You can be 100% certain that the anthropogenic climate change deniers will be shouting, “See? It’s all just a natural cycle - even the scientists say so!”

Yep, my ‘72 Cutlass had those - no auto tensioner.

I had to chuckle when I saw the claims of rack and pinion steering giving more precise steering - while on tall sidewall bias-ply tires. I did appreciate the ads promoting a small 3-door hatch with a 4-speed stick, borderline revolutionary for 1971 in the USA.

Fun fact: Before the three-point system commonly in use since the 1970s, GM did this with a pair of two-point belts. My 1969 Firebird came with a two-piece lap belt, and another two-piece anchored to the roof and the floor. Yes, I used both of them.

If you’re replacing said brake line, just cut it off and use a 6-pt socket. Otherwise, use some penetrating oil and go slowly.

There are special impact sockets with an inner lining that allow you to blast away on lug nuts without fear.

Mine used to be a breaker bar, until I got a compact electric impact wrench.

[Editor’s note: Do not cheap out on flare nut wrenches. You can cheap out on other tools, but not these. You want a nice, thick wrench that will tightly grab as much of your hex fitting as possible -DT].

Regarding breaker bars, I got along for decades with an 18". Having gotten older, I considered a 24" but went directly to a new 30" nicely-made-in-Taiwan via eBay. Great for loosening wheel lug nuts, et al.

Seat mount. Two good reasons already mentioned: Simpler wiring; quick and intuitive adjustment by hand in your normal driving position. In addition, in our cars having power seats, the area forward of the armrest is fully taken up by power window and mirror controls.

Everything, and I mean everything, is built to the cheapest possible standard

I’ll take things you think but don’t say for 800 Alex.

I’d happily “do her” orally, with a similar smile ;-)

Whenever I see the name “Shmuel” I think, “You are walking around in the cow pasture? Be sure you don’t step into any shmuel which will stick to the bottom of your shoes”. It’s just one of those onomatopoeia things.

Why put the kids through that? They might rebel. Become hippies. Protesting the war. And smoking grass. Hmm. That dropout who cleans the swimming pool. Betcha he knows where to get it. And why spend all that money? It’s a big house. We can go for days. Without seeing each other.

“My family. An accomplishment. Like my house and my car.” This is their “I’d rather be at my riding lessons, but Dad wants a family picture with the car” expression.

I’d prefer to keep it closer to the three-figure range

...evidence of corporate cost-cutting so this can be sold in left and right hand drive configurations...

Way back in fall 2012 I took delivery of a new 2013 model (I am still driving it in 2021) which included my first-ever heated seats, LCD infotainment screen, etc. I found the heated seats were of value only in the two to five minute gap between below-freezing winter startup and when the conventional forced air…

we consider ourselves Car People, we’d spend a lot of time planning the purchase of something that meets our special requirements...but we wouldn’t buy a microwave or a fridge until the old one broke, and then it’s an urgent purchase and the criteria are much simpler