What it needs is a trap door that lets you drop straight from the living quarters to the car (covertible of course) while the rig is on cruise, then open the remote-controlled door and get deposited in the right lane while the pilotless rig drifts toward a fiery end on the median, distracting the feds on your tail…

By the way, one of these was lurking in the wings during preparation for Obama's inauguration. I saw it in the big, interactive panoramic shot CNN had on its Web site that day.

Can that possibly be the original vinyl top, going on 40 years old? If so, there's truly magic dust in the Alameda air.

@FromaBuick6: I thought all of the '77-'79 B-body coupes were well done—better than the sedans.

Definitely in the ballpark with the year on the van. a '72 8-passenger Sportsman was one of our family haulers when I was a kid. Spartan would have been a better name.

One of NJ's largest, the Flemington group, recently shut down the Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep, Ford, and Chevy/Caddy stores at its outpost in Clinton, NJ. Looking more and more like a ghost town along that stretch of highway.

There must be a low NIMBY factor in the UK. Try to put a garbage incinerator anywhere in the US and watch the fireworks. Actually, if you could harness the hot air...

@LifeIsBetterAtTheTrack: Had to think about that...brilliant!

@tonyola: I remember reading somewhere that the Japanese tended to do this because in all the traffic congestion over there, you only ever see bits and pieces of a car at any given time. You rarely get an overall view.

The anti-Hummer.

Oh come on! It ends just as the guy on the inside is about to flip!

@PolishDon: So it's NOT just me! When I saw that, I was thinking the quality control people fell asleep at the factory.

@d3c509b: Actually, we may both be right, kind of. They don't list it on Chevy's Web site, but I suspect they're still selling Uplanders to fleet buyers. Or it may have dropped from the lineup midyear when the Traverse went on sale.

Probably not the absolute worst, but based on my own experience, the Uplander has to be, well, up there. Screams cheap everywhere you turn. The shifter doesn't even operate smoothly; when I drove one as a rental, I kept overshooting the 'D' every time I put it in gear.

Arsonist...flame surfacing...

Must have been a hoot getting plates for that.

@Lost in the age of Aerostar: Town Cars probably spiked because New York City is about to enact regulations on the 'black car' business that will eventually drive Town Cars to extinction. Operators are buying them up to get grandfathered in and put off the day when they'll have to figure out what can take the Town…

Another car I'll never see in the flesh again. Of course, I said that about the DOTS Comet and promptly saw one within a week.

This looks like something a kid drew in the margin of his looseleaf paper during math class. A really talented kid who would grow up to design cars one day.

Some of his designs grew on me over time. Some did not. But for all the focus on posteriors, I think some of the headlight designs were at least as disturbing.