The Tesla is SLOOOOOWWWWWWWW!

Especially ugly vehicles seem to have a niche market. The designers must giggle a lot.

And silly side creases. And random slabs of chrome. And bizarre rear lights.

Don't get me started on Volvos.

The designers of one Cadillac SUV admitted that the image that they wanted was "menacing."

It is a spectacularly rare event that an American car company produces anything even vaguely aesthetic. But then I have Italian cars in the blood.

Someone at work drove a Subaru Forester. I knew the car but every time I saw it I had to convince myself it hadn't been sideswiped. There was something about the panels that looked bent.

There were a few years when a third gen black Dodge Challenger looked like something James Cagney would drive in a gangster movie. I've always had a weakness for cars that looked evil. There are a couple Traction Avant models I'd love to have.

This is what the Left does when they are on the short side of logical arguments: they start talking about your family heritage.

I had an Italian car in my blood when a friend rolled his Alfa Romeo. 50 years later a doctor remarked on the odd scars around my eye.

I had a Fiat Spyder briefly. It had to be admired for its aesthetics since it rarely was operational. I got to like the Mustang loaner so much I traded the Fiat for it.

Flyguy has definitely used the line "Don't you know who my DAD is?!" before..

My first car was a 1973 Fiat 128, which worked fine(*) till the rocker panels completely rusted out in 1981.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

(*) For sufficiently-small values of "fine"--it blew a timing belt at

Alfas were wonderful, almost erotic, to drive, and about impossible to work on.

Mine was an Austin-Healy Sprite. Great fun with the top down, mechanically barbaric, fairly easy to fix, which was good given the frequency of breakdowns. Kept a tool box in the tiny truck.

Didn't need jumper cables. I could push it, jump in, and dump the clutch to start it. When the clutch worked. I drove from Mt Tam, across the GG bridge home, without a clutch. My Filipino GF was impressed.

The Sprite got totaled so I got an MG Midget, basically the same thing.

I sold the MG to an artist who completely restored it and painted the ocean on it as a canvass. He displayed it and rarely drove it.

My wife drives an adorable little orange Honda Fit but lusts after a black Challenger. Maybe I'll rent her one to get it out of her system.

Maybe a tree fell on it.

He probably just stole the car.

But yes, bitrex has wealth jealousy problems.

Well, then you'd get to park in the garage. ;)

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

It lasted longer than the Yugos it sired... I didn't care much for Clinton but bombing the Yugo factory was a plus in his ledger.

Ah, interference engines. The friend with a thing for Alfas was rebuilding another one. DOHC driven by a chain with a tensioner that could take your finger off if you released in incorrectly. He was an excellent architect, a not so excellent mechanic and got the timing marks wrong. At least it was still in the garage when it wiped the valves out.

I'd rebuilt one for a guy when I was in college. It was the only wet liner engine I've ever worked on. No oversized pistons, just replace the whole liner/piston assembly.

Ah, memories. I had a '62. No bug-eye charm, a slightly larger engine, and the semi-adequate brakes from '61. Sudden rain storms were a problem. By the time you got the frame out of the trunk, installed it in the sockets, stretched the top over it, retrieved the side curtains, and put them in place, you might as well have kept driving.

I ran out of gas a few blocks from home. The city streets were level, so I got out, walked beside it and pushed it along with no problem. Until I got to an intersection where a cop was directing traffic. "Do you always take your car for a walk?" At least cops still had a sense of humor then.

Never can tell around here. A friend was out getting firewood and reasoned if he fell a tree on the upside of the road he could saw lengths off and roll them down to the road. Worked well until one log bounced off a rock, altered course, and took out the front quarter of his pickup.

Around here there are a lot of comedy routines about the economics of burning 'free' firewood.