Robert Hall

U2

Yeah, we had occasionally joked at work about the when the project would going to kill someone...didn't think it would literally happen. Though I have another colleague who had a mild heart attack at work at age 31 and another that had a nervous breakdown at 32....both put in over 3000 hrs last year. (my company has a long history of being a workaholic/alcoholic company, esp. amongst the Canadian expatriates that founded it).

Interesting color...kind of a flat mustard.

My brother had a blue '83 Monte SS for a couple years-bought it new, traded it on an '86 IROC-Z. Nice car, always liked the color. The '80s G-body coupes (MC, Regal, GP, Cutlass) and '80s B-bodies (Caprice, Parisienne, 88) always have happy memories to me of my high school years, as those were the cars many of my friends had, along with the Mustang 5.0s, IROCs, and Trans Ams..good times in good cars back in the day...

Yes, it was freaky...he had gone to lunch with myself and few other coworkers on Friday... we were planning on going skiing together with a few friends next weekend. I'm still shocked about it.

Anyone remember the '80s cars with the factory padded tops... my dad had a couple Lincoln Town Car Signature Series w/ 1/2 padded tops, first an '84 then an '88 (similar to this one on ebay which has only 39k miles). Kinda gaudy, but smooth and cushy. I used to drive his to high school occasionally back in the day...

I can only imagine that there are new Lucernes and DTSes out there done this way... (I've seen a couple CTSes and STSes with this special 'fogeyluxo' treatment..

It seems very strange to me... and potentially quite dangerous...(or maybe I've been watching too much '24' lately).

'G7'.

boot

I test drove one a while back..loved the interior, but felt $40-45k would be a better price point. That said, I really, really liked the TL..if I were going to buy a FWD commuter car, it would be a loaded TL with the 6-speed manual...loved the interior and exterior, the size is right, etc.

I've seen one in this color...kind of a pale sea green, similar to an early '90s Mercedes color. It looked odd on the GTO, IMHO.

I always thought the Malibu coupes of that era bore more than a passing resembalance to the '64-65 Malibu coupes. By the way, weren't they still 'A' bodies then? I didn't think the G-body designation came about until '82 when the FWD A-bodies came out..

Nice place...I like the greenery and pond. Only a 2 car garage, though.

It's one of those things that remind you of your own mortality, I guess...a coworker and friend of mine who was only slightly older than I (37) died today at work... they believe it was a heart attack. Found him slumped over in his chair in his cube.

Here's something I saw on another board... I don't know what the original source is. DETROIT -- General Motors has told Pontiac dealers that it will discontinue the GTO coupe at the end of this model year. GM will make the last deliveries of the vehicle to dealers by the end of September, sources close to Pontiac say. GM will produce 10,000 to 12,000 more GTOs before dropping the nameplate, one source close to the situation says. Last year, Pontiac sold 11,590 GTOs compared to 2004 when it sold 13,569. That's a 14.6 percent drop. When Pontiac launched the GTO in 2003, it projected 18,000 annual sales. The vehicle was criticized for bland styling, and some fans of the original GTO complained that it lacked nostalgic styling cues. "For the remaining life of the car, it simply wasn't worth the engineering expense or effort to re-certify it as an '07 for a very limited run, when we could continue selling them as '06s," says a source close to GM who is familiar with the program. The GTO is built on a rear-wheel drive architecture from GM's Holden division in Australia. The present model is going out of production as GM constructs the new Zeta RWD architecture, says the source. There is no replacement coupe planned at this time and because of the strong Australian and weak U.S. dollar, the GTO had to be priced thousands over where GM originally wanted it -- in the mid-twenties, the source says. "It never did as much volume as we had hoped," the source says. The GTO suggested retail price starts at $31,990, including shipping. One GM source says, "the 2005 and 2006 were pretty well sold out, and sales were especially strong in areas of GM weakness, like Southern California. It's a shame it has to go -- for now." Another source says that GM has indicated that it would like to have another vehicle in that "space" in the future.

Pontiac

The Torrent, like many, many GM products, would make a decent rental from Avis for a few days. It's not something I would buy, though.

I have a few consultant friends that did it... I semi-seriously thought about doing it myself a few years ago (buying a Suburban as a commuter car when I had my own 1-person consulting firm).

I'm sure Lutz and plenty others in GM consider the Impala SS V8, Monte Carlo SS V8 and Grand Prix GXP V8 as 'performance cars'. I'm surprised they haven't done a V8 LaCrosse yet...

Maybe... How about a supercharged Northstar Lucerne?

AUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHH When will it end? NO MORE MULTI SHADES of GRAY PLASTIC INTERIORS!!!!!!!

poopie

I saw a grubby white Lucerne this morning (winter gunk all over it). It was -9 and sunny out at 7:30 when we went out for breakfast. Unusually cold for Denver. I saw an equally grubby yellow Solstice (only the 2nd one I've seen on the streets). I saw a sharp gray M45 3 times today--same car, in 3 different areas at different times.

My mom even mentioned this review to me on the phone today.. I read it in the paper this morning... fair at some levels, nitpicky at others, downright hilarious in places (the description of the turn signal stalk and the HVAC controls). It's not a bad looking wagon, but.. I had to laugh about the driveway snow/etc... an SUV w/ FWD...