That’s an old Mercedes jack. The Pringle-shaped thing on the right was originally a flat disc that rests on the ground. The pin pointing down is designed to fit into special horizontal recesses on the side of the body, below door level, instead of using conventional jacking points. The handle top left drives the screw…

Never skimp on the things that stop a car falling on your head. Get a good jack, and axle stands.

I saw a convoy of tanks in Libya, just before the revolution. Lots of countries have tanks, but usually they’re hauled by huge HET-like tractors; in this case the enormously heavy soviet-built tanks were all being towed by feeble old FIAT 682T trucks like this:

Cultural change is needed, but you can’t change culture with a single line of (good or bad) legislation.

Many things are crimes, but there’s a sliding scale. I can remember when I grew up (in a different place), drink-driving was a crime, but only the police tried to enforce it; everybody else would silently condone somebody driving after a few beers. There was a brief period when social attitudes changed, and suddenly…

Lots of jurisdictions have a concept like “Obstruction of justice”; I’d be amazed if Japan didn’t have something similar which applied here. According to a hasty google, Japan has serious punishments for obstructing police duties, for helping criminals escape, for falsifying evidence, and things like that. So, the…

That would be super cheap if it was in the UK. VW van prices have gone through the roof here; since spring 2020, travel to mainland Europe has been almost impossible, and even domestic hotels have had some severe restrictions, so there was an explosion of #vanlife, and VW is at the forefront. Even really basic…

FrankenCamry is wise.

It’s a bit of a freak accident

Some of the fasteners are hidden for a good reason; some safety rules require a minimum radius for any hard part close to the car occupants. This reduces the risk that exposed fasteners will destroy your kneecap in a crash.

I love the æsthetic. We should all coöperate with the New Yorker’s campaign to reïnstate the humble diaeresis.

With some designs, the deck is left to sit without bolts (sometimes each end of the deck rests in a kind of cradle), making it more tolerant of vibration and thermal expansion &c.

Still a better love story than Twilight.

It may be a practical loaf shape, but the front of the cab is styled really nicely. You could mistake it for an old OM or Alfa Romeo van.

The mixer is also top-heavy. I’ve seen one fall off a modern hire van when cornering. It probably helps that the Transit is a lot slower...?

They are so cool but so rare. Lots of prestigious sporty cars get preserved, plenty of convertibles live into old age because they’re a second car which is only used in good weather, but very few people preserve work vehicles until it’s too late and they suddenly become super-expensive because the limited supply is…

I’ll confess that when I was young and stressed - and covered a lot more mileage - I would try to maximise use of time by multitasking. Lots of people multitask by eating & drinking (no alcohol!), but brushing your teeth afterwards is surprisingly difficult. Wait til you’re stopped at a red light. Shaving isn’t too…

M160 engine in the first-gen Smart car. I won’t complain about power - it has enough power for the task it’s been given - but the reliability was awful. In particular it liked to leak oil; combined with an unreliable oil sensor, sometimes you wouldn’t know that all the oil has escaped and only a slight change in…

It is funny, however, that the shareholders that are activated enough to vote at all recommended that the compensation proposal not be approved, suggesting that they are in an ambivalent position about Nikola, both owning Nikola stock and giving its leadership side-eye.

My first proper bike was something like this: