Harry P.

We try...

Ah, yes, childhood... Actually your story reminds me of a related, uh, "activity" we used to do. The garage of the house we lived in when I was a kid was brick... so was the garage next door, with a very narrow walkway between them. We would stick a match into a crack in the mortar somewhere on the wall of one of the garages, light that match, and then spray paint or hairspray at the lit match. Ooooh, what a cool flamethrower!!!

Fire.

Different term, same idea–selling the same basic product as two different things. When they're the same under the skin, they're the same. You can call it "platform sharing," but that doesn't change the fact that the platform (the basic guts of the thing) is shared. Or in other words... the same.

All I'm saying is, if you want the consumer to believe that your product is "special" and worth the extra $$$ you're charging for it, you have to present that product in a way that reinforces the idea. Selling your "special" Lincolns in the same room with Focuses (Focii?) and Fusions doesn't exactly work to reinforce your marketing strategy.

Maybe I'm way off base here, but to me, if you want to sell the consumer the idea that your car brand is "special" and worthy of a price premium, you need to make the whole buying experience special and with an air of exclusivity. If I can buy a Lincoln from the same store that sells a Focus, the "specialness" of the Lincoln brand is lost.

Didn't we learn anything from GM and their scheme of badge engineering that cost Olds and Pontiac their lives?

Well, if that's the case, why now this attempt to push Lincoln as a standalone luxury brand? A "luxury" automobile that doesn't have its own dealer network??? Obviously Ford, like so many others, is counting on the collective stupidity/gullibility of the typical American consumer to sell them a load of crap.

Not car show related, but... "I need some cash, I'm going to the ATM machine"... and when I get there, I'll type in my PIN number...

Well, if that's the case, that's completely stupid, and totally goes against the idea that Lincoln is its own brand, an idea they are trying to get consumers to buy into, with their new "Lincoln Motor Company" name. Stupid, stupid, stupid corporate decisions being made. I swear, I wonder sometimes how auto company bigshots ever got to the position they hold.

Count yourself among them.

That has to be the most subtle two-tone paint scheme ever. I don't see any difference between the roof and body.

Charlie, you seem to have this very well thought out. I agree with pretty much everything you said, especially the idea that a "luxury" brand, as Lincoln is obviously trying to position itself as, shouldn't be building 4-cylinder cars. If you want a 4, you can find it down the block at your friendly neighborhood Ford dealer... they should not be sitting in a Lincoln showroom. Trying to be all things to all people doesn't mesh with trying to be an exclusive "luxury" brand. I think they need to return to the mindset they had in the '50s, when a Lincoln truly was something special, and not just a Ford with more chrome. Why don't the big brains at Ford think that way?

This is like watching a full-scale car being built. Amazing.

A better look at the scratchbuilt turnbuckles: And the finished ladder carriage...

Did they ever finish that tunnel project they've been working in for decades?

I don't think they're fooling a lot of people by selling tarted-up Fords at luxury prices. If I was in charge I'd stay away from SUVs and keep Lincoln strictly a luxury car brand. What they need to do is offer a unique model or two... something you can't buy for thousands less at any Ford dealer, but something that's unique to Lincoln. My first suggestion would be a luxury sedan to compete with the Chrysler 300.

Like the title says...

Isn't a big part of the traffic mess in Boston the fact that the city was laid out several centuries ago? Lots of weird angled and crisscrossing streets that were ok when horses and oxcarts were the only traffic... not so good for thousands of cars, trucks, and buses.

The easiest way to do it is to cut away the whole lower windshield molding, including the wipers. Scribe along the lower molding with the back side of an X-acto blade until you can just sort of snap off the molding. The wipers will most likely overlap the molding–if so, no problem... just remove the parts of the molding on either side of the wipers. Then cut or grind the wipers away, then carefully cut away what's left of the existing cowl grille. Replace the grille with a section of v-groove styrene sheet cut to fit the space of the old grille... http://www.google.com/#q=HO+scale+evergreen+v+groove+styrene&safe=off&tbm=shop and then replace the missing lower windshield molding with strips of Evergreen styrene strip. Use liquid glue to do all the reconstruction. Much easier to cut away the unwanted details and replace what's missing with new stock than to try and remove the wipers and then rescribe the windshield trim and cowl grille back. You'll never get it to look clean and crisp that way unless you have some sort of superhuman skills.

I've seen pictures of Washington on the news. They estimate 200-300 homes destroyed.

Well, you can't really call Robert Plant a Zeppelin "cover band!" I mean, he was sort of in the band! I knew he collaborated with Alison Krauss, and I know she's a country/bluegrass sort of artist, so I'm not surprised that their version of "Black Dog" is a little, um... different than the original! Not a fan, though. Points to Plant for branching out and trying new things, but to me he will always be the voice of Zeppelin, not some sort of English bluegrass guy!

The one that caused the most damage in Illinois was in Washington (a suburb of Peoria). I heard today it was classified as an EF4, winds estimated at 190 MPH!

Nice added details!

Bill's advice to learn the basics is good... but even learning the basics of engines and how they work won't necessarily give you the information you need to detail a specific make/model, as different engines are plumbed/wired very differently. If you're only interested in where the wires and hoses go, and not necessarily why they go where they go, a google image search for the specific vehicle you want to detail should get you enough images. Then just look at the photos and recreate what you see. You say that google searches haven't worked? Try rewording your search criteria. Sometimes a simple rewording gets you very different results. For example, if you type in "Ford LN800" and you don't get what you need, try "LN800 engine" instead, or try "1979 LN800 engine," etc. Keep wording the search request a bit differently until you find what you need.