In addition to indestructible and capable, they are top heavy and have a fuel tank the size of a thimble. The short wheelbase and tall body makes them feel like they want to swap ends quite readily, especially in a crosswind.

It’s definitely a HQ. The dual headlight front end means that it’s a HQ Premier, the slightly more upmarket version.

ALCO (American Locomotive Company) put me in mind of the Locomobile driven by Isaac Bell in The Chase, also by Clive Cussler.

That’s what makes it cool.

Also keep in mind that vibration and lateral forces places considerable strains on everything.

Electric motors develop maximum torque at 0 RPM, so if power is how fast you hit the wall, and torque is how far you push the wall, it therefore wasn’t moving at all, or was moving very slowly.

Driving the recovery van at a local racetrack. The rain started, race control red-flagged the session because the motorcycles were running racing slicks and to continue would have been too dangerous.

Maybe this?

They had electric trams in some places in the 1800's. If the telegraph line tap doubled as a pantograph it could be used as an electric booster for really fast (yet linear) getaways/chases.

No, no, no, the distinction is in the capacity. Ships have engines. Trucks have engines. A bike has a motor. A car has either an engine or a motor depending on how big it is. The crossover occurs at about the 2500cc mark. Anything smaller than 100cc is called “Start, you F#$&ing bastard before I replace you with…

My daughter helps me swap out the 50mm towball for a Treg hitch and understands the advantages and disadvantages of both towing methods and knows which spanners to use. She can’t explain it very well yet, but she’s only 15 months old. Even small steps are really big steps when you’re that little.

Yeah but it takes balls to admit it.

BMW design department: How the hell do we make this front end work?

Reminds me of the poor lost bugger who once hit me up outside of Brisbane’s main bus terminal and asked me if I knew “Steve”. Apparently he had come from somewhere out bush and spent his last few dollars on a bus ticket to Brisbane (population 1.5 million at the time) on the basis that “Steve” had promised him some…

Part of me would love to know how to lift a car like this, but on second thought, some goose will try this and drop it on himself.

Definitely this. My advice is: Drive or ride of any car (or bike) that you can get your hands on, no matter what age, spec or condition it is in. A complete POS will teach you more about driving (or riding) in 5 minutes than you will learn in an AMG/M3 or any other top-spec machine.

The “Pro Laps” shop in the GTA series of games... I just got the joke.

You don’t know VTEC until you’ve ridden a VFR800. It kicks like a bloody mule in low gears. And the sound of that V4.....

It’s called “assisting Police with their enquiries.”

If I could be a car guy I would be a Mopar car guy.