You forgot the FIRST iteration... the Corolla Sprinter. 1076cc of rompin-stompin raw-gut power... laid upon the tarmac by 12" tires. I owned one and while not exactly a B-Sports racer, it afforded MANY fun-filled miles. Mine actually went 287,000 miles (with me) and several more with a buddy in KC. Biggest problem was finding a new shift lever (it broke), and a water-pump gasket (not avail)... I made one from an unwrapped Pillsbury biscuit can (cardboard, sandwiched between aluminum... worked fine). ... View more

In the photograph (in the wind tunnel), did ANYBODY ELSE notice the "treadles" that the tires are sitting upon? They're an inverted airfoil! The airflow over/under them produces a bit of downforce, thereby pulling the treadles down and adding to the stability of the vehicle AND the support. Now THAT is engineering, boys and girls. ... View more

One might say we're already "there". Watching guardedly, as I endure the motorways these daze [sic], I'm pretty sure we have MANY "driverless" cars. To paraphrase George Bernard Shaw, "People steer, they haven't DRIVEN for years!". With the proliferation of TV SCREENS (that's what they ARE) in dashboards, so-called "navigation systems", and an embarrassment of computer operated flim-flam (including the current slush-box transmissions), I get more fun from a '94 Toyota pickup (270K w/original clutch), than any of the contemporary offerings I've sat "on" (not "in"). Sure, my '60 Austin-Healey 3000 and '04 build FacFive Cobra require real ATTENTION to operate, but isn't that the point? One wonders of Elon will offer "The Sound Package" with his new Teslas... you know - a deck of playing cards and a handfull of clothespins for the wheels. ... View more

Ain't it amazin', though... I could swear I stacked that group of used washers up, the other day... Sitting on that beat-up stool the wife found...that I thought I didn't want (Cool... she actually got me something I can use IN THE SHOP!) Oil spots... yeah, I thought I'd better put that pan of old anti-freeze MORE out of the way, but it's just easier to kick it....and get my pants wet...'sides, the ants like it and they get rid of it (themselves too). Yep... sometimes on a windy night, I just love to sit in there, listen to the wind rattle the sliding doors, and remember sittin' in my Uncle's "machine shed" (shop), that Eau d'cologne of brake fluid, old gas, diff oil, baler twine, and that warm scent of the air compressor.... yep... doesn't get much better. ... View more

Ha, my plethora of Saab Sonetts have similar cogboxes. The transaxle is just a tad forward of the firewall, BUT as R&T once wrote.... The gear selector lever is "VAGUE"... yeah, no kiddin'. It's a curious appendage, attached to a captive rod inside a piece of surplus gas pipe from the men's restroom at the Trollhatten factory Numerous attempts at finding "true neutral" will be registered by countless excursions in the circuitous route to several "FAKE neutrals", all of which will yield strange noises, and NO movement (except rolling backwards, down a driveway). Most other controls are rather boringly standard, EXCEPT the headlights, which are tethered on the end of yet ANOTHER piece of warped pipe, which one must pull "with gusto", in order to raise the headlight pods... THEN various incantations of Tibetan chants, to induce the lights to actually BOTH come on, as the wiring had gotten brittle... Oh, but there IS a standard feature, included WITH the lights that provides that if proceeding into a strong headwind... AND you're exceeding 70mph (with the little V4 sounding like it's about to hemmorage) OR if somehow, you have managed to achieve a forward velocity of some note.. the headlight pods, having been designed with a curved top, leave little "divots" in the front clip that generate low pressure.. thence LIFT, and without warning, the headlight pods will SLAM UP into position, scaring the living s**t out of you. Ahhh, what a glorious car. ... View more

What! No chrome-plated muffler bearings? I'm aghast. What's next.... [Lucas] electric door locks in my '60 Austin-Healey 3000? what a load of crap. ... View more

I got one better... Here in the tiny town of Sedalia, Colorado, there's a collector of military vehicles and such... Ol' Fred HAS... 1 of only 3 (ever made) a Davis 3-wheeled JEEP. He regularly drives it (it's actually BIGGER than a conventional one) and with the LARGE front wheel it steers quite nicely. The story of how the military never adopted it, lies in how it was tested (listed as a conventional jeep)... but yep.... one of only THREE. ... View more

I agree with Hyperv6 - plus... the SERIOUS ADVANTAGE of a manual cogbox is the LACK of electronic bits and pieces (MSTB = More S**t To Break). Besides... anybody remember the vacuum operated clutch on a VW bug? No... I think I'll use a phrase one of my old EE profs used to describe a gadget, fraught with problems... "It's an Ingenious solution to a non-existent problem!" [ BAN SENI-AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSIONS... THEY KILL PEOPLE ] ... View more

'73 Saab Sonett III... always started, great heater, and with 70% of the weight on the FWD, I climbed Vail Pass in 15" of snow WITHOUT chains. Apparently, my girlfriend was so impressed, she married me... yeah, that has to be it. ... View more

The Nak' was indeed THE coolest mechanism ever.  ONE of my techs could fix them when they got "out of time"... Paul B. was the king. ... View more

Of course (I forgot)...the REALLY COOL "upgrade" to the AM/FM radio (it wasn't stereo yet) in my '64 Chevelle SS convertible, was a chrome-faced Motorola "reverb"... Slight blonde girls LOVED it, but owing to the construction (basically a phono-cartridge on the end of a screen-door spring), if you went over a railroad track, it sounded like somebody dropped a set of box springs in an echo'y garage.   ... View more

Having been a Service Manager in consumer electronics "back in the day", I can tell you honestly... the PIONEER gear was THE most reliable, had some of the best output audio (quality, not just power), and was fairly easy to install.  We got so we wouldn't even work on foreign stuff (excluding National/Panasonic)... parts difficulty, service info, and other factors.  Of course, I'm one of those guys who cannot understand filling your boot up with speakers and liquid-cooled amplifiers, so you can rot your eardrums out (that's what open pipes on a Cobra are for!)   ... View more

Upon greater reflection, on a farm in Kansas, Grandpa and I used to straighten nails! I've worked and saved, managed to spend a bit less than I made, and now that I CAN afford what I have, who the hell was I saving it for? I grin EVERY MILE I drive one of my "toys", and hopefully, when I DO sell them, they'll make SOMEBODY ELSE grin, too. remember Silas Marner.. ya can't take it with ya! ... View more

The '69 Camero... but flabbergasting me, were the brace of '70 Chevelles, going for "astronomy based" prices. That said, I was grinning to see the "uplifted" numbers, as it makes my '60 Austin-Healey 3000 and FacFive Mk II Cobra... "more better". ... View more

My TOYOTAs... hands down, the absolute BEST.  They come up to temp quickest, deliver good heat with ram-air only (without fan), and defrost with excellence. ('94 Pickup & '02 Tundra 4.7L)  ...and WAY BACK, I had a '69 Corolla Sprinter, that in spite of it's 1076 cc 4, would roast you out.  WORST is the wife's Subaru Baja Turbo... takes forever to get heat. ... View more

Having been a professional photographer in my lifetime (among other pursuits), I oft' wonder how many digital "photos" will be around in 5 years, much less 2 or 3! Everybody's Mom or Grandmother had a "shoebox" full of old B&W "contact" prints (exact same size as the negative) which NEVER faded, NEVER corrupted, and contained such incredible detail that often you can read the dial on somebody's WATCH! Thus, the question [modified] comes to haunt us.. where will the repository of "priceless" knowledge be placed? ...and just as reel-to-reel, 8-track, cassette, and vinyl records faded into dust... we should bloody well PAY ATTENTION. ... View more