Uncle Buick

I was going to call this post "Would you Adam & Eve it!?" but since it is about Vauxhall's posh, American uncle and since the largest group of people who read my posts are American and don't speak Cockney, I went with "Uncle Buick."

Autoguide reported this story yesterday about how GM CEO Dan Akerson expressed his desire to add the Vauxhall/Opel Adam and Cascada to the Buick model lineup.

Buick is not a brand I know too much about - my only real memories of a Buick involve the brown Buick Century that Kojak used to drive in the 1970s:

I don't believe that Buicks were ever sold here in the UK but I do know that it is meant to be the upmarket badge for GM in The States.

Which surprises me a bit that they would want to re-badge the Adam as a Buick.  I can sort of understand the Cascada - it was seriously mooted in my earlier story on the Cascada, but the Adam is meant to be a Mini/Fiat 500 worrier.  In fact, why not sell it to the Americans as a small, funky, European car and give it a Vauxhall or Opel badge there too?

This story did prompt me to look up Buick on Wikipedia (yes, I know other, more reliable, websites are available) where I learned that Buick himself was Scottish and the cars gained "Ventiports" in 1949 which are ventilation holes in the front wings representing the engine cylinders that have little flashing lights in them to indicate the sparks - I'd like to see that on a modern car - don't know what they would do for a diesel though.


Now, if they do insist on calling a small Buick the Buick Adam, here's a tip for the marketing people:

Get a clip of Telly Savalas saying,

"Who Loves Ya, Baby?"

2000 Mercedes E320 For Sale

"If you are looking for an immaculate, well maintained example of a Mercedes e320 CDI... you have come to the wrong place."

Thanks to the BBC for  this story pointing me at this car for sale on eBay.

The car is modelled here by the seller's partner:

The car is genuinely for sale and current top bid is £155,300.00 - please check out the link above to the listing because it is very funny - including the questions and answers bit.

 

I suspect the top bid may not be a genuine buyer though - unless it is Chris Evans or someone equally rich (or idiotic) with a great sense of humour.  If that is the case, we have a car of a similar vintage in a similar condition plus a stretched timing chain that causes a permanently illuminated engine warning light - I wonder if my wife would sit on the bonnet?  Where's my camera?

Guess it's the new Twingo

I haven't been on the Auto Express site in quite a while.

They're still up to their old tricks though.

They have this picture...

...under the headline, "New Renaultsport Twingo" but then go on to say, "it is how it could look."  So, it's just a guess really - maybe an educated guess - but still a guess.

 

Others are at it too, French site ABCMoteur have this for the standard Twingo... 

 While our own Autocar have this today...

Autocar's story is headlined, "Renault Twingo 'reinvents small car'" because it is a small car with a rear engine and rear drive.  Only thing is, it has been done before...

 

...in Scotland: 

and, even more successfully, in Italy: 

 

The new Twingo, judging by these guesses (and Renault's own concepts), will be available as a five-door so that is a bit of a departure from the past and at least this does look a bit more funky like the original Twingo:

Although, maybe I thought it was quite funky then because it was never sold in Britain so it meant I was always on holiday when I saw one. 

 

The Mark II version, which is sold in Britain, is quite bland in comparison:

Guess they thought it was time for a re-think.

Wacky Races

Ah, childhood memories!

caradvice.co.au have this story today about a new Peugeot 208 commercial being shown in Brazil.

Here's the ad to enjoy...

It is enjoyable apart from the fiery deaths of The Anthill Mob and the Red Max.  Interesting to see the Anthill Mob had an Hispano Suiza as well - and Muttley actually looked quite cute at the end.

For those of you who were not car-mad children of the '70s, you may need to check out this Wiki Wacky page to learn about my favouritest ever Hanna-Barbera cartoon.





 There were only 17 episodes made, each covering two races.  My favourite car was always number 2, the Creepy Coupe driven by The Gruesome Twosome - I haven't got a clue why.

I always felt that car number 2 didn't win very often but, thanks to some sad person on the Wiki page, I now know that they won 3 races and would have come 4th overall if championship points were awarded according to 1968 F1 rules.

 The voices were mostly performed by four actors:

Paul Winchell – Dick Dastardly, Private Meekly, Clyde

Don Messick – Muttley, Gravel Slag, Little Gruesome, Prof Pat Pending

Daws Butler – Big Gruesome, Red Max, Sergeant Blast, Peter Perfect

Janet Waldo – Penelope Pitstop

and this is what they looked like:

Interesting eh?

Well I thought so.