Yeah, the "piece of wood" is a common go to amongst a certain set when there's known electrical dangers. It definitely works in a pinch, and I'm sure that dude appreciated it that day, even though my brother was built somewhere between Stallone and Arnold at the time, so it had to hurt like hell. 

Sorry to hear it. From the sound of it, maybe the hand controls back then were just not well designed in terms of reliability altogether. Not sure if they were new technology at the time.

I basically refuse to watch any video on any site like this one (Jalop, Old deadspin, cracked before it went... to wherever it is now).  I specifically look at Jalopnik when I want to READ.  I did make an exception for the changli, but I think that's the only time I've ever bothered with a video here. 

When I was little, my oldest brother worked at a local shop. This would’ve been in the late 80s or early 90. The car was a little old already, think something like a camry or gallant sort of deal. The thing was, it was owned by a paraplegic. It had hand controls on the wheel instead of pedals. The shop boss asked my…

Well, there was some other douche out west who did the same thing (though he also bought several more for friends and family), and I believe he was busted within a month or so.  It does appear that the doj does NOT Eff around when it comes to payroll fraud. 

This is why I keep saying whenever there’s a story about Mitsubishi leaving NA because we’ve given up on them, the truth is, they gave up on us years ago. They axed the 3000gt, the eclipse, and finally the Evo. They committed hard to being a commuter box company, and noone actually LIKES commuter boxes... and every…

So this is the final form of the corvair?  Explosively dangerous in all forward collisions, AND you get to catch a v6 in the back of the head when it tears loose from the rebar during the accident? 

Which would theoretically invite China to retaliate, seizing th assets in lieu of payment, I. E. Occupying the nation, I. E. Starting ww3

Buick, Olds and Chrysler pioneered the hot rod phase of cars starting in the late 40s, early 50s, iirc.  They were also pushing the envelope in the 30s as much as they could. The old people car companies were on the ball WAY before the 1985 wildcat. 

Also, the Buick century was so named because it was their first car that could break 100

I am Extremely disappointed that you didn't take some old plate your forgot to turn in, a hammer and a punch (or nail), and do a full scale mockup to take a picture of :/

The Buick Roadmaster, when bumpers were bumpers (and mean), men were men (and mean), and Buick still gave a damn (and were mean). 

I've agreed since day one.  The made a hell of a car that I can't even pay attention to because it's so God awful ugly.  It's up there with or beyond the hhr and PT cruiser for me. 

They are much maligned, but God I miss my Monte.  Silver SS with ttops and the vette steering and cam package.  Never had a single issue with it until the trans went around 180k (possible due to I'll advised automatic jbars when I was 16).

Fenders and hood, as well as the wheels

Slide out horizontal mirror in the center of the steering wheel, where the airbag would be on a real car. 

Does it seem weird that you can't IMPORT a new foreign car that complies with modern standards in say, Japan, without sending it through tens of thousands of dollars of crash testing (if it wasn't sold in this country), but it's cool to go buy something that was built in some dudes shed that doesn't comply with any…

I think a lot of us figured the Bronco was going to be a new Blazer but with a Ford grill and badge when we first saw the announcement.  Don't have to apologize for expecting the worst from car manufacturers these days.  Although truth be told, Ford seems to be the US maker who's really kinda hit it with those…

I used to love doing the steering gear install on big trucks.  We had a little crane hook to grab em, because they're heavy as shit, and when we bolted them to the frame, we had this big ass torque impact with a heavy steel L bar welded to it.  That braced it against the frame for torque the bolts, otherwise it'd tear…

I STILL do.  Mythbusters and Top Gear at night are my teddy bear, or my security blankie.  Those voices are so familiar and loved to me, they send me right off to sleep.  I teared up when they announced MB was going off the air, and I straight up cried during the final episode.  It hurt when we lost Jessi, and losing…