here's something really sweet: a repainted 1987 marinoni from the cycling art blog.
wicked frame, and just how i like 'em--the lugs, the seatstay caps, the
dropouts and everything are just perfect. too bad they don't make
these anymore. there are lots of good lugged frames out there, but the
marinonis were always one of the best values in classic racing frames.
those were good days when nice lugged frames were serious racing
equipment and not strictly almost always objets d'art for the 1%.
and here it is built up and ready to ride.
sweet freakin' jesus, things are a bit tense over at the saab fanboy wanksite
saabsunited;
i've been checking in there for a little while looking for any news
about the status of the saab company. the saabsunited folks are quite
cheezed off that general motors (generous motors; goverment motors) will
not let saab be bought out or invested or something something something
enough to keep it operating--or start it operating again--with the gm
cars and technology until they get some other products into the market.
now, that could be many years, so gm is worried about the chinese
stealing their shit. except, they can't be worried about that. the
saab 9-3 is 10 years old, so who cares if the chinese steal it. the new
generation 9-5 was designed almost a decade ago as well and went into
production after all the gm equivalents except the cadillac xts, which
is seriously ugly and tacky-looking compared to the 9-5 and buick
lacrosse.
no, what i think gm is worried about is saab being able to interfere
with the gm plan to make buick into saab in north america. with the
regal and lacrosse, buick could be close to getting performance/luxury
front drive turbocharged cars right. the regal with the new turbo is a
great start; a lacrosse with that high-output 4-cylinder turbo engine
along with a proper manual transmission, all-wheel drive and sport
suspension would be a sick piece of euro crap from right here in
america. gm wants to sell buicks as the new saab and is not at all
interested in having actual saabs out there at all. it's a weird play
considering how badly they fucked up the plan with pontiac and the
g8.
gm was one rear-wheel-drive 3-series killer away from making pontiac
the most interesting american car brand ever, so i can't believe they'll
get this plan right either. if they couldn't see how the g8 could take
bloody chunks from the 5-series bmw along with the need for a smaller,
3-series-like all new g6, well, they're fucking morons.
the nascent occupy moscow movement is probably gonna make the average occupy movement beating in the united states look like a frat party.
the run-of-the-mill wuss is not gonna cut it in on the streets in
russia. that half-pint stalin is not known for playing nice.
to clean up all the
santorum after this
circle jerk.
i'm sure jerry sandusky would like to help pick the kids for newt and trump's twisted indentured servitude.
too bad,
but saab is gone for good now and volvo will be chinese-made soon
enough. watching all the bullshit this year, it is clear that general
motors and the government of sweden wanted saab to go away. that's sad,
because saab always made interesting cars, better than volvo and not at
all like the vile the german staff cars. a generation ago, sweden had
an automobile industry, and today they are not able to retain any of
it. while cars are rather silly, antiquated appliances, the inability
to keep industry and good jobs does not bode well for the future. when a
country the size of sweden had two viable car companies, the future of
the european middle class was more hopeful than it is now. the united
states made a decision to keep its auto industry because the alternative
was much worse; in sweden, saab is responsible for only 15,000 or so
direct and indirect jobs, but where will they come from now?
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