Any of the big bike manufacturers also have an e-bike that costs about $1000 less, AND has an easy-to-switch battery pack (like a lot of people who actually commute on these things have, so they don’t have to wait while it’s charging..).

Here’s another marque we’ve all forgotten, albeit one which was never really ‘best’: Checker. As recently as 20 years ago, you still saw them practically every day at least in NYC. A lot of hotels owned them as true ‘station’ wagons. Yet they were mostly beat to hell, and few of them exist today. Of the earliest…

The problem with the Avanti is that there are really 3 completely different cars which are called “Avanti”. There is the original Avanti I, round headlight, built by Studebaker, supercharged engine, very rare and collectible. Then there is the Avanti II, square headlights, built in the same place where Studebaker used…

I got caught by this myself. I have an older HP printer, and the software for the damn thing runs on flash. Took them about 2 days to update the software to work!

I remember 30+ years ago, in those halcyon days of groups like the Brigado Rossi making a ton of money off of the kidnapping of wealthy industrialists, there used to be a sub-sect of the coachbuilder industry who made powerful, bulletproof cars that LOOKED like lower-end vehicles. There was once an article in one of…

For the most part, interior panels are made by outside companies, often hundreds of miles away (I used to have a ‘regular run’ transporting interior panels for the Ford Windstar from a plant in northern Virginia to the factory in Oakvile , ON). Those markings are mostly so that they don’t get mixed up with panels…

Eh, just not that interesting. If it had something better than a Pinto 4, you know, like the Essex V-6 or the Kent OHV-4 (which has TONS of racing bits available), maybe I’d be interested. As it sits, this car is essentially the German equivalent of the 1970 Maverick I used to own. Lack of weight on the tail along…

My mom had a Volare; what a pile of scrapmetal! There was some fault in the starter that would NOT allow the engine to crank if still warm, so you just had to plan to leave your car for at least an hour before you were going to restart it. My mom used my dad’s car for going to the supermarket....

Yes, congratulations for failing ENG101. Now you too can be a ‘journalist’ at Jalopnik.......

The problem with gay drivers in racing lies not with the sanctioning bodies or even the other drivers, but rather with sponsors. I raced without sponsorship for a couple of years, and ended up bankrupt. I knew a couple of other drivers in my series who were gay (or bi..), including one who is still known today, but…

I once owned a 1996 Toyota Camry. It came to me for FREE, at a time when the car I had was on it’s last legs, so I took it completely out of necessity. It was plain-jane black, with a light gray mouse-fur interior and a slushbox. I was certain that this car was the dullest thing on 4 wheels. Except.......I started to…

In the US? Chicago Union Station, without a doubt.

These things were the salvation of small sportscars, coming out at just about the time all of the British car makers were going insolvent. It was a bit bigger than a Triumph, but actually was reasonably reliable. Almost perfect 50/50 weight distribution, had a transmission which didn’t have any weird quirks, a simple…

So, I guess a Singer was the next model line below a Humber?

I see Chrysler build quality is still as bad as it was in the 70's. Beck then, there were numerous cases of people buying an Aspen/Volare model which had both names on them, usually with the front fender nameplates being the ones mis-matched.

Maybe you can replace these files with commands in English? “Hey, Bozo, I’m driving he-ah!”, or “You call THAT a signal?”, or maybe “Dafuq are you DOING?”

Sorry, but the B21 was most definitely a GASOLINE motor. The only diesel offered on the 240 series was a 6-cylinder MAN diesel, which is rare, and was prone to failure. It was a non-freewheeling motor with a ,timing belt that was less than ‘robust’, leading to a lot of ruined engines. Likewise, you don’t want one with…

+1 on the heater fan; not a job for an amateur.

Not so great in super-hot weather. Lots of glass and an R-12 compressor means that anything over 85°F will overwhelm the A/C. Also, with a fuel distributor close to the exhaust manifold, vapor lock is nearly guaranteed for anybody foolish enough to try an alcohol-blend greater than 10% (long story, but I was going…

The “terrible in the snow” is only because the rear track is narrower than the front track. This can be cured by 2 different methods: