They sold a lot more cars than they had been previously? Dislike of the Mustang II is organized historical revisionism. It wasn’t a particularly terrible car, and some of its predecessors weren’t terribly wonderful. I wasn’t an adult when either was introduced, but there were still plenty of both around to try out when…

Well, it was based on the Sprinter, which is obviously quite different from a mere Corolla...there was even a 5-door liftback model which was genuinely useful.

So, from $600-1000 for a set of quality tires to $1200-2000, for the lifetime of the vehicle?

Honda was using a lot of names drawn from music terminology...Prelude, Ballade, Concerto, Quintet. They’ve still got the Jazz.

So, basically, Honda of the time economized development by not having different passenger seats for RHD and LHD markets, and put the lever on the side most convenient for the larger number of customers, with some unintended consequences.

Yes, all of the initial “Lexus,” “Infiniti,” and “Acura” models were badge-engineered from their parent’s multiple JDM sales channels. The LS400 and ES250 were a Celsior and Vista with different badges and nameplates. Honda didn’t even change the name of the Legend or Integra when the H logo was exchanged for the…

I saw an interesting article in the finance press, positing that Tesla released Smart Summon even knowing it wasn’t fully developed, because according to GAAP, adding a feature allows the company to book previously sequestered income, not coincidentally assisting them in achieving their quarterly profit.

Congratulations on becoming a Republican.

Melania looks happier when she’s not with her husband.

Have there been any cases of illness related to vaping outside the USA?

I notice the pumpkin is a less common color—Georgetown/GWU/AU/etc. students on a scavenger hunt?

Most of them were three-speed autos when the competition except for GM had already introduced 4-speeds. Once I rented one and the decklid fell on my head while unloading because it wouldn’t stay open on an uphill incline; I checked and the torsion spring was already in the last detent.

Actually, autogyros were fairly common in the 1920s and 1930s, although they were STOL, not VTOL. There are still small ones in production, but they just don’t have enough advantages over helicopters.

OMG! Chrysler Europe would be reunited with Chrysler USA, bringing along Ford France and the more recently picked up GM Europe. US, British, German, French, Italian and Indian brands all under one roof, not even considering the joint ventures.

“Rural” roads are common in areas that city folk may not think of as rural. I live less than 10 mi from the center of a city of 300,000 in a county with a population of 1.2 million, and narrow roads without white boundary stripes, and/or yellow center stripes are normal, especially for municipal (as opposed to state…

In the ‘80s Toyota claimed the Supra’s upper hatch “spoiler” was a sun visor without aerodynamic purpose:

I really hope it does make it to the US. By default it would immediately be the best-looking vehicle in Honda’s lineup (at least the trims without the oversized plastichrome nose). The HR-V isn’t a terrible substitute for an entry-level vehicle, but it’s more expensive, gets worse fuel economy even in 2WD, and isn’t…

Yeah, but even before such measures as lowering compression to allow use of then-low octane unleaded gas for catalytic converters, the change from gross rating to SAE net rating by itself knocked many of those high-300 numbers down to high-200 numbers. The gross rating on a mid-80s 5.0l HO probably would have near…

It’s a version of the standard circuit schematic symbol for AC power supply—which makes some sense for a company called “Current” even if they’re a financial firm. But since they already borrowed/stole the symbol, the elements capable of being trademarked should be the color scheme and design embellishments like the…

Even in the early 1960s, this was a full-size car—120-in wheelbase—not a mid-size. For 1964 Mercury didn’t offer a true intermediate; the 115.5-in wheelbase Meteor was discontinued after 1963, while the 114-in wheelbase Comet was at the large end of compacts, until moving to 116-in wheelbase for 1966.