I was waiting for someone to bring up the terminology of series vs. parallel hybrids. When hybrids first appeared on the market it was far from obvious that the parallel architecture would become popular, with its substantial extra complexity.  Series hybrids aren’t a new idea.

Weren’t the Iso Grifo and Isetta also built by a refrigerator company?  That’s kind of the opposite answer to the question though - I’ve never seen their fridges but the cars are iconic.

The term you’re looking for is keiretsu. Different company-sized divisions within a single mega-company with financial but not necessarily operational links.

FWIW, the trunk on the NC (3rd generation Miata) in the top picture is actually quite useful and the top doesn’t intrude into it when it’s down.  While I love the hauling capabilities of a hatchback, I can say with a straight face that that generation of Miata is perfectly practical for daily use.

I foster kittens for a local animal shelter. I pour a ton of time and emotion into raising them, and there’s at least one from each litter who I would love to keep as my own cat. But I don’t let myself do so because I know that if I accumulated more cats then (1) I’d not be able to give them each the attention they…

I had this one (though not my photo):

Careful with your counting there - I remember when Ford used to use a pedal-activated parking brake.  Do they still do that?

For caffeinated candy, there’s always the truck driver’s favorite: Enerjets. Square sucking candies with the approximate flavor of burnt coffee and the caffeine equivalent to half a cup. You can find them at most truck stops and many highway rest areas.

I had a Golf TDI from this generation and it was a truly great car. Useful hatchback body just the right size, the exact same suspension as the contemporary GTI, surprisingly satisfying acceleration for its horsepower rating (diesel torque makes the power very accessible for daily driving), a level of refinement…

There are only four vehicles in that picture.  The bottom two are just a mirage.

Whereas on my iPhone, viewing a single page on the site for the time it takes to read the article and skim the comments drains 10% of the battery. No, I’m not exaggerating.  No, it doesn’t do this for other sites.

Or to put it another way, language expands all the time but almost never contracts. I’m perfectly happy to use singular “they” (modern and increasingly recognized) and “forsooth” (fallen from common usage but still widely recognized) in the same sentence without any attempt to be ironic.

Couldn’t have said it better myself.  My dealer was willing to swap out the wheels (I can’t stand the machined look) but not the seats.

All you folks saying you’d like one of these... is this a Streetka named desire?

Um, wouldn’t all the abandoned trains blocking the tracks make the rail system useless?

It’s an octothorp, you cretins!

Seems to be a common Mazda problem. My 2006 Miata’s horn sounds like a constipated goat. The Hella replacements are queued up for installation.

What could possibly go wrong?

Appropriate for such an aston-tatious car...

Umm, how about an UMM for an esoteric 4x4? Maybe it’s run-of-the-mill if you happen to be serving time in the Portuguese army, but this particular one is for sale in Colorado...