As the owner of an OG brick, I can say its been a decade or more since they were indestructible. It's a massively overbuilt car, and one of the last that was actually designed to be rebuilt, but even the youngest 240 is 20 years old. My first year coupe will be 39 in December. Great cars, but most of them need a new…

That is one perspective. Another is that alcohol has been in fuel for twenty years and isn't a new thing. Easy, available e85 also lets you run old high compression motors on pump fuel with new jetting in the carb.

So like, Banana Republics in Africa? Sounds legit.

I think aerodynamics is the main culprit. My old car is a '75 Volvo coupe, and even if I replaced every seal on the body, the air would never adhere well enough to the old brick to make a resonance like this. It has an upright windshield, chrome window trim, proper rain gutters, and the profile of a barn. Most older…

Chris is right. Dealerships are all about who you deal with and how you approach it. My last purchase was great. I was overpaid for the old one and I underpaid (according to KBB) on the new one. Whole thing took a few hours. CL is great, but involves time and headaches. Those are costs too.

This lovely piece of steel is my 1975 Volvo 242. Everything I haven't already replaced is junk, and the OG brick was hardly a beast when it was new. It has a pushrod 2.0L non-crossflow motor that sounds like a pissed off aircooler making *maybe* 90hp through it's little carburetor. Backing that is a 4 speed stick…

It's good practice with older EFI too. A big factor is materials engineering. The new engines have much tighter tolerances than the old ones, and don't suffer nearly as many ill effects from running cold. Outside of *really* extreme cold, you just need enough time for oil to pump to the head (seconds) and you're…

This! I swapped a set of leather seats into my Fusion from a wrecked Mercury, which threw a code. Took it to the dealer I bought it from and was told it would be $120 for the diagnostic. I told them its not the starship Enterprise, and it didn't need 'diagnosing,' just the code cleared.
I went to another dealer, told…

I had a Civic that was very modified and very lowered back when that movie hit. We immediately found a parked semi with no spare underneath to see if it works. The Civic is at least four inches too tall. A 1G Eagle Talon fit fine. The more you know!

Korea is in Asia last I checked ;)

Boxy but good tagline.

Because the motor isn't optimized for the fuel. LPG is 100+ octane equivalent, so needs much more compression, timing and/or boost to work right.

Trees, sadly, do not have this breakaway function.

Junky paint on a $100k+ car and we have to ask why it doesn't sell?

That's what I remember about APD from my years in that city. Constant scandal, and no shortage of racism, bigotry and outright malice towards the populace. Obviously that's not every cop on the force, but they have a whole crate of 'bad apples.'

Agreed. Japan and Korea each faced the same challenge and overcame the market perceptions. I have had my hands on enough very early Japanese imports to know they were absolute junk boxes compared to later models. Ever wonder why you don't see many CVCC Hondas? I don't. Things like this take time. Kudos to them for…

To pick on the Civic and Honda as easy targets, the last two I owned were a 92 hatch and a 95 coupe. Even the Fit is larger than either of those. As a (probably direct) consequence, the fuel economy is pretty unimpressive compared to the 80s and 90s. A half inch is fine. A half inch and 300lbs might be forgivable, but…

It's been ten years since I've been into 'the scene,' but from what I recall, none of these street racers are interested in taking the car to the track. On the street, you can hide your granny shifting, gear grinding 'skills,' and pretend you have 300hp in you Civic. Once you add a stopwatch, it's harder to make…

This is a problem that goes all the way back to the first generation Fusion/MKZ. The Lincoln just ends up looking like a cheapo futuristic version of the Ford. An additional engine option like you suggest would really go a long way. How about shoehorning the Ecoboost V6 in there with the awd system so that you have…

This!!! A million times this! Lincoln has devolved to optioned up Fords, and I don't think the Lincoln emblem carries sufficient weight to justify the additional cost. As a Ford guy, it kills me to say this, but they need to look to Cadillac. Those models don't line up with the ones at the Chevrolet dealer, so…