You're right, he wasn't given a Toyota.

My mother was impressed a month or so ago when she was able to get a similar photo (without the trip-odometer awesomeness) in her stick-shift '01 New Beetle Turbo.

My mother was impressed a month or so ago when she was able to get a similar photo (without the trip-odometer awesomeness) in her stick-shift '01 New Beetle Turbo.

Sure looks like you're on the right track. I was thinking either one of those Crown Vics or a first-generation Q45... but as you can see, the Q's rear quarter window doesn't wrap around as far and the C-pillar is thicker.

I'm with you on this. I'm also a bit frustrated by the difficulty of telling replies from separate comments (would indenting be that hard?) and my inability so far to find the promotion button (if there still is one).

What you were thinking is what I was thinking.

@tonyola: I dunno - I think if it's less rusted than it looks underneath (most of the floor intact, etc.) it'd be fun to strip out most of the interior, drop a running motor (a small-block Chevy wouldn't be too heretical) in and drive it around for a while, encrusted in mildew and lowering property values, blasting…

@Mabrouk: I think I'm going to lose my Lancia.

@Jonee: A definite contender - there's a lot of questionable design choices in this thread, but all were meant to be distinctive and daring. This Sunfire is a cheap body kit on a '95 Cavalier.

If it were running at the moment, I'd say Nice Price - it's a hilarious idea, and the asking price is within the realm of what it'd cost to get this far, assuming he's a mechanic and not a meth addict. It needs a bit too much work for my taste, though, and I've never cared for SN95s anyway. Crack Pipe this time.

@ucbwayne: Four doors, more whores!

@TheAntiCat is smoking cat-nip whilst playing 21.: This. I'm surprised as well that nobody's made the obvious joke and called the LX-platform "low-end German cars".

What would I drive? (Actually, what do I plan to drive, that's a better question.) Probably one of my two old Volvos - same thing I'd take anywhere. The only point I'd feel the need to make by my car selection is that I haven't needed to change and I'm not a total dick.

@Piloter: I haven't read the rest of the comments on this post, but this has to be one of the best.

@7shades: Repping the Antipodes: I've known plenty of great folks who came from terrible circumstances and vice-versa... that said, the entire system in place for when parenting doesn't work out is a mess.

@commandx: Aye, but then if there's a jackass cop lying in wait to trick me, I can go to court and easily win.

@dsh: ...And I have.

@juicysushi: I'll grant you that much. Actually, if a history of difference and manufacturing excellence, combined with at least one perennially-targetted, class-leading product and the willingness to force new technologies on their consumers are our standards, how about BMW?

@Bavarian_Horseplay: My problem with Honda as Asus is that nowadays, what do they have? They make competent, average products. None of them, save perhaps the Civic Si and the Fit, are exciting. Honda is gone. In a time where Asus has gone from being an under-the-radar high-quality component manufacturer to a…

@Cretony038: Nowadays, yeah. Clinging to heritage and what increasingly few differences it has from the competition? Marketing to 'alternative' types who don't know any better while offering a few genuinely good products for those who do? Slick finishes over largely average skeletons?