Sometimes that ain’t “wax” or Armor-all, it’s a damned spray-on lacquer shady dealers use to spruce up the engine compartment. Eventually hardens, turns brown, and starts flaking off all over the engine. It’s usually a marker for me telling me “run!”

Not me. Performance (well, straight line), reliability, build quality, looks:

All of the technical discussions I’ve read regarding pillarless coupes points to rollover support for the roof and not side impact.  Having owned an E31 and currently a CL63, I can attest to their solidity and, unfortunately, weight.

Uh, patents?

The V-Rod’s engine is a derivative of the VR-1000 race engine. Same architecture. Porsche was brought in to the “P4" project assist in making it into a reliable street engine, but even by Porsche’s own admission, they jointly developed the engine. The bike overall was designed by HD, including the novel hydroformed…

Ethernet, Postscript, Smalltalk, and file and print servers too.  An amazing time and place and the single dumbest strategic decision in all management history.

The XB-70 used a brazed stainless steel honeycomb for the bulk of the fuselage.  IIRC, the MiG 25 was also constructed of steel or steel alloy.  In both cases, the reason was heat resistance and cost advantages over titanium.

I was fortunate to work at a beta test site for Xerox PARC’s Star WYSIWYG system in 1980.

You’re kidding, right? XLR = Allante = Fail.

You need to get out more:

The old design needs to go. Jackie loved powder blue, but it’s looking terribly dated and the tail swoosh is something right out of Buzz Lightyear. It’s time to put the early 1960s to rest.

<Grump>

Well, the good news is the new Air Force 1 747-800 should be flying for at least 20 years.  The bad news is Trump’s gawd-awful vulgar paint job.  I fervently hope they aren’t letting him anywhere near the interior design.

The 747 family was and still is the fastest commercial jet. Mmo of .92 on their type certificate issued by the FAA. Boeing always stated the 747 had their fastest wing design with a sweep of 37.5 degrees.

You do know that ZF transaxle is the most expensive part on the Pantera and not to be trifled with. IIRC, it was used only in the GT40, Pantera and Maserati Bora.

What’s impressive is that the fired missile is randomly selected out of some Midwestern silo, trucked to Vandenberg, then fired. Just to make sure they still work as advertised.

No. US bumper requirements were becoming more stringent and had a standing requirement to be less than “X” inches above the ground. Moving the bumper hydraulics down into the exhaust wells solved the problem, but then left some big holes in the valance where the Euro bumpers attached. Lights filled in the holes left…

Dude, I used to own a 1972 Triumph Stag. That should tell you something.

I owned a 1996 Roadmonster and got nothing but compliments on the woodgrain.

Happy V-Rod owner here. No pirate outfit, modular helmet, AGATT, wave to everybody. Stock (i.e., quiet) pipes. Just a nice low-key bike and a good power cruiser if you’re over 6', and yes, I know it’s not a XDiavel or V-Max.