[GM Kid]

I live in the suburbs on a corner lot. My esteemed city leaders have seen fit to tear up and rebuild the east-west street that runs past the south side of my home. The street my house faces, sadly, is actually a cul-de-sac with about 10 houses on it.

What does this mean? It means I'm trapped, dadgummit! This massive pavement-shredding machine came by at 5:00 this morning and removed all the tarmac on the north-side lane, right down to the dirt. My cul-de-sac was spared, but as soon as you cross the concrete gutter into the adjoining thoroughfare, there's a drop-off of several inches, with a corresponding mini-cliff when you get to the as-yet untouched south-side lane.

I tried driving the GTO across this chasm, I really did. I approached the drop-off at an angle and gently lowered the front end over it, but it appeared to me as though my nose would encounter the ridge of pavement on the opposite side. So I chickened out, backed up and put the Goat in the garage. I drove my wife's Envoy to work, and arranged with my folks for them to loan her their GMC Safari van.

Dang! I missed having my invigorating commute. Not a single doofus in a Dodge Ram pickup challenged me on my way to work today. Just not the same.

 

[b_a_betterperson]

At least your roads are getting fixed.

California doesn't bother with fixing roads anymore -- other than pouring tar in the cracks -- so on a warm day (and if you're not paying attention) -- you end up hitting a "tar bomb" that shoots a big blob of black sticky goo all the way around the wheelwell -- then down the entire side of your car.

My car gets bombed maybe two to three times a year. The wife's? Seems like every couple of weeks -- in part because her car magically washes and cleans itself by 8AM every Saturday morning (courtesy of me) so she could care less about what she drives over.

Ease of cleaning this crap up is a big reason why I always make sure there's a good coat of wax on the cars...

 

[GM Kid]

B-a-better, your response reminded me of one of the odder selling points of the GTO for me.

When I had my C5, I was forever cleaning crud off its flanks and fixing nicks on the rocker panels. The Coke-bottle shape and tumble-home near the bottom meant that a huge area was exposed to whatever the front tires spewed up. I put Cleartastic on the flares just forward of the rear tires, but that only helped a little.

When I went looking to replace the Vette, it seemed like serendipity that the GTO had A) the LS2, B) a backseat for my boys and C) ROCKER FLARES. I've collected (and fixed) a few nicks immediately behind each wheel, but no longer do I get nicks strewn all along my lower doors.

Makes driving infinitely more relaxing.