Ain’t that the truth. The shop I work for built it. We’re waiting on the body shop now, then it’ll get the interior just around the corner, then back here briefly for a little fettling before delivery. It made something like 430whp on CA pump gas, and I’m told that’s a conservative tune but it’d be hairy over that. I…

Now would be a good time to plug this:

Then they do this with it:

Pictured: The conversation between Mr. Donovan and supervisor.

It’s those sneaky southern Oregon Jefferson State secessionists, gearing up to fight the hippies.

So I take it this supersedes R&T’s previous “meh” First Drive by Zac Bowman?

You’re damn right they are.

Oh god no. It’s a Big Lebowski line.

I’m just gonna go find a cash machine...

“which in turn drives a magnet around inside a coil”

This. Those plastic rollers are a really common issue with Mercedes and BMW, we see probably a car a week that needs them and stock the most common variants because of it. Also, they inevitably give fair warning before catastrophic failure like this, usually by making awful noises on cold start in particular. They…

How could we have seen this coming? We could not.

Why would I set my beer down? Makes no sense.

I wish him well, that had to be a hard decision. It should at least make things easier for the folks on the team, without the crowds around the transporter all the time.

1st gear: LS swap?

That’s true, but at least they were game about it, as Porsche was classy in congratulating BMW.

Panther: 1

Ze Germans are good at this sort of thing.

Can we get a one-time exception to allow more than one star per reader? This one needs more. Love it, love it, love it.

I’m sorry to hear that. The car did what Volvos do best though, because you’re here to tell the story.