Only from 2002-2006. I have certainly been tempted by such luxury with a remarkably small second-hand price tag, but the maintenance costs terrify me.

I just got back to Minneapolis after a week in London. The flight home wasn't so bad, but oh boy, the flight there was awful.

Dash-mounted wiper controls aren't that uncommon on older cars, really. Still, I've been caught a few times.

That seems to be a very French-car thing. My folks' Renault Espace had the same thing. Even better was my Citroën BX, where the oil pressure gauge doubled as an oil level indicator - turn the ignition on, and it would show oil level, start the engine, and it would show pressure. Of course, being about 20 years old at…

Ha! I always thought that the STOP warning on the SM and round-dial DS reminded me of HAL 9000.

Heh, some British cars had it on the 'wrong' side for RHD cars - the MGA had the bonnet release (and the boot release) on the left for all markets.

I'll admit that I don't tend to take my own advice on honking. My VW Scirocco barely even comes up to the window line of some bigger SUVs and brotrucks, and I'm constantly afraid of simply not being seen - I'll often honk to make my presence known if somebody starts cutting me off. I'm trying to cut back on the less…

It probably helps that the vast majority of our highways are straight and flat with few on- and off-ramps! Speed limits in general appear to be suggestions here, anyway – if I keep up with traffic on the Minneapolis-Duluth run on I35, I usually average a shade over 80 mi/h (the limit is 70).

Minnesota has it figured out. If you are passing on the left on a divided highway, the law states that you are allowed to exceed the posted speed limit by 10mph for the duration of the passing maneuver.

I like your comment about driving a mellow car. When I swapped my Rover SD1 (big, loud, aggressive sports saloon) for a mid-sized and much less sporty Citroën Xantia, my reactions to bad drivers (and my own driving habits) became far less aggressive.

Oh yes. This happened in my family. My parents bought a 1976 Triumph 2500TC in the early '90s. At the time, it was still a reasonably respectable car, but just starting down the slope into beaterdom. It was cheap, but the radiator was pretty tired, and the gearbox sounded like a cement mixer, but my father's attitude…

The Maori had no part in making it a road – it is a historical artifact from the colonial era, when it was declared a road, rather than building one over the difficult terrain adjacent to it.

It's not a road. It's a beach, a beautiful one at that, and one of great cultural significance to the Maori. The fact that is legally a road is an artifact from the colonial era, where it was the only route in the area, and the will of the Maori was ignored.

I've also always liked the look of the fuel-injected variant of the Triumph inline-six equipped with mechanical fuel injection and ITBs, like the TR 5 and 6 were meant to have. Plus, they also put it in the 2500 saloon and estate models, making for a proper gentleman's express.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the Jaguar XK engine. Those cam covers! Plus, SU carbs look better than any fixed-jet (aside from maybe twin-choke Webers).

Heh, I remember one incident from my youth, in a very well-used Rover SD1. It might have been made nearly 30 years before proximity keys became a 'thing', but the ignition lock barrel was so worn that you could take the key out with the engine running. Sometimes the keys would fall out spontaneously.

Indeed, but there is a very definite Britishness in the 4/4's formula. The 8 may be lovely, but the old-fashioned 4-pot roadster concept, to me, is much more like the small British roadsters of old – think T-series MGs, the Austin-Healey Sprite, and Morgans, for that matter! Still, I'd quite gladly have any of them.

How about a 1974 Toyota Celica with 37 miles on it?

I haven't watched Caprica yet, but there definitely is an episode of Battlestar Galactica where a scene in a parking garage in Caprica includes a Studebaker Avanti, Citroën DS, a Rover P6 and even a Tatra 87! The props department on that show are true geniuses. It's just such a shame that the Citroën got crushed :(

You know, now that I remember it, my Grandfather always kept a mustard jar in the glovebox of his car for holding odds and ends. I think that it was Marne, rather than Grey Poupon, but indeed, he was a classy gent.