I'm baaaaaack!!!!!!!!

You gotta remember GM was run by an accountant for a while. Pontiac and Oldsmobile lost their brand identities thanks to GM's insipid "brand engineering" phase (sell the same dang car under three or four different nameplates, or in Oldsmobile's case, slap the word "Cutlass" on everything they make since folks will buy any old piece of krapp with that name on the trunk).

Towards the end, most people couldn't tell an Aurora from an Intrigue from more than 20 paces. And a G5 was a G6 was a Cobalt was...well, you get the idea.

When competent leadership took the reins, it was clear that GM had become a bloated parody of it's former self. It was time to trim some deadwood. Pontiac, Olds, and Saturn went bye bye, as none of them had anything truly unique to offer the buying populace (the only thing we lost forever was the Saturn Sky/Pontiac Solstice, an American version of the Opel Speedster that may be returning in a few years as a new Corvair/Monza). Even the iconic GTO underpins the current Camaro and the G8 sedan is the new Chevy SS--both based on GM's Holden Monaro from Australia.

The current lineup is much more distinct than ever before. Chevrolet is the working man's value rich staple, Buick is upper middle class, Cadillac is ultimate luxury performance, GMC is commercial grade. There is always some spillover (the rip snortin, ground poundin, rootin tootin, sunuvabichin, flag wavin, almighty Cor-Gawdammed-Vette being the most noteable example), but the brand identities are much more clear now than they were before. And they're putting out some durn fine product.

It's just a shame that Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and Saturn had to be sacrificed on the altar of an accountant's hubris. Accountants should not be allowed to set policy at automotive manufacturers. Neither should engineers. That is the job of a savvy CEO, who should be getting input from both the car guys and the beancounters to help make decisions for the good of the company.

 

More lecturing. I got a pretty big soap box about the American car industry. We have the capability to blow everybody out of the water but we can't get our act together politically long enough to pull ahead of the pack. Meanwhile South Korea is kicking the world auto industry's collective rear end up between their methaphorical shoulders.

 

Truck truck truckin trucker breaker breaker clutch shift shift truck stop coffee sleeper. Dispatchers evil, DOT bad, shippers receivers brokers bad evil. Hot chicks, payday, home time.

Diesel.

(That oughtta put us back on the trucking topic!)

 

No, Zoomie did not make it out of Kentucky.

I was about to make it out of Kentucky. I was exiting my parking space (had to back out due to ice and incline).

Hopped out to G.O.A.L. due to a truck behind me.

Then some lady makes a series of really stupid decisions that result in the back of her trailer embedded in my front end, obliterating the driver side headlight cluster, fender, fog light, lower bumper, fender, fender mirror, hood, and possibly my front suspension.

Tow truck will be here tomorrow due to weather.

I will be out of commission for an unspecified amount of time.

I have fired the goat.