The problem, my dear friend, is that this so-called manual (OK, Betriebsanleitung) is no longer a manual. It has now become a very peculiar kind of commodity.

Aha.

Mr Ballaban, the BelugaXL is absolutely lovely – but I am still waiting for someone at Jalopnik to write the fascinating story of Jack Conroy, the Pregnant Guppy and Aero Spacelines.

Airbus did plan a A380F variant but there was not a critical mass of interest by the usual suspects.

I should imagine you intended to write borne, not born.

A late, great mate of mine who was very much into Panhards (Vic, whither thou wentest, dammit...) pointed it out to me. I must confess I knew the 24 pretty well already, but to my great shame I had never noticed the likeness myself; from what he told me a relevant member of the Celica design team had expressly…

Indeed. Wow, it seems we can finally agree on something.

... and the glasshouse of the fourth-generation Celica bears more than a passing ressemblance to that of a Panhard 24.

Yes and no. For a couple of decades Citroën was allowed to keep a certain amount of proper quirkiness (Citroën BX, for example). GM was far worse to Saab.

Can you imagine how nice life would have been if Citroën hadn’t been thoroughly emasculated by Peugeot? I try not to think about it.

The XM was designed by Bertone.

Ah, interesting reply. You see, fortunately for all of us fires in museums are not exactly a constant occurrence. Car crashes, even of those being ferried from one place to the other with utmost care, are rather more common.

Cars crash, no doubt, and every time they crash they die a little, even if later they get restored. For instance, if that ever happened and you or someone else rebuilt it, we would still lose a priceless window on how all those dream cars were built by Pininfarina in the late 60s - 70s: all the craftsmanship - how the…

Hear, hear!

In that particular case the wheels were way too big. The car also looked ridiculously tall.

Damn. My memory has not served me well this time.

The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.

With that horrid wing? Also it was terribly small!

More nitpicking then! Ever considered making some replica late 60s/early 70s Firestone tyres - or at least dressing up the Avons a bit to look like them...?

Interesting car! Some of the “improvements”, particularly the trimming, upholstery and such do remind me of that very special 964 I was talking about, but I am convinced it is not the same. First, because it was four-wheel drive; and second because it had the 962 engine - don’t forget, with the water radiators under…