Frosty

An interesting history lesson on the early years of GM and comparing it to Tesla. Elon Musk might want to pay attention. https://hbr.org/2018/04/to-understand-the-future-of-tesla-look-to-the-history-of-gm BTW - the article forgot to mention the Alfred P. Sloan Musuem in Flint Michigan too. Durant Park in Lansing Michigan, and Waterford Durant High School in Waterford Michigan are a couple of things named after Billy Durant.

Go fast goodies? Or over do maintenance parts?

This is an interesting read on the background attempts to save DeLorean Motor Car company back in 1982. https://jalopnik.com/inside-the-audacious-plan-to-save-delorean-in-1982-1824045468 I remember John Sawruk talking about a conversation he had with DeLorean just before JZD died. Now we will never know if this is true or not, but it would certainly explain DeLorean's actions. According to Sawruk, the "investors" DeLorean ended up dealing with were in fact cocaine dealers. John wanted to back out of the deal entirely but these dealers threatened to kill John's daughter if he didn't go forward with the deal, which he did and he was subsequently arrested by the FBI. I suspect DeLorean kept quiet about this blackmail issue for fear of reprisals against his family. Again, I doubt any of this will ever be proven and it will be treated as nothing more than hear-say but it certainly would (to a degree) exonerate DeLorean for his actions.

I know how he feels about the kid in college. RC didn't happen to send you any pictures did he? What is Coy working on these days for that matter?

360 - for what it's worth, I would put the fuel filter close to the carb. That way you have easy access to it when it comes time to replace the filter versus crawling under the car. If you use a see-thru filter container, you can also see when it starts to get dirty and keep an eye on the quality of the gas you are buying. Anyway, that's my two cents.

Gas is already $2.85 a gallon for unleaded here in mid--Michigan, when I had to get gas this morning on the way to work. Bastiches.

Woodward could get interesting this year. We need to get Coy up here too. What's RedChevy up to these days? I haven't heard from him since the old forum died.

Well cash is always a nice thing. Plus it would remove one vehicle from the stable. Any luck retiring the Malibu to local crusher? Or is the wife still madly in love with it?

True that. Still, I'd love to see the Parisienne breath to life again too.

Well be sure to let us know as it gets closer (Woodward is August 18th this year). We had to move to a new location last year - further south on Woodward. So let me, JUSTA6, or notallthere know if you need an application for parking.

I get it. Common sense be damned. Good luck with your continued search.

Welcome to FP and the madness. Feel free to post more pictures of your ride!

Why is that? Money or connards pompeux provinciaux or both?

Good background article regarding the state of GM operations in South Korea. Bottom line, GM is prepared to exit Korea, just like Europe, Africa, and India, if it doesn't get what it wants. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-12/gm-korea-future-hangs-by-a-thread-as-16-year-foray-risks-folding

What about ones from Manitoba or Saskatchewan? Granted there is the distance / cost of shipping thing, but I'd like to think the salt content is significantly less in the prairie provinces. Forgot about the Acadians, we called them T-1000s down here. Frankly I'd like to see a Vega version of the Acadian. May there are some Chevettes in GE's neck of the woods. He told me the other day that you can find Vegas all over the place in NC. We have a Chevette running around my area. It belongs to a guy that looks like a thin version of Jerry Garcia who plays very bad electric guitar and smokes way too much whatever. Technically it qualifies as a survivor, I just don't think there is enough detergent and antiseptic to get all the funk out of it.

Depends....probably a lot of air freshener too.

GM's Korean operations are in trouble. GM has asked the union there for cost concessions or it will file for bankruptcy. GM has already announced one permanent plant closing in Korea. The fate of the rest of the plants is up to the union. Obviously some union members are not happy with GM's ultimatum! http://fortune.com/2018/04/06/gm-korea-ceo-office-general-motors/

Must be a challenge to steer a car with only one front wheel on the ground !

https://www.thecarconnection.com/news/1116208_study-driving-habits-tied-not-to-pump-prices-but-to-percentage-change "April 11, 2018 Logic suggests that the more gasoline costs, the less people will drive their vehicles. The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy says that's true—but it's not as simple as the actual price paid at the pump. According to a study conducted by the federal agency, when gas prices spike, drivers do not dramatically reduce the amount they travel. The study indicates that drivers instead adjust the amount they drive based on the percentage of increase or decrease in the cost of fuel. MORE: Trump administration could tax imported cars more than domestics Other factors also factor into the number of miles driven, according to the report. While gas prices are top-of-mind because of how often they are put directly in front of drivers, factors such as demographics, economic growth, transportation mode shifts, driver licensing rates, vehicle population and infrastructure capacity also impact the overall amount that vehicles are driven. All things considered, it makes more sense for drivers to drive as few miles as possible even when gas prices are low. More miles driven translates to more money spent on things such as oil changes, new tires, other maintenance and unexpected repairs and vehicle depreciation. The lower the miles driven, the more money can be saved on these costs. The Federal Highway Administration encourages drivers to consider the amount that they drive even when gas prices are low. More driving can lead to other issues such as gridlock, increased pollution and infrastructure deterioration. NPR reports that some transportation advocates are coming together to push for a change in the way that fuel taxes are charged so that infrastructure can be maintained more effectively. Instead of gas taxes at the pump, some advocates believe that a tax based on miles driven makes more sense. This is because taxes at the pump are used in the maintenance of infrastructure. When gas prices are low and drivers drive more, less taxes are collected and infrastructure maintenance suffers. Taxes collected per mile driven could ultimately help federal and state officials keep up with the cost of infrastructure repairs and construction better because the amount of upkeep required to infrastructure would be more balanced with the amount that roads, highways, bridges and other infrastructure are used." Alright, so now someone gets the bright idea to want to tax the miles I drive instead of how much gas I buy. Anybody besides me see a problem with that? What this article doesn't say is that gas taxes are a loosing proposition. With the growing number hybird cars on the road, better overall mileage, and electrification of cars and trucks, people are gradually buy less gasoline and (theoretically) replacing it with more demand for electricity (via the grid). Less gasoline purchased means less tax revenue collected and the electric cars get to use the same high system at virtually no cost. So this is a paradigm shift in tax generation and revenue to pay for the maintenance of the road / highway infrastructure. What I struggle with is this - is this going to become like Obamacare and I have to report my annual mileage (on all my vehicles) on my Federal and/or State tax forms so I can be charged accordingly? So bottom line (to me) is this article is boo hooing that tax revenue to support highway infrastructure is down and we need new sources of revenue to pay for our crumbing infrastructure. I think this is a terrible idea. States and the federal government have multiple opportunities to spend monies already collect on roads and infrastructure, but it is not a huge enough state or national priority to fix it.

Okay, so adjusting for inflation, a $3000 car today should cost $20,833 according to the inflation calculator I found online. Let's face it, these cars did one thing really well back in the day, go fast in a straight line. Braking, cornering, longevity or decent radios were not its strong points. Granted, new technology has a price to it. However, I don't think any of us would agree that its worth nearly doubling the price of the car. Also, how much of this new technology should be consider the cost of entry into the market and therefore be free? Another thing GM (and the others) has done is to force us into certain option packages and higher starting vehicle content. You can't buy a striped down car these days like you could back in '69 (e.g. try to buy a Camaro without air conditioning). This drives up the vehicle content and therefore the price. Lastly, I grant you that GM has to make a profit on the car, the question becomes is how much is fair? Still I'm with Last Indian and Two Lane, a $20K Camaro should do well in the market place. However, GM does not want to play in that space. I suspect they feel they will loose money.

The first question I ask anyone who wants to make performance modifications is how much can your afford to spend and how fast do you want to go? What is your budget? Injector changes, a cold air kit and free flowing air filter, a bigger throttle body, headers, a PCM flash tuner, and catback exhaust systems will all help your 3800 gain some ponies on the relative cheap. If money is not too big an object, you could ditch the 3.8L altoghether and install a suped-up LS4 like what was in the GXPs originally. Something tells me that is not in the cards. That would also require some tranny, suspension, PCM, and brake upgrades too. Still it would be an awesome sleeper! Especially for a base FWD car. There are companies that offer stage kits, clearly catalogs like Summit Racing and Jegs carry performance parts for the 3800 Series I, II, and III engines. Supercharger, turbocharter and nitrous kits are also available. 3800performanceparts.com, zzperformance.com/3800 come to find for initial kits. Abbott Racing has Stage I racing heads for the 3800. Ray Barton makes performance/racing pistons for the 3800. Again, how deep are your pockets? My recommendation is do your homework. Pour over YouTube videos and how-to / DIY performance articles for the 3800 and the GP. Get feedback on what parts work and don't work, how expensive they are, where to get them, and make your budget from there. It's a little more time consuming but I think you will find you will spend less money in the end.

In case anyone has forgotten, this is not the first time the Camaro has had a 4 cylinder as the base engine. The early 3rd gen Camaros also had a 4 cylinder, the infamous Pontiac Iron Duke. Probably the only time in history where Chevys came with a Pontiac engine from the factory! Now despite what the article says, this motor was not half of a Pontiac 301 V8 engine, like the Trophy/Indy 4 engine was half of the 389. It was a purpose built 4-cylinder. https://www.autoblog.com/2018/04/05/junkyard-gem-1984-chevrolet-camaro/

Well put, Two Lane, well put!

Oh boy.... Time to boil up the tar and raid T J Maxx for down pillows again!