Unfortunately, Fiat with two basic models in the US is last in reliability in all surveys.

Actually, in the US regular (much larger than the Mazda) sized minivans sell quite well. At least a third of the vehicles on my block are minivans, mostly Toyotas with some of the others as well.

Nice photo. Yeah, those are amazingly teeny tiny in real life.

I'm really more of a design fan than a gearhead.....but car magazines way back in the olden days used to have articles all the time tracing the development of an engine family or an automatic transmission, or detailing the engineering of a new one. And of course there were a lot fewer car models with a lot fewer…

Come to think of it, the OHV six used in full sized Chevys from 1953 until forever was I think an OHV version of the flathead 6 from the thirties too.

I think it was slanted because it used the long stroke block from some flathead six cylinder Plymouth engine from the 30's. It was used as the 6 in Chrysler products until the minute the slant 6 came out in 1960.

Oh wait he did explain it exactly like that later.

The fluid isn't the spring, Jay. Fluid is not compressible. It's an air/oil suspension. The air (nitrogen actually I think) does the actual springing.

A problem is that larger companies have teams working on designs. Even the person in charge may not originate basic designs, but manages a team, and the top members of the team do a lot. The postwar period at Ford - 1949 (Ford sedan) to early mid 60's (Mustang and Cougar) - produced many great designs, generally some…

You do realize there's a gas engine also, right?

But new administration at Cadillac realized the naming mistake and announced the new names that would be phased in.

That's it. Tonka.

Because his original 7 series looked like it had a trunk lid from another car. From another galaxy.

What you mean "we" white man?

This doesn't look like a "regular car", that is a 3 box design, because it's smaller. If you want space efficiency and real room for four or five people, you end up with a vehicle that is mostly passenger/cargo space. The passenger space stays about the same, and the front and rear appendages are eliminated. This is…

That's an early example of Lincoln's historic look - streamlined, simple, maybe a little spooky. Later iterations might be the 1950 Cosmopolitan, the 1956, 1956 Continental Mark II, 1958, and of course the 1961 Continental. The only car that is down this alley today to me is the new Aston Lagonda.

No, they didn't have to think it up. It was already thought up.

Maybe it will have a backing up camera, which are going to be mandatory in the US in a couple of years anyway.

You have no current knowledge or experience with current Buicks, do you?

Because it gives GM a brand between Cadillac (luxury) and Chevrolet (people's car). Also the Buick brand historically stands for quiet, smooth, soft riding plushmobiles - something a local banker or doctor might drive - and some of this image may linger. And all Buicks other than the La Crosse and Enclave, which are…