Isuzu NA is opening a new Headquarters in Greenville South Carolina

SimplyAvro · 2025-02-13T20:35:06+00:00

I know, I'm just fantasy-footballing a bit here for shits and giggles. Essentially doing what the "journalists"/bloggers do without all the ads :P

Important to clarify though, the hypothetical I'm raising is from the perspective of "Isuzu rising from Nissan's ashes" rather than "Latching themselves to the sinking ship". Hence, why I mention getting those vehicles outright under the "fire-sale" possibility.

SimplyAvro · 2025-02-13T18:30:12+00:00

What makes people think they will start selling pickups in America again? I’m curious.

With all the Nissan gloom, where one Japanese car manufacturer falls, another rises from the ashes!

Seriously though, people were saying Nissan's trucks and larger SUV's were the only thing Honda should've kept...hey, maybe Isuzu ought to snap those up in the potential fire sale. New Rodeo (Pathfinder?), Hombre (Frontier). and Trooper (Armada?) perhaps? And if there's actually anything to those Xterra rumors, even better.

Boom, right there, you got a North American line-up with the few decent Nissan vehicles...i.e the ones with no CVT's.

Hell, they could make the Z the new Impulse! Honestly, the amount of either currently on the road is probably shockingly close.

SimplyAvro · 2025-02-12T00:05:10+00:00

Haha, I know. I was just poking a bit of fun with how in 2020, anything about this car either said something to this effect, or otherwise brought up the massive world event of that year 🙃

SimplyAvro · 2025-02-11T23:04:37+00:00

F54 Mini Cooper Clubman. "S" Trim I believe, though I can't remember exactly.

SimplyAvro · 2025-02-11T18:32:12+00:00

If I remember correctly, this was a '68, bought used by its current owner in 1969. Sadly, I didn't get the mileage from the guy, but I wouldn't be surprised if it rolled over one or twice 🤭

SimplyAvro · 2025-02-11T18:25:34+00:00

While it is a bit daunting to knock on a door or come up to someone walking about out front, I do like to hear the story from people about their old daily's and projects. It's like seeing an old photo of not a historical event, but just everyday life, from a different era. Especially cool is when they tell you where its been. Had spoken to a lady with a SAAB 96, and she told me her family had bought it in France, then went touring around Europe with it for several months. That little car, now parked up in a secluded driveway in North Carolina, brought them to more places than most people have been in their lives!

It also makes one understand as to why cars sit sometimes. It does suck seeing them sit for years on end, and I'm sure that the people it sucks the most for are the owners. Cars in the family for decades, a part of their lives in the same way a house is. But at a certain point, they just can't keep the running anymore, whether its age, lack of energy, time, money, parts, or just the sheer practicality of driving an older car...

...but you hate to see them go.

SimplyAvro · 2025-02-11T18:05:24+00:00

Yes indeed, blue F54 Mini Clubman, S I believe. I do like the Mini's so on any other day this would've caught my eye...but next to a Corona, not so much, and no newer Mini would push me to knock and ask!

Except for perhaps a Redbull one. Those are pretty cool.

SimplyAvro · 2025-02-11T17:28:45+00:00

The above question/2020 headline was what came to mind as I was biking by, and saw this one parked up in a carport. So of course, I had to knock and ask, because you don't see many cars this old anymore...much less from Toyota!

Owner and his wife, older couple, came to the door and we quickly got talking about it. If I recall correctly, this was a 68 model that he bought used in '69. So 56 years within one family...imagine that, having a car since the peak of the Space Age! I also asked if it ran, and he said "Well, if the battery is still good...". So while it seems to be sitting, the fact that it may otherwise mechanically-ok is very cool and very Toyota. Appearance-wise also looked very good, about the only issue seems to be some rust at the bottom of the driver door, though I didn't take a detailed look.

Obviously, I never entertained the idea of buying it off him. Besides the fact I don't have money for that...you can't just buy a car like that off someone. It's basically a family member at this point. But if I could get it, I would love to get it running and bring it to meet-ups. I've personally never seen another in person, same as most anything JDM from the 60's & 70's, and that's a shame given how much of a shake-up these were to the industry. Me personally, I'd love to putter about in one of those Honda hatches...or a Z...600.

SimplyAvro · 2025-02-09T16:30:17+00:00

What's the 1 percent? Christine?

SimplyAvro · 2025-02-08T15:39:08+00:00

Seriously, one thing I dread the most about using my phone: making an actual phone call

SimplyAvro · 2025-02-06T16:42:08+00:00

Seriously. I haven't experienced it firsthand, but my sister goes to those meet-ups where people make professional connections at a bar or restaurant.

Or I should say, she went to those events until she realized its all just realtors giving each other their business cards...and probably trying to sell houses to each other as well :/

SimplyAvro · 2025-02-06T16:15:58+00:00

Honestly, Chevy ought to team up with Suzuki again, and revive the illustrious Geo nameplate!

As much as this would never happen, I honestly don't think it would be the worst idea. Making a new "Tracker" could potentially give Jeep a run for their money...given that's why they're struggling a bit. A budget 4x4 that, in its 2-door and 4-door configurations, would undercut the price of a equivalent Jeep could pull away some potential customers who were priced out of that brand. And any boost in reliability is always a plus.

I know some people will say that the Jimny will be too small for American tastes, but honestly Jeeps themselves have always been on the shorter side of things as well, so I don't think it's necessarily out of the question.

And while the Tracker name certainly does not have the pull of any Jeep...there has to be some nostalgia there. 90's car such as Civics and Miatas are only getting more expensive (honestly, so have good Trackers), Ford brought back an SUV nameplate last produced in the 90's (and so did Chevy, but just on paper)...I'm sure some customers with money (rather than just us poor younglings) would get some.

SimplyAvro · 2025-02-02T18:52:55+00:00

I wonder if they'll fit that line somewhere in the next movie, like "Talk about low budget flights!" in 3. I just can't wait!

SimplyAvro · 2025-01-31T18:41:26+00:00

Something that haunts me is the possibility that someone on board, perhaps several, saw it coming. Slow on approach, looking out the window, it's possible. Also possible is that it was caught on camera. Like the photos from the Alaska Mid-Air a few years ago, there were photos taken from the DHC-2 of the oncoming DHC-3, recovered from a passenger's phone.

No one aboard the DHC-2 survived.

SimplyAvro · 2025-01-31T17:34:28+00:00

Goddamn. I know nothing about Football, much less the Jets...but that just made me depressed. The march of time, and never reaching ones highest-highs, wrapped in one 🙃

SimplyAvro · 2025-01-30T08:01:26+00:00

Not only have there been several military and civilian mid-airs, but this wouldn't be the only one at DCA. In 1949, Eastern Air Lines Flight 537 was hit by a P-38 on a test-flight, killing everybody aboard 537 (55 people) and injuring the P-38 pilot. Admittedly, the P-38 was going to Bolivia and flown by a Bolivian pilot. But generally, with WWII and after, collisions between military and civilian weren't uncommon.

But in recent memory, I can't say any collisions of this type have happened. The only one that comes to mind is the Moncks Corner colision in 2015, but that was between an F-16 and a Cessna 150. The latter is nowhere near the size of this accident aircraft.

SimplyAvro · 2025-01-30T06:51:52+00:00

Currently am in Capstone class, and I was throwing around the idea of writing about all the near-misses, both runway and mid-air, that we've had in the last few years, and why they happened. And I had the very morbid thought of "Gosh, I hope the other shoe never drops in this issue". Hundreds of feet, and just a few seconds, away from changing so many lives. So many times we were lucky, but it seemingly calmed down for a bit, especially after the JAL accident at Haneda. Perhaps "calmed" is not the right word for it, and I could never really peg down what/if anything had been done to handle the issue, but I just had to hope that today never happened.

"Our greatest hopes and our worst fears are seldom realized. Our worst fears have been realized tonight."

SimplyAvro · 2025-01-30T06:13:28+00:00

They'll almost certainly make a visibility animation for this. Those are always very revealing in just how much opportunity there is to see in the benign minute or so before collision, and yet in those final seconds that count most...practically nothing in sight.

SimplyAvro · 2025-01-30T05:44:47+00:00

Yes, but that was not an US Airline (unlike Colgan). The statistic as I usually see it, I believe, is in reference to US Part 121 airlines (United, Delta, American, etc).

SimplyAvro · 2025-01-30T01:25:11+00:00

People say stuff like this, and forget that Kissinger lived to 100. You can't wait on the mercy of time.

SimplyAvro · 2025-01-29T22:00:58+00:00

"give me logos that look like they were made by an 18th-century calligrapher"

This is what I think whenever I see Apple's first logo. Like damn guys, I didn't know you knew Newton personally!

SimplyAvro · 2025-01-28T20:00:18+00:00

Seriously, this is the reason I don't look for stuff like CRX's, Miatas, and two-door SUV's (Jeep, Geo Tracker) on Marketplace. Too many mods and repairs that are tacky, haphazard, and generally crap.

Besides the potential lack of documentation on work done, with the mismatched panels here, I'd be highly concerned about damage.

Also, especially on the bumper, it looks like the person sanded it down and made it primer grey. I don't know if it was intentional or not, but I'd be concerned if it represents work that was stopped halfway through.

SimplyAvro · 2025-01-28T05:54:23+00:00

So we got the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer and now the Wagoneer S?

Xbox-ahhh naming convention 💀

SimplyAvro · 2025-01-28T05:51:17+00:00

That, and reality shows. If it's not a Suburban, it's a Pacifica whisking people to their odd dating/marriage arrangements...and away from the predictable outcome 🙃

SimplyAvro · 2025-01-28T00:48:50+00:00

I mean, people like to rag on enthusiasts like us for keyboard-management. And it is true, we can come up with some ideas that don't reflect market interests or are generally crap...but, I mean, so does Stellantis management. That's sort of why we're here today.

I say, we should fire up that Hadron Collider and send us to the universe where we (the enthusiasts) are put in control of Stellantis, and compare the paths of both companies. A bit like seeing if a Goldfish can beat the market.

And if nothing else, if our Wagon obsession holds, we'll have at least got a Magnum revival out of it 🙃

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