.jdb.'s discussions

...these were never intended for utilitarian duty. The rear seats don’t fold down, and the single center-mounted gas strut precludes any tall cargo back there either. Read more

Me at about 1:24...

Must have been a fan of dubstep.

Autocross. Please for the love of all that is good and right, autocross. I had a desire to go fast and stupid and sideways. I wish I’d been introduced to auto-x when I was young and impressionable. I’m lucky that my youth and rashness and stupidity didn’t smash anything or get me arrested. I wish I’d had a more… Read more

Serious question: Is it that there’s some deficiency in this engine, or is it just that there were others that were that much better?
Also, is this the same engine pictured here in the Ferrari Shell commercial?

Sorry I missed the first round of this. Miata, night-time, backroads, January in NC. I was doing ~50 in a 45, everything was fine. Then I saw brakelights ...about 1/3 mi ahead. Which was weird, because this was the middle of nowhere and there was no good reason for people to stop. So I started to slow down ... er,… Read more

Holy hell, you did a great job with that.

I love the hood scoop in the testing shot. I love that there is some engineer somewhere in Maranello who (I really, really hope) said “a hood-a scoop-a? Notta problema!” and proceeded to get out his Sawzall and cut a hole in the hand-formed aluminum hood of this $200,000 sports car. Then, you know, to make it smooth,… Read more

...and the ‘59 Triumph...

“Motivated seller” + “Negotiable price” ... yeah, I think that’s not beyond the realm of possibility. Show up with a trailer for the car and all the bits & pieces and some strong-backed friends to load everything in and a pile of cash....

NP all day long. Yes, radiator zipties are REALLY worrisome. I mean, even if you ignore the whole “What else did they skimp on” thing ... and also the “maybe use something that is abrasion resistant and has a melting point well over 500F” thing....
You get the car with the engine and a crapton of extra parts. Building… Read more

Here we see the GTI in its native environment, establishing dominance by lifting a tire toward a corner.

And you know what’s happening on that ship shipping ship? Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo.

Yeah, I saw that.... I guess I feel like it’s sometimes worth taking a gentle, polite run up at that windmill.

*she.
(Usually I feel like correcting grammar or spelling or usage on the internet is somewhere between “waste of time” and “being a pedantic ass” ... but not recognizing someone’s gender is insulting and demeaning. Transgender women are women. Please refer to Manning as “she/her”.

whoa.

These came up:
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Lancia.
(You will weep and break down [the car will, too] if you actually buy one, but ooooh they’re cool)

OK, I was going to post this one in the first thread but there were like 300 replies so... Read more

I know everyone’s piling on how lowered this car is ... and yeah, I’m mostly with them, with one “huh” moment: I *DO NOT GET* the “huge wheel with a top above the car’s beltline” aesthetic. Like ... it doesn’t even look like a recognizable caricature of anything.
Then it hit me: It does kind of look like a barn-find… Read more