I actually prefer the Dart over the Giulietta...

1) And then Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz [www.nytimes.com]

I can't lie- I like this one. A lot.

I propose a new feature series: will it drift?

Before everyone gets exercised about the price, remember that exchange rates and sales taxes throw it seriously out of whack. In the UK, £50k buys you:

That honda civic is no wagon, this (fifth generation) honda civic is a wagon.

It's Thai

I made my peace with customs a long time ago. At the end of the day, these cars were mass produced and even now, there must be plenty of originals left. Why not have one turned into something unique? Also, customisation is one of the most vital forms of folk-art.

Thanks- I saw those boats on the news and wondered what they were.

Japan managed it. So did sizable chunks of Western Europe. It's just that their high speed trains run to about 300 Km/h, not 500. I wonder whether the current tracks would be a limit...

Peugeot has released the diesel-electric 3008 Hybrid, with Citroën's similar DS 5 close behind, and Volvo is readying the V60 D6.

Yup, and fully automatic as well, it just needed a single button press - at speed, anyways.

Citroën 2CV, especially in its Tout Petite Voiture prototype form:

You missed a really rather important one: Adolf Rosenberger, racing driver, ideas man behind the '30s Auto Union and its racers and a co-founder of Porsche GmbH (with Porsche himself and Piëch sr)

You can fix 'Gottleib' to 'Gottlieb' while you're at it ;-)

Mortality?

Not sure about the RHD- I've always used manuals (except when renting cars in the US), but learned in LHD cars. I now have to drive RHD cars most of the time, and it's a pain. Not disastrous, but enough to make me look at automatics...

yep- my mum's starlets had/have these

Sportscar wheels?

Kurlerwagen -> Kübelwagen