Hope you managed to recover from that, Dan Cooper.

Agreed. That young man put in the lap of his LIFE... he was given an opportunity for a podium, and baw-gawd he took it. With the bonus of having his name also in the books for the fastest lap of that race.

Not surprising, as the R34s are getting up there in age, and Japan has extremely punitive taxes on older vehicles, in an attempt to get them off the road in favor of newer, and generally cleaner/safer cars.

I may be weird, but I’m always interested in seeing the base-trim “work truck” version of new trucks with the completely matte grill/fascia. Many times they have simplified headlight units (I miss recessed sealed-beam units on these trim levels; I always thought they looked kinda interesting)

My dad only really regretted getting rid of one car, and that was his ‘66 Thunderbird convertible, red-on-red-on-red, with the 428. He was heading back to college for a graduate degree, and wouldn’t be able to park it anywhere, so he sold it.

It *does* have a slight UAZ-452 vibe to it... very slight.

Your argument carries a lot of weight. The YJ Wrangler and XJ Cherokee were all AMC-designed (and damned-good designs at that), and I believe much of the groundwork for the Grand Cherokee had been laid by AMC. With no AMC, Chrysler would not have had the Intrepid/Concorde/Vision/LHS/300M (and, by extension, the LX… Read more

AMC may have eventually failed, but it wasn’t for lack of trying... they were constantly trying to reach out to foreign markets and foreign automakers in an attempt to shore up their company’s future.

IIRC, they were one of the first western automakers, if not THE first, to set up a joint-operation in China,… Read more

For me, blacking-out the posts between side-windows really REALLY works well on many vehicles. It’s a wonder why it’s not employed more often.

Mattel has already unleashed the hell that is Minions-inspired Hot Wheels on the world.

The Saturn SL/SW/SC was actually a damned-fine lineup of economy/compact cars. The ION was inferior in almost every aspect of materials/fit/finish/NVH. Damned ugly, to boot.

Base-trim-level 2009 Kia Spectra. The seats were surprisingly ok. Was a loaner/rental when another car was in the shop.

Saturn ION. Read more

Used my dad’s ‘94 Cavalier wagon for commuting in the early 2000s (It was essentially an “extra car” for him at the time), and the seats were indeed fantastic.

“the Allegro Estate was a pretty cool-looking little wagon” Read more

“And it’s still covered by the factory warranty.” Seriously? That’s impressive.

Never quite understood Vanishing Point... maybe it’s beyond me. A guy aimlessly drives around the desert in a white Challenger for 90 minutes then a Camaro crashes into some bulldozers. The End.