As an Active duty Marine in the 90's, it astonished me that Air Force SP’s still carried Vietnam era M16-A1's....

There’s literally NOTHING new about this. YEARS ago, working for both Ford and briefly the General, there was a problem with contraban AND even people LIVING in vehicles on rail cars coming up from Mexico....

Yup, plenty of independent shops, great if you find a good one. Most aren’t supported by manufacturers and they absolutely pay more for parts, guess what that means to you?

Sure, buy direct and then go figure out who will fix it when there’s an issue.

No, they can’t. What they CAN do, is set price floors and MSRP and then manipulate dealers into compliance with allocation.

Meh, not really how it works. Manufacturers don’t push allocation nor do the force you to take particular spec. MSRP is just that, SUGGESTED retail price. Dealers buy vehicles to re-sell at a profit, controlling that margin is not something the mfg can legally do.

Hmmmm, you’re in the business of building cars that are sold thru a captive dealer network but you cut allocation to flex your muscles thereby punching yourself in the face. Newsflash, dealers aren’t in business to sell new cars, they’re in business to SERVICE cars, sell parts and sell USED cars, THATS where all the…

Simple, the Manufacturer doesn’t really care what dealers are selling it for in fact, they’re HAPPY it’s commanding a premium as that will set expectations for the next halo car. Thing is, they can’t be seen by their target demographic as being complicit in bending them over so they make a half hearted show of…

It was commentary on the stock image.... keep up...

Only in Florida does it take ~18 rounds to hit 5 stationary targets from point blank range....

Why is this such a big deal? All the cops have to do is head over to the closest Cars & Coffee, the mustang herds tend to congregate there and we all know that no one can get away in one....

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes....

Can we start with the easy stuff?

I dunno if they’re still being sold new but a crap ton of them were being sold in the West

I wasn’t using the SS specifically. “I” was making a general statement, you just don’t understand that...

You’re bad at understanding the point. Manufacturers across the board aren’t making manuals for “enthusiasts” because on the whole, “enthusiasts” don’t buy new cars AND the small percentage that does, also wants them with as few options as possible so there’s no money in it (you know, that pesky business case.) if…

Audi A3 Sportback seems like a complete no-brainer. She already loves the platform, it’ll fit the dog and they made it in a manual.

That’s a given, it’s a GM car, designed by accountants.

I’m the moron who understands that future production volumes/allocation, depends almost exclusively on profitability and turn rate. If people snapped up manuals as fast as they could make them + there was a business see for them, production would INCREASE but, what do I know? I only have 13yrs in the industry...

“The Chevy SS was a bold attempt to capture the small market of enthusiasts who wanted a rear-drive V8 sedan with a bow tie on the front. The problem was that most of us were too broke to buy one, and the SS had to ride off into the sunset.”