Tell that to Morgan.

Steampunk: Goths that discovered the color brown. I like it as literature, but as a movement, it lacks something, sorta like the ricers. The video is a great send-up. (or hit regretsy for their "thats not steampunk" posts).

If you are in the building trades, you carry your shorter (under 4') levels in it. Keeps them from getting banged around in the bed.

At least you would wind up with a bed of almost useable length. One thing you could do with the original (mid 80's Previa predecessor) was get full 4x8 sheet goods in the back of the thing, something the at times longer successors can't manage. (You had to tilt it to get it thru the hatch, and one end wound up on…

Neither is getting broadcast these days, but my favorites are "Secret Life of Machines" and the British cut of "Junkyard Wars", called Scrapheap Challenge. Both feature cars getting cut in half and the resulting bits used to illustrate some basic science.

Fiat 850 spyder. They were light (especially after a couple of salted road winters) but the engine was a slug. Still lots of fun to drive.

Exhaust work is made a whole lot easier if you consider the cutting torch as a first resort, instead of a last. (with practice, you can cut off the bolt, and leave whatever is left of the stud undamaged)

I have done a lot of things to cars, including cutting them in half. There are some things I won't do again.

Does engineering the truck out of it include a 0lb towing limit? I can live with not towing Mr B (a siege engine that we compete with, weighs 4 tons) but one ton would be quite helpful. The current US edition transit didn't allow anything in tow, nor did the Scion xb, or the Mazda5. Did DOT add some new rule that…

Frobette, in the plastic. In my opinion, one of the ten ugliest cars ever sold. (cutting the body off improved things in my opinion) You can read about our adventure at [the-nerds.org]

After we were done with it, it had but a single cylinder (admittedly double acting), to go along with its odd number of wheels.

In 1978 I bought a 63 Ford Falcon for $35. One owner, 30k miles, belonged to one of my mother's (a visiting nurse) 96 year old patients. Someone wrinkled one side in the parking lot, and it needed a muffler.

You don't see the euro spec small diesels in the US, as until recently it wasn't possible to make one pass California emissions. (too much sulfur in the fuel). Without the single largest car market, you wouldn't sell enough to cover the cost of federalizing the thing. (not just the cost of emission certification,…

You are using miles per imperial gallon (160 fl oz) not miles per US gallon (128 fl oz). Around here when we get a pint of beer, its only 16oz, not a proper 20. So your 70 mpg rating, is 56 US mpg. Not so big a gain over the Prius when you use the same units. (not to mention that the pugeot isn't hauling around…

The "wastes more during production" has been pretty soundly debunked. A couple of years ago there was a hit piece circulated claiming "worse than Escalade" and showing the desolation around a Nickel smelting plant.

Or to draw another comparison, look at bicycle racing. The big stage races are as much tactics as "engine", and that's what I find interesting. When we had a winning US team/rider it got some attention, (and we even got some coverage of races other than the TdF) now that Lance retired, the Giro and Vuelta's coverage…

I always thought euro touring car racing was europe's take on nascar - machines that at least looks like stuff driven on the road, along with some "full contact" tactics.

How about the "Cedric", one of the purpose built domestic only taxis. They include a gadget to let the driver open the passenger rear door for you. (Admittedly the most interesting part is getting the name from a brit name-the-baby book).

I was going to make the same suggestion

Until the US cleaned up the sulfur levels in its diesel fuel it wasn't possible to build an engine that would meet 50 state passenger pollution standards. (the truck standards are a lot easier to meet, as were the 48 state passenger numbers.). If you couldn't sell the thing in California, it wasn't worth the cost of…