Thanks for that explanation! So glad my ignorance was not limited only to myself. I’ll put that GS460 on my list.

Just gotta say, I was shopping for a car for a long time, and I somehow never saw mention of the GS.  It wasn’t even on my radar.  I got a GTI because I found a great deal, but I’d never considered a GS.  Genuinely no offense intended, I thought they were sleek Camrys and I never gave them a look.  They sound like a…

I really like this car. But he has an extra M10 head?

I walked right into that one.

NOT coolest, but a personal favorite: when your wife just acknowledges your inexplicable nerdery, then helps. A lug nut brush.

What pains me about this project is that it’s actually kind of close.

I’m looking for a decent car for myself. When I saw this article and saw this kid is in college, I thought I’d have a useful tip.

$20,000?

No. No, no. Because I don’t have that much.

It’s 8:25 pm and I’m still at work.

I am having a very serious and real existential crisis. What is my life? Why am I?

But the interior is where you’d have to sit. What joy is there knowing the engine is great when you’re sitting directly on seat cushion filler and all the knobs are broken off?

And let’s not forget what a yellow 2005 Lotus acutally looks like. It’s amazing!  The kit looks fine, but is it an improvement?

Children, the actual Craigslist ad says it’s been on for 29 days. There isn’t a Boxter half this good on my local Craigslist for less than $7k. I must declare a red flag.

I once rebuilt the top end of a ‘72 Baja bug. It took me like two months, a friend’s enormous help, that Muir book, and, well, also a complete tear-down and start-over based on a number of parts left over upon completion, including some cylinder-sized rings without which the engine had no compression whatsoever.

It…

Also, they’d build it in Mexico for our market. So, cheaper. In both senses.

Dude. So this. That “build it, don’t buy it” crap is so obnoxious. Civilization is possible only because we have division of labor. Nobody says “build it, don’t buy it” about their house, much less about their steak and corn flakes.

Or their divorce papers.

I make occasional forays into wrenching now and again*, but…

Well...that also would be great for someone else. I think we’re in a golden age of performance, convertible, and otherwise genuinely interesting and luxurious cars in the $20k range. I can’t see going for pure quirk and/or rarity alone with $20k.

Like eight of those!

Man. Twenty grand will sure buy you a lot of something else.

That car is cool for someone. Not for me.

Having had a TDI convertible Beetle for a year during Dieselgate (just to sell back, but fell in love with having a convertible), I can tell you that the joy of convertibleness comes not just from the top being gone, but the backs and sides being gone, too.

It’s not mere sunshine I like, it’s openness.

It’s a solid…

First words to my mind, before reading: “This is an abomination”. It’s not jokey-faux. It’s bad, uncanny valley faux. It has the shape of a Ferrari...but you just don’t feel the normal feelings. Then you get suspicious and upset. Worst kind of faux, to my way of thinking.

Pardon me a brief Jalopnik heresy, but if a car is going to be this old, over 100k, with a barn history that has rendered its longevity questionable, it has to be either beautiful, convertible, or fast. This is none of those things.

North Carolina to Utah for a month. Wife and two kids, Golf non-wagon TDI. No luggage rack. Definitely leveled up my game.