On some American cars the side marker lights functioned as signal repeaters, and I’ve rewired a few that weren’t to work that way. Before LED bulbs you could do it pretty easily by grounding the side marker through the turn signal filament; it would flash 180 degrees out of phase with the turn signal.

Keep in mind the Maybach looking a bit dated is a feature of the design. They’re marketed to a very small-c conservative clientele. If you look at Mercedes cars over the years they always are styled like American or Japanese cars from ten years prior.

The LED strips? They’re probably real. My Honda Clarity has LED headlights like that.

Right. The repeaters are more for people flanking you on the freeway. You put them on when you want to move over, and they respond by mirroring your speed.

I’m mostly familiar with the 3-cylinder version that was rebadged as the Geo Metro. I will admit that, while not fast, it does seem to have been pretty durable, since I still occasionally see them.

Yeah, CSC’s parts support for these bikes is really good and was a major selling point for me, since I’m a DIYer anyway. The service manual they did for the TT is top notch, too.

While not technically a movie, the Netflix series “A Series of Unfortunate Events” has *amazing* taste in cars.

Me too. They usually assume they can intimidate anything slower than them out of the way anyhow. I used to own a VW Vanagon Diesel. 65 mph top speed. Trucks would tailgate me really closely to try to goad me into going faster, not realizing that I was already using all 49 horsepowers.

If the guy’s willing to drag a car down the road without slowing down, he’s just going to ram your ass if you get in front of him. He obviously doesn’t care.

Daihatsu Charade.
Also the Suzuki Swift, not because the name itself was bad but because it made the car into a rolling oxymoron.

Then there’s the Renault LeCar. Its name made a claim it could not back up.

None, admittedly, although the scooter had a mechanical latch that could lock the left lever for use as a parking brake. My point is just that I never grabbed a big handful of left brake thinking it was the clutch, which would have been...awkward.

Yup. Really neat watch while it lasted! ;) Mine had a perpetual calendar incorporated into the face.

Haven’t ridden the SG250, but it sure does look cool. ;) I’m not surprised the top speed is a little higher — among other things, the aerodynamics are better and it has tires with lower rolling resistance. Did you do anything with the carburetor on your SG? I’m not convinced the one on my TT is set up right, or…

Maybe too slow? It takes about a 30 mph impact to set them off, usually.

I doubt 81" includes mirrors. It *might* include the fenders (which track width does not.)
I have a 1990 E250 and it’s 79" w/out mirrors.

And that width figure doesn’t generally include mirrors (which would be high enough to clear this) and fender flares (which might not be.)

I watched a guy do that driving under the approach to the Mackinac Bridge in Michigan.

I assume you’re referring to the CSC TT250. I have one and I love it, but calling it a highway-capable bike is a stretch. Highway *legal*, yes, and for short stints it’s OK. It will get up to 65 mph indicated (about 60 mph actual) but that’s about the limit. The reality is it’s a tall, aerodynamically draggy bike,…

An Ebike is going to be way easier to steal than this. It weighs over 200 pounds. Also it’s a titled and registered motor vehicle, which makes flipping it riskier than with an Ebike. Ebikes get stolen fairly frequently on the college campus I work at, but I’ve never heard of a scooter getting stolen.