Having pulled and installed VW engines multiple time, 45 seconds seems a bit much. They have to disconnect the charging leads, the fuel line, then get behind the tin to undo the four mounting bolts. You don’t just pull it straight out unless the entire rear valance is missing. Typically, the valance helps cooling…

He seems pissed in his tweet.

As a person that lost his 67 Bug in an engine fire, that cloth wrapped rubber fuel line they use is probably the culprit, especially with ethanol in the fuel. It eats the lines from the inside out. If they don’t die from ethanol, they just age, crack and leak fuel directly onto the engine, where it runs down onto…

Good points. I work in an industry that is pretty much 24/7 (legal), but when I’m on vacation, I leave my work phone at home. Screw that. No email, no calls, no nothing and nobody at work has my personal cell number.

That’s fine. I can see your point.

I’m sorry, but his bike collection is pretty paltry and aside from the two famous bikes, a 91 BMW R850 and “Honda motorcycle” isn’t exactly exciting. This might come from living in a climate that gives you about 5 months of motorcycling if you have a light winter.

How? We’ve never had kids, but I think that we had way more ability to be jet setters and do truly cool shit in our 40s. In our 20s, it was mostly big raging keg parties and the like - all local. In your 40s, you have the assets and opportunity to go to some remote island for the weekend, stay in an awesome place…

My brother had a daughter when he was about 30, then got divorced. Daughter is growing up, he has custody. All is well. Then, he gets remarried in his mid 40s and over the course of a couple years, they have two boys.

I’m one of three boys. My wife: “Your mother was a saint.”

I’m still trying to decide whether social media is the most toxic thing ever released on the world. On one hand, it is the great equalizer, giving individuals tremendous reach and voice. But on the other hand, it is the great bullshit machine, giving lies equivalent standing to facts.

I’m in the process of automating lighting in my home and I have to say that Alexa does a pretty good job of it. Better than Apple’s stuff, IMHO. I can walk into the kitchen and say “Alexa, turn everything on” and all the lights come on. Voice command is clearly where it’s going to have to go for widespread adoption,…

I’d say that “care about the truth” might be a bit over broad as the vast majority of the documents on Wikileaks carry exactly no provenance and could have been altered along the way to say anything.

No shit. I bet that thing will piss people off when it tries to do a core dump.

It’d be awfully nice to be in the grocery store trying to remember if you need milk or if you have relish for the hot dogs you just bought and be able to virtually take a peek. Similarly, I’d be all for a camera of some kind in my pantry so I can tell if I need cat food or cereal.

She had a copper Vega, followed by a copper Pinto. I keep seeing C7s in that color and liking them and she’s just NOPE

I could believe it. A friend’s dad bought one and I think the 0-60 was like 16 seconds or something.

It really was. Poorly executed, but innovative. By then, Toyotas and various Datsuns were making inroads and offering way more content. Great article, sir. Thank you.  

Except that aluminum block is what killed the whole program.

Chevettes were always super slow. When they introduced the diesel version, it might have been the slowest vehicle ever produced. I called them the cockroach of automobiles for a couple decades, but now they’re all gone.

Great article, but you missed the single most important factor of owning a Vega - the aluminum block. My girlfriend, now my wife, had a 72 Vega. It handled well, it was comfortable enough and it was about what you’d expect from a 70s econocar that was trying to be a little sexy.