300k would be a badge of honor if they were MY 300k.  

Some people have a 911 or Lambo as their dream cars.  The VW Thing is mine.  Someday...

Mentally I think of them all as “Lincoln LMNOP”

Exactly the opposite. When I was in my 20's I realized how awesome it would be to sell Mary Kay. Think about it, your job is to go to parties where you’re the ONLY guy, be charming, and tell women how beautiful they are. And if it works out, free pink Cadillac.

I read these even when I’m not interested in the car, just because Rob is such a funny creative writer.

As a Lotus fan I’ve always thought so too, but as a skier I’d have to rank the Esprit as a ski car right next to the Miata.

I had an old Cannondale frame I got for free because the derailleur hanger was bent (before they went with replaceable ones), and I wanted to build it as a gravel bike (yeah, we were doing this stuff back in the early ‘90's). I learned you can cold set aluminum, but you can only do it ONCE, and it would kinda be ok.…

You described your car as “nimble”.  Possibly the most underrated safety feature of any vehicle.

That’s how we chose our Subaru Outback. The dealer had dozens on their back lot that had arrived at roughly the same time and had been sitting there as they cycled through the inventory. We just walked through and chose the one that looked least dirty, which happened to be a two-tone silver/charcoal

Growing up in the ‘70s, there was a young guy at the end of our block that had a red Gremlin X. I always kind of liked the Gremlin because I was young and the little gremlin on the badge was sooo cool (still is), but this red Gremlin X was so loud that you could hear it driving past from inside the house. One winter…

I can smell it with my eyes: the vape smell hasn’t totally masked the cigarette smell.

You know how some families are “Ford families” or “Chevy families”? Yeah...we were an “AMC family” (and my brother played the cello). The Ramblers (including a Marlin) were before my time, I had to live through the Matador/Concord era.

Sad to see you go, but happy you get to move forward on your own terms. 

Disagree. Two adults, one child with mountain bikes on the roof heading up Monarch Pass in Colorado, we couldn’t get above third gear and had to keep it floored until we reached a passing lane...so a Winnebago could pass US going uphill.  Never again.

Any regrets about trading the GTI for the Alltrack? I keep bumping up against limits in my GTI. I live in Colorado where often a two hour drive ends in 10 miles of dirt. Or summer hail becomes an icy slick around a shady corner.  I love my car but for most trips outside of local I find myself looking at other options.

A friend loaned my his 986 so I could take my daughter out in something special for her 16th birthday.  And for weeks later, all I could think about was that car.  Wasn’t particularly fast, which I’m ok with.  But it was beautiful and fun and cornered like my GTI could only dream.  If our family didn’t already have 4…

My old Miele road bike was the only bike I’ve ever been on that had both sloppy, slow steering but was twitchy at the same time.  It was the anti-holy grail.

I’ve been riding and racing bikes since the ‘70's, and up until about 8 years ago every single one was a frankenbike like yours.  Then I bought a new bike, and holy crap!  EVERYTHING works...without even having to dick with it!  So out with the old and no longer a retrogrouch.

I never noticed this until someone on this site pointed it out, and now it bugs the shit out of me.  So thanks.

He needs to get the poster on his wall from when he was 12.  Countach or Esprit.