Worth noting: Australia is rather famously sticklerish about abiding by GVWR/GVM. The rating on the door jamb is literally the law, and they will setup roadside scale stations and impound vehicles found to be over that weight.

No Dice.

The argument for a Telescoping (vs. Tilt) steering wheel goes back to the Porsche race heritage. A wheel that only telescopes slides along the splined shaft, which does not have any backlash. A tilt steering wheel requires introducing a U-joint into the linkage so that the angle can change - this creates a (small)…

Subaru used to have some good yellows.

What if I described an AWD, Intercooled Turbo 4-cylinder homologation car from the early 1990's? It’s got a center diff that biases the power 60% to the rear, decent macpherson strut suspension, and a fairly curvy hatchback coupe design that even includes quad headlamps and a hood-mounted duct for the intercooler.

Next item to be re-discovered by the younger generation(s):

We’re entering a new age of rapid invention and refinement, akin to the Steam Age.

This. After a few years running a Euroswift Formula Ford (that was designed as a learning series car for teenagers) during which I needed to wear knee and elbow pads to drive it, I find that I don’t really need much room from “normal” cars.  (And I am not a small man.)

I love this list SO much. I am the living embodiment of the gift recipient described here - I make YEARLY donations of all the “kitchen gadgets” I am gifted from well-meaning family.

One more key to this business:

One item not covered:

If you haven’t read his book “On the Edge” - I HIGHLY recommend it. It deals directly with the crash and his recovery, and has a chunk in the center that had to be written by his wife - covering the time during and immediately after he was in hospital.

Yeah, the ‘98 2.5RS was Subaru’s toe-dipping into “performance” for the US market.

‘cause they learn to drive on all the backcountry/farm roads. Outside of a couple of big cities, most of Finland is VERY sparsely populated.

Finland is more lax in some ways, but they also REALLY know how to pound you in the pocketbook - Their speeding fines scale with income.

I’ve got $5 that says the body glitter thing was made up by some husband trying to explain why he was covered in glitter.

In defense of Val Kilmer’s work on Moreau, he had barely arrived to Australia for the (planned) weeks-long shoot when he found out, via a TV report, that his Wife had left him and was suing for divorce.

Then there’s the apocryphal tale of how 17 year old Olivia Hussey couldn’t attend the red-carpet premier of Romeo and Juliet (1968) because there was a topless scene in the movie. (HER topless scene.)

Yep, my old Astro van had this too. I was looking at this “innovation” asking “and?”

If only they’d sold the 4Matic system in the North American market, it might have been a worthy successor to the old “middy-van” Astro/Safari