BREAKING: Toyota Offices Raided In Tokyo In Connection With Hamp Arrest
Reuters is reporting police have raided Toyota’s office in Tokyo in connection with the arrest of communications chief Julie Hamp over alleged drug imp…
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Top Gear's Three Musketeers Set To Return With New Series

While “Top Gear” moves forward with new host Chris Evans at the helm, Clarkson, Hammond and May are closer to introducing a new show of their own.

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Nrburgring Management Bans Manufacturers From Attempting, Publishing 'Ring Times

Depending on one’s point of view, this is either the best or the worst thing to happen: The ‘Ring time is no more on the Nürburgring.

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New Top Gear Presenter Reveals Talent Search For Co-Presenters

BBC Radio 2’s Chris Evans is the new lead presenter for “Top Gear,” but now he needs at least one other at his side, and it could be you.

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BBC Radio 2 Presenter Chris Evans New Presenter Of Top Gear

It’s official: BBC Radio 2 presenter Chris Evans will now be the new presenter of “Top Gear,” an appointment supported by Clarkson, Hammond and May.

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TTAC At The Movies: "Mad Max: Fury Road"

I don’t mind being preached to. Or being preached at. I mean, I’ve played guitar in a few church bands, and not all of the churches in question would let me sleep in my car during the sermon. Once in a while, I’d toss a couple of bucks in the collection plate, as well. So you could even argue that I’m okay with paying for the privilege of being preached at.

Insofar as I have an Internet connection and the ability to use it, I knew prior to walking into the new “Mad Max” film that I’d be effectively paying to be preached at, and the sermon would be the American-media orthodoxy of 2015: Women are just like men, only smarter, braver, and tougher. Old white men are the source of all the world’s evil and they are always trying to “own” babies, er, fetuses, er, tissue, that should be the property of women. Only by becoming a “feminist ally” can a man have any worth in society.

I knew all of this before the first digital frame of this movie appeared on the screen, and I was prepared to live with it. What I was not prepared for was this: Mad Max: Fury Road just plain sucks.

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Trailer For Final Top Gear Episode Unveiled

Cue up The Doors, because the end is near: the trailer for the final episode of “Top Gear” was released Tuesday.

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Jalopnik, Other Gawker Media Writers To Unionize

It’s official: Writers for Gawker Media’s online publications, including our friends at Jalopnik, have voted to unionize.

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Consumer Reports Declares Tesla Model S P85D 'Undrivable' Due To Glitch

The thrill has gone for Consumer Reports‘ review team over the Tesla Model S, declaring the P85D “undrivable” in a new blog post.

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Autoleaks: 2016 Chevrolet Camaro Revealed Ahead Of Weekend Debut

Thanks to CNBC, the 2016 Chevrolet Camaro was revealed to the world ahead of its global debut Saturday at Belle Isle in Detroit.

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TTAC At The Movies: "Slasher"

Movie director John Landis is probably best known for his 1978 comedy classic Animal House. I am such a fan of it that I recently made a pilgrimage to the Dexter Lake Club, the Oregon roadhouse used in the film where the frat boys partied during their road trip in a black suicide-door 1964 Lincoln Continental. (“Do you mind if we dance wif yo dates?”)

To folks in the retail automobile business Landis is better known for his lesser-known 2004 Independent Film Channel documentary Slasher, a movie that represents the most authentic cinematic depiction ever about selling cars.

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Project CARS, Just Like Many Real Cars, Can't Match The Media Hype

Project CARS is probably the most hotly-anticipated automobile-related video game to “drop” in the past few years. It’s ridden a positively Kanagawan wave of media hype and compensated “viral” marketing to its release – but at least one well-informed source is saying that this new emperor is decidedly trouserless.

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Mockup Of 2016 Honda Civic Spec Sheets Fools Autoblog

[UPDATE: Autoblog owned up to its mistake with the following:Alright, we made a mistake. Turns out this “leak” was actually just a mockup done by a CivicX forum member, and we totally went along with it. Sorry, folks. You’ll have to wait a little longer for your hot Civic pricing news.” – CA]

Earlier this morning, Autoblog published a leak regarding the pricing of the 2016 Honda Civic. In its rush to be first, however, it forgot to confirm.

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Audi Ireland Subverts Sexist Stereotypes Via Social Media Campaign

Finding jokes about women behind the wheel passé, Audi Ireland recently began a Twitter campaign meant to subvert the sexism.

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Editorial: Serial Woman Beater Buys 39 Cars (And Counting!) From Opportunistic Salesman

This headline is as true as any other you’ve read over the past few days.

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FCA US Joins Michigan Businesses In Opposition Of Proposed Religious Freedom Bill

Joining the likes of Kellogg’s, Herman Miller and Steelcase, FCA US declared Tuesday its opposition to Michigan’s proposed religious freedom bill.

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Wall Street Journal V. GM: A Public Battle For Editorial Independence

Once upon a time, The Wall Street Journal faced off against General Motors over editorial independence, and won.

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Is This Cycle World Presenter Stoned?

Cycle World, regarded as one of the best motorcycle magazines despite its horrible print design, picks ten “bikes with character” for their latest video. This chum can only remember five of them.

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James May Bidding Farewell To Top Gear Unless Clarkson Returns

Top Gear presenter James May is saying farewell to the show, as hosting it with Richard Hammond and a “surrogate” Jeremy Clarkson would be “lame.”

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Yahoo Autos, Autoblog Gain New Editors

The Truth About Cars isn’t the only online auto publication to bid farewell/ say hello to editors today, as Yahoo Autos and Autoblog have done the same.

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Jeremy Clarkson Pulls Out Of Planned BBC Program Appearance

Aside from not presenting cars on BBC anymore, former “Top Gear” host Jeremy Clarkson won’t be appearing on another BBC program, as well.

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De Niro To Play Enzo Ferrari In Upcoming Biopic

Nearly three decades ago, Ferrari founder Enzo Ferrari passed from this mortal coil. Now, actor Robert De Niro will play him in an upcoming biopic.

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No Charges For Jeremy Clarkson Over 'Fracas' With Tymon

Former “Top Gear” host Jeremy Clarkson may be out of a TV job, but at least he won’t be going to jail anytime soon.

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NYT's Bilton Finds Vehicle Broken Into Via Wireless Technology

Locking the doors may not be enough to deter would-be thieves now, thanks to wireless technology.

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Lieberman: $180K Ferrari Twin-Turbo V6 Arriving In 2019

Want a Porsche 911 Turbo S, but with a Ferrari badge? You might want to check your bank account.

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Compact SUVs Gain Popularity At Expense Of Midsize, Compact Cars

While compact SUVs are doing well in the showroom, their success comes at the expense of midsize and compact car sales.

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Oakland PD Turns Over 4.6M License Plate Dataset Via Public Records Request

Via a public records request, the Oakland Police Department has turned over 4.6 million reads of 1.1 million unique plates recorded between 2010 and 2014.

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Report: 'Hundreds' Of Recalled New Vehicles Sold Without Prior Repairs

In an investigative segment on ABC’s “Good Morning America” Thursday, ABC News purchased a vehicle under recall from a dealer who had not repaired it.

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Juechter: No Mid-Engine Corvette Exists

Aside from IMSA’s Daytona Prototype class, dreams of a mid-engine Corvette will remain as such according to the icon’s chief engineer.

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BBC Cancels Remaining Top Gear Episodes Amid Clarkson 'Fracas'

In the fallout of “Top Gear” host Jeremy Clarkson’s “fracas” with a producer, BBC has cancelled the remaining three episodes of the current series.

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Missouri Law Lets Thieves Scrap Your Classics

Kansas City’s KCTV reported this week on an attempt to repair a 2012 Missouri state law that has led to a dramatic increase in car thefts. The law, which allows people to sell vehicles 10 years or older without a title, was originally intended to help rural property owners dispose of derelict vehicles and outdated machinery that would otherwise be left to rot. Criminals, however, soon discovered that they could scoop up virtually any vehicle that met the standard and sell it to scrap yards for a tidy profit.

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Cadillac's Oscars 2015 Adverts Channel Teddy, Shows No Product

Melody Lee may or may not be on the red carpet Sunday, but Teddy Roosevelt’s essence will be felt in one of Cadillac’s Oscars 2015 adverts.

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WSJ To Tesla: Cast Aside Corporate Welfare To Improve Image

Despite its visions of having a valuation on par with Apple within a decade, Tesla’s subsistence on subsidies may be hard for some to swallow.

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Cadillac's New Brand Identity To Grace Oscars' Red Carpet

Want a selfie with Melody Lee at this year’s Oscars? While that may or may not happen due to a number of factors, Cadillac will grace the B&B’s viewing parties with its presence.

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Teknikens Vrld: Ford Mondeo Estate 'Dangerously Overweight'

The Ford Mondeo Estate is in trouble with one Swedish automotive publication, thanks to how much it weighs.

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Online Publication Believes Tesla Is Under SEC Investigation

Tesla may be under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission, based upon speculation by an online publication whose modus operandi involves filing Freedom of Information Act requests.

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Williams: UAW To Be More Open Before Members, Public

With major negotiations between the Detroit Three coming up in 2015, United Auto Workers president Dennis Williams has vowed to be more open before the union’s membership and the general public in his leadership.

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The Car Business Has Not Changed Much Since 1956

It appears that I am a few days behind Matt in cruising westbound down Route 66 in New Mexico. We checked into the legendary Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari last night and discovered that our room came equipped with the December 24, 1956 issue of Automotive News, unearthed from a long-closed dealership down the street. Some of the articles in the trade rag proved that today’s car biz is indeed, in the words of Yankee great Yogi Berra, “deja vu all over again”…

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Edmunds Retracts Haggling Parody Amid Dealer Outcry

As you all know, the TTAC Zaibatsu prides itself on not having to worry about things like upsetting brands for telling it like it is for a given product. Of course, this does sometimes mean we get blackballed by said brands for not drinking the Kool-Aid, but we have our ways around those roadblocks.

Alas, Edmunds doesn’t have those ways, resulting in a series of ads retracted after a number of dealers took issue with the content.

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Gilbert Calls Out Dealers In Wake Of Reinforced Michigan Direct Sales Ban

Tuesday, Michigan governor Rick Snyder signed into law a bill that included language reinforcing a direct sales ban established over 30 years ago.

Wednesday? Detroit billionaire Dan Gilbert — best known as the majority owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers who penned a letter in Comic Sans typeface in response to LeBron James making the decision to play for the Miami Heat — had a few words to say about this decision.

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Howes: No Escape Yet From Recall Woes For General Motors

After running the gauntlet of congressional hearings, numerous recalls and personnel firings under the dark cloud of scandal created in the wake of the February 2014 recall crisis, General Motors believes it’s ready to turn the page, that everything is now in the rear view.

Not so fast.

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Ford: Automotive Industry Must Prepare To Rethink Transportation

Sharing the pages of The Wall Street Journal’s 125th Anniversary issue with the likes of Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Summers and Taylor Swift, Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford, Jr. sees a future for the automotive industry so bright, he’ll need to wear shades.

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BMW M235i Bests Corvette, 911 In Consumer Reports Road Testing

BMW’s M235i has earned the highest marks ever bestowed upon the German automaker’s lineup from Consumer Reports, while also besting the Porsche 911 and Chevrolet Corvette in road tests whose results were recently released online.

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General Motors Digest: June 27, 2014

In today’s General Motors digest: The automaker rescinds its stop-sale of 33,000 Chevrolet Cruzes over Takata air bag issues, recalls 29,019; Delphi turns over documents to a federal grand jury; Kenneth Feinberg’s compensation plan will be revealed Monday; and CEO Mary Barra says more recalls may be coming, but no more people will be fired as a result of the Valukas report.

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US Politicians Appeal To Base Through Humble Vehicles

As campaign season rolls out, politicians are appealing to their constituents — or at least, trying to appeal to them — by appearing to be on their level, including their choice of vehicle that they otherwise may have traded in for a Lexus or Mercedes a long time ago in their political career.

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Energy Drinks May Follow Tobacco Sponsorship Into History

Once upon a time, the Sprint Cup was the Winston Cup, Rothmans decorated Porsche 962s in Group C, and the Marlboro chevron was everywhere a wheel turned in anger. Though those days are long gone, energy drink makers like Red Bull and Monster have stepped in to fill the financial void left behind by Big Tobacco. At least for now.

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UAW Raises Member Dues For First Time Since 1967

Automotive News reports the United Auto Workers have approved a dues increase to 2.5 hours of pay per month during the 36th UAW Constitutional Convention in Detroit. The increase, the first since 1967, is expected to bring in nearly $50 million annually to the newly renamed International Strike and Defense Fund. Though a majority supported the increase through a show of hands after a voice vote proved inconclusive, the move was hotly debated prior to voting.

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Reuters Claims 74 Fatalities Linked To GM Recall Through FARS Research

Reuters reports the original fatality figure of 13 allegedly linked to the out-of-spec ignition switch that spurred a recall of 2.6 million General Motors vehicles this February may now actually be as high as 74.

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Solar Roadways: A Modest Proposal?

Last week, an amazing video popped up on my Facebook feed. Produced by a small Idaho based startup seeking funding from the public via an IndieGoGo campaign, it offers a glimpse into a possible future where the roads are made out of reinforced glass panels that contain solar cells, microprocessors and LEDs. The company, Solar Roadways, has been working on this product for years and it has already attracted a considerable amount of attention from the tech community. Now, as it seeks money to hire a team of engineers to perfect and streamline the production process, it appears as though Solar Roadways is finally ready for the big time.

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GM Pulls Small Q1 2014 Profit, Barra One Of Time's 100 Most Influential People

Reuters reports General Motors announced in its regulatory filing Thursday that it was under the microscope of five different government agencies related to its numerous recalls as of late. Aside from investigations by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and both houses of Congress, the automaker revealed the Securities and Exchange Commission and an unnamed state attorney general’s office were conducting their own probes. The filing also acknowledged GM was under the gun of 55 pending class action lawsuits in the U.S., and five of the same in Canada. GM said they were working with all of the investigations, though the automaker did not say what the SEC was looking for in its probe.

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Tesla Fires Back Against Accusations Brought By Lemon Law King

Tesla has fired back against the accusations brought in a lawsuit filed against the company earlier this week by a Wisconsin attorney and self-described “Lemon law King” Vince Megna. Mr. Megna’s client, a physician who took delivery of his Model S in March of last year, alleges that he has had repeated problems with the car’s doors and main fuse and that repeated attempts to remedy the problem have met with no success. He is asking that, after four attempts at resolving the issues, the company re-purchase the car under Wisconsin lemon laws intended to protect buyers if a product is faulty and cannot be repaired by the manufacturer.

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Ford, King Ranch "Brownout" the Houston Rodeo

Perhaps you haven’t lived in a flyover state where brown leather gear dominates your town during Rodeo season. While the Ford+King Ranch press release celebrating the 15th Anniversary of those famous brown leather pickups reached the autoblogosphere, only a local writer with an internationally known knack for automotive snark both finds the sweet mochalicious lede and refuses to bury it in the dirt.

And what does that mean? You gotta click to find out.

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The Manly Art Of Stick Handling

I was browsing the internet the other day and came across a website that purports to be “A guy’s post-college guide to growing up.” Normally I avoid websites like this. I learned about the manly arts the old fashioned way, dangerous experimentation, but since I have been wrestling with an especially verdant crop of nose hair recently I thought I might find some grooming tips and so I decided to check it out. Amongst all the articles on slick, greasy-looking haircuts, sensual massage techniques and the power of positive self-development, I found this handy beginners’ guide on how to drive a stick shif t. Since it was one of the only things on the site I had any real experience with, I looked it over and decided it was pretty good. Naturally, I thought I would share it.

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Leno Talks Nissan IDx: What's Left Unsaid Speaks Volumes

The Nissan IDx concept, which debuted at the Tokyo motor show back in November of last year, is in the news again, this time appearing on YouTube as a part of the popular Jay Leno’s Garage series. We learned in January that the IDx is expected to go into full production and Nissan has been relentlessly seeking publicity for it by taking it to events all around the country. It is a good looking little car with just enough retro touches to remind people of the times when Nissan was sold in this country under the Datsun brand name and this video is the lengthiest review of the car I have yet seen. Leno spends a lot of time speaking with the car’s designer about all the little details that make the car so special and then takes it on a real world test drive. If you haven’t seen it yet, take time to look at it now as it will soon be the topic of discussion around water coolers and wherever else it is that car guys gather these days.

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Testing The Limits Of Civil Obedience: An Experiment

Yesterday, while folks in the Southeast were getting hammered with their second severe winter storm in two weeks, the skies over Buffalo were wonderfully bright and sunny. Of course, when you count the wind chill factor, the temperature barely climbed into the double digits but as a result of the sun and a whole lot of road salt, the highways here were mostly bare and dry. That means my evening commute was a breeze. I hit Route 33 and ran my little CUV up to just over the 55 mph limit and sailed right out of town. Things were going great, but then, unexpectedly, traffic began to slow.

I shifted left into a place I really don’t run that much these days and wicked the speed up to a smidge over 60 in order to keep up the pace. I found myself fourth or fifth back in a line of cars that was whizzing up the fast lane overtaking car after car and, as a student of the road, I began to wonder just what the hell was holding all these people up. I found the reason at the head of the line, a Buffalo City Police cruiser running right at the limit and, like all the good people of the Earth who don’t want a senseless speeding ticket, I found myself easing off the gas. But as I noted his lack of response to all of the cars ahead of me that were simply accelerating away into the wide open space the officer had created, I decided that for whatever reason he simply wasn’t interested in writing tickets and so I continued on, barely adjusting my pace.

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GPS Tracking: Catch This Fly With Honey

Photo courtesy of media.ford.com

Last week, Ford’s Global VP of Marketing and Sales, Jim Farley, told a panel discussion at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that Ford has access to data on its customers’ driving habits via the GPS system installed in their cars. “We know everyone who breaks the law, we know when you’re doing it. We have GPS in your car, so we know what you’re doing. By the way, we don’t supply that data to anyone,” he said. The next day Mr. Farley adjusted his statement to avoid giving the wrong impression saying that the statement was hypothetical and that Ford does not routinely collect information on, or otherwise track, drivers through their GPS systems without those drivers’ consent and approval. That approval comes from turning on and opting into specific services like 911 Assist and something called Sync Services Directions, a system that links the GPS system to users’ cellular phones. So that’s that, right?

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General Motors to Stop Monthly U.S. Sales Calls

In move sure to disappoint industry analysts and journalists alike (us included), General Motors will no longer hold monthly calls regarding their sales in the United States.

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Kelley Blue Book: Ford F-Series Dominates America In State By State Breakdown

Business Insider wanted to know the buying habits of Americans when it comes to cars. Thus, they asked Kelley Blue Book to present their findings from data gathered between January and August 2013, as well as the lowest price for each top model sold in New York City in November of this year.

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One Man's Love For His Mother, The Car

Long before Knight Rider’s KITT, back in the mid 1960s there was a television show about a car that talked. I’m not sure just how they pitched the idea to the network, my guess is that it had something to do with the popularity of the Mister Ed show. If a horse could talk, why not a car? Anyhow, the 1965 show was called My Mother The Car and it’s generally acknowledged to be one of the worst tv sitcoms ever. Some feel it may even be the worst television show, comedy or drama, ever, though it managed to last a full season, 30 episodes. The show starred Jerry Van Dyke whose character discovers, while shopping for a used car, that his late mother, played by Ann Sothern’s voice over the car radio, has been reincarnated as a 1928 Porter. Don’t bother doing a search, there was no 1928 Porter, unlike Jack Benny’s Maxwell. Though there has been a couple of car companies named Porter, Mother, the car, was fictional, created just for the tv show, said to be named after the show’s production manager.

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Family Jewels: What Dribbled Down To You?

Photo Courtesy of Cardomain.com

Today, my wacky morning DJ, right after he said democracy was a joke and called me “dude,” hit us with this fun fact: 39% of young people choose the same brand of car their parents drove. I’m not sure if that is impressive as the previous day’s fact, that 20 million pounds of candy corn are sold annually in the United States, but it made me think about my father’s preference in vehicles and whether or not I had followed suit. Despite the fact that my old man had pretty good taste in cars, the answer, oddly enough, is “no.”

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  • Jalop1991 does the odometer represent itself in an analog fashion? Will the numbers roll slowly and stop wherever, or do they just blink to the next number like any old boring modern car?
  • MaintenanceCosts E34 535i may be, for my money, the most desirable BMW ever built. (It's either it or the E34 M5.) Skeptical of these mods but they might be worth undoing.
  • Arthur Dailey What a load of cow patties from fat cat politicians, swilling at the trough of their rich backers. Business is all for `free markets` when it benefits them. But are very quick to hold their hands out for government tax credits, tax breaks or government contracts. And business executives are unwilling to limit their power over their workers. Business executives are trained to `divide and conquer` by pitting workers against each other for raises or promotions. As for the fat cat politicians what about legislating a living wage, so workers don't have to worry about holding down multiple jobs or begging for raises? And what about actually criminally charging those who hire people who are not legally illegible to work? Remember that it is business interests who regularly lobby for greater immigration. If you are a good and fair employer, your workers will never feel the need to speak to a union. And if you are not a good employer, then hopefully 'you get the union that you deserve'.
  • 28-Cars-Later Finally, something possibly maybe worth buying.
  • EBFlex The simple fact is very small and cheap ICE vehicles have a range thats longer than all EVs. That is the bar that needs met. And EVs cannot meet that.Of course range matters. But that's one element of many that make EVs completely ineffective at replacing ICE vehicles.