re: “... Useful information was seen as bad, like with Ford: drivers being concerned on seeing low oil pressure, took the the vehicle in for a warranty check, Ford changed it to being an analog idiot light, in place of showing the actual PSI of Oil pressure. Not as many warranty checks, a win for Ford Dealers.”

Not to worry; when huge screens become the norm car companies will be happy to sell you a $5,000 ‘Analog Gauges Package’ upgrade.

I have a theory—call it, “The consensus is usually wrong”—that whenever all/most businesspeople, politicians, whatever agree “it’s the thing to do” they are usually completely wrong (it’s a form of groupthink, a la the Washington ‘whiz kids’). Sometimes, companies do something not because they believe in it, but…

OT, but I’ve always respected that the Blue Oval has always kept the ‘Ford’ in the original script.  And I still prefer the football teams that have kept their original uniform designs and colors (49ers, Cowboys, etc.) and not gone all Power Rangers (Seahawks, Ravens, etc.).

re: “... Car prices would drop massively if companies would ditch useless tech that isn’t necessary....”

The engines are NA; slap a couple blowers on them (or is the record for a NA piston car?).

re: “He said he was impressed that after I took that picture I was able to stand up again without help.”

It ain’t the fines, it’s the points what gets ya.

And, goddammit, it’s ‘brakes,’ not ‘breaks!!!’

re: “... the right lanes go faster in bumper to bumper conditions...”

re: “Having driven cars and trucks with no disc brakes, no power anything, no automatic, no hydraulic assist clutch, no AC, I hope to never have to drive another one again.”

My Healeys will go into first most easily if the car is barely moving. At full stop, you can get locked-out, which can be quite embarrassing at stop lights.  The age-old trick is to ‘kiss second;’ i.e. press the clutch, put the gearshift in almost second, then into first.  Works about half the time; otherwise, it’s…

Only partly true. The ‘S,’ along with its American stablemate, the Lincoln LS are decidedly British except for the sheetmetal (and possibly the ‘platform’). I know, I have two British sports cars and my mom has a 2000 LS, which I am tasked with maintaining. The Lincoln has a slightly less powerful engine, which was…

re: “... Manual four-speed, no synchros...”

I don’t see ‘mandated’ anywhere in the article; only that Mercedes is starting to use CO2 systems and others (VW) may follow. I watched the change from R12 to R1234—I believe that was mandated—and it was done incrementally. First, the supply of R12 was removed—I still have a couple cases of it—and the manufacturers…

That’s not saying much.

The owner better check for, uh, ‘goodies’ hidden in the body panels. It’s one thing the Federales check for (ask me how I know):

I think good quality Mustang body panels are readily available.  At one time--maybe still--you could build a whole ‘new’ Mustang from the ground up with repop chassis and panels.

Duh. But, I do see the ambiguity (because I have no data).

Why would they? The ‘37 was designed with (too) short landing gear so stairs could be used, the Airbus was designed when jet bridges were commonplace.  That’s why Boeing had problems fitting the huge turbofan engines.