Counterpoint. Parts may indeed fail at different rates, but having a brand new part on one side and a 200k mile part on the other side will mean it’s a lot more likely the 200k part is going to fail sooner, and may be impacting performance regardless.

I thought so, too. Also the magnetic tape reels that run on mainframe computers.

As a former broadcast professional, those wheels make me think of reels of tape.

Regardless of how it’s phrased in the article, I’m sure NGK has a better picture of the automotive landscape than you do.

The difference of impact 30 mpg and 15 mpg depends on the individual circumstances. For most people, the difference of fuel cost between 30 and 15 mpg for a year of driving is greater than the amount that is in their savings accounts.

vestigianbrain, PatBateman, I wish I could give you all the stars in the universe for your quick comments on this critical subject. You made a grown man giggle.

The answer is XJ. It is the quintessential “Beater With A Heater.”

Also, my landlord sold that damn Honda. Thank god.

Like the Beetle that ‘just needs a timing belt’. It’s going to need more than that, unless the timing belt happened to snap while the car was stationary.

Except the Saab looked good. The Veloster is just different. Different and good are two different things.

Hnnng, 900 Turbo...

Yeah, maybe it just needed a starter when it was parked. Now that the wheels have sunk down to the hub, it definitely needs more than that.

Yeah, the thing is that in a weird way, the world of old shitty cars NEEDS some people with hoarding issues like Ron in order to have parts/projects in the future. If everyone just either kept their cars in running condition or brought them to the scrapyard when they were done with them, there would be far fewer…

It just needs a starter to run.

I think this is a pretty Jalop story. Mr. Urambo was having trouble getting the car from Ron’s place, so I offered my trailer. We only know each other through the comment section, so I fully expected Urambo to decline my offer to help (being a weirdo from Jalopnik and all.) But, he accepted, so we met at Ron’s and got…

I had hoped I wasn’t the only one catching the Craigslist stereotypical lines. “Ran when parked.” Yeah, 20 years ago, and will need at least 2-3x book value in work to make it collector condition, and at least book to make it daily driveable.

I don’t feel bad at all for the guy, but I feel really bad for some of the cars. The 280SE for example could have some serious value if restored properly.

Ron has also been scrapping lots of Saabs

I had an Allroad

Here’s what I’d do.

Sadly, this generation of Ford truck are shaping up to be something you don’t want to own over the long term. The most serious issues are the engines. This generation of modular Ford V8 has a number of nagging issues that mean I’ll never own one. One of the more serious issues is the fact that a simple spark plug…