I’ll relate a story from my friend, when he was a younger (and gifted) engineer working as a government consultant. He was really riding a contractor about some design decisions which met the spec but were poorly considered. At some point during the day, a senior manager took him aside and said, in so many words…

Thank you. Unless you’re a full blown shop attached to a well stocked junkyard, conversions get expensive.

For the record, glass and trim surround for a Ferrari 360 is $4400. Installation took 9.7hrs and included removing the hood (!).

If they’re really busting your balls about not spending $$$, you need better friends.

Sure but the pillars were barely deformed and pushed back into place. How much is one gentle bend and straighten going to work harden anything?

I don’t see it with this particular accident. The A pillars were pulled in slightly. He installed the roof with spot welds like the factory.

I was going to make that point. Financially, it makes more sense to wait.

Part of my enthusiasm for my V70R is that I can put a complete road bike in it w/o even removing the front wheel. I put the rack on when I’m planning to do a lot of moving bikes around but it makes highway driving grating.

CP at any price. Too much downside risk on the F1 transmission. A service manager at Classic Coach (shop in Elizabeth NJ who do everything from change oil on a 360 to full-blown restorations of rotted away barn finds) told me the MT cars are OK - these things being relative - but stay away from the F1 cars.

I just made the same point. It’s not idle speculation - a poster on a forum I read works as an engineer for an OEM supplier and they’ve data logged this exact behavior.

My understanding (from someone in the OEM world) is that the pig-rich-to-protect-it mapping of turbo engines is ancient history.

The down sized, DI turbo motors have better BFSC and the “good” part is larger. The problem is apparently how people drive them. They like the low and mid-rpm torque and they use it.

A poster on a forum I read is an engineer for an engine designer. He said that what they found after instrumenting test cars was that people drove the turbo cars harder. Not banging-off-the-redline harder, but they accelerated more strongly through the low- and mid-rpm ranges. Driven identically, the turbo motors…

You are not alone. I tend to look for a particular type of car but last year my buddy traded a CTS-V on an NSX. Literally everything was on the table. He looked at imported RHD GT-Rs, 911TTs (more than one), a ragged out AWD Celica. Whatever he found interesting.

Actually kind of impressed with the brakes on that thing.

The problem with the Charger is that it would require a new floor pan (the MT doesn’t fit the current one) and that triggers the crash testing. The Alfa already has a MT in other markets.

“2.5" describes my garage. 20' wide, 25' deep. For an attached garage, it’s pretty roomy. I managed to Tetris 4 cars in there one winter.

Score! My neighbor’s old kitchen cabinets fit my garage like they were designed for it.

I did this with my most recent lease. Reading the relevant forum, a fellow NJ resident had picked up the same car for $9000 all-in (all payments + all money at signing) on a 36 month lease. It worked out reasonably so that was the number I shared with the dealers I contacted. I think I ended up at $9050 or so in…

I am NOT sharing that information with my wife, who has been pestering me to get a W126 for ages. One of my pushbacks has been no MT (she hates auto). “You mean you can’t convert it?” <sad face> “Nooooo, they never imported one.”