They did in fact never offer the Toploader - I was just generally comparing. You're right the Super T-10 is probably the best for all-around driving, great shifts and sturdy as hell without being a noisy rock crusher.

The way I see it, this should be a driver. If it were a 390, Go-pack, all-options car I'd say keep it stock and do a grade-A resto. But this, just make sure it's mechanically sound, fix up that interior, paint it the color of your choice and go have fun.

I guess the Toploader and the Muncie M22 were closer to a real racing-type transmission... but the T-10 is definitely better than Mopars 4-speed offerings, and with a decent shift linkage - like the good ole Hurst - it's by all accounts precise and positive and doesn't require an arm wrestler's biceps either.

The center gauges were optional, and rarely ordered. If you didn't order them, there were vents in their place, which this car actually has - look close, and you'll see it's not solid plastic inside those recesses but two closed flaps that fit snugly. Same goes for the fake wood - optional, all in the name of a low…

The dash, while faded, is original. (They used a different one - arguably better-looking - in the '70 model). This is what it looks like in primo condition - not sure if the hood over the instruments was optional since not all seem to have it:

It's a sports car! AMC were very insistent about that in their period ads. Make of that what you will... wickedly awesome machine either way.

Oh shit!! My dream car... so it's a fixer-upper and it's only got the smallest engine, but wow, am I tempted! But I'm already in over my head in project car hell, and I think I'd have a really hard time justifying this to my bf.

Man, there you go again. It's not that you're not factually right, just - how can you not understand that people can enjoy cars that don't measure up to today's standards?

I think we're sort of missing each others' points here. What I'm saying is that moving stringently towards a fully-automated, post-scarcity world is essential and deserves all the resources we can spare - but the way there will be littered with mass unemployment and massive civil unrest.

I honestly don't think we'll be post-scarcity within the next 100 years.

That's always the catch with automation, isn't it? It will only really work, better everyone's lives, once we develop it so far as to eliminate the need for humans to be employed, i.e. move post scarcity.

I wasn't being serious. I do still think the ad tries to paint Maserati as something it's not. Like all the other old luxury makes, it's become a brand of an anonymous conglomerate. It's not this tiny independent carmaker daring to stand up against towering, anonymous competitors.

Dayum! Had I been wearing sunglasses right that moment, I would have been compelled to take them off in a dramatic way.

I dunno. If I were rich, I'd be dismayed that my Maserati would look like everyone else's Maserati. Back in Maserati's glory days, rich people still knew how to roll in style. Bespoke bodywork or gtfo.

Thing is, if you're into cars enough to know about such things, the stupidest thing about the Maserati ad is how dishonest it is. Yeah, they were once a small, independent company (that made a point of never advertising btw, not even in print). And for a time there were apparently enough rich eccentrics who felt…

Also, pssst. If today's crazy prices mean another RAIV GTO isn't possible, a Le Mans with a 428 swapped in will give you all the fun for much less. You'd have to jump over your shadow, though.

I have to say, I wonder when people decided to call them muscle cars. Because back when they were new, the popular term for your definition of muscle car (a high-performance version of a midsize car) was "super car". And the pony cars were generally called "sporty cars".

Ooh... now you can't just leave me hanging here. What are the most anal shows (that are nationally known)? I gotta know, so I know which ones to avoid. As a spectator I mean. My 95 Trans Am isn't really fit for anything but Car and Coffee.

The thing is, most Europeans really cannot conceive how far real Southern hicks are removed from mainstream society. They just can't believe that there exists this set of people - and I know about them, as I live in Georgia and some of my extended family are the worst kind of trailer-living, hostile hicks - that truly…

I was thinking about the brakes. I've heard from multiple owners of Challengers and 2nd gen Cudas with the big blocks that their cars have a high likelihood to go sideways under hard straight-line braking.