The class of 2004

Happy New Year, folks. If your one-year-older sled is looking a little raggedy, this article in the LATimes oughta give you some good ideas. Since these are last year's leftovers you can probably get a smokin' deal.

It was a good year for machinery. We saw a gangsta Chrysler, a $90,000 VW, the Ford Mustang and Ford GT born in clouds of vaporized-rubber glory. We saw a 617-hp Mercedes-Benz SLR and the $450,000 Porsche Carrera GT — these cars, collectively, might be called the Excess Express. For every one of these machines, there is an ideal buyer. On this page, some of the great cars of 2004 and the types of L.A. owners they might attract. Here's hoping for better times and better cars in 2005

As for me and Mrs. G, we think we can sqeeze another year out of the '92 Dakota while thinking about a Tundra. Why mess with success?