Back in 2004, I was doing a typical East Bay highway commute to my job writing software documentation. Ten miles each way in a Tercel (I had my choice of an ’85 wagon or a ’90 hatch), and the ever-increasing numbers of badly-driven SUVs on the Dreaded Nimitz were making me feel quite vulnerable in my little rice-burners. I needed a more substantial daily driver, and it damn sure wasn’t going to be an 8-MPG truck with 64-ouncer cup holders. What I needed, I decided, was an ex-cop Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor! Read More >
Category: Murilee Rant

The Malaise Era of American automotive history refers to the period of model-year 1973 through model-year 1983; it takes its name from the commonly accepted shorthand name for President Jimmy Carter’s notorious “Crisis of Confidence” speech of July 15, 1979 (interestingly, Carter did not use the word “Malaise” in his speech). Read More >

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has but one redeeming quality, and that’s his taste in daily drivers… and now he’s selling it! Yeah, he’d probably prefer to load the thing up with drums full of a VX/BZ cocktail and crash it into a Tel Aviv nursery school… but, still, the story makes me want to rant about downscale “Man of the People” vehicle choices and the love/hate relationship I once had with my own 504. Read More >
The Butthole Surfers’ song Pittsburgh To Lebanon contains one of the all-time greatest blues lyrics: “I bought my first shotgun at the age of three.” Now, I can’t match Gibby‘s feat, but I can say that I owned my first tow truck at the age of five. Read More >


Recent Comments
Thomas Kreutzer - Thanks, man! I’m glad to see you posting over here once in a while! If I get back out this way later this year I will make it a plan to drop you a note and come...
Halftruth - W123 or not, like Sajeev says, old cars suck. I like to wrench myself but only minimally, not as a part time fleet mechanic. I have heard from more than a few...
al w - The only transmission-related problem that I recall on my father’s ’57 Dodge that I learned to drive on was that he would...
28-Cars-Later - That’s nice to hear… the Panther is obviously a superior choice :)
28-Cars-Later - I had an ex who in 2006 was obsessed with the idea of seven row seating in an SUV (she had three kids). She had a ’99 Caravan held together by...
maciejewskiadam - Jonny- great review. I have one thing to say, though: ‘Aluminum Look’.
MRF 95 T-Bird - Corvair’s with automatic transmissions(Power-glide) had the lever on the dash which lacked the Park function. Just...
Scoutdude - Those Chinese bumpers will likely loose their chrome or start rusting like crazy in only a couple of years and even brand new it...
Landcrusher - No, I in no way even implied that. You could demilitarize DARPA, whatever. Besides...
86SN2001 - Warning, threat…….whichever works I guess.