@Lost in the age of Aerostar: Pic #10 was taken in downtown pontiac on Saginaw street. I saw those signs last weekend and wondered what the hell they were for. Now I know.

When I lived in NY I had an old Civic that was born and raised there (Queens baby!) and a typical scraped to hell NYC bumper. If it had been a new car, I might have invested in one of these, but I would never have owned a new car in NYC. EVER. My car got hit, bumped, towed, broken into, slept in by homeless guys and…

@SalisburyAlthaemenes: I was just about to write that, beat me to it!

@stephdumas: I guess its all relative. And believe me, there are neighborhoods around here that have less soul than the Grosse Pointes, its just the general attitude of the people there that is tough for me to handle (my apologies to any one from GP here!)

@jjkroll32: I was in that very spot this weekend, too bad I missed it.

@stephdumas: Soooo, the parts where the white people live then? The Grosse Pointes are just a pretty face, no soul. After a quick visit you'll spend a week trying to get the old money stink out of your hair. Most of the the burbs north of 8 mile are about as exciting as a Hyundai Accent (with a few exceptions). …

@Flagrant German Fanboy: umm, he probably spelled it "cheboygan" because its spelled "cheboygan." The one that starts with an "S" is in Wisconsin.

How hard would it be to throw the 5-speed in as the base trans option from the get-go? Automatic in a bare-bones diesel pickup = fail, even if it DOES have 6-speeds.

My first car was a '92 Saturn SL2, with all the options but the auto-box. Leather, power moon-roof, and fucking CD PLAYER! In a '92 Saturn! CD player was crap however, and so was the car. Wouldn't pay much to get that thing back, but the motorcycle I had before that? I'd probably pay 2 or 3k. It was a Chinese BMW…

By the time I actually took drivers ed it was in an early 90s Dodge Spirit, but my unofficial drivers ed was a year earlier in a '95 Chinese-market VW Santana (aka, '81 Quantum) with manual steering and a 4-speed. In that interim year I "borrowed" two 5-Speed Cherokees that belonged to friends' parents (in the middle…

'68 Mustang 289 (first car, got it when he emigrated in the early 70s and drove it w/o a license. Got stolen in a stickup while he was delivering a pizza. They took the pizza too)

'77 Firebird 305

Done and done, thanks for the heads-up!

@Derrado Stopford Winters: uhh, wouldn't 194.5ci be 3.2 liters?

A kid I went to school with got a brand new Jimmy before he even had his license so he could "practice" on it. He rolled it on an off ramp, and what did his parents do? Got him a Yukon. "You obviously can't handle a small SUV, so here's an even bigger one. Have fun."

I have a sick fascination with malaise-era boats. I almost sold my '90 Camry back in college to pursue a mint green '77 Bonneville, complete with matching crushed velvet interior. Then I went into rehab. But now, if I could have something like this as a second car? Nice price.

@jodark: Or, I don't know, free up the billions were spending in Afghanistan and Iraq?

@narf: @Floozy Plushbroom will eat 60 figs: Agreed. I was looking for one recently and was surprised at how much they were going for. And how many full size owners are gonna trade down for a Cobalt?

@Mad_Science: People with multiple cars, that's who. I have an '07 Rabbit that's lease is up next year, and a '93 Chevy 1500 with 340,000 miles on it. There practically isn't a salvageable part on that truck, and if it lasts me til next year I'll be lucky. I'll gladly trade that in for a new small car, then go buy…

@engineerd has lost the funny: That was glorious.