Pininfarina Modulo' rather than a ferrari...

Holden Hurricane. Mid-engine, 4.1L V-8.

Fitch Firebird. Black grilles on the inboard side of the 'flying buttress'es are air extractors. A few years ago I sold the guy who owns it a used factory firebird dual exhaust system that I assume is on the car today.

Check the article again: the "analyst's" numbers are all over the place (Ford: 28% to 2.8 %???). When "experts" disagree so markedly, you might as well use Dial-A-Physic to figure out what's going to happen. >>"...analyst David Healy, who has been consistently critical of employee pricing, foresees GM's sales will decline about 18 percent for the month"<< :rolleyes:

SELF-CORRECTION:: Took me some time & a lot of handwriting but I finally answered the question that's been in the back of my mind for years. And I should've known the answer due to the assembly plant issue. The Divisions for the most part shared identical colors. I checked the random year of 1966. Chevy had 15 colors. Buick had the exact same 15 plus another 7, for a total of 22. Olds had 13 of the 15 Chevy had, plus the same 7 addition ones Buick had for a total of 20. Pontiac had 12 of the 'core' 13, dropping one the other 3 had, plus had 1 of the additional 7 and 1 unique, for a total of 15 (2 different from Chevy). Cadillac had 21 completely unique colors, even their black had a different Ditzler paint code #. But of course Cadillacs were built in their own singular plant. Sorry for the misdirection; I should've checked first and posted second. :rolleyes:

Appears to be a modern pic... why haven't I seen this one before??? Almost has a Brooks Stevens look to it. Stumped...

Found these numbers: U.S. sales (calendar year):: 1990: 35,944 1991: 31,240 1992: 24,964 1993: 21,481 1994: 21,400 1996: 18,408 1997: 17,218 2004: 9,356 SO yes; sales have declined steadily since the first full year on sale... just not as much as I had thought (tho still significant). Number I had in mind was calendar year world production 1990: 95,640 All courtesy of the very confusing >http://www.miata.net/faq/production.html<

I can honestly (and somewhat embarassingly) say, I have never seen that one before in my life. Has the same wheelcovers as the '77 Pontiac Phantom seen recently on this board... I will say this- it did not originate from any domestic manufacturer. It has to be a custom.

"GM" didn't do it; Buick did. When the divisions had their own Styling, Engineering, etc, departments, great & wonderous things happened. It's The Answer to The Problem. Cadillac has had their own Engineering Department reinstated a few years ago... how are they doing recently? ;) Sounds like I'm trying to be a jerk here, but catch my drift: there are no "GM" cars sold. "GM" didn't call the color anything, but Buick called their particular yellow for '68-69 'Cameo Cream'. All the divisions determined & had their own color palettes. There was some cross-sharing (obviously black is black & white is usually white) & some renaming, but the majority were unique to each division. So my point again is: return the divisions to even semi-autonomous status and pride & individuality (and 'Buickness' in this case) will return.

What's the trans/axle gearing in the 2 cars?