Help me out, man. What’s “automotive inflation?” The dollar used to buy vehicles is different than the dollar used to buy everything else? It’s about the purchasing power of money. But I’m just a B2B journalist who covered aerospace and automotive manufacturing for 14 years. What do I know?

... and then the real fun begins ...

According to the Consumer Price Index inflation calculator from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, you’re looking at $47,728.19 exactly, comparing November 2019 (when the truck was announced) to October 2023 (the latest data).

haha.

I just bought an ebike, and got a small motion censor alarm (it’s loud!) that I can turn off and on using a keyfob. It even chirps if someone gets a little close to it. Some people have been hiding air tags in them, and I just don’t get that because if the thief has an iphone it will alert them to the presence of the…

oh God, yes.

Wouldn’t that be nice? That’s why the Saturn model made sense.

But that’s not what he was saying. A short-term twist in the market forced used car prices higher. It wasn’t because of the product Elon was pushing. He was saying when other cars go down in value, my cars will appreciate. All used cars went up in value during that time, so you should index it out if you want to make…

Text, Shift, Smoke a Cigarette, Drink of Cup of Coffee, and change the spotify stream... no problem.

I’m not Mike, but I drive a 2019 WRX. It was hard to find a stick shift when I was looking. GTI was great, but costs too much and Volkswagen wouldn’t deal. I’m too tall at 6'1" for the BRZ and Toyota’s Supra, but I like them both.

Dude, 56 years old here. I drive a stick shift every day. I know you were making a general statement, but I want to interject some specific instance into that. :)

Yeah, I didn’t know that before. Seems like the positive isn’t there after all.

You are right about EVs having more wear and tear on roads. I’ve read on Jalopnik about the way they go through tires because of the weight of the batteries. The equation is likely going to change a number of times before the math works. With at least 9 states planning to outlaw the sale of gas-powered vehicles, it’s…

Well dang, I didn’t know that. So there goes that one! I did notice the dye stipulation.

That’s a great point about electricity generation. At least the diesel generators help pay for roads, bridges, and other things since the taxes on diesel fuel is about 39 cents a gallon in California and 24 some odd cents per gallon with federal excise taxes (if my quick Google search is on target). I know some states…

In the Harry Crews novel “Car,” the protagonist consumes a car, and for some reason this reminded me of that. It’s a cool and weirdly absurd book, and the car a metaphor isn’t insignificant.

This reminds me of Playwright Eugene O’Neill who also took a meaningful approach to stage directions. He left very little to chance and required things such as the titles of books on bookshelves on the stage that the audience would never see but added to the overall experience for the actors. That was his approach at…

Good stuff! Looks amazing. I hate that Henry is leaving the show. I know lots of reasons, etc., but gawd he owns that role. After watching S1, I read the first book, and realized quickly how well he fits.

Love your adventures, Tom! Always read them. Always learn something.

yup, and bees are fairly important to things like the food we eat, so more bees be better than fewer.