So, the first flight* was in December 2010. It’s December 2015, so that’s 5 years from first flight to FAA approval. Do you know what that’s shorter than?

Are you wondering why they aren’t wearing bright yellow or orange safety vests? The camo is their generic working uniform, so they wear it for everything.

They weren’t recalled because they were discontinued before the standards that Dieselgate circumvented came into effect, IIRC.

This deserves more stars.

The early ones are almost worthless at this point. I don’t know how much more they could depreciate.

If you’re going to get a VW TDI, why not get the ‘screw you, I don’t care about the environment, I just like torque’ version - the V10 TDI Touareg?

This was my suggestion, though a Phaeton W12 would be a good alternative. They’re also expensive, rare, undesirable for anyone who isn’t a massive nerd, and horribly unreliable.

A custom race Powerglide could probably handle it.

Yes. The Turks are one of the larger M60 users these days, and offer a variety of modernization packages, which they don’t seem to have many of, seeing as that one doesn’t even have ERA.

Preferably on Barrett Jackson or some other sales venue that would bring out people with more money than sense. Maybe one of those Japanese classic car shows on the west coast?

If the Italian Mafia were a gang of RPG slinging religious fanatics driving around beheading people for not speaking with a sufficiently cheesy New York accent, then the American people might be ok with foreigners bombing said fanatics. It would help if said foreigners weren’t dropping dumb bombs on schools and…

If by ‘troops’ you mean ‘Columbian mercenaries’, then yes, I’m sure they will be glad to once they finish dawdling outside of Ta’iz in Yemen.

I’d guess wine or scotch, but we’re both in the ballpark.

Crack pipe. I’m normally an apologist for 80’s oddities, but this is way too much money for way too mediocre a car. I’d rather have this ‘89 IROC-Z Camaro convertible for $11k. It’s also rare, but also mildly desireable and has no roof!

The Toyota Auris styled after Char’s Zaku. Couldn’t they have picked something cooler than an economy hatch for the Red Comet?

Flares are somewhat effective against IR (AIM-9 Sidewinder, R-73) missiles, but the Su-24 was shot down by a radar guided AIM-120 AMRAAM. There are countermeasures against radar guided missiles (chaff, jamming), but they aren’t a get-out-of-jail-free card. Modern missiles all have anti-countermeasure programming built…

Their engines looked great too - Tuned Port Injection has to be the coolest looking fuel injection system ever placed in an American car.

That’s exactly what I was looking for, though I didn’t quite know how to ask for it. The comparable American radar sets was particularly helpful. Thank you!

Dark blue never went away, but the lighter shades have come and gone. It seems like every concept car these days is blue, most manufacturers offer a few shades, and Volvo and Subaru even have the guts to sell the awesome, smurf Polestar blue to the public. I’m just glad we have options.

I’m glad manufacturers have fallen in love with blue again. Blue cars are awesome.