Frosty

We all know that Pro looks better in drag than I do. The pumps and pearls highlight his beard and eyes !

GE's next pick-up truck! The Critter Catcher !

I have to take the kid up to Lake City after work Wednesday night so he can meet up with his buddy and his family for the 4th of July weekend. The wife and I get to drive back home the same night - yippee. At least this year, Lucy gets to do the Hadley Parade on the 4th for the first time in about 3 years.

Ok 6Shooter - you are our resident Corvette junkie. Any idea what this Corvette is? I found this at the back of the Buick Gallery today during the Sloan Auto Fair.

It is between the engine and transmission, close to the body, near where the steering column exits the firewall. Your exhaust pipes might prevent you from seeing it very easily, or you might have to reach around it to get to it.

Once you upgrade to larger wheels and tires, you've add more rolling mass and sprung weight, so then the stock brakes have to at least be evaluated for safety sake. Pro, your point is well taken. I think this is a good bench racing session to help answer bored001'squestion. Its feasible from an engineering perspective, but not from a practical cost perspective. However, how many guys do we all know that have done things that don't make financial sense? Case in point, the 4x4 Grand Am. Who would build such a thing on a tight budget? As I said in the beginning, this is going to be expensive.

Although not a Pontiac, this car was built for Canada. Its a rare example with only kilometers on the speedometer.

This weekend was the annual Sloan Museum Auto Fair in Flint, MI. The weather was damp, spotty rain, and generally was keeping a lot of cars away from the show. A lot of the swap meet vendors covered up their wares and went home early too. Too bad because this year's theme was featuring some "international muscle cars". In this case, international meant Canadian-built muscle cars. I have known about Laurentians, Parisiennes, Acadians, and Beaumonts for years. I have seen my share of them. However, I had not seen so many Acadians and Beaumonts in one place before. Enjoy. 1968 Beaumont Convertible SD-396 1967 Beaumont Sport Deluxe 1967 Beaumont Sport Deluxe 1965 Acadian Beaumont Sport Deluxe Convertible 1962 Acadian Beaumont Station Wagon Love the skis and the snow shoes 1967 Acadian Beaumont Two-Door Hard Top Sport Deluxe 1965 Acadian Beaumont Sport Deluxe 1967 Beaumont 2-Door Hardtop Found this one at the back of the Buick Gallery - unidentified

Sounds like it was an awesome ride. I need to drive thru there myself some day in the summer months. I've spent a ton of time all over the ski towns of Colorado, Breckenridge, Aspen, Beaver Creek, Vail, Steamboat Springs, Gunnison, Crested Butte, Loveland, and Telluride. I love spending time in the mountains. It helps to be an avid downhill skier too. So how much did you have to bore out the G8 wheels to fit the goat?

I took Black Beauty (my black Envoy Denali) in for an oil change, lube, and tire rotation this morning. I got a bit of shock once they went to rotate the tires. Seems like I need new tires. I need to replace the passenger side sway bar end link since it is completely missing! The A/C belt is starting to crack. The transmission is overdue for a flush and filter (based on the mileage only), they didn't check their records since that was done in December. There is some slight play in the front end - not sure if its the rack and pinion or the tie rod ends, ball joints should be okay. Oh and by the way sir, the tires are down into the steel belts, way past the wear marks. Say what? Yup, it's true....seems the front tires are completely shot from the inside. So now I am the proud owner of a new set of Bridgestone tires. I will have to run to the auto parts store tomorrow for the A/C belt and a pair of sway bar end links. I figure if one side is completely gone, the other side is probably compromised as well. I will have to figure out time to get it to alignment shop to check out the rack/tie rod ends/ball joints issue. I rather expect Killer to say this due to the quality of Michigan's potholes and roads. I'm inclined to agree with him too.

Experience = knowledge obtained from success and failure

JUSTA - you've outlined most of the problems I thought of too. You will also have to fab up extensions for all the electrical connections for the lowered drivetrain for engine and ABS sensors and such. Don't forget this an AWD variant, so you have to drop the back end as well to keep things in proper spec. I think steering will be one of the biggest challenges beyond making longer power steering hoses since either the rack and pinion has to stay put to maintain its geometry to the steering column and some sort extensions are needed, or the rack drops with the rest of the engine cradle and you have to fab up a new connection between the rack and the steering column. Also by running significantly larger tires and wheels, will it overwhelm the rack and pinion set-up and require a ram-assist unit or something similar to what the off-road guys use? Upgrading the brakes due to the larger wheels and tires would be another consideration - question is how much can you really do with this platform and what is available in the aftermarket, or do you have to try to adapt Camaro/Corvette/truck spindles onto the Torrent in order to run bigger aftermarket brakes? In the end, you could end up re-plumbing much of the entire car's brake system, certainly an upgraded master cylinder and booster and perhaps proportioning valve.

You forgot to mention "expensive clown car" Pro. I must admit that I struggle with Cadillac's styling these days. I like the edginess but with the ATS, CTS, and XTS all on the road, its hard to distinguish them at a distance, and of course, Cadillac only badges them on the trunk these days.

I agree with you FlyGTO. Tim and Penny are suppose to be here in Michigan in July. I hope I have time to catch up with them.

So what's the destination or tour loop going to be in old yeller?

BTW I do blame Ghosty for this silliness !!!

Wow! Central Missioura for sure. I need to find an excuse to head for St. Louis or Kansas City then. Heck I need an excuse just to get out of dodge period. The trips to Chicago and Bowling Green got me wond up wanting more road trip time.

Cartoon characters can grow old too.

Sadly no. GM did not permit such photos or at least take any that I know of. However, he still has the first working LCD prototype that was installed in a Buick Riveria, which introduced in the late 70s at the Detroit Autoshow (now NAIAS). AC was trying to sell LCD and electronic cluster technology to the car divisions back then. Chevrolet and Corvette were the first to bite from a mass production standpoint. Soon after, vacuum florescent displays also became somewhat popular with the Astro/Safari G-Van and S-10 dashes, several Olds dashes, and so on. LCD technology didn't catch on as everyone hoped. Only the Corvette and later the Trans Am GTA had a LCD instrument cluster. People liked and trusted the look of a real gauge even if is computer controlled and not mechanically controlled anymore. So that's why you see gauges and then you see vacuum florescent displays for things like trip and vehicle odometers, the PRNDL, tire pressure, air temperature, radio stations, etc. Just not full on gauges anymore. However, Dakota Digitial seems to be doing well in spite of this.

Say what you like ... Tim Curry had fantastic legs for a guy ... and he totally rocked those heels. Most women would stumble attempting that 'strut' he did during his tribute to Charles Atlas ... and managing to run in them swinging a pick axe and take out a 300lbs biker ..... that takes a real man.

Poppa Frosty has done a lot in his working career. He has several patents to his credit. He is an electrical engineer, so the cC4 Corvette instrument cluster was the highlight of his automotive career, he retired in 1987. He actually started working for old man Lear of Lear Jet back in the '50s and then North American Aviation working on the Voodoo in Columbus Ohio for awhile. He also worked on the Thor missile program at AC's facility in Oakcreek WI (outside Milwaukee). So I can honestly say he was also a rocket scientist. He is really rather amazing - of course I am very bias when I say that too.

Too late, its now morbid curiosity that draws you in and keeps you coming back. You are just emotionally scared as the rest of us.

Looking for a young and confused Notallthere? Is this what you are waiting for Pro? If so, I can forward you the pictures that keep anonymously showing on my cell phone if you'd like.