[tsa]

Originally Posted by Sage

Well, there's certainly a lot more driver skill involved. Any fool can look good zipping around a road course in a light, responsive sports car, but it takes a REAL DRIVER to go around a road course at anything faster than a walking pace in a huge American sedan like this-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eA3gFHM5TI

What a brilliant vidoe! I bet I can do that almost twice as fast in my car with my driving skills. And I hate cornering.

Originally Posted by Sage

I love old Lincolns, but I'll be the first to admit that they suffer from (if not actually revel in) flaccid shocks, bare minimum roll control, and slow, numb, and wildly over-boosted steering. The guy driving the car in that video has to be spinning the steering wheel like mad to keep from knocking down every cone on that course... although he's probably able to do so with only the index and middle fingers of one hand.

He's an awesome driver, that's for sure.

Originally Posted by Sage

Yeah, that comes from our fascination with drag racing, the automotive manifestation of two typically American attitudes that are applied to everything here:
1. "If some is good, more is better, and a lot more is a lot better".
2. "The best way to get anywhere is in a straight line with no deviation and as quickly as possible".

You have to be careful with that sometimes. I just found out Bush, Cheney AND Rumsfeld still haven't learned that.

[tsa]

Some brilliant cornering in a rally.

[tsa]

I just read that Saab has a debt of several million Kronor to the Swedish government. I guess the only positive thing you can say about the takeover of Saab by Victor Muller is that Saab's employees have had more time to find other jobs... It's just a matter of time before Saab Automobile disappears and Mr. Muller blames everyone but himself for that. What an utter disaster for Trollhättan and surroundings!

[Jelena]

There's some talk about the Russian businessman Vladimir Antonov, who might get involved with money. But I don't know whether it will help. It's sad, really.

[tsa]

Yes, they are planning to sell the factory buildings to him and then lease them back. But I guess that must be OK'd by the Swedish government because they want to see money from Mr. Muller, as do many other parties.

[Sage]

Originally Posted by Jelena

There's some talk about the Russian businessman Vladimir Antonov, who might get involved with money. But I don't know whether it will help. It's sad, really.

Is Vladimir Antonov a relative of the aircraft-building Antonovs?

[tsa]

That was never mentioned in the papers, so I guess no.

The Swedish government is now playing with the much better idea of selling Saab to Volvo. The Chinese are much more credit-worthy and reliable than Mr. Antonov and Mr. Muller, and they know about making and selling cars. Volvo then suddenly has an extra capacity for around 100000 cars a year in Europe which is very handy for them.

[tsa]

The Ford Model T - a brilliant piece of engineering.

[tsa]

Last week I went to a car museum. They had some very nice cars there. Here are some pictures I took of them (with my phone ):

[Jelena]

I like the red one best.

[tsa]

That is a Cadillac Eldorado. I love these cars. They are the epitome of the extreme car designs in the 1950s in America.

[tsa]

Today I was in The Gallery, which is basically a second hand car shop where they sell expensive second hand cars. It was lots of fun! There were a few special cars (or I am not enough of a car nut to recognize all the special cars), and all cars were perfectly restored or preserved. There were even a few that I can afford, but I am still very happy with my cabrio, so I'll keep that one for a while.

[Fantasysci5]

Pictures were from quite awhile ago, but that swan one is amazing! I though I was looking into a fairytale there for a minute.

[tsa]

Yes, that swan was brilliant. It was built for a very rich person who used it to drive around in his garden in India or Indonesia (I forget which), in the 1920s. Later he had a small one built for his son. That one was also displayed.

[Jelena]

We've sold our yellow Seat Cordoba. I miss my yellow car.

[tsa]

Awww again! What bad news. Did the poor little car get a good new boss?

[Jelena]

Originally Posted by tsa

Awww again! What bad news. Did the poor little car get a good new boss?

It turned out to be a co-worker of my son who bought the car. She'll take good care of it.

[tsa]

Wow, suddenly Saab seems to be on the edge of bankruptcy again, thanks to GM. I'm curious what Victor will think of next. He has managed to keep Saab alive for so long already that everybody is sure he has another trick up his sleeve.

[Sage]

Originally Posted by tsa

Last week I went to a car museum. They had some very nice cars there. Here are some pictures I took of them (with my phone ):

Originally Posted by Jelena

I like the red one best.

Originally Posted by tsa

That is a Cadillac Eldorado. I love these cars. They are the epitome of the extreme car designs in the 1950s in America.

It is indeed a '59 Cadillac, but it is a Series 62, not an Eldorado. Eldorados had much more chrome on the side of the body and in a different configuration than Series 62s.
'59 Eldorado-


Personally, I'm partial to the gold '57, '58, or '59 (I cant see enough of it to tell exactly which year it is) Imperial to the left of the red Cadillac.

[tsa]

It's so amazing that people used to find these cars normal back then. We in Europe were making those tiny, flimsy, horrible and very economic cars while in the States they did the exact opposite.