Minneapolis Street Sightings: Oldsmobile Delta 88

For some reason, I've been seeing a lot of older GMs lately. First, it was the spree of clean Cadillacs, then I saw about 4 or 5 older Vettes (all at dealer lots unfortunately), and now for some reason, Oldsmobiles are popping up out of nowhere. I've seen a few Cutlass Supremes (A Bodys and a few Gs), and now I spotted this semi-clean Delta 88. The car had all the marks of a true daily driver: faded, but original paint, all 4 hubcaps, and seats that certainly had over 30 years of wear and tear. But, not one ounce of rust was to be found. The Delta 88 was the biggest car in Oldsmobile's lineup, and it certainly is a biggun. In the old days of huge cars, cheap gas, it was common for passenger cars to be bigger than trucks, and this huge Olds is proof. Coming it at more the 19 feet long, the Delta is longer and wider than a contemporary Suburban. Not that I mind that at all, because I certainly don't. Big cars with bigger engines rule. Even with a 190 hp Pontiac sourced 400, many performance parts can be had. With the huge Oldsmobile, however, I am worried about its fate after the current owner. Cars like the this are prime picking for demolition derby, and that's a fate worse being totaled in a wreck.

Minneapolis Street Sightings: Lincoln Continental convertible

Ah yes, the ultimate cliche sexy classic car. But it's true. The 1960s Lincoln Continental is probably the ultimate sexy classic. It is righteously though. The simple lines, and the straight forward gangster front end, combined with the simple, slab sided profile just looks correct. I do think the earlier ones with the lower, smaller headlights are a slight bit sexier than the later ones, like this one. Not that I'm complaining, because I'm not. I'm actually pretty glad this one isn't blinged yet, although I haven't honestly seen a blinged one in person yet. Who knows... I may like them. For now, though, I'll stick to a stock black Continental. I don't even care if it's a convertible or a hardtop. I just want one. Stat.

Minneapolis Street Sightings: Chevy Impala SS convertible

What a beautiful car! I did a double take, not only for the car itself, but the color combination is downright awesome. How often does one come upon Impala SS convertibles, much less stock appearing ones. The original hubcaps were there in place of the oh-so-good-looking-but-common Cragar mags, the interior was in decent shape with no rips or stains that I could see. What impressed me most about the car, though was the fact that all the badges were still in their proper places, and seem to not have been tampered with.
This particular car likely has the 250 hp 327, since from 1962 on the SS was a luxury-oriented package rather than a performance package like on the Chevy Chevelle, but that doesn't stop it from being a nice cruiser. Rather than beef it up like most guys would, I'd opt to keep it stock. Not only would I have a nice cruiser for the summer days, I'd have a car that doesn't look like every other Impala rolling around on the face of the Earth.

Minneapolis Street Sightings: Imperial Crown

While riding in the car at night, I saw what I thought was an Imperial. The next chance I got, I rode my bike over to where I remembered it to be, and sure enough, it was a good candidate for a shooting. While rare as all hell, these cars do seem to be popping out quite a bit, as I've seen a few in the northwest. This is the first one I've seen in the Midwest and man is it a find. I really like the color, and the overall condition is incredible, and not often seen on a classic in this state.
Unlike GM's Cadillac division and Fords's Lincoln division, Chrysler marketed the Imperial as a different line-up to appeal to more badge-conscious customers. This particular one is a 1961-1963 example, and boy is it ever a clean one. It's for sale, too, and at $7500, I hope someone who will treasure it buys it rather than some kid who thinks it'd look nice on giant chrome wheels and a monster sound systems.

Whoa.. It's been awhile..

Fear not, I am still alive, and chugging along just fine. As I move into August and now into September, the weather is changing, and all the classics seem to be disappearing from the streets. I will still be on the quest to find blogworthy vehicles, and post them accordingly. Once the weather really changes towards the ends of September, my job will become alot tougher, and the cars I do catch will likely be in rougher condition.
Don't worry though, because I'll still be at it, even if postings become a semi-rarity with school and all.

To all my readers, be safe this semester, and check back often. You never know what I could post!

Colin

All The President's Men

"All The President's Men" is a book-turned-movie about President Nixon and his cover-up at the Watergate hotel in Washington DC. The story follows two reporters, Carl Bernstien, and Bob Woodward working for the Washington Post, and their conquest to get the story in the news. There were more than 400 other stories about related incidents, so the two reporters shouldn't have had trouble getting sources, but no one was complying with their questions. However, an informant named 'Deep Throat', thought to be someone near the top of the government food chain, did comply. He didn't give them direct answers, but he let the reporters know they were on the right track. In 2005, 'Deep Throat' was revealed as then-FBI Associate Director W. Mark Felt.

The Watergate scandal was about Nixon illegally gaining information about the Democratic party, using tactics such as breaking into the hotel in which the party's meetings were held, and usage of wiretapping.

The movie was originally the idea of Robert Redford, who plays Bob Woodward in the movie, Redford had been following the stories of the scandal, and he'd read the book as well. He contacted the film's producer Alan J. Pakula, bought movie rights, and decided to go forward with the plan. In doing so, they enlisted the help of some of the actual people who were there at the time, such as other reporters on the Post staff.

I liked the movie. It provided insight on a situation in our history which I didn't know much about, and it also let me look more deeply into what goes on in actual journalism, and how much side-work you have to do. One lesson though; in most cases (this one not an exception), the side work does pay off. For the reporters, their work payed off with Nixon's resignation before he could be impeached.

Even if this story had been one of fiction, the movie was still good. It's a situation that could be plausible, (hey look at the Bush administration) and both Hoffman, and Redford played their characters well, as did the others. I would recommend this movie for someone who is trying to get insight into Watergate, and the secrets of Nixon's cover up, but also for someone who is looking for a good, classic drama.

Farewell to KFAI

Well, today was out last day at KFAI today, and honestly, I'm feeling sort of sad. I felt like we did good work, and our person, Elizabeth, had a good topic, even though it was a last minute switch.
In the beginning, I was skeptical because I had seen little or no progress being made over the course of our interactions. We mostly just sat around, and conversed loosely about the issue of gangsters, which was fine. Up to a point. Last week I started getting worried when we only had one more time to meet, and I still had seen no progress being made. But today, today was amazing. She had nearly 2 hours of interview (on a last-minute switch, of all things), and the information she got was simply astounding. She talked to a woman who was involved in teen safe-haven, and how she thinks the pipeline-to-prison system works to get youths drawn into trouble. Her best interview was by far the ex-Crip turned teen mentor. He let it all hang out, so-to-speak, and gave Elizabeth nearly an hour and a half of information on everything from what comprises gangs, to how gangs in his community interacted, and the morals of a gang member.
In the end, that last minute topic switch turned out to definitely be worth it. Not only was the end result worth her time, it was worth ours, too. I learned so much information from her interviews than I ever thought possible in one sitting. The interviews were great, her questions were great, now the only foreseeable problem is going to be deciding what parts she should take out of the interviews and what parts should be left in her broadcast. :-)

Overall, the KFAI experience was a great one, one that I will continue to look back on and remember. Working with the kids was fun, not only because it helped me interact with different ages, and backgrounds.The topic of pipeline to prison helped me shape a world I had very little information about. In the future, Augsburg should continue to implement these kinds of community interaction. Sure, going to community gardens is great, but I think a more focused one-topic seminar works a lot better, and it shows who's really interested in the subject. I would definitely recommend this type of mentoring program to other students, as it brought both knowledge and fun experiences.

Star Tribune's TV Critic comes to Augsburg

Last Wednesday, the Star Tribune's TV critic, Neal Justin, came to talk to our journalism class at Augsburg. With him he brought his own success story, and what he believes is the key; start early. When he was in high school, he began writing film reviews for his school paper, and he later when on to become a freelance writer.

He did talk about his feelings regarding the current journalism industry right now, and it hurts. Like many other journalists, Justin has the view that amateur journalists are taking over instead of the professionals, and there's a strong demand for "real journalists".

One of his other projects includes hosting "J Camp" for kids across the country, which is a program in which 42 high school students of all races shadow professional journalists like the late Tim Russert, and get tips on how to make their own writing better, with help from the pros.

Minneapolis Street Sightings: Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe

I usually don't post modern cars up here unless they're extremely rare, and boy does this big guy qualify. All 2008 examples delivered in the US have already been sold, each one at well over MSRP. At a rather lofty $459,000, the newest incarnation of the legendary Rolls isn't cheap by any means. But, what a car it is. Sitting a hair over 18 feet long, this thing is huge, and with size comes weight: all 5700 lbs of it. It's got a real teak deck tonneau out back for the top to rest under, and the interior can be configured with over 5 different woods and 4 different seat colors. The exterior has a custom color palette so you can ensure your DHC won't look like your neighbor's. If he has one, that is. Now, don't think that because the Rolls is loaded with luxurious amenities it lumbers itself around town. In fact, it does quite the opposite. It's 6.75L V12 (a RR/Bentley staple I might add) propels the uber-luxovert to 60 MPH in just 5.7 seconds, or about the same time as a new Subaru WRX. Acceleration isn't the only piece of the performance car pie the new Rolls excels at. The vehicle goes on to achieve a top speed governed at 149 MPH, and it does so while getting 18 MPG highway and it prowls the city whilst returning 11 MPG. So, if you have 500 large to spend and you want your car to stand out from a crowd, the Drophead Coupe is the car for you. Or, if you want finesse and true British excellence, get a new Bentley Brooklands. Either way it can be guaranteed no one will have the same motorcar as you.