In 6th grade I wrote a paper about how the Germans harvested methane from manure to run their machinery once their access to petroleum was cut off in World War II. Also, biomass is pretty plentiful and stills aren't that hard to make, so resourceful folks could keep making ethanol or methanol indefinitely.

Architecturally, there is no difference between a condo and an apartment. Without the paperwork they're the same. Condos can also be town houses or duplexes; my mother lives in a manufactured home park where she owns her house, but not the land under it. This is, for all intents and purposes, a condominium of…

I grew up in a VW family, and I thought the Karmann-Ghia was the prettiest thing I ever saw. A guy offered me his for $100 when I was in high school and I was super psyched...until I sat in it. I’m 5'5", his driver’s seat was shot, and I couldn’t see over the dash. I got three different VWs later though, so I’ve done…

I’ll give whoever did it credit for the dual circuit master cylinder, but even that looks like it hasn't been touched in 50 years.

“Older respray...chips and whatnot.” Sounds like the paint is not a saving grace.

If the ‘55 comes with a V8, I wouldn’t mess with it. Those were pretty good engines.

My credit score. I put a deposit on a new Hyundai Excel in 1989 or 90. I figured I could just swing the payments. Then when I added in comp & collision, I decided it was cutting it too close on my $9/hr and I walked away. Never tried to buy a new car again. Since then my only red flag has been no title.

You understand that condos are usually apartments, right? I lived in an apartment in Boston years ago that was one of a few in the building owned by my landlord. He didn’t own the whole building. Almost everyone in the building was a student, so nobody living there owned their apartment.

If you're really rich, you should never have to touch a TV directly. And getting it to your house should be the job of the contractor, who's going to build the custom retractable-TV footboard.

I bought my first car in 1985. It was 1996 before I paid more than a thousand dollars for any car or truck. It was 2008 before I ever had a car payment!

Living in the city from 2005-2018, I saw tons of Bentleys, Maseratis, and plenty of Ferraris. Also Citroëns and Packards.There was an out-of-place ad agency on the block of West 39th where I worked that had its own little parking lot, and one time there were five De Loreans in it. I saw a ‘48 Studebaker on West 86th…

They were guys who grew up to write a comic book-based TV show, so probably.

Last I knew, there was still an Earl Scheib in the Bronx, but I don't know what they charge these days.

That’s fair to say! It was good enough for Ike Turner and Little Richard.

I learned on a ‘76 Mazda RX-4, on the way home from a very shady used car lot. By the time I got home I had it down pretty well. I did need a new clutch about six weeks later, but considering the overall condition of the car, I doubt I was to blame. The shifter was a lot more positive than any of my Volkswagens. So I…

I mentioned the Olds engine. It came out at the same time. The Cadillac engine was a little more powerful because of the divisional pecking order and because it had more weight to move, and made it into some specials like the Studillac and some Kaiser Darrins that Dutch Darrin bought to resell. It also made an…

2004-06 Scion xB. The form-follows-function styling could have lasted as long as the Beetle or Mini or 2CV. The space inside defied physics. No 4 door was easier to park. The plugs and coils went at about 80k, a couple of vulnerable sensors tended to throw codes that didn’t mean anything, and I went through a couple…

In the '90s, I didn't have a family, but I did have a 50 mile-one-way commute (for a while) and a pile of motorcycles, so a standard cab, 4 cylinder, 5 speed, 2wd Toyota pickup was perfect for me, and you could get them for the price of a pretty good bicycle today. It doesn't bother me that much that they don't make…

Ok, Facels are not ugly and they’re not obscure. Check out the list of owners. You think you know cars better than Sinatra? But all the Facels in the local CL top out around $170k. For 165 I'd be all over this, but for now I'll stick with my '09 Elantra.