Interesting, I didn’t realize the Tarpon was based on the smaller American. It would likely have sold much better on the compact platform. AMC did eventually produce a small fastback with the Hornet.

It’s annoying but sometimes these kinds of ads present the opportunity for a deal. Most of these tributes trade in the $10-15K range and even a stock car will often sell for that money. If the seller really thought he was selling a 600 Abarth in perfect condition the price would be much, much higher. If the seller…

A modern F1 car really hasn’t been tested on the circuit but they are likely the best tools for the job. BMW engineers once made a calculation that its 2006 F1 car could theoretically achieve a 5:15 time. I think the weight plays a big part. The 919 Evo is 800 horsepower short of the Bolide yet also 800 pounds lighter…

The center of gravity moves up and to the rear of the vehicle as more people are loaded. Loading 7 people in the rearmost seats and leaving the front ones empty is probably a recipe for spooky handling at the limit. Couple that with unimpressive crash performance in general and it’s no wonder the safety stats look…

Just a little bit of research will show you that catalytic converters were only adopted to meet state and federal emissions regulations and that most of the work done to develop catalytic converters was further upstream in the oil&gas industry. Automakers would gladly have continued not using cats but it was the only…

I never had a B5 Passat but I recall that when my 2001 Saab’s ABS module crapped out at ~180K miles it also took down half the instrument panel including the odometer. I got about 2,000 unrecorded miles before I could get it fixed about a month later. This Passat went six years... I’m guessing the vehicle speed sensor…

Another significant luxury on this Cadillac was the roof—most cars didn’t have a fixed roof at that time because it expensive to make and sheet steel was not available.

This was made well before the V-12/V-16s showed up. If want one of those multiple this price several times.

Sales of the S-10 Blazer didn’t drop that dramatically, but it’s true that while GM was selling well over 100K Blazers each year in the 1980s, the XJ Cherokee was selling over 200K. Why not add a four-door version? Ford got the same message and it was pretty cheap to do.

Based on my read, the seller did the $7K engine-out service years ago but hasn’t driven it much since then. But I’m with you on the AC/sunroof/wheels/headlight... at $15K the seller is starting to get close to the price of a well-maintained B7 RS4 with similar miles. For that money, at the very least the AC should be…

A flowchart would be helpful. Originally, unitary cylinder displacement denoted most of the race and street cars, but even in the ‘60s Ferrari had started to abandon this naming convention. Usually, it was a three-digit number signifying engine displacement and cylinder count (206, 246, 308, 512, etc.) but in recent…

That same 190E 2.3 was nearly $30K by 1988. I remember the 3-series basically started at $30K as well. By that time the 190E was pretty pricey for the amount of car you got and Mercedes quickly started giving the model stronger engines.

Gotta agree with this take. Vintage Mercedes was in general built very well and to a high standard, but the cars were extremely expensive, up and down the product range (at least in the U.S.). It could get away with it primarily because of a lack of cheaper competition. There was BMW, but those cars were typically…

I’m not sure anybody knows yet. Volvo last year claimed it would release one electric vehicle a year through 2025. The XC40 Recharge P8 is out now, and next up is the XC90. I worry that Volvo will have a harder time packaging the battery in the lower S/V60 and pure electric will be limited to the bigger/taller…

Yeah, the Sportbrake wasn’t even competitive with the only other wagon in that price range offered in 2018, the Merc E400. Now, with the E450 and A6 dropping for 2021 the Sportbrake (and XF in general) is handily outclassed.

I believe in the eyes of regulators these are basically the same car, which is probably why Volvo bothers to offer them.

For a short time, Jag boasted a power advantage over the E400 and the Audi didn’t really have a competitor unless you counted the smaller A4 allroad. But with the E450 EQ and the A6 allroad being offered for 2021 starting in the $60K range the sportbrake is way outclassed.

Rust is definitely a problem for these (not the composite bodywork obviously), but the real Achilles’ heel for these competent off-roaders is the limited production run (6,000 total) and the fact that the tooling for the bodywork was only good for one production run (that kept the production costs down). So OEM replace…

Sort of? The body-on-frame chassis was straight old-school Rodeo, but the torque-on-demand AWD system was nifty and the direct-injection V6 was one of the first on the market.

I don’t think Isuzu ever had the cash to develop unibody SUVs (everything they did was body-on-frame I think), and it was probably making more money from the commercial truck business anyway.