Trying to imagine one of these in morning rush-hour traffic on the 110... nope, can’t do it...

I lived in LA for a couple of years. I would say that a power sunroof and good strong AC is a better way to go than a convertible. You’re picturing 75 degree days on the PCH, but you spend a lot more time on the freeway, either going 80 mph to keep up with traffic, or slowed to a crawl. And being stuck in a traffic…

I’m embarrassed to admit that a ‘92 Ford Tempo (Topaz was the Mercury variant) was the first car I ever made payments on. I had terrible credit at the time and needed my dad to co-sign, and one of his friends “knew a guy” who had a Ford dealership, so I kinda got railroaded into it.

Love the styling of these, but trying desperately to remember when the self-destructing wiring harnesses in these started... I think this is one of them.

The difference is there’s no feedback. If you have, say, a knob for a fan control, all the way to the left is off, and then you just count the clicks as you turn the knob. With a touch screen, there’s all that “did it go? should I hit it again?” that takes your eyes, and mind, off the road.

Actually, I love working on cars by myself. It’s almost like meditation for me. Just me, tools, and the machine. I just work better that way. When I absolutely need to enlist someone’s help (for large/heavy things), I almost resent it, because it feels like an intrusion.

Yes! I love everything about this idea. This is exactly the sort of story I want to live out vicariously through someone else while we live out this “rejected Black Mirror script” of a year. Absolute best of luck to you!

That Sentra is sad to see. Probably needed some $30 part that cost $500 in labor to replace, and it wasn’t “worth it.” In the hands of a competent DIYer, it probably had a lot of life left in it.

2nd gear: And they say manual transmissions are dying...

I can’t picture what most of those look like. And a couple of them I’ve actually never heard of. I imagine I’m not missing much.

Eight hundred thousand miles on a clutch, in Chicago traffic?

Thanks for this, what a great interview! I like his philosophy. Keep it simple and light and precise, and concentrate on the experience. To hell with the performance numbers; if anybody can just mash down the pedal and get there, what’s the point? I’ve always thought that a sports car should seem more like a dance…

In answer to your questions:

I love these things, and I have ever since they came out, and there need to be more “Lego” cars like this that you can reconfigure when it suits you. But the price is about twice what I’d pay for it.

Why do you think Lincoln called theirs the “Town Car”?

Exactly. It’s cornfield, then usually a buffer zone around the edge of the field (room to turn tractors around, I imagine), then a 20 foot wide ditch, then the soft shoulder, then the road. And you can see a stop sign from half a mile away, because the road is arrow-straight and level. I grew up in northern Illinois,…

Fixed it for you:

I’m lichen where this is going...

Nah, it’s like naming your pet chihuahua “Zeus” or something. It’s irony, or whimsy, or something like that.

Huh. This is the first time the poll has worked for me in MONTHS. Too bad I have to hit the “Crack Pipe” button...