The Microbirds are made in Canada by a company called Girardin, which is owned by Bluebird.

Oh yeah, I drive the older-style Microbirds based on the Ford E Series platform, and let me tell you, they are terrible to drive.

This, the factory body simply isn’t wide enough to accommodate all the kids with backpacks trying to climb on at once. You would need two factory vans to cover the capacity of one cutaway bus. Also the cutaway body is much more rigid in the even of a rollover.

They use ramps that latch onto the side of the bed and usually winch or drive the car up onto the bed.

One problem with the Class Cs is that they are often heavier than what the engine/chassis can handle, particularly on the cheaper ones with the V8s instead of the Triton V10. These units come very close to the limit right from the factory. There are Class Cs with diesels but they’re at least $20-$30K more.

I don't think YoutTube would generate enough revenue for him. Even the top YouTubers make a small fraction of Clarkson's salary/earnings at the BBC.

I haven't seen very many Taurus SHOs that could be considered cheap for what they were.

Don't forget California and their draconian smog regulations which keeps thousands of older cars off the road that would normally be fine in other states.

You should consider yourself lucky. These kinds of trucks don't even exist here in Wisconsin anymore. I wish I could DD something like that so bad.

There's just something appealing about an old Chevy or Ford 6 cylinder short bed 4x2 pickup with crank windows and a manual.

McLarens depreciate insanely fast, which deters a lot of supercar buyers. It's obviously good news for you though. I bet you could get a good one for $100K if you waited 3-4 years.

The old GM 6.5 turbodiesel wasn't a very good engine. Underpowered and lots of problems.

There might be a small loophole there. Say you're a used car dealer with a license that gives you access to Manheim/dealer wholesale networks, whatever. The point is you can procure the car through channels that most people don't have access to.

I agree, the Volvo AWD systems are generally very sturdy, especially on the later P2s. I have a 2006 XC70 and that car will go through 6 inches of snow from a full stop, no problem.

FYI there's a possibility that particular XC70 was FWD. Volvo offered the XC70 in FWD starting in 2011 as a replacement for the discontinued V70. Not sure how common they are but they're out there.

Well all those H2s had to go somewhere, didn't they?

Especially if you live in North Dakota. A few years back I was with my dad at a CarMax in Wisconsin (getting an appraisal done on a Sorento, but that's not the point).

I want a review of that bus in the background!

They would probably take it, but it would be an extreme lowball offer so they can dump said Audi later at one of their private dealer auctions. Carmax buys lots of cars that go straight to the auction block instead of their retail lots.

Damn, this article makes me want to go shopping for used armored trucks. I totally need one now.