From the background, I’d say that Taurus was for sale here in one of the”East Valley” cities adjacent to Phoenix. We still see some on the roads although most have long ago migrated to our local junkyards.
"advertisements comparing the Grand Am SE and BMW 318i" had me completely cracking up. I don't remember those ads, but sure would like to know the drug source that helped make them.
Given world enough, and time, I'd buy an Imperial, a Dodge Spirit, and a Plymouth Reliant and park them side-by-side, indexed at the front wheel, just to see what THAT looks like.
While those cars could be a bit ungainly from certain angles, they actually drove really well in a Yankee luxury car way. And both the Fifth Ave and Imperials had absolutely huge rear seats. And monster trunks. Chrysler nailed the packaging on those cars. I drove those for tens of thousands of miles back then, and oddly really loved them. That included an absolutely epic high speed run from Toronto to Norfolk, Va on a Sunday with an average speed that had to be around the century mark. Not bad at all for a 3.3 litre V6 American luxury car.
"So no matter what you read in the sycophantic press, it doesn’t really handle like a race car."
Whew, and here I was TOTALLY believing it was RACECAR!!!!
"Imagine the idea of General Motors having someone terminated because of something they said or wrote in a Hagerty article! Why, that simply wouldn’t happen. No executive at General Motors is that thin-skinned. That would be like letting your ego get you into a situation where you crashed a car for no particular reason… on national sports television!"
And this is an example of John Baruth being thick skinned? It was funny when it happened in real time (I was there), but now its juts old... grow up.
"There is nothing, nothing more pathetic in the automotive business than giving participation trophies to fourth-rate writers solely because they were assigned female at birth. "
Let me fix that for you....
'There is nothing, nothing more pathetic in business than giving participation trophies to fourth-rate writers solely because they were assigned female at birth.'
You have to cut me a little slack to mention things... I mean, how ironic is it that people keep getting canned from decent careers thanks to an inoffensive insurance blog?
"And this is an example of John Baruth being thick skinned? It was funny when it happened in real time (I was there), but now its juts old... grow up"
What is "it" in this context? Jack getting fired or the crash? What does "I was there" mean? Genuinely curious. I am only paying for the subscription for the truth about the truth about cars and to spread hate. And because I can't figure out how to cancel it, but mostly the first two.
The crash and continuously lampooning mark reuss and whatever ill will Jack believes he has towards Jack. I was in the stands when he crashed that pace car at belle isle.
I was under the understanding that Mark Reuss asked Hargerty to fire Jack or he would withhold GM privileges following an article Jack wrote. The lampooning is a taunt to Reuss. Jack knows Reuss has a morbid fascination and can't stay away but he has no power to shut it down anymore.
man i hate drake but now that hating some things is popular for some reason i gotta figure out more esoteric things to be annoyed about so lets ask kanye if he has any strong opinions on anything or anyone
im only going to push back on your radical comparison becuase its not at all a street car or even a street legal car and as such the comparison doesnt make much sense to me. speaking of laptimes though, arent these pointless given the fact that the factory tires are almost guaranteed to be swapped out for something even more track ready or the engine to get a tune or exhaust? it all seems pointless as soon as some random dude who cant drive buys one.
the purple taurus looks so cool for a taurus but the downside is that its a taurus
I remember when the Vette was so aspirational. I cannot help but ask myself now "who is it for?". The old men who wanted one are all passing away. The young men are buying Raptors and Hellcats. Who is it for??? At the current costs, I'm not sure.
I didn't watch any of the Halftime Show, but I know tons of people who KNOW the song. It was THE song that crept into a lot of timelines last year. And honestly, it's probably a sign of the times. The radio wants to promote Drake. Kendrick? Naw... how could he ever say such things! /sarcasm
And then Diddy being arrested happened and Trump won the popular vote. Maybe the giant F-U to the system IS the point of it and its popularity, like you say. Being a hater is cool, right? Couple years ago, I'd say yes. I think we're seeing the gun being turned more on righteous anger being cool.
Ya know, I'm here for it. Some of these people and brands have had it coming.
Daddy's home and the belt's come out... metaphorically speaking.
My son rolls his eyes every time I mention the beef war between Drake and Kendrick Lamar. I talked about it endlessly last weekend and I think he's still sighing about it. I would not know a thing about it if not for Jack. So, thanks very much to our host.
Frankly I don't care one whit about that beef, and I turned off the sound and had dinner during the half time stuff, so didn't listen to any of it. As far as I'm concerned Jack has already wasted far too many words on that subject. Now we need more Cat Tales to compensate.
Had no interest in the Super Bowl this year—I figured there’d be at least a couple YouTube videos with a compilation of the commercials. (And the way KC was being hyped up, I also figured that the game would be close either way, or KC wouldn’t show up, figuring they could simply coast through sixty minutes of football! Damn, I coulda bet a couple cheesesteaks (no onions, thankyouverymuch) on that!)
I hate watched it and very much enjoyed the fraudulent ref assisted Chiefs getting exposed. But the NFL made their millions and will likely do it again next year. And I'm stupid and will probably still watch.
Don't forget that that both Epstein and R. Kelly got away with raping and trafficking and literally urinating on 12 year old girls for many years, were caught, in Epstein's case convicted and released. They, especially the former, associated with the highest echelons of power in the US and the world and were not called out let alone prosecuted for decades. You may not care about this "beef" but I find it very refreshing that one of those scumbags can finally be called to account so publicly.
Did notice Harrison Ford was in some sort of Jeep ad, but since I had the sound muted and wasn’t paying attention, l have no idea what the spiel was. And thought, that’s a strange choice of person for Jeep.
Besides Ford as mentioned above, Brady and Damon, McConaughey and Harrelson, Crystal and Ryan did somewhat nostalgic bits. Cruise was in pitching the new MI. There were no doubt others.
He always seemed a little smarter as well. I had admired his delight at having programmed the Fairlight himself for "Baby Got Back." But when I found his comments on manufacturer videos of new ARM development boards I decided he *was* for real.
"solely because they were assigned female at birth"
Is Victoria Scott not eligible for a What Drives Her award? The very name actually brings to mind the recipient being on all fours rather than behind the wheel. So many issues here.
I was thinking about that walking out of work today trying not to go down on my dupa in the freezing rain that is currently enveloping Toledo and points immediately east and south. (And it had barely started at that point!)
For the last twenty years, we haven’t been able to have ANY fun at all because of everyone clutching their pearls at EVERYTHING! One wrong word, and you’re doxxed into the dustbin of history!
While I did think of your “brings to mind” supposition, I also thought of What Drives Her as possibly being an award for junk food. Just reporting on what I see……
It is a shame everyone hates on that Taurus design. It was a good profile, and carrying the ovoid theme throughout made it look unique on the road. The world is full of philistines, though, so interesting things like that get killed off and ridiculed after their deaths. I suppose that's appropriate these days if we're all going to just hate on things all the time now.
I had the Sable version in college. Don't remember what year. The only nice thing I can say about it is it was night and day nicer than the Ford probe it replaced but dear God was it ugly.
"Soggy" isn't inappropriate. It's not a beautiful design but I'm glad when carmakers do something original, even when it results in this, the hideous Juke, or the horrible proportions of the Aztek.
First two generations were massive hits with great style and (according to my dad who owned an 87 Taurus and a 90 Accord) great handling. This third generation had polarizing styling that I liked but, well, could also be referred to as "soggy," "blobby," or "fucking hideous" depending on your point of view...
I’d say the first generation and a half. The 92(?) was more of a refresh then a new generation.
And yes, the first gen was a great handling car. A supreme highway car, that I did a lot of long distance runs in, at speeds the constabulary would not approved of.
I had two of the 1st gen SHOs and would have kept buying them if they kept making them. I was horrified by its replacement. Ugly, with gratuitous ovals everywhere. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, of course, but...no.
The V8 wasn't enough to get past its looks, eh? It wasn't enough for a lot of people...
The Yamaha V6 in those first two generations was a work of art. I would love to put one in an S1 Lotus Esprit and making it visible through the rear glass so I can smile at it every time I walk past. Probably will never happen, but it's nice to dream.
Damn, it was a gorgeous engine. Moved great and sounded great too. Incredible to think you could pop into your local dealer back then and snag one of those. With a 5 speed manual yet. Who knew that those would be the good old days.
FWIW, the loss of a manual watered down the second gen SHO in many eyes. Iirc, the take rate on the manual SHO was decent to the end.
I feel privileged that I have no idea who these two arguing rappers are. Does one have better rhymes than the other? (that was rhetorical, I really don’t care)
At least the rappers of old would actually shoot at each other to settle their arguments. Seems like this new breed of rapper is rather soft. Money corrupts everything, I guess.
im in the same boat. what gets me is just how hard it is to design what could be considered a good gun. it has to be economical to produce while being entirely mechanical and yet simple enough to tolerate a degree of dirt end debris while being able to be disassembled in the field with limited if any tools. on top of all that it has to be reliable enough to depend on it with ones own life.
if youve not already, you should check out forgotten weapons. incredible historical background and (i think) an engineering bent to his reviews.
The very best pistol I ever had/shot was my 1942 9MM Parabellum "Luger", a WWII battle field pickup by my high school girlfriend's dad who was a forward intelligence officer, he picked it up and brought it home when he mustered out in 1947, never touched at again, was as close to new as could be when I got it, even still had 1942 dated ammunition .
Wherever your index finger pointed the bullet went with amazing accuracy .
I'm not much good with hand guns, rifles are my thing but _damn_ that was a sweet thing, well made and *perfect* in every way .
IMO firearms training should be part of every American child's basic early public education ~ firearms are just tools, albeit dangerous ones .
Self defense shootings by Chicago citizens are only at 1 killed and 2 wounded. Police shootings are at 2 killed and 1 wounded.
The self defense killing was by a garbage man doing his job at 5am when 2 thugs tried to rob him. The other thug was wounded. Who the hell tries to rob a garbage man at 5am?
One of my favorite range stories happened 15+ years ago. There is a state park area a half hour or so west of Portland that has a quarry area which is a popular target shooting destination. Proximity to Portland can make it an odd crowd mix though. One Saturday our crew of nerdy rednecks backs our trucks into spots next to a couple of guys looking like they are auditioning for a hip-hop video. Both are shooting 9mm pistols gagnsta style. Behind them are a pair of slammed Civics with an unimpressed looking couple of girls lounging on the hood of one car. With a twinkle in his eye, friend R (a licensed machine gun manufacturer) sets up his new MG42 and proceeds to go through an entire 100 round belt. Whole range goes silent and the wanna be gangsta boys are wide eyed. A fun day.
Well, maybe ones that are the size of the ones off a Conestoga wagon, with the same sidewall height! (How do you mount up a Civic at the height of a monster truck?! 😂😂)
Surely, though, when those two started the cars, the dreck coming from their speakers overpowered the noise your weapons made!
Studio gangsters. I watched the halftime show but couldn't understand most of it. Reading the various post-mortems in the news, including Jack's comments above, I still can't grasp whether it was supposed to be a Drake diss track, social commentary, or something else. One thing I'm sure of, it was boring.
Re: the Taurus, I have to believe that they not only be-shitted the materials and design for 2000, but also the ride and handling.
Years ago, I had to drive a tan-on-tan one to/from NYC to Boston for an old job and everything about the car (which had maybe 12k miles) felt like a worn out sneaker. Spongy. Flabby. Somehow both too soft yet hard-soled in all its moves. It felt like it could lose a few pounds everywhere but still never felt roomy.
To put it another way, I WILLINGLY gave up the car for Amtrak.
Eventually, I was in a W-body Grand Prix, which - despite its "Here, Camaro - hold my beer" outward visibility, below-Mattel-grade plastics, and bottom-of-a-bucket driving position - felt like a 5-series by comparison.
In the early 2000s I got so tired flabby Taurus rental cars that I started taking anything else they had which usually ended up being a four cylinder Dodge Stratus.
I always thought that generation of Sable looked better than the Taurus BECAUSE OF the more conventional rear glass and the bar taillights. It looked "Advanced" rather than "Weird."
Then you'd have really dug the Australian 1997 Taurus, which was the Ford nose on a Mercury! Ya see, the Sable was cheaper to make, so in a market where people didn't expect the Taurus to have six windows they just used the Sable body.
I was on the Kendrick side of the beef before the halftime show, and I was looking forward to the show to see the latest salvo. I was unimpressed. Maybe it was the lousy TV I was watching, but it was all mumbly mumbly to my ears.
A 25-year-old watching with me said all Kendrick's songs were about how tough it is to live in today's America. To which I said, Kendrick telling us all about how bad it is to live in the country where he's made millions of dollars is somewhat disingenuous. Then I explained what that word meant. Good times.
I think it was technically challenging to pull off compared to a traditional stage set, and the audio suffered as a result. Kendrick could have mimed the lyrics but he chose not to, which i respect.
I, a 43y/o white guy, was unimpressed. I watched it with, amongst others, a black guy and his teenage son, and they were also unimpressed.
Incidentally, teenaged son is a champion HS wrestler. His dad was telling me he was getting up to be at practice at 6AM the next day, then full day of school, then practice after school, then wrestling camp at night. Goddamn kid, good for you. Also, never seen anyone put away chicken wings and veggies like this kid, plate after plate. Not an ounce of fat on him.
I just bought a 1994 Mercury Tracer wagon for one of my kids to wear out, as his $300 Civic is is imminent danger of losing its brake lines. On the plus side, we got 20k miles out of that 1991 Civic in 2 years. Good car.
I would love to upgrade that Tracer to a Taurus or Sable wagon when the time is right. If it were Rose Mist, my joy would be total.
For those who actually _want_ one, schlepp on down to the donated cars auction place, loads of garage kept ones with low mileage get sold for scrap value to junkyards....
Nice paint, no dents / rust etc. .
I love buying from junkyards / charity auctions because the vehicles are usually in good shape apart from the -one- glaring fault that sent them there, engine, tranny or whatever .
The only downside to being on the Conservative side of the aisle is having to deal with the small minority of old school racist mouthbreathers, the "We the People" midwits, and the reflexive dismissal of vast pools of creative expression, especially rap music. It's like how if you love domestic autos and muscle cars, you have to formulate an apologetic for the Corvette guys, who, let's face it, are an embarrassment to us all. Now, hold on a second--I find most of rap to be lyrically uninspiring, and I enjoy it even less as a performance spectacle, because it lacks the livewire energy and magic you can only achieve with a group of musicians listening to each other, but the Kendrick v Drake beef brought out some truly excellent wordplay and rhymes from both sides. Kendrick's takedown the third verse of Not Like Us is a devastatingly concise killshot, and I think all writers or those with aspirations to be writers can learn from rappers at the top of their craft.
I saw a rando Youtube video recently where the presenter reckoned that the C6 Z06 with equivalent modern tires would be dangerously close to the lap time of the C8 Z06 and I can't say that I entirely disagree. The C8 is packing the equivalent of two Rosie O’Donnell's before the driver gets behind the wheel. I can't imagine driving a C6 with that much cargo around a race track.
The C6 Z06 would have been a great Porsche... by which i mean they would have run it five to ten more years and really perfected it. I love those cars.
If you drive any car hard they all will eventually "blow up" if you don't have an adequate maintenance regimen. With the LS 7 that includes having the cylinder heads 'fixed' before the big one hits.
Second mention of the "CAR" book in a week. Haven't thought of it in years. If I recall, Ford was open with the author to start, but before the book was finished they cut off her access. I wrote an MBA thesis about FOMOCO marketing in 1983 and was always fascinated by the company. Fortunately I was saved from an automotive career, decided on typographical communication instead.
That was an incredibly fine vehicle. When the 96 Minivans came out, they were just better than any of the competitors in every way. I’d add it to any top 10, if not top 5, best cars of the 20th century list. The Chrysler/AMC guys were firing on all cylinders through the mid 90s. Just one great car after another.
That book was pretty cool, but I never finished it. I’ll need to go look again, but I bet it’s about when they cut off her access. And I worked at Ford for a summer! Well sort of, it was this cool program for MBAs and barely felt like work. I didn’t take the full time offer - my fiancé refuses to move to Detroit. But I should have gone anyway. Like definitely! Haha. But so wild on Car. I never really looked into the back story. I just started reading it one day.
And while I was at Ford, the first 500 prototype was finished and I tagged along on the senior executive presentation and drive. There were definitely some Deja vu feeling moments, as if they just use the same speech for every new car. But also some concerning moments. I’d swear the car had Bilsteins and the front suspension pieces looked a lot like an e46 bmw. Because that car was awesome!
And it was all fake. Like the interior was molded and had the shape of everything but nothing worked. Like the fake dash and door panels on the cars you assemble with that awesome smelling glue which I’m was banned around the end of those Honda 3 wheeler deals. Haha. But it also meant the prototype was light. At least it felt light. Even with us in it. And no one wanted to hear my questions… hahaha. like dude stop, we just need to get this box checked.
I don’t really work too well in those environments, so it’s probably a good thing I got married instead although that wasn’t much different. But Ford was so huge and decentralized that I probably could developed a new model before anyone really noticed. I mean not really…. But it was fun to dream about while sitting through boring production meetings that made zero sense. And I was super banned from saying anything in those meetings too! Haha. What a summer.
What other books are like Car? With insider access to the car industry by an outsider?
Fascinating stuff. I had one job at a Fortune 500 company. Sat in meeting after endless meeting. Eventually started my own business and even then I still had to keep my mouth shut -- "the customer is always right". Most books like this are after the fact -- like Iacocca's famous biography.
From the background, I’d say that Taurus was for sale here in one of the”East Valley” cities adjacent to Phoenix. We still see some on the roads although most have long ago migrated to our local junkyards.
"advertisements comparing the Grand Am SE and BMW 318i" had me completely cracking up. I don't remember those ads, but sure would like to know the drug source that helped make them.
I remember.
I will never forget.
Never forget.
Never again
Will there be
A Grand Am
They're up there with the original K-car Imperial print ads:
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=582146911104825&set=a.185776640741856
that front overhang on the Imperial is BAD.
"...classic front-wheel drive proportions..."
Yee-aaahhhhh.....
Oh my. I remember that one.
Interesting that they had to make the "composite" car multi-coloured lest one notice that the Imperial's styling is similarly disjointed!
Given world enough, and time, I'd buy an Imperial, a Dodge Spirit, and a Plymouth Reliant and park them side-by-side, indexed at the front wheel, just to see what THAT looks like.
Hell, I'd take an '85 Daytona Turbo Z myself. In a heartbeat.
While those cars could be a bit ungainly from certain angles, they actually drove really well in a Yankee luxury car way. And both the Fifth Ave and Imperials had absolutely huge rear seats. And monster trunks. Chrysler nailed the packaging on those cars. I drove those for tens of thousands of miles back then, and oddly really loved them. That included an absolutely epic high speed run from Toronto to Norfolk, Va on a Sunday with an average speed that had to be around the century mark. Not bad at all for a 3.3 litre V6 American luxury car.
Those same ad execs now work on the Harbor Freight account.
"Allow me to be catty for a moment"
NO
"So no matter what you read in the sycophantic press, it doesn’t really handle like a race car."
Whew, and here I was TOTALLY believing it was RACECAR!!!!
"Imagine the idea of General Motors having someone terminated because of something they said or wrote in a Hagerty article! Why, that simply wouldn’t happen. No executive at General Motors is that thin-skinned. That would be like letting your ego get you into a situation where you crashed a car for no particular reason… on national sports television!"
And this is an example of John Baruth being thick skinned? It was funny when it happened in real time (I was there), but now its juts old... grow up.
"There is nothing, nothing more pathetic in the automotive business than giving participation trophies to fourth-rate writers solely because they were assigned female at birth. "
Let me fix that for you....
'There is nothing, nothing more pathetic in business than giving participation trophies to fourth-rate writers solely because they were assigned female at birth.'
That Taurus shade is ghey.
dude, are you Jack's mother?
Is Jack's mother a dude? I hope not... j/k.
Is having standards only for one's mom? I never had my mom tell me not to be a little bitch, not that I gave her reason to....
You have to cut me a little slack to mention things... I mean, how ironic is it that people keep getting canned from decent careers thanks to an inoffensive insurance blog?
UNLESS you have receipts the two things are a coincidence or unrelated.
I mean if the point is to speculate, okay, have your fun.
"And this is an example of John Baruth being thick skinned? It was funny when it happened in real time (I was there), but now its juts old... grow up"
What is "it" in this context? Jack getting fired or the crash? What does "I was there" mean? Genuinely curious. I am only paying for the subscription for the truth about the truth about cars and to spread hate. And because I can't figure out how to cancel it, but mostly the first two.
The crash and continuously lampooning mark reuss and whatever ill will Jack believes he has towards Jack. I was in the stands when he crashed that pace car at belle isle.
Since the app doesn't have an edit function. Basically any GM news Jack has to bring up Mark Reuss and his crash.
Maybe some things are unrelated.
I also understand his relationship with the insurance company, but not everything is a nexus.
Cause it’s funny? Like a recurring sitcom joke?
I don't laugh at the same gag more than once or twice..
I was under the understanding that Mark Reuss asked Hargerty to fire Jack or he would withhold GM privileges following an article Jack wrote. The lampooning is a taunt to Reuss. Jack knows Reuss has a morbid fascination and can't stay away but he has no power to shut it down anymore.
Sure, but after the same punch line more than a couple of times it gets unbecoming, to me at least.
Of course if Jack wants to go there another 7 times I won't be stopping him... Just voicing a different perspective.
I think it was the latter of the first two assumptions you made.. but to use that to shit on all of GM, even their better products is churlish.
man i hate drake but now that hating some things is popular for some reason i gotta figure out more esoteric things to be annoyed about so lets ask kanye if he has any strong opinions on anything or anyone
im only going to push back on your radical comparison becuase its not at all a street car or even a street legal car and as such the comparison doesnt make much sense to me. speaking of laptimes though, arent these pointless given the fact that the factory tires are almost guaranteed to be swapped out for something even more track ready or the engine to get a tune or exhaust? it all seems pointless as soon as some random dude who cant drive buys one.
the purple taurus looks so cool for a taurus but the downside is that its a taurus
I remember when the Vette was so aspirational. I cannot help but ask myself now "who is it for?". The old men who wanted one are all passing away. The young men are buying Raptors and Hellcats. Who is it for??? At the current costs, I'm not sure.
I didn't watch any of the Halftime Show, but I know tons of people who KNOW the song. It was THE song that crept into a lot of timelines last year. And honestly, it's probably a sign of the times. The radio wants to promote Drake. Kendrick? Naw... how could he ever say such things! /sarcasm
And then Diddy being arrested happened and Trump won the popular vote. Maybe the giant F-U to the system IS the point of it and its popularity, like you say. Being a hater is cool, right? Couple years ago, I'd say yes. I think we're seeing the gun being turned more on righteous anger being cool.
Ya know, I'm here for it. Some of these people and brands have had it coming.
Daddy's home and the belt's come out... metaphorically speaking.
For the laugh:( https://youtu.be/nb7fAEQaJwE?si=qe1lqFiP7vdJE3fx )
My son rolls his eyes every time I mention the beef war between Drake and Kendrick Lamar. I talked about it endlessly last weekend and I think he's still sighing about it. I would not know a thing about it if not for Jack. So, thanks very much to our host.
Frankly I don't care one whit about that beef, and I turned off the sound and had dinner during the half time stuff, so didn't listen to any of it. As far as I'm concerned Jack has already wasted far too many words on that subject. Now we need more Cat Tales to compensate.
Correct!
Had no interest in the Super Bowl this year—I figured there’d be at least a couple YouTube videos with a compilation of the commercials. (And the way KC was being hyped up, I also figured that the game would be close either way, or KC wouldn’t show up, figuring they could simply coast through sixty minutes of football! Damn, I coulda bet a couple cheesesteaks (no onions, thankyouverymuch) on that!)
I hate watched it and very much enjoyed the fraudulent ref assisted Chiefs getting exposed. But the NFL made their millions and will likely do it again next year. And I'm stupid and will probably still watch.
Don't forget that that both Epstein and R. Kelly got away with raping and trafficking and literally urinating on 12 year old girls for many years, were caught, in Epstein's case convicted and released. They, especially the former, associated with the highest echelons of power in the US and the world and were not called out let alone prosecuted for decades. You may not care about this "beef" but I find it very refreshing that one of those scumbags can finally be called to account so publicly.
Five years ago, I was over at a friend's house and fell asleep watching the Super Bowl.
When your formative years are spent watching action movies, sci fi and anime, real-world sports seem INADEQUATE.
watching traumatized children fight in giant robots against cosmic horrors for the fate of humanity makes a pick 6 look far less interesting
You know that awesome sci fi future the 80s promised us?
Here's the theme song.
https://youtu.be/lx1-0OtfOaI?feature=shared
from the little bit of the commercials that I saw (with the sound muted) they looked inane and stupid and pathetic.
they were
(i never saw any of them)
I know many of the commercials had people in them I was supposed to know who they were. I estimated I batted about .125 on identifying them.
I didn’t even try.
Did notice Harrison Ford was in some sort of Jeep ad, but since I had the sound muted and wasn’t paying attention, l have no idea what the spiel was. And thought, that’s a strange choice of person for Jeep.
I’m terrible at recognizing celebrities so my reaction to the Jeep commercial was to wonder who the old guy was.
Besides Ford as mentioned above, Brady and Damon, McConaughey and Harrelson, Crystal and Ryan did somewhat nostalgic bits. Cruise was in pitching the new MI. There were no doubt others.
Two rappers at each others' throats will always be directly equivalent to two drug dealers fighting over a street corner to me.
Yep, it's all red-on-red to me, so to speak. You hope they both lose
The rappers rank somewhere below pimps, I believe. Well below gangsters, in any case. My authority is none other than Sir Mix A Lot:
"you should see how gangsters can make us pimps run"
That and the Sean Puffy Combs revelations about even the dead legends of rap being a bunch of pillow biters.
Yeah, but Mix always seemed classier than your average G.
Even WITH topless babes washing his Lamborghinis with their double Ds.
! Linky please ? . =8-) .
-Nate
I tried finding the video for "Put Em On The Glass," but YouTube only has the audio track.
He always seemed a little smarter as well. I had admired his delight at having programmed the Fairlight himself for "Baby Got Back." But when I found his comments on manufacturer videos of new ARM development boards I decided he *was* for real.
I bet you he is somewhere sitting on a TON of steady income.
And he did this!
https://youtu.be/h5X4TSbGreA?feature=shared
THANK YOU I.A. ! .
That's all it will ever be : stupid emotional children squabbling over nothing .
-Nate
Welcome!
"solely because they were assigned female at birth"
Is Victoria Scott not eligible for a What Drives Her award? The very name actually brings to mind the recipient being on all fours rather than behind the wheel. So many issues here.
i think if you renamed the award to "what drives it" people would think you were talking about ai or self driving cars
"what drives they/them" jeeze get with the political correctness. oh wait, that was last year.
Thank goodness!
I was thinking about that walking out of work today trying not to go down on my dupa in the freezing rain that is currently enveloping Toledo and points immediately east and south. (And it had barely started at that point!)
For the last twenty years, we haven’t been able to have ANY fun at all because of everyone clutching their pearls at EVERYTHING! One wrong word, and you’re doxxed into the dustbin of history!
Those pronouns are “done/gone!”
Now comes the reverse, I hope you don't enjoy it .
-Nate
While I did think of your “brings to mind” supposition, I also thought of What Drives Her as possibly being an award for junk food. Just reporting on what I see……
if that were the case it would have been called "what drives her bmi up"
and her bmw lap speed down
when the bop ballast is the one driving the car
cotd
It is a shame everyone hates on that Taurus design. It was a good profile, and carrying the ovoid theme throughout made it look unique on the road. The world is full of philistines, though, so interesting things like that get killed off and ridiculed after their deaths. I suppose that's appropriate these days if we're all going to just hate on things all the time now.
That design made for a great looking wagon, too.
Amen. The wagons were fetching.
I had the Sable version in college. Don't remember what year. The only nice thing I can say about it is it was night and day nicer than the Ford probe it replaced but dear God was it ugly.
I'm in the extreme minority. I like the car but hate the color it presents in here.
correct take. A color for hairdressers and office girls
It’s original, I’ll give it that. But the volumes are bad - it’s just too soggy.
"Soggy" isn't inappropriate. It's not a beautiful design but I'm glad when carmakers do something original, even when it results in this, the hideous Juke, or the horrible proportions of the Aztek.
I think the design was somewhat accepted - it was just too expensive at the time.
I don't get it ~I always thought the Taurus was a super mega hit, now you're all deriding it .
-Nate
First two generations were massive hits with great style and (according to my dad who owned an 87 Taurus and a 90 Accord) great handling. This third generation had polarizing styling that I liked but, well, could also be referred to as "soggy," "blobby," or "fucking hideous" depending on your point of view...
To me they all looked blobby but they weren't made for me I don't think .
-Nate
I’d say the first generation and a half. The 92(?) was more of a refresh then a new generation.
And yes, the first gen was a great handling car. A supreme highway car, that I did a lot of long distance runs in, at speeds the constabulary would not approved of.
I had two of the 1st gen SHOs and would have kept buying them if they kept making them. I was horrified by its replacement. Ugly, with gratuitous ovals everywhere. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, of course, but...no.
The V8 wasn't enough to get past its looks, eh? It wasn't enough for a lot of people...
The Yamaha V6 in those first two generations was a work of art. I would love to put one in an S1 Lotus Esprit and making it visible through the rear glass so I can smile at it every time I walk past. Probably will never happen, but it's nice to dream.
We'll never see its like again in this era of plastic engine covers.
Damn, it was a gorgeous engine. Moved great and sounded great too. Incredible to think you could pop into your local dealer back then and snag one of those. With a 5 speed manual yet. Who knew that those would be the good old days.
FWIW, the loss of a manual watered down the second gen SHO in many eyes. Iirc, the take rate on the manual SHO was decent to the end.
I feel privileged that I have no idea who these two arguing rappers are. Does one have better rhymes than the other? (that was rhetorical, I really don’t care)
At least the rappers of old would actually shoot at each other to settle their arguments. Seems like this new breed of rapper is rather soft. Money corrupts everything, I guess.
The way the idiots always hold the guns, with the clip perpendicular to the ground, it’s a wonder that any shots got off without the gun jamming.
Thankfully that didn’t happen in many cases! 😂😂
>clip perpendicular to the ground
if theyre holding the gun such that the magazine is perpendicular to the ground then theyre holding the gun correctly
I’ve been watching a lot of gun videos on YouTube recently. Considering I can’t buy one they really are fascinating to me.
im in the same boat. what gets me is just how hard it is to design what could be considered a good gun. it has to be economical to produce while being entirely mechanical and yet simple enough to tolerate a degree of dirt end debris while being able to be disassembled in the field with limited if any tools. on top of all that it has to be reliable enough to depend on it with ones own life.
if youve not already, you should check out forgotten weapons. incredible historical background and (i think) an engineering bent to his reviews.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb6C9ASylmQ
Praise Gun Jesus
I too recommend Gun Jesus if you like nerding out to machines that spit copper and lead.
The very best pistol I ever had/shot was my 1942 9MM Parabellum "Luger", a WWII battle field pickup by my high school girlfriend's dad who was a forward intelligence officer, he picked it up and brought it home when he mustered out in 1947, never touched at again, was as close to new as could be when I got it, even still had 1942 dated ammunition .
Wherever your index finger pointed the bullet went with amazing accuracy .
I'm not much good with hand guns, rifles are my thing but _damn_ that was a sweet thing, well made and *perfect* in every way .
IMO firearms training should be part of every American child's basic early public education ~ firearms are just tools, albeit dangerous ones .
-Nate
I’ve been watching Forgotten Weapons, Old English, the Royal Armouries guy, Warrior Poet and a few others.
When we annex you, you will be able to buy guns again.
hooray
freedom and a dollar thats actually worth something
Yes but I’ll be living in the same country as Jack, so no deal.
Can you guys get shotguns or anything? Dont rich british people like to go dove hunting with their range rovers?
Yes, I believe farmers/groundskeepers can have a shot gun licence of some sort. General public no. Even the regular police officers are not armed.
If I could only proofread before posting!
The demographic to which I refer holds the gun to the side, in order to be all “gangsta!”
Here are the current totals from the honor students in Chicago. They are only shooting at 25%. Seems like Gaza would be a safer place to be.
Year to date shot and killed: 49
Shot and wounded: 145
Total shot: 194
Total homicides: 56
strictly doctors and engineers forced to defend themselves as a last resort i presume
If doctors and engineers defended themselves, they would go to jail.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzILu6yyA20
this was made by and for old guys convincing themselves they could do that
i get it
Vigilante flicks are my jam
I loved almost every Bruce Willis picture I've ever seen .
Reality however, is never nice and tidy like those fun movies .
-Nate
It's not Christmas until the top of the Nakatomi bldg. blows up.
Self defense shootings by Chicago citizens are only at 1 killed and 2 wounded. Police shootings are at 2 killed and 1 wounded.
The self defense killing was by a garbage man doing his job at 5am when 2 thugs tried to rob him. The other thug was wounded. Who the hell tries to rob a garbage man at 5am?
usual suspects probably
Very much so Sir .
-Nate
Morons/scum that's who. The pertinent question is why did the garbage man not load the bodies into the truck and continue on?
The poor garbage man was physically uninjured but mentally traumatized so he was admitted to a hospital.
(Shoots intruder)
Bad guy: “aren’t you going to call the cops
Homeowner: “anyone know you’re here?”
BG: “No”
Homeowner: “No”
"this is starting to look like a single testimony case"
Trick question. His phone knows.
Me going to the local ace to pickup up 10 lbs of lye.
"Would you like to use your member card today?"
"Nope"
Cash or credit?
Cash
And one more double-tap for good measure!
Great website for that info:
https://heyjackass.com/home/
That’s my source.
I particularly like how the Chicago flag looks like four gunshot wounds here.
https://heyjackass.com/2025-shot-placement/
One of my favorite range stories happened 15+ years ago. There is a state park area a half hour or so west of Portland that has a quarry area which is a popular target shooting destination. Proximity to Portland can make it an odd crowd mix though. One Saturday our crew of nerdy rednecks backs our trucks into spots next to a couple of guys looking like they are auditioning for a hip-hop video. Both are shooting 9mm pistols gagnsta style. Behind them are a pair of slammed Civics with an unimpressed looking couple of girls lounging on the hood of one car. With a twinkle in his eye, friend R (a licensed machine gun manufacturer) sets up his new MG42 and proceeds to go through an entire 100 round belt. Whole range goes silent and the wanna be gangsta boys are wide eyed. A fun day.
very based
i also want to be his friend
Slammed CIVICS?!
How do you get wheels off of a 747 onto THOSE?!
Well, maybe ones that are the size of the ones off a Conestoga wagon, with the same sidewall height! (How do you mount up a Civic at the height of a monster truck?! 😂😂)
Surely, though, when those two started the cars, the dreck coming from their speakers overpowered the noise your weapons made!
With hearing protection in place!
Cool story!
Watch and learn.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8fstOZFJys
Studio gangsters. I watched the halftime show but couldn't understand most of it. Reading the various post-mortems in the news, including Jack's comments above, I still can't grasp whether it was supposed to be a Drake diss track, social commentary, or something else. One thing I'm sure of, it was boring.
Re: the Taurus, I have to believe that they not only be-shitted the materials and design for 2000, but also the ride and handling.
Years ago, I had to drive a tan-on-tan one to/from NYC to Boston for an old job and everything about the car (which had maybe 12k miles) felt like a worn out sneaker. Spongy. Flabby. Somehow both too soft yet hard-soled in all its moves. It felt like it could lose a few pounds everywhere but still never felt roomy.
To put it another way, I WILLINGLY gave up the car for Amtrak.
Eventually, I was in a W-body Grand Prix, which - despite its "Here, Camaro - hold my beer" outward visibility, below-Mattel-grade plastics, and bottom-of-a-bucket driving position - felt like a 5-series by comparison.
In the early 2000s I got so tired flabby Taurus rental cars that I started taking anything else they had which usually ended up being a four cylinder Dodge Stratus.
I always thought that generation of Sable looked better than the Taurus BECAUSE OF the more conventional rear glass and the bar taillights. It looked "Advanced" rather than "Weird."
Then you'd have really dug the Australian 1997 Taurus, which was the Ford nose on a Mercury! Ya see, the Sable was cheaper to make, so in a market where people didn't expect the Taurus to have six windows they just used the Sable body.
I was on the Kendrick side of the beef before the halftime show, and I was looking forward to the show to see the latest salvo. I was unimpressed. Maybe it was the lousy TV I was watching, but it was all mumbly mumbly to my ears.
A 25-year-old watching with me said all Kendrick's songs were about how tough it is to live in today's America. To which I said, Kendrick telling us all about how bad it is to live in the country where he's made millions of dollars is somewhat disingenuous. Then I explained what that word meant. Good times.
I think it was technically challenging to pull off compared to a traditional stage set, and the audio suffered as a result. Kendrick could have mimed the lyrics but he chose not to, which i respect.
I, a 43y/o white guy, was unimpressed. I watched it with, amongst others, a black guy and his teenage son, and they were also unimpressed.
Incidentally, teenaged son is a champion HS wrestler. His dad was telling me he was getting up to be at practice at 6AM the next day, then full day of school, then practice after school, then wrestling camp at night. Goddamn kid, good for you. Also, never seen anyone put away chicken wings and veggies like this kid, plate after plate. Not an ounce of fat on him.
I just bought a 1994 Mercury Tracer wagon for one of my kids to wear out, as his $300 Civic is is imminent danger of losing its brake lines. On the plus side, we got 20k miles out of that 1991 Civic in 2 years. Good car.
I would love to upgrade that Tracer to a Taurus or Sable wagon when the time is right. If it were Rose Mist, my joy would be total.
I can easily get nostalgic about Mercury Tracers. They were lovely cars.
Weren’t they based on the Mazda 323?
The 80s Mercury Tracer and 323 were the same cars. In the 90s they were related.
Thanx for the insight .
For those who actually _want_ one, schlepp on down to the donated cars auction place, loads of garage kept ones with low mileage get sold for scrap value to junkyards....
Nice paint, no dents / rust etc. .
I love buying from junkyards / charity auctions because the vehicles are usually in good shape apart from the -one- glaring fault that sent them there, engine, tranny or whatever .
-Nate
They were nice cars. I had a maroon, 1988 Tracer wagon that was fun to drive, zero problems and hauled a lot of stuff.
I bought it from the Ford B-Lot (executive lease turn ins) for $5k with 5,000 miles on it.
Those were the days my friends.
The only downside to being on the Conservative side of the aisle is having to deal with the small minority of old school racist mouthbreathers, the "We the People" midwits, and the reflexive dismissal of vast pools of creative expression, especially rap music. It's like how if you love domestic autos and muscle cars, you have to formulate an apologetic for the Corvette guys, who, let's face it, are an embarrassment to us all. Now, hold on a second--I find most of rap to be lyrically uninspiring, and I enjoy it even less as a performance spectacle, because it lacks the livewire energy and magic you can only achieve with a group of musicians listening to each other, but the Kendrick v Drake beef brought out some truly excellent wordplay and rhymes from both sides. Kendrick's takedown the third verse of Not Like Us is a devastatingly concise killshot, and I think all writers or those with aspirations to be writers can learn from rappers at the top of their craft.
It is worth noting that Kendrick won a Pulitzer for Damn, in no small part because of the skill of his wordplay.
my problem with old school racists is that theyre barely racist at all
its just old dudes who dont like being around black dudes at night at the worst
Sort of Speed ~ because of how I look / dress / etc. I'm constantly approached by mouth breathers who's first or second word is always "!NIGGER! " .
In the main racists are anxious / afraid at heart and not intelligent enough to see they're being played hard by the 1% .
-Nate
I would rather listen to Polka while having root canal than rap.
HEY ! what's wrong with well played Polka music ?! .
-Nate
I hear ya. Side note-What’s it like out there if you want to form a polka band?
Point is I hesitate to make ignorance a virtue, or congratulate myself for the same.
The best polka song of all time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h-a9cvsbMM
I do not rate Drake and Lamar but I think Eminem will be studied in schools along with Shakespeare in years to come.
I saw a rando Youtube video recently where the presenter reckoned that the C6 Z06 with equivalent modern tires would be dangerously close to the lap time of the C8 Z06 and I can't say that I entirely disagree. The C8 is packing the equivalent of two Rosie O’Donnell's before the driver gets behind the wheel. I can't imagine driving a C6 with that much cargo around a race track.
The C6 Z06 would have been a great Porsche... by which i mean they would have run it five to ten more years and really perfected it. I love those cars.
what were some of the bigger problems that needed refinement?
The seats, the interior aesthetics, and the LS7's reputation for blowing up at the track.
If I bought a C6 and drove it like I drive my CX-9, would the LS7 still blow up on me someday?
If you drive any car hard they all will eventually "blow up" if you don't have an adequate maintenance regimen. With the LS 7 that includes having the cylinder heads 'fixed' before the big one hits.
GM doesn’t do “perfecting” - they do quarter ass attempts quickly followed by massive cost cutting or cancellation of the model.
Okay Scott ;
You asked for it : now imagine being squeezed into a corvette with lizzo riding shotgun .
Ha ! you guys sandbagged me about her, my eyes still hurt .
-Nate
Second mention of the "CAR" book in a week. Haven't thought of it in years. If I recall, Ford was open with the author to start, but before the book was finished they cut off her access. I wrote an MBA thesis about FOMOCO marketing in 1983 and was always fascinated by the company. Fortunately I was saved from an automotive career, decided on typographical communication instead.
Looking back that was smart. We are in a golden age of fonts!
I mentioned it to someone earlier this week, wonder if you saw my mention?
The other good one is Brock Yates’ The Critical Path after the 2G Chrysler minivan.
It was a footnote comment to an article about the 1996 Taurus at curbside classic.com. Did read one of Mr. Yates' books.
That was an incredibly fine vehicle. When the 96 Minivans came out, they were just better than any of the competitors in every way. I’d add it to any top 10, if not top 5, best cars of the 20th century list. The Chrysler/AMC guys were firing on all cylinders through the mid 90s. Just one great car after another.
That book was pretty cool, but I never finished it. I’ll need to go look again, but I bet it’s about when they cut off her access. And I worked at Ford for a summer! Well sort of, it was this cool program for MBAs and barely felt like work. I didn’t take the full time offer - my fiancé refuses to move to Detroit. But I should have gone anyway. Like definitely! Haha. But so wild on Car. I never really looked into the back story. I just started reading it one day.
And while I was at Ford, the first 500 prototype was finished and I tagged along on the senior executive presentation and drive. There were definitely some Deja vu feeling moments, as if they just use the same speech for every new car. But also some concerning moments. I’d swear the car had Bilsteins and the front suspension pieces looked a lot like an e46 bmw. Because that car was awesome!
And it was all fake. Like the interior was molded and had the shape of everything but nothing worked. Like the fake dash and door panels on the cars you assemble with that awesome smelling glue which I’m was banned around the end of those Honda 3 wheeler deals. Haha. But it also meant the prototype was light. At least it felt light. Even with us in it. And no one wanted to hear my questions… hahaha. like dude stop, we just need to get this box checked.
I don’t really work too well in those environments, so it’s probably a good thing I got married instead although that wasn’t much different. But Ford was so huge and decentralized that I probably could developed a new model before anyone really noticed. I mean not really…. But it was fun to dream about while sitting through boring production meetings that made zero sense. And I was super banned from saying anything in those meetings too! Haha. What a summer.
What other books are like Car? With insider access to the car industry by an outsider?
Fascinating stuff. I had one job at a Fortune 500 company. Sat in meeting after endless meeting. Eventually started my own business and even then I still had to keep my mouth shut -- "the customer is always right". Most books like this are after the fact -- like Iacocca's famous biography.
“The GL is $289/month and the LX, which has the equipment you say you really want… is $520/month.”
But then again, the GL will still be running long after those schmancy Duratecs have lunched the valves.
2-valve Vulcan 4 lyfe!!!
DOHC 4 VALVE
IDK BRO SOUNDS KINDA GAY
still thats a pretty big spread in price between those two cars
It's true, you couldn't kill a 3.0 Vulcan!
It must have been a very logically made engine.
The 3.8 Essex, by contrast, liked to mind-meld its head gaskets.
A good 4 square sales person could have made that LX look like a better deal.
“Steve, what do I have to do to put you in this new Taurus today?”
Me: “start by subtracting $20k from the MSRP”