Yup, working on getting a car roadworthy right now, and putting fasteners back where they came from when I started (even if I haven’t finished the job) is a great way to ensure they go back where they came from when I do eventually finish (also, that I don’t lose them in the driveway).

The Cadillac Eldorado Bicentennial Edition was already your pretty typical unspecial edition comprised mostly of paint and stripes. But GM also advertised these as the “last American convertible,” which it admittedly was, right up until it wasn’t. 7 years later, when GM introduced a convertible variant of the next gen…

I remember reading a fleet report from 1976 about how some ludicrously high percentage of nearly brand new cars had downtime for repairs, a quantity that’d be effectively unacceptable today. At least some of the cost is going into better cars that last longer and require buying fewer cars in a lifetime 

That’s fair, although I wonder if a lot of the people who complain about no cheap new cars would actually buy the modern equivalent to any of those if given the chance (given the reception of what cheap cars are left, I’d doubt it a bit). Either way, it’s less that I think there were never good cheap cars, and more…

I feel like this needs a bit of clarification - pick an arbitrary year, and give us the list of cars available for less than the current equivalent of $20k (as an example, that apparently works out to about $12k in 2003). It feels like common wisdom that’s at least a little based in reluctance to accept inflation.

Ending on taking his son to the museum and seeing the Koala change table felt like what *should* have been the ending, and then we got the bonus story.

Don’t tempt them, they’ve already done it on the Pacifica.

They’re British, they’re a people accustomed to weather unsuited to convertibles and justifying one anyhow.

Don’t forget the Thunderbird got there a couple years earlier!

Even now, you can get a 3-row Outlander for like $32k (maybe less if you're good with FWD).

I work from home. I have several grocery stores in a bearable walk. I already have one sensible hatchback. I keep telling myself I can deal with a car out of commission for a couple weeks, so how bad could it be? I think prioritizing house stuff is the only reason I haven't taken the plunge on something European and…

Marky Mark? Snow, or GTFO.

Broken down car out there might be a good point (although again, preventative maintenance might go a long way without knowing anything about the car other than it being an ‘08 Taurus). But as the delta in fuel economy between smaller and larger cars tends to be smaller on the highway versus in town, I’m still not sure…

I miss the stupid but awesome option.

Perhaps a more serious answer is just how much driving is Dylan doing? It doesn’t look like Bozeman is huge, I can’t imagine he’s doing that much more than 100 city miles a week (where a smaller car might benefit). Over 4 years, he might save a thousand bucks in gas by spending $10k on another car? I’m pretty sure…

I’d say a Beetle, as it was good enough for the snowplow driver, but I think you’re starting to have a harder time finding a decent driver under $10k (well, maybe a Mexican-market model, if that’s your thing). But Corvairs? Well, they’re just an American-sized economy car, rear-engined just like the Beetle, but…

Semi-anecdotal, but I so far none of the Teslas in my company’s fleet have been recalled (not saying no quality issues, just no recalls). I think our main offender in the past year has been the Ford Escape - 3 decent sized recalls, all impacting a good chunk of the ones we own.

Wait, there’s car museums in Ontario other than the one in Oshawa (which needs an infusion of cubic dollars, but I’m still fond of as my parents took me there as a kid)?

But did any look like Sally Field or Julie Andrews?