Things get really awkward when you read it auf Deutsch and the subordinating conjunction kicks the verb to end: Atlanta-gegründeter Wheego Gebrauch als die Basis für die Peitsche der Chinesisch-errichtete Shuanghuan Adlige, der a XEROX-wie Ähnlichkeit zum intelligenten ForTwo trägt

What happened in 1998?

Yes, absolutely. When a Mini is taller, wider, and heavier than a Saab 9-3 (hatch), it is no longer a Mini.

Agreed totally. It was easy to harsh on the Beetle, which to car guys was totally boring. VW probably did most of its advertising outside the car magazines, so the buff books (as usual for the time) talked up the domestics and didn't feel threatened yet by the Japanese cars.

Uncanny. And they both have constantly variable transmissions.

It was unfortunate for AMC that they partnered with a European company on its way out. Look at Chrysler. Yes, they had the K-car (and government help), but they also benefited from Mitsubishi, which gave them a few decent small engines at a time when Chrysler's car line was looking as dreadful as AMC's.

Mostly derivative of Zagato's past designs, but no less lovely for it.

John McPhee's 'Silk Parachute' carries the odd and certainly fictional anecdote that the bowtie was a rough facsimile of the map of Switzerland, where Louis Chevrolet was born.

Which government do you mean, assuming you live in the U.S.? Most states impose far higher taxes on gas than the federal government.

No, the economy led to the Renault takeover. AMC actually posted a record profit in 1979 thanks to strong Jeep sales. True, car sales had been declining for a while, but the Renault partnership was initially only that, a partnership.

It's okay with AMCs, though, because the leaking master cylinder guaranteed the driver would never be able to lock the brakes under real-world conditions.

Pit lane, littered with casualties. Casualties who never heard their doom approach.

The lion has purred.

It does, but if you look at photos of the first electric-start Cadillacs from 1911 they also have "dummy" hand crank pins. It's possible there was no provision for hand cranking on this car because it was a luxury car unlike later Chevys. For comparison, the Model T didn't adopt electric start until 1920.

The story is less compelling when we discover his bad transmission linkage is completely unrelated to a monster tornado.

Looks like the hand crank starter mechanism. Perhaps the "convenience" start mechanism (for the Classic Six, compressed-air or electric) mounts on the casing and the hand crank passes through it.