Some years ago, friends who didn’t need a car anymore—they were city dwellers—gave us their somewhat beat up black 2006 Mazda 3 5-door. The outside wasn’t much to look at, with various dents and dings and fading clearcoat. At the time, I hadn’t driven a stick-shift for a good 15 years but I got in and drove the car awa…

I never saw this zine, unfortunately. I did, however, listen to Wildgirl when she was on WFMU. She had a great show.

It’s as if the owner added a bit of patina and some old-looking bits to distract us from the car’s actual rust and wear and tear. $10,ooo? No, gracias, senor.

Maybe they could try offering their cars in colors, not just black or white. I remember orange Datsun 510s from when I was 12 years old. Now Nissans have all the appeal of fleet vehicles. Of course, it’s the cars, too, not just the colors.

It’s totally in character for Vance and his Heritage Foundation homies  to put out this kind of statement. The themselves both for their supposed superior analytical intelligence and their supposed courage to introduce ideas that question the big-government, woke, etc, status quo. For various reasons, these…

For many of these, there would be problems meeting US safety standards. However, a bigger factor keeping many of these ex-US models is likely to be manufacturers protecting their profit margins by not offering cheaper models that might compete with their current offerings. Isn’t this analogous to the 1950s-60s, when…

I can’t see whether the air valves in these tires are secured/locked/concealed. Otherwise, terrorists might let air out of the tires while the owner is chowing down at the Outback Steak House.

If anyone was going to put tail fins on a truck, it was the styling crew at Chrysler.

They sure wanted you to know that this truck is a Chevrolet.

This one definitely was a turning point, when it comes to styling trucks to appeal to guys who want to show that they’re he-men.

Inexpensive personal transportation and laughs for $2,500? It sounds like a good deal to me. That red interior is heaven, compared with the purgatory grey you’re going to get with most cars at this price.

Or, you could build your own out of an old radio, a lawn mower engine, and tin cans.

$28,000, the car has 180,000 miles, and the seller can’t be bothered to replace the trim pieces, not much the worn out seat. I don’t care whether he put a Saturn rocket under the hood.

It’s nice enough, though “best looking Tracker you will see” is more damning with faint praise than a sales pitch. However, that price is maybe $3,000 more than I would ever consider for this allroad econobox. The asking price could get one a more robust, if also more commonplace, Jeep Wrangler.

It may provide months of trouble-free driving.

Subaru WRXs, Acura Integras, etc, are police magnets, but, to be fair, the drivers are often speeding, weaving in and out of traffic, etc, so the pullovers are legit. Beyond that, it’s the color of the driver, not the car, that prompts the stop, especially when the car is a beater with a cracked tail light or other…

Musk is living argument for higher tax rates for the ultra-rich. With his wealth and power, he has endless self-regard and no self-discipline, turning his brain to mush. He can communicate every half-baked thought in his head to millions of people, many of whom give him credence due to his supposed genius. Worse, he’s…

It’s almost astonishing how Vegas and even their less-troubled later derivative models (eg, Monzas) have virtually disappeared from the face of the earth. As early as the late 80s, they were pretty much gone from the road. By contrast, it’s not rare to see a Pinto puttering away or parked on the street, albeit as a…

It’s the “bloom is off the rose,” not the other way around. These Stellantis guys can’t even get a cliched saying right, much less produce high-quality automobiles.

It’s unfair, of course, to compare the ID.Buzz, with all its modern technology and equipment, with what was a box with windows and a motor. Nonetheless, at that starting price the main customers will be well-heeled boomers, not families or young people looking for a roomy, practical vehicle.