Of course, it's not just there to protect US-made vehicles. The main company involved in lobbying to get the 25-year rule passed was Mercedes, IIRC because they were annoyed at enthusiasts importing European-market models that they weren't selling in the US (E500?).

No, FIAT Industrial (what Iveco is part of) separated from FIAT Auto earlier this year.

That must be new...

Interesting note: Ford has trademarked T-250, T-350, T-450 and T-550 in the US. In Europe, the Transit only goes up to 3.5 tons GVWR, which is the heaviest vehicle you can drive on a car license. So there will presumably be Transits sold in the US which are bigger than that.

Yes, but you can tick both boxes

The biggest Transit (LWB RWD T350) will tow 6600 lbs in the UK.

Yeah- they're so ubiquitous (in Britain) that "Transit van" has become the word used for any van that size regardless of manufacturer in the same way as Xerox or Bandaid.

Pity it wasn't one of these.

Yes, there would be problems, but they would be surmountable and more importantly a lack of bathroom facilities wouldn't be one of them!

No, the Cabstar is tiny- 3.5-tonne GVWR (the largest you can drive on a car license in the UK)- so I imagine it's pretty light empty.

He's like Tony Blair. He has no reverse gear.

The Diomede Islands in the middle of the strait. The longest continuous sea crossing is 28 miles from Big Diomede Island to Cape Dezhnev (the other crossings are 2.4 miles from Big Diomede to Little Diomede and 23 miles from Little Diomede to Wales, AK). Those are long, sure, but both the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge in China…

"Cars should have no more driven wheels than seats"- so this needs to be one-wheel-drive then?

I suppose that's technically a haiku, but I prefer

Oddly enough, the earliest reference to this comes from France and the great 1958 Louis Malle movie Ascenseur pour l'echafaud (released in English as either Elevator to the Gallows or Lift to the Scaffold). As well as the spectacular improvised soundtrack by Miles Davis, there are some great car scenes in there-…

Just about to post this- also goes for "coolest name on least cool car"- though I do want one!

Jaguar started out as a model name- the SS Jaguar was made by SS Cars Limited (SS stood for Swallow Sidecars). However, in 1945 SS had unfortunate connotations, so they changed the company name to that of their most popular model.

AFAIK Murcielago, like most Lamborghinis, is actually named after a breed of fighting bull.

Some Scandinavian countries have something like this, but base it on the driver's income instead. I think that's a better way- that way someone with a valuable classic that they've lovingly restored themselves won't have to sell it to pay a parking fine, nor will miserly millionaires in beaters be free to park where…

I'm sure the wing could be engineered to fail to a maximum downforce/air brake position. Of course, it could still fall off completely, but then so can a fixed wing.