Camino LS6

I thought about moving the wheels outboard too - having no (or smaller) wheelwells inside the bed would be very nice. I do agree that this idea would have to be utility-based at it's heart, but I already have multiple ideas on that front. Maybe we can talk some of our resident sketch/photoshop talent into a little project...

Two interesting sightings from where I sit.

You know, there may be a way to do just that. There is a large amount of dead space between the inner wall of a fleetside and the outer panel. Making it look right would be the biggest challenge, I think.

True, but each iteration is out there in numbers - so parts are easy for each one. That, and the commonality is huge through most of those years. Same goes (to a lesser extent, of course) for the Olds 307. I wonder what necessitated the starter motor change for the E-body - kind of surprising that GM couldn't engineer a way around that given the longitudinal mounting of the engine.

Interesting. I was simply noting a historical fact, but maybe there is potential there somewhere. An intelligent stepside design would be a fun thing to think about.

Here you go: http://www.historicalcarclub.org/images/cms/calendar/dccc0001.pdf Usually in excess of 700 cars attend this event.

If there isn't a glut of existing empty office space, more office buildings usually lead to more jobs..that's a good thing. Not really a jobs issue here. This is a long-term trajectory that has existed through all economic conditions - it is the inexorable advance of suburban sprawl. In my lifetime so far, the "front" between rural farmland and suburbia has moved a minimum of 30-50 miles outward. What has always been suburban has become a cannibalizing turnover from a very mixed-income, varied occupation, type of population to an increasingly homogeneous swath of high-end residential use (McMansions). Very service-economy centered in a way, but increasingly, anyone performing those services can't afford to live here. I don't see much positive in that.

The big problem around here is real estate values - land is simply worth too much for small businesses to afford. And, because the land values are high, so are the taxes on it. Modest businesses and modest homes disappear as a result - the area is becoming a ghetto of McMansions and office buildings as a result.

Fun to drive car.

You guys would love it - I'll get the info and post it in this thread.

I'd be better off in a "hillbilly" town, they do things for themselves. Around here, people just go to the dealer for service, or buy a new car. Lots of money and "professionals" around here, but not much willingness to DIY anything. And most couldn't if they were willing. By "do things for themselves", you of course mean 7/10 people Jerry-rigging the repairs, using the cheapest, lowest quality parts possible, with 1-2/10 not having a clue what they are doing. When they think its ok to replace steel brake line with rubber fuel hose, well you they the Darwin award and I fear for my car's safety sharing the road with morons like them. The Napa closed because of profitability issues for one reason or another, that's what it boiled down to. I like Napa because that's the only place that carries Zerex G-05 antiftreeze, and their premium rotors are painted on the areas that would normally rust. Closest one to me is 30-40 minutes away. Not really. What I meant was just what I said - people around here don't do anything for themselves, they hire someone to do it for them. I'll get the real story on why the closure happened, but I think it was due to the landlord wanting to develop the property. The current building is old and crappy, and next to a vacant lot, with a "build to suit" sign on it. The businesses that served the DIY crowd (and the contractors) have all but been driven out around here. It's a social reality I don't much care for.

The bumper of the 2014 in the spyshots seems to have a step built-in like the Avalanche, so I'm sure GM is thinking about this issue. But then, a stepside bed used to be functional in this regard...

Yep That car is far too lustworthy to be a sleeper!

If I ever get the build of my Camino done, it'll be something of a sleeper.

Yeah, I have to agree. But it is rare that a base model and a performance model share an overall look/body these days - so a factory sleeper is almost a thing of the past. But they can be built...

The current GM management is being very defensive and conservative. It is really hampering attention to details and development. Which is why I criticize them a bit more harshly than I otherwise might. They need to step up and take some risks if they want to stage a real comeback.

What it really needs is a new frame. I wonder if GM still sells frames for these. I remember quite a few that the local Chevy dealer re-framed after the trucks were wrecked. Really big job, but you'd have a fine truck afterward.

The bit of frame that's rotted in this pic essentially holds the entire front end together. Full dis-assembly and grafting in a new crossmember would be the only way to fix it. All of the front sheetmetal, and the engine would have to come out to get it right. This is a parts truck because someone was too lazy to wash the salt off now and then.

I guess my Firehawk was something of a sleeper to the untrained eye. It was a Formula, so it could look like a base V6 Firebird if you missed the 'Hawk wheels and hood. And my GTO was at least subtle in appearance. Not true sleepers, but not too far from it.

Had a neighbor that did that with an earlier LUV, and it had a shortie stepside bed too. Fast, loud, and bright freakin' yellow!

New XTS in black - looks really big on the road.

At least the other store is still open - just a lot longer drive to get there now. Used to be that I had half a dozen or more places to choose from. That ain't progress.

NAPA and Pep Boys is all that there is around here - nothing else.

I don't think that was a problem - this place was always busy. You can see three independent repair shops while standing in the store. I think it was a consolidation, same guy owns the NAPA franchise that's in a better building a few towns away.

I will give you this much though, his world is our world - about ten years from now. And, I expect to be writing other stories about that time and place.