Robert Hall

Yes, a 2000 740iL with an ‘89 Bronco II in front in it. The Bronco II is also in the pic in the open barn door. I have the keys for both, they have flat tires and dead batteries…

It's longer in wheelbase than the XT6, of similar OL, and about 5 inches lower... Porsche Cayenne is of similar size...but this has a 7 inch longer wheelbase, 3 inches longer overall, and an inch lower..don't know how they compare in interior volume, though. Wheelbase is about the same as the WL Grand Cherokee L.

Rain and mud, rain and mud, rain and mud. Now getting some warm sunny weather. 3-4 days a week I'm down at my mud farm working to clean up, clean out, and get my stuff out of the muck in preparation to unload it all. My sister and I have been able to find a fair number of old family photos and mementos. Now that it's warmer and dryer, I've been trying to get my late brother's vehicles up and running, so far no luck on getting most to start. Bought a few batteries, been trying to charge up others. Did get the '09 Ranger running and outside. I've found the keys to over half of them, got a locksmith to make keys for more last week. He couldn't key two of the motorcycles, one had a busted ignition and the other is '15 Triumph that requires the dealer to rekey. What a mess... My brother was obsessed with putting stickers and flags on his vehicles. All in all, it's been frustrating and sad to deal with all of this..but I knew it was inevitable (part of why I moved back to Ohio 5 years ago was the inevitability of dealing with the farm).

Speaking of seat comfort, now that I'm driving my Jeep 200 miles a day 4-5 times a week, I'm truly hating the seats..rock hard cushions and.the upper center bolster in the back is right where I have a pinched nerve between my shoulder blades. I've rented a 'Malibu or similar' from Hertz for an upcoming weekend trip to Syracuse because I can't imagine 10 hrs in the Jeep seats.. 5 years ago it didn’t bother me as much, but now I’m in pain on longer drives. For those that have driven a lot of late model vehicles, what do you think under $40k has the most comfortable seats for road trips? I like the Chrysler 300 a lot, but worry the seats would be the same since FCA/Stellantis...

Yeah, not my favorite era of full size Chevy...but a restomodded '71-73 Impala would be more to my taste..

could make it easier to refill, if the cap were exposed. Saw an older Malibu the other day going down I-77 with a cracked front bumper, and maybe 6-8 inches of it sticking straight out perpendicular to the wheel well...

Happy Earth Day indeed. I planted a dogwood last night, spread some grass seed, spread some mulch...very relaxing after a week glued to computer screens on Zoom calls.... going to plant some boxwoods and some thuja arborvitaes this weekend, and some tiger lilys in a flowerbed.

^ probably the 3.0 VM turbodiesel V6...

The BLS was FWD... while the CTS was larger and RWD. Different platforms. The BLS was built in Sweden in a Saab plant...available as a sedan or wagon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadillac_BLS I remember an episode of Top Gear w/ the BLS.

^the Cadillac was the European-only BLS (based on the Saab 9-3 IIRC). The Police cars are BMW i3 hybrids.

Neat...I remember when I visited the Colosseum in Sept. 2003 on a nearby street seeing a dark blue Chevy Tahoe and a dark blue Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited parked one behind the other...they really looked out of place amidst the typical small European cars of the era...though the GCs were sold in Europe then (saw many in the UK, France and Italy).

I think in the ancient world where BOF vehicle bodies sat on top of the frame (1930s?), there was very little cabin intrusion for the driveline. But cars were tall and narrow then. With lower, longer, wider some floor space had to be used for a driveline tunnel…

My Jeep uses the center tunnel for the driveshaft... without the hump, the driveshaft would be too low. And with a BOF truck or SUV, it's there for the driveshaft also... in an ICE vehicle, really have to have FWD to get rid of the hump...even then, though, the hump is useful to route the exhaust. On anything RWD-based, you have the have the driveshaft somewhere..can't see a way around it...(now lifted trucks and SUVs have the driveshaft exposed, but that is in a non-standard config).

The floor hump in front of the back seat has never been an issue for me, I don't ride in the back seat, and most of the time in my Jeep the seat is folded down, so a non-issue for me.

The hump is there for the driveshaft (got those in RWD and AWD) or exhaust routing for FWD...can't have a completely flat floor and still have decent ground clearance.

I'd take the E39 M5. My favorite era of BMWs. The modern appliances are faster but so dull and soulless.

I saw one of those Rivs at a car show once that had been modified with a carbon fiber dash/door/console trim..got the dry heaves just looking at it (I despise the use of carbon fiber for interior trim, whether it is real or faux)..

The E-bodies in '66-67 (Riv, Toro, and '67 Eldo) were a high point for GM design, IMO...beautifully styled cars. IIRC, the photo of the gold Eldo in Palm Springs is a photo from an article in Motor Trend Classic about 15 years ago (short-lived premium magazine from Motor Trend). Love the Citroen SM, Jag, and Continental also. The SM is one of my favorite '70s European cars.

Reality is complex. Businesses make decisions for reasons. Reasons we aren't privy to. Next topic.

Yep, still there..saw the Garden of the Gods balanced rock many times when I lived about a mile from the park from '97-02...

Many. Olds enumerated a few above. And lots of platforms shared across makers—GM and Toyota, GM and Suzuki, Ford and Mazda, Etc. JVs happen.

Sounds like this isn't that much different than other joint ventures that have been common with automakers for years---different automakers sharing a platform or sharing dirty bits or jointly developing a platform or dirty bits.

Yesterday and Saturday I saw a solid looking black '75 Chevy Laguna coupe, and a auto shop that had maybe 1/2 dozen or more partially covered '58-59 Edsels and a premiered '70 Cougar shell out front in Navarre, Ohio (small town near Massillon).

Or CorEVette to emphasize the EV angle... or something like Corvette Z-0EV

Sun's out now, into the 40s...I think after work I'm going to go get grass seed, top soil, and mulch and get started on Spring yard work...then off to mud farming this weekend..