John

... And for what it's worth, I DID try to hold the dealer liable, but their work order had an oil change written on it. So they wrote it down but didn't do it; they challenged me to fight them but I didn't have the resources. Oh and there was no blue smoke, no oil leak, no funny noise. Man, I still get pretty upset over this, I loved that truck, and to me, I deserve to get it back. :p

Cool. This should make you cry: In 1997 at age 19 I took a road trip in my freshly-finished '86 Chevy K-20. I got the truck at 16 in 1994. I had built the truck for tuff-truck competitions and shows (I was less a redneck and aggressive driver and more just a fan of dirt, mud and work trucks). Freshly painted steel metallic grey with no trim (CLEAN), 4-spd Muncie, NP208, 3.42 gears, 350 with Accel Super Coil, 8mm plug wires, Summit racing headers, dual 2.5" pipe & glasspacks, dual 3" Gibson stainless cats, stainless brake lines, 6" spring + chromed block (in rear) lift + 2 1/2" add-a-leaf, springs painted Imron Metallic blue, all suspension bushings replaced with blue Energy Suspension bushings, axles rebuilt, driveshafts lengthened, all grade 8 bolts, dropped chromed pitman arm & chromed steering arm, Rancho shocks with shock boots/sleeves and dual steering stabilizer, 12" drop-center rear bumper, perfect Q-jet... For the purpose of the trip I kept my 31x10.5x16.5 Dunlops & Steel/Chrome wheels on, I kept my 15x39x16.5 Mickeys at home. I had a dealership finish the truck up before I took it on a 4 hr trip to my former college. ... Well, the dealership forgot to replace the oil it had drained, and 3 hours in the truck started to overheat. I only had enough money to get me to my destination; no money for oil. All I had on me was 2 small cans of 2-cycle, so I popped those in and limped the truck the rest of the way, stopping periodically and bumming a couple of gallons of water here and there to pour on the block. By the time I got to Cobleskill I think the crank bearing started to warp, but I didn't really notice it. So my friends bought me some oil, and I took the truck farther, to Monroe NY. Once in Monroe the truck survived a couple more days, and then it no longer would start. I had to have my parents wire me money for a bus ride back home, and the truck remained in a cultisac and was promptly impounded. I fully intended to get it back, but couldn't amass the fundage. So after a couple months I sent the title to the impound shop. In other words all my hard work went down the tubes because of some bad decisions. I definitely should have done some things differently.

... And now, I'd like to know where the truck went to I can appeal to the present owner no matter what the condition of the truck, and I'd like to negotiate to somehow get it back.

The truck had some weaknesses... old rubber body bushings, the 14-bolt was a semi-floater... but overall it was a lively and fun-to-drive truck that at the time of loss was only 10 years old.

I'm going to try this service out. I still have the VIN because I still have the police impound info. It'd be ultra-cool if I could see this truck again, even if it's now thoroughly trashed. I put a lot of sweat into it (like the great fun of torching out the old suspension) and I loved the truck... maybe our relationship isn't over yet?

My desktop built for reviewing will handle this with ease (x6 1055t/2x GTX 570 SLI), but I'm likely selling it late this year and will be getting a gaming laptop; I hope that it will be up to the task for 2011's games... hopefully there will be a good Fusion/Llano laptop for under $1700 that can truly handle this, Battlefield 3, Rage and Crysis 2.

lol, I just KNEW a PC vs console debate would happen in the comment section of this story. I really like the low barrier to entry for consoles (though I only own a Gamecube with a GBA Player) but modularity, customizability and freedom of choice is a real nice thing for those that like to tinker with stuff. It's understandable that a lot of console gamers want nothing to do with that; it boils down to personality types/characteristics. ... and I'd like to address a comment made earlier that stated that PC games have advanced in IQ (image quality) over the last year while console games have not: That's not the case, as new system/video drivers and new rendering methods have been figured out for the consoles which has allowed them to progress nicely visually... although current-gen console versions of games pretty much will never look any better than if rendered on an x2 rig with a Geforce 7900. What really impresses me is that EA/DICE got Bad Company 2 to run good on the consoles, whereas even a lower-spec C2D or Athlon x2 with a Geforce 8800 has a heck of a lot of trouble with the game (in MP) even @ 720p in DX9 mode.

It's the parallel body panel lines that make it look like that. I think it will make sense to not read any Chrysler 200 news until the proper RWD version hits in a couple years. :p

Someone please answer me this: Who does those mini-choppers, I think I want one. Or is that guy just 7 ft 7 inches tall, 550 lb?

The Iron Bug is way cool.
Somehow the Hospital White HHR with moon dishes looks 1000% better than any PT.
The XLR looks mean as hell.
The 4x4 El Camino gave me wood.
... And a couple of the hi-boy rods look awesome.
One thing I hate to admit: If you could RWD-ize a Gen 1 stratus and put a simple body kit on it, it'd be a cool car (the pink one got me thinking about that).

This should make it easier for the folks @ xda to get Android running on the Pure and Touch Diamond 2, right? They're almost exactly the same spec-wise, but utilize WinMo 6.5. I'm FAIRLY happy with WinMo 6.5 on my Pure, but would love some fully-functional Android action. :)

@DefPoet I addressed what you're talking about in my nVNews review of the EVGA GTX 265 SC. At stock and overclocked speeds it went up against a Sapphie Radeon HD 5830 (at stock and overclocked speeds). Editors, if you wouldn't mind, please add the nVNews review to your list. It's more of a "real world" review that shows the performance of cards like these in a system that is not top-of-the-line. Most value-oriented enthusiast gamers don't have a an i7 or an x6 cpu, and video cards that only show a card's capability with zero cpu limitation can be misleading.

In the interest of time we (nVNews) decided to publish the review in our forums rather than on the front page. I may be adding more benchmark results at a later time.

Link: http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=151518

Mind you, I haven't reviewed in a few years (I'm a bit rusty, lol), and i only had 3 days to get all this info together in a semi-coherent package while hoping all the while that my rig wouldn't inadvertently blow up.

:)

PC version. Naow.

:D

:rolleyes:

Ok. ... "PLEASE?"

PC version. Do it. For us.

Black is another of the games set for cancellation, right?

I've been enjoying Halo 2 Vista on my gaming-grade Media PC/HDTV/360 pad setup for over a year now. With plenty of servers up, enhanced graphics that look great at 720p with some AA/AF, and good integration with the 360 pad, I think April 14 will be just another April 14 (though I will probably be scrambling around getting ready for my son's sixth birthday two days later).