@cobrajoe: Even if the turbo was a flop, the Mustang was going from strength to strength in the '80s and the Thunderbird, MKVII, and Taurus were well received. People who didn't want to buy turbos were wise. My father bought one from Chrysler in 1985. 1st head gasket lasted 17K miles, 2nd one another 7K miles, third…

Too bad it all came to just another false start for a Detroit automaker. Ford really seemed to be hitting on all cylinders, and yet it was all over by the end of the decade. Sooner for many Taurus buyers with bad transmissions.

@PotbellyJoe - wants to build a little turtle fence around his soul: Well, they did say there were 44 fires considered the deadliest factor in fatality accidents, killing 55 people out of almost 3,000 who have died in 3 million Grand Cherokees over almost two decades. So one person dies for every 100,000 or so GC's…

@rebelracer6: Interesting theory. ELF and similar groups are much more active and destructive than the media or current regime have any interest in reporting. The mysanthropy of environmentalism must be kept in the dark until after the command economy that can't sustain us is in place.

@TheDamnedCarWillNotDie: There were no Infinitis in my home town at the time, as there was no dealer. Maybe they look after Infiniti customers better. I believe it was when they were in big trouble in the late '90s and Carlos Goshn was brought in to make them profitable that costs were cut by the elimination of…

@JayP71's new car is worth 135 jalop points: I used to work as a service writer. I flinched any time a Nissan came in. It was always for brake, suspension, steering, or electrical work, and getting parts was ALWAYS an issue. Even tires on many of their 2000-on cars are often just one size or aspect ratio off popular…

I really don't think that the small sized doomed it. 34 years is a long time for any vehicle to defy the crusher, and 15 years is a long time for any Nissan product to survive. Their routinely making running changes without documentation combined with destroying parts for anything that has been out of production for…

@Ash78, crunching numbers: We used to have an '87 924S sitting in the driveway with more recently designed German cars. The remarkable thing about the 924's drag coefficient was that it was achieved without most of the detail refinements that we take for granted today. The windshield was about the least flush piece of…

I was surprised today to discover that my maid drives a Passat. I would not have been as surprised to find out she drove into wet cement.

@gla2yyz: Barrack Obama and Ellen Degenerate FTL!

@Bluecold: Jezebel also seems to have missed the scoop on the woman who drove herself into a river and drowned while talking to her daughter on her cell phone.

@stuntdriver: That's what the ugly stick said.

This was no dumber than that time she voted for Barrack Obama.

@FodderTheSane: Is Nissan really the Japanese word for people who bitch about always getting screwed by the man? A not-so-PC friend of mine has always claimed that to be the case.

@FodderTheSane: It was Infiniti that had the ads without the cars. It was such a good idea that Lexus ate their lunch for a decade.

Me thinks they take themselves a bit too seriously.

@86LX5.0: How much do the organized workers get paid at that factory now?

Anyone remember ValueAmerica.com? They were a big employer in my hometown for a while. A couple of my friends worked there. Their business model was just a little less sophisticated than the SNL Change Bank. Sell a huge volume of goods for discount prices, then fill the orders by buying the goods from suppliers for…

@koolykool44: How about when people recount their teenage driving antics by telling you about how they saw 120 mph on the speedometer of a car that you know only indicated up to 85 mph because of the law when it was built?

@LastActionZero: Excellent. At least Hondas and Toyotas are sound foundations, unlike VWs.