Motorcycle rider since 1985.

As someone who’s always lived in the Snow Belt, I’d always heard that you shouldn’t use the parking brake in winter, if possible, because of the possibility of it freezing on, especially after driving in snow and slush. Water gets into the cables and freezes while the car is parked, locking the brake on. That goes…

They do have the orange 55mph line--look closely.

And its Toyota Camry counterpart.

Mercedes-Benz W123 300TD wagon. Those things were built like a tank and would do a million miles if you took care of them.  Modern diesel technology could buy them a bit more acceleration and less pollution.

The Pinto wagon never had the issues with exploding in rear end collisions that the coupe and hatchback did because the longer rear overhang shielded the fuel tank somewhat.

Not a surprise. Henry Ford famously got his inspiration for the assembly line from the slaughterhouse and meat-packing industry—another “disassembly line”.

Not all morticians are bad. Caitlin Doughty, who runs the “Ask a Mortician” channel on Youtube, has been promoting alternative funeral practices for some while now, including telling people there are lower-cost alternatives to the sorts of arrangements sold by traditional funeral homes, and otherwise doing consumer…

Calling it the “Bison” just makes me think of General M. Bison from Street Fighter.  (Perhaps Raul Julia’s greatest role.)

That was what Data said about the Borg: “Decubitus assimilating us!”

YKIOK,IJNMK. (Your Kink Is OK, It’s Just Not My Kink.)

When my mom passed away in 2004, I inherited her nearly-new Saturn Ion. One year old with 4100 miles on it. The amount of cr*p that broke on that nearly-new car was just mind-boggling. Had I been the original owner, I would have been exploring lemon-law options.  I sold it when the warranty expired.

The MBTA fare card is officially known as a “Charlie Card” and the graphic on it features “Charlie” in 1940s garb.

If it works, why not?  I’m driving a 2001 VW that I bought when I was “between jobs”.  It recently got hit and the insurance company wanted to total it. Under normal circumstances I would have taken the money and run, but I opted to have it repaired.  Maybe I’ll replace it when the new-car market returns to some…

Who even bought an 8-track player by 1982?  The 1982 Radio Shack catalog has 1 record/play 8-track deck, 1 playback deck, and 1 compact stereo with an 8-track playback deck built in.  Everything else is cassettes.

There was an article in The Onion some years back with a title something like “Toyota Recalls 1993 Camry Because Owners Should Really Have Bought Something New By Now”

On that Pinto, there are no photos of the engine bay or the interior, nor a photo of the speedo showing the odometer mileage, nor anything else to corroborate the claimed 55,000 original miles. Just a few far-away shots of the exterior, shot at night.

What’s with all the flecks of surface rust under the hood? On the air cleaner housing, brake booster, etc. Not used to seeing that on most used cars even here in the Salt Belt where I live.

I just thought they were trying to make you stand there while they subject you to advertising via Gas Station TV.  Slower pump = more ads.

I would rather have a small car. In particular, I love “hot hatches”. In decades past I would gladly have gone for something like a VW GTI (the car I lusted after in high school in the early ‘80s), first-gen (new-school) Mini Cooper, Civic Si, or maybe a Subaru WRX if they made one without the racer-wannabee styling.