nlpnt

6/11/21

On the one hand, it’s true that Torch’s taste in cars doesn’t jibe with the mainstream new-car buyer, or our streets would be filled with 35-50hp shitboxes with the footprint of a twin-size bed, manual absolutely everything and jellybean colors. On the other hand, I’d rather live in that alternate universe than the…

6/11/21

He actually sells “Covid Tour” T-shirts listing the places he’s done A Late Show from like stops on a concert tour, complete with opening act (“Your Local News”).

6/10/21

Where posted.

6/10/21

If this is unacceptably innovative, so was Bill France Sr’s idea of assigning a number to a driver for their whole career instead of doing what the sports-car guys up north and hot-rod guys out west were doing and numbering the cars in the order they arrived at the track on race day.

6/10/21

Don’t forget to throw a coat or something over the 240,000-mile-long carbon nanotube line so that if it snaps it doesn’t fly off into somebody’s face.

6/9/21

Except that the stock Trivan wasn’t a flatbed (or a van, either); it had a pickup box with a (full-width) raised rear section like the contemporary Corvair 95 pickup.

6/9/21

I was wondering how anyone could be in the top job at ITAS other than Torch himself?

6/7/21

Neutral: Anecdotally I’d say the Bolt has been, I see more of them around than any other EV unless you lump both generations of Leaf or all Tesla models together.

6/6/21

“Bullet proof glass and armor plating” is the reason not to buy an old classy one. If you’re the sort of person who needs that kind of protection, you can’t really trust your getaway and life to a ‘58 Silver Cloud’s Lucas electrics that may have been better than what you’d have gotten in a Morris Minor, or may not…

6/4/21

FWIU the TC was delayed by several years due to the production arrangements and blind-leading-the-blind issues. It was supposed to appear *before* the much cheaper LeBaron that looked just like it, alongside the older LeBarons that were just Reliants with all the Brougham crap Lee could throw at them.

6/3/21

MG Midget.

6/3/21

“Kurumanaica” is somehow derived from “kuruma” which is Japanese for “car”.

6/2/21

Marketers have convinced us that plastic means rugged, when actually it’s just the new fake-wood paneling.

6/1/21

Yeah, until Torch mentioned it I was thinking America’s store-brand Phantom starts at $30k.

6/1/21

It’s not *quite* accusing someone of Nazi sympathies because they once owned a VW Beetle made in the ‘70s, but it’s only a step or two removed from it.

6/1/21

It does feel like instead of Ladas and Volgas they should be driving Austin Maestros, Ford Sierras and Vauxhall Cavaliers...

5/29/21

I like the ‘61 Tempest wagon but I’d want one closer to stock. If this one were cheap it’d be worth reversing the panel van mods and getting rid of the hood-mounted barbecue smoker but for $8500 I’ll wait for a non-ruined one.

5/28/21

And you can run them off AC power from an electrified third rail to get rid of any and all battery-related issues!

5/28/21

I almost like the front as seen at Auto Express better than the production one. It’s a shame it wasn’t ready until 1986 and round headlights were so passe for anyone else but BMW, because it would’ve been good to fully productionize for either the US-market Starion (alone) or the Chrysler Conquest (alone), to give…

5/27/21

I see a slight bit of Corvette C2 and Trabant with the roof cut off;