PSA for my fellow men:

I had to explain to my niece once that, the reason Vanlife looked so awesome, was because the ‘Grammers started with a lot of dough to fully outfit a new Sprinter style van. We then went through the advantages of an extended length, high top van versus any other van you might come across. Her mood quickly soured.

Why have automotive manufacturing jobs been going to Mexico, Canada, and other countries? The answer is the UAW. The only thing that union does is fleece their members pockets, then drive their jobs out of the country after taking their money. The minuscule benefits that the UAW has provided for their members has been…

So the workers wanted better wages and benefits, the owner shut the plant to move to Mexico and you blame...the unions?

The XL1 wasn’t the future, it was a concept that was actually built, but that would never meet any sort of crash standards, would be prohibitively expensive to repair if needed, and would be horribly uncomfortable.

I listened to a lot of Car Talk growing up as it was often a choice between that and whatever “golden oldies” dad would play otherwise. Learned a lot and had a few laughs.  Those dudes just had an appeal that cannot be disingenuously created.

Honda would sell the hell out of these in US cities...if they didn’t have to add weight to meet US crash standards.

Ahhh, yes, the pillar less concept. They’ve been shown for years, but they always get nixed when the engineers compare the costs between a car with a B villa and one without, then the beancounters and marketing guys realize that the market of people who will pay a $5,000 + premium for the feature is rather limited.

This is a station wagon for people too insecure to buy a station wagon.

Is there any reason detuned versions can’t be put into trucks and SUVs?

3 days from now...

How about a 59 Cadillac ElDorado Biarritz convertible. Nothing says “American” like acres of chrome and amazingly tall fins, because “fuck the world, why not?”

That is really absurd.  Why wouldn’t the automaker just stamp “not production, dumbasses” on every interior panel?

That is, by far, a better solution. Would probably get you a view of nearly every track back then.

Nowadays, the biggest “leaks” or “spy photos” are set up by the manufacturers who are trying to build organic buzz about a car. It is no different than a celebrity’s agent telling the paparazzi where their client - who has been dieting and working out for the occasion - will be sunbathing tomorrow.

You should look up the price of E63 wagons.  Those get over 6 figures in a hurry.

Excellent. Now people just need to buy them to justify manuals on future models.

The A-10s have a psychological advantage compared to higher flying aircraft. I have a buddy on his 4th tour in Afghanistan. He is adamant about keeping the A-10 even though he readily admits its shortcomings.

Because “all-seasons” on a sports car is just weird.

I think you’ll see a fair number of 1LT + Z51 sales, especially by buyers who plan on replacing the seats for super light CF seats anyway.