Location, location, location. Plenty of people in the area, but not people with the kind of money that can support a large mall. Hawthorne, like Inglewood to the north of it, has experienced a rather severe economic and demographic shift over the past 50 years.

Hawthorne? That was the first mall that I thought of when this topic came up. I remember going to that mall when I moved from Orange County to Inglewood back in 1991. It was bleak and depressing, with tons of anti-theft devices installed at every single store. I learned to make the drive to Torrance if I needed to go…

Whilst it is true that it is easy to identify performance versions by things like body kit and wheels, those will be some of the first thing that someone that wants to make you think they have a performance version will do to their car in order to try to fool people. Similar thing with badges - I once had a co-worker…

In some countries cars were either de-badged or rebadged with lower numbers for tax reasons.

I’ll just leave these here for your viewing pleasure:

You know, I wasn’t a big Jeep fan before now...

CP. I know it’s stock, but it looks like a caricature of an off-road truck, like something you might find in off-brand Hot Wheels competitor. Doubling the price because of a trim package doesn’t cut it, especially with those seriously cheesy lights and steering wheel cover.

Does this mean we can have our pop-up lights back?

When I first got my license, my daily driver was a ‘77 VW Dasher wagon. It had been the family car for 5 or 6 years, and was the only car in which I had experience behind the wheel. For some reason I had to drive mom’s best friend’s Pinto wagon, and at last I could make a comparison between a couple of cars. What a…

The main problem with those 1/2 pint units is that they’re 24 inches in diameter.

Don’t show that shirt to my mother - she’ll buy me one...

On a semi-related note, does anyone have an idea what the name of the song or artist is in this video?

Great looks of a classic British cafe racer with Honda build quality and reliability- the best of both worlds. When these were new they couldn’t seem to give them away, and they loitered in dealer showrooms for years. As I recall, people didn’t like the idea of paying over $4K for a thumper. Not surprisingly, they…

There was something in Europe, available on an Opel or Vauxhall, that intrigued me. It was a windshield that wrapped into the roof, perhaps 8-12 inches from the normal termination point. It really opened up the feel of the vehicle without having to, well, open up the vehicle. None of the complexity and weight of a…

I’ve done the cap thing when driving convertibles as well, but that means you’re pretty much stuck in the cap all day. I find that if I take off the hat I look a bit goofy with my hair all messed up, so once it’s on it stays on. Sometimes I wish I was bald.

Did the same in an early ‘80s Corvette.

In my mom’s first Vanagon we took out the middle row of seats and had a bean bag chair in there for long drives. Safety? What's that?

The only time I’ve enjoyed convertibles has been on warm summer nights. I have great memories of driving through the orange groves in Irvine in such conditions. The fragrance in the air was intoxicating.

This the first time in a long time that I thought that one of these top ten lists was 100% spot on (although I do think that the G35 should have been included based on my own personal experience with these douchenozzles).