Considering it was never driven if that doesn’t top $130,000 (DJIA from 2004 to now is up about 2.5x) , which I doubt it will, it was a horrible investment. And that isn’t even counting storage and registration costs. Why would anyone do that?

That’s not always true. Even normal repairs (like a clutch replacement) can easily exceed the market value of an old car. If there are less than $6500 of repairs needed on that car I’d be very surprised.

The Z4M Coupe is the last best M3.

And actual spaceships are vastly more likely to look like run-down warehouses than the fantasy we see in those pictures.

Not so much. Reasonably precise cylinder filling is accomplished through the use of a positive displacement compressor (super-charger).

a. There is complexity, but it has no heads and no valve train so that is offset.

How about the little discussed fact that what comes out the other end isn’t you but a copy of you? This naturally raises some questions. Such as does the right held by the old you confer to the new you? Did the teleporter commit murder of the old you? What happens if the original doesn’t get destroyed and there are…

“The only downside? They’ll set you back $8,500.” And another $4,000 for every brake job.

I had my e46 driver’s window regulator fail on me. Brittle plastic is BMWs single biggest cause of failure. The window just fell into the door. Fortunately I had the extended warranty so I started activating the other three windows up and down and withing 5 minutes they all failed and fell into their doors. All four…

Stopping distance is function of speed not how many cars are on the road. If you follow 2 secs behind the car in front of you at anything over 30, cars will be slipping in front of you to get ahead, endlessly. Of course if you are in stop and go traffic, you aren’t getting anywhere, anyway. :-)

Except for Texas which specifically negotiated that independent ability as part of it’s entry into the union.

Good luck. There is only one state that can legally subdivide itself without congressional approval and that is Texas.

Luxuriously.

With the shuttle program, NASA accepted an actual risk of roughly 7 deaths in 50 flights. Has their bar risen?

In the case of rail, air and sea transport, I bet the labor costs of the “drivers” ( engineers, pilots and captains, etc.) really isn’t the first place you look for savings as they don’t represent much of the overall cost. Unlike in last-mile deliveries, for instance, where the driver is a much larger portion of the co…

If you’re not completely cynical, what he was doing is what anyone might do; what he could. The problem at the start was that officials were afraid to swim the kids out because of their (the kids’) limitations. Musk set about coming up with a solution that took the children out of the equation for success. He kept…

No automaker has ever had the goal that Tesla has. Going from being a bespoke car company to producing hundreds of thousands of cars per year in 2-3 years flat. No one has experience in accomplishing that. However, it seems to have parallels to rapid software development and some kinds of verification based on the way…

You are hyperbolically overstating the need for valve adjustments. At over 70K miles mine is still in spec.

Yes.

It’s subjective. To my eyes, the Z3s are attractive but clearly dated. The Z4s are aging well and many people would think they were current models if they weren’t familiar with them.