And the man's brother, who did not like tattoos, decided to support Nick Heidfeld instead.

In other breaking news, Wilson Phillips' hot new single, "Hold On," just bumped Madonna's "Vogue" out of the number 1 slot in the Billboard Hot 100.

I'd say the preemption argument fits, too—all you have to do is show that:

Hey Matt, I'm not trying to defend what appears to be the final stage in Subaru's long, sad decline from quirky to bland, but I have to call you out on this:

And you'll get no argument from me about the need for safety inspections. But they should obviously apply to all cars being driven on public roads because, let's face it, most of the driving population has no idea if parts on their cars are damaged, worn out, or otherwise on the verge of failing.

Tired old axles, control arms, and hubs tend to break when subjected to the unsprung weight and rotational force of stock wheels, too. Here in Michigan, we do not have any kind of safety inspections, but we have plenty of potholed roads, and I see cars with stock wheels and broken tie rods/control arms, etc. on a…

I'm guessing that any damage on the cars caused by the tow to impound is noted as an "unsafe condition" on the failed safety inspection report...

Sure, why not? Assuming that they're only targeting donks, there are probably federal DOT regs that preempt any local concerns about wheel safety and/or design. And the reach of the commerce clause is almost unlimited—I'm sure that arbitrary enforcement of this law could be found to impede the instrumentalities of…

From the Kentucky Post ( [www.kypost.com] ): The police cite Cincinnati Municipal Code 503.29 which states, "No person shall drive or move or cause or knowingly permit to be driven or moved on any highway, any vehicle or combination of vehicles which is in such unsafe condition as to endanger any person. "

A few observations:

Good eye. I don't know Mustang engines in that level of detail, but I knew enough to know it was closer to an '88 than a '98.

1998 Mustangs did not come with the 302. The engine that's in it looks closer to an '88 to me.

NP because, well, it is. But that color is a real problem for me—the silver exterior/red interior combo is a classically German thing, and it works great on most Porsche, Mercedes, and BMW models. But it just sucks the soul right out of this Alfa.

Right you are (sort of, since it's actually a 450). For whatever reason, when I looked at the picture, my brain said W123 coupe, even though it is clearly not. It was the other ad (Granada ESS) I posted that had the W123.

damn you, Nibbles.

Apparently, making repeated comparisons between the Grenada and various W123 Mercedes wasn't good enough.

I don't know—after Lexus came out with this commercial, I naturally assumed that people bought cars based on the ability to balance a pyramid of wine glasses on the hood. For some reason, my '81 Rabbit diesel was lacking in this ability.

So many people equate "power" with "fun" and they couldn't be more wrong. I've always preferred a light, responsive, short-geared car that I can drive at 9/10ths nearly all the time as opposed to a big, powerful, racy car that I have to drive at 1/10th or risk losing my license.

Try a 90-hp '83-84 GTI. Or an '84-'87 Honda CRX. Or a Porsche 356 Super 90. Or an old Mini. Or an Austin-Healey Sprite. Or one of the many other lightweight, sub-100-hp cars that are fun to drive. Sporty ain't just about straight-line acceleration, you know.