You’re looking at it there after the windshield was fixed as well. Truth is of course, that the car isn’t any worse to drive then it was before the storm. If I was willing to sink the money for a new top and a to repair one wing mirror and a busted tail light, I’d be pretty much the same place mechanically as a I was before all this happened. I seriously considered doing all that. But every time I looked back at that beaten body, my heart just sank. The 2nd Gen MX-5 is such a pretty car, with graceful curves and that wide, long expanse of bonnet. With those looks sullied, my heart is broken. To truly get my car back, my lovely little car, would’ve cost an order of magnitude more then the thing was worth to begin with.

So it goes on the chopping block. The next person to make me a decent offer on it ought to do so at the end of long stick, lest I take their arm off in my enthusiasm.

Thus began the great car hunt of 2012. As my wife will tell you^[2] , I am fairly picky about my vehicle. There was a time, none too far in the past either, when my priorities were centered on things like practicality and fuel economy, which led me to buy the most boring car in the world. Later, when the fire of enthusiasm had once again flared within the more primordial corners of my brain, I bought the Miata, a car who’s only purpose in this world is pleasure. This time, however, I needed to blend the two. My lovely long-suffering life-partner has of late been bent on dropping her own car from the equation. Her commuting needs are limited to a mile or so to work and the occasional sojourn to the gym and it’s become obvious that her little hatchback is rather overkill for all that. With the Miata up for sale and myself on the prowl, it seemed the right thing to do was for me to purchase a car that would be capable of taking on the role of our only car and free her up to drop her’s for something like a small scooter. But this makes my list of car buying criteria sort of challenging: I need a car that’s fun to drive for me, something that the ponderous Mr. May would say “gives me the fizz”, but it also needs to be easy to handle for the wife and able to be stuffed with a pile of cargo for the both of us.

At one point, I sat down and made a list of every car I could think of that I’d have fun driving, then crossed everything off that couldn’t also be driven by my less automotively inclined partner, or that didn’t have room for a rhinoceros in the back. It was left with two options. One was the AMG E-class estate by Mercedes. This boasts a hefty 550 HP twin turbo-charged V8, a 7-speed shiftable automatic transmission, and the sub-zero coolness of having all of that in a station wagon, but since I don’t have $120,000 burning a whole in a bank account, it wouldn’t do. That just leaves the four door Volkswagen GTI.

So I went and bought one.

Oddly enough, even though VW makes a fair number of these every year, the particular cross-section of features I wanted actually makes for a fairly rare car. Few enough of the yobbos who typically buy the GTI want a four door model^[3] but those few who do typically opt for the more feature packed “Autobahn Edition” which tacks on a number of features I don’t really care about for and extra couple of thousand I’m not willing to pay. It took a bit of scrounging to find the right one but I did and I managed to drive it home just the other day.

My opinion of the car will probably solidify further over the rest of my time owning it, but for now I have to say it is matching or exceedingly my expectations in all regards. On the face of it,^[4] it’s just a car. It’s got enough room in the back for a small pack of canines, and you can fold down the seats if you need more. It may have nifty little shifters on the wheel for messing with the gears, but if you aren’t worried about them, they won’t worry about you either. The ride is firm but not jarring. It’s call all the bells and whistles modern cars are expected to come with. As far as practicality goes, it’s just a newer, petrol version of the Golf TDI that already does the hauling for our little clan.

And for me: there’s a place on the gear level with a little “S” by it.

The two liter turbocharged engine in the golf is a great little work horse. Planting your foot into the carpet doesn’t feel like setting off a bomb, but at nearly any speed it does result in a rush of power to the front wheels and a firm pressure that pushed you back into the seat and pushes the corners of your mouth up into a wicked little smile. If that isn’t enough power to please, you can wait around another 6 months or so and you can grab the new 220 HP Mk7 GTI, or shell out another ten grand and you can grab a Golf R, but those options are a waste of time and money. An hour and less the one grand at a local performance shop can will put a new ECU in the car, and that lets you plumb the depths of the GTI’s untapped reserves. Whether this is an option that I’ll be taking is unclear just yet.^[5] .

1. And with over a hundred thousand miles on it, it was well on its way
2. or more accurately, bemoan endlessly at the slightest provocation
3. I’d be one of said yobbos if I wasn’t married, mind you
4. that is to say: when my wife drives
5. Talk to me when someone takes that wreck of a Miata off my hands and I’m wondering how I deposit cash into a bank with no branches

If your are a fan of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and you haven’t heard that episode 43^[1], “Hearts and Hooves”, was released to the iTunes store early this week, then I’m not sure what rock you were hiding under. It was released and I was really surprised to see the drama that sprung up around the early posting of the episode. I watched it the moment I could get my grubby paws on it, as is my nature, but I won’t begrudge anyone else a desire to hold off until the scheduled air date and keep the episode behind a veil. To that end I’ll let you know right now: this post contains no spoilers. This is not a discussion about the episode at all. We’re going to talk about release dates.

It’s not exactly clear what the channel is for these episodes to come to iTunes from DHX Media Vancouver to iTunes; we don’t know at what point the path from master to air/download differs between the episodes that show on The Hub and those that end up on iTunes. The release date for iTunes is anything but consistent. The email notifying me of a new episode has come to my inbox as little as 12 hours after a new episode’s air date, or it can take nearly a week. It’s entirely possible that the early release of “Hearts and Hooves” was  a mistake, since it launched simultaneously with “Read it and Weep”, the previous week’s episode. I can just picture someone in an cubical somewhere, highlighting one too many .m4v files and hitting “publish”. I certainly don’t have any reason to believe that we’ll ever see an early episode again.

But here’s the thing: we should see them early online. Every week.

I was mulling the way the most recent episode had a split release date on my way home from work^[2] and how it was splitting the audience and it started to seem highly appropriate. I think moving the official iTunes release date up to Friday or Thursday would actually an incredibly smart move on DHX/Hasbro’s part. It is seriously unlikely to happen, of course, but I think this is one of the few shows where it would actually work very well to help them gain some additional profit.

The MLP:FiM audience is now pretty well defined by it’s dual nature. You have the intended audience of young girls^[3] and then you have this separate group, not insignificant in numbers, of 18-30 year olds^[4]. The 18-30 year olds, us bronies, are pretty fervid audience members, who usually want to see an episode at the earliest available opportunity. But while this group may help a show’s Nielson ratings,^[5] they are pretty worthless to help sell ad time. Let’s face it, if you’re trying to sell Barbies or whatever the modern equivalent of Bubbletape  is to young girls, knowing that a few tens of thousands of under grads and young professionals are watching doesn’t really make the ad space more valuable. A TV show’s revenue comes from selling an audience to the advertisers, and you can’t sell the bronies.

However, you can sell the show to bronies. Give the secondary demographic, a fanbase that’s overflowing with enthusiasm and champing at the bit for more content, a compelling reason to purchase the show itself on iTunes^[6] and they will take you up on that offer in droves. You won’t be rid of the youtubers and pirates completely^[7] , buy you will definitely increase iTunes sales. If presented with the decision to get the episode early, even a day early, for the cost of a season pass I’d gladly pony up the dough.

And I don’t believe that this would touch their target audience at all, where they make their bread and butter. Some kids may watch the iTunes versions, but it would surprise me if that demographic made the switch to the digital format over something like an early release date, if they were even able to procure the content on iTunes. The only audience members I could seem being convinced to change format would be the older demographic, who already tend to watch the show digitally.

DHX/Hasbro would take an audience from a venue where they are essentially valueless and shunt them to a venue where they produce direct revenue, without additional cost. Pure profit.

It seems like a no-brainer to me. That being said: I’d be more surprised to see this really happening. MLP:FiM is produced in partnership with The Hub and, right or wrong, they would be worried about loosing audience and ratings numbers and would certainly nix such an idea. As it stands, we’ve heard no official statement on the episode release^[8] which means that it either was a mistake and they’d prefer not to bring more attention to it, or that little enough attention is being paid to this aspect of the distribution that they don’t really care. Either way, I’m inclined to predict that iTunes release dates will continue to fluctuate wildly with each episode.

1. That’s season 2 episode 17
2. High rate of speed, “Pinkie Smile” on full blast
3. and their parents
4. predominantly male but not so much that you can make assumptions
5. in which they would be severely underrepresented. Due to this group’s high technological familiarity and The Hub’s small market. share most bronies watch on YouTube or torrents
6. or any online video service, I hold no allegiance to Apple
7. Spoiler: you never will
8. so far as I know

We finally got the proper garnishes for the Pinkie Pie so here’s the write up.

• 1 and 1/2 ounces Cake Flavored Vodka
• 2 Teaspoons Nestle strawberry milk powder
• 12 ounces Milk
• Garnish with gummy alligator and cotton candy

The Pinkie Pie is very much not my cup of tea, unfortunately. It is very pink though; like really pink. There are some worries that looks a bit too much like pepto, but I think it’s highly appropriate. It’s the sort of cocktail you can drink all night to keep the party going. Smooth and sugary, it received wide spread positive reviews during the party. You can mess with the ratio of vodka to strawberry milk if you like, depending on taste and desired intoxication level.

We did a test run of the lastest revision of the Rainbow Dash. Our process isn’t perfected yet, as these were the only four of a batch of nearly thirty to come out in^[1] one piece. The recipe is good though, as each one ounce cube is delicious and deceptively alcoholic. We will do another run later in the week with some tweaks and hopefully be able to produce more consistent results and I’ll post the recipe then.

Once we get a good Twilight Sparkle rolling, we’ll need to work out a Scootaloo and some Princess ones. I’m not even sure where to start with a Discord drink though^[2] .

1. nearly
2. LSD?

Applejack

• 1.5 oz of Applejack
• Easiest drink in the world to pour; just put it into a glass.

How surprised was I that our local supplier had actual applejack. We gave some consideration to coming up with an actual cocktail, but if the character is named after a hard liquor, then who am I to mess with that. Applejack turns out to be a pleasant drink, with a definite taste of… well… apples. What did you think it would taste like? It’s good; I’d probably get another bottle when this one is finished^[1] .

The Big McIntosh

• 3 oz of applejack
• 18-24 oz of apple cider
• 1 apple half
• Put 3 oz of applejack into the biggest glass you can find. Then put in half an apple. Then fill the rest up with cider.

The Fluttershy

The Rarity

1. Should be a while, we did some major damage to it at the party, but a large part of that is that it’s also part of the Big McIntosh.

On one horizon, the towering expanse of a mountain range, thousands of meters high, like the backbone of a great, desiccated beast pushing through through a skin of verdant green plant life. On the other horizon, natural pillars of stone rising from a turbulent grey sea; objects carved by the sea, made by it, and yet ultimately doomed to be consumed by it. I walked through this world under azure sky, feeling the earth shift under my feet and looking back to see my footprints become part of the landscape itself, another brush stroke on an ever changing picture. I was taken back inside the dream, found myself unable to continue on but just sit and gawk at that which surrounded me.

I stretched out my hands in an attempt to touch the world around me, to connect more completely with this ethereal beauty my own mind had created, and I felt remorse that nothing I would experience in my real life would be able to compare to what I now knew my imagination was capable of.

We’ll start with the upper left and work across and down.

Motorola S9-HD Stereo Bluetooth Headphones
These stay paired to my Transformer for watching videos and listening to Google Music. They also work great for video calling if the need arises. When not in use, these are usually hooked around my neck.

iPhone 3G 8gb
At this point, the iPhone is only there to run Rev and to serve audiobooks to my car stereo. It’s got a T-Mobile pay-as-you-go SIM card in it, but that’s really just a “because its there” thing. I’ll probably force myself to leave this at home when my office makes me start carrying a Blackberry. This lives in a pants pocket.

Motorola Atrx
Primary cell phone and all around sexy device. This is my only cell-data enabled device so it runs a mobile hotspot to hook the other stuff up with internet if needed. This shares a pocket with the iPhone.

Asus Eee Transformer
It’s a a tablet! It’s a netbook! It’s what I’m typing this blog post on right now! This slips into the largest pocket of the backpack.

Leatherman e303
A good all around pocket knife. Also has a flat and phillips screwdriver and a carabiner/bottle opener. This fits nicely into a small pocket on one side of the backpack.

iPod Classic/Video 80gb
This is basically a portable hard drive now and just gets stuffed into the junk pocket of the backpack.

El Cheapo LED flashlight.
Purchased on a whim a while back. You never know when a bright flashlight will come in handy. Shares a pocket with the Leatherman.

Large Nail Clippers.
I can’t stand using the “normal” sized nail clippers anymore.

Pens.
I write with them.

Not pictured:

Folding Scissors
These are a recent addition and have already proven quite handy. Knives are good but if you just need to trim a tread off a peice of clothing or something similar, nothing beats scissors for the job.

SwissGear Mono Strap Backpack
Can’t remember the exact model of this backpack but it’s just the right size for a tablet and some other junk. It’s mid-pocket is big enough to swallow all the chargers and cables that carrying all of this stuff around can require. I’m quite a fan of SwissGear and would recommend them to anyone.

Keys
I moved my house keys and car keys to seperate rings a while back and haven’t regretted it since. Car keys and house keys are different enough that they really don’t live well together.

Drus Julba sunglasses
Since getting contacts I’ve been able to start enjoying sunglasses again and I would highly recommend these.

There’s also a whole mess of cables and charges and paper and lint and stuff that follows me around too.

Main Computer / Laptop
Asus N73Jq

I’m probably the only person obtuse enough to buy 17.3 inch laptop and still think of it as portable. When my previous desktop blew it’s top one night, I was faced with the prospect of replacing it and my geriatric laptop within the same fiscal quarter. I considered my options and decided to try to find one machine to do both jobs. This has a couple of advantages: I can work from wherever in the apartment I so choose, when I take the computer on the road I still have access to all the same programs/files/settings that I do at home, and it allowed me to tear down my desk and gave us back some precious space in our tiny apartment. There are disadvantages too: a laptop is more expensive then a desktop^[1] , any laptop beefy enough to take over my desktop role will be unwieldy to say the least, and giving up my desk means that if I want to sit down and get some serious work done, I often have to cobble a workspace together to do so.

The N73Jq has worked out well, though. It’s more powerful then my old desktop by a hefty chunk, it’s built very solidly, it doesn’t get hot during heavy use, and having two disks gives me enough room to load everything I need onto the it. It does have disadvantages, though. That big, bright screen and full keyboard, plus room for two hard disks and three SODIMM slots make it huge. So huge, in fact, that it took me six months to finally get a backpack big enough for it^[2] . That quad core process and chunky video card are great for playing Portal 2 and what not, but the battery life is next to nothing. I’m lucky to get 45 minutes out of it before its crying for the charger. I’m willing to live with this faults to satisfy my other criteria, but they do still occasionally hurt.

Phone
Motorala Atrix

This phone is amazing. I spent quite a lot of time pouring over this decision before deciding to buy this particular phone and I haven’t regretted it since. Android proves itself better and better the more I play it it. It ain’t perfect of course. Motoblur is a pretty hefty flaw with the device as delivered and the material on the back plate seems prone to wear. It also ships with the mobile hotspot disabled, which is as much AT&T’s problem as anything else.

But that’s the beauty of the platform; if ever you don’t like something with the device, it can probably be changed for the better.

Tablet
Asus Eee Transformer

I already posted about this device before and my opinions haven’t changed. This is a fast, cheap, versatile tablet and Honeycomb outpaces the capabilities of iOS in nearly every department. I use it every day; I’m using it right now. With the addition of the keyboard dock, the transformer can and will render any netbook moot. The battery life is excellent; the screen is sharp and it has a good aspect ratio. If the Transformer has a flaw, it’s that the USB/charging cable is proprietary, and it’s expensive. People need extra cables and even at fifty dollars a pop, Asus has been out of stock nearly since launch. Asus has since announced more android tablets coming in the future, and if they use this same cable, we can expect to see some other manufacturer start making the cable and bring the price down.

I’ll give a special mention here to the iPad, which I used constantly for six months. The iPad is a really good device. iOS feels better on the tablet then it did on my old iPhone 3G and the apps were usually slick and trouble free. Compared to the android tablet, the iPad experience does feel more polished. If iOS hadn’t been so hobbled by Apple’s policy of never letting the user ever get near anything that they might be able to break, it would be really amazing. That’s always the trade-off though. Alas.

Media Device
iPhone 3G (jailbroken)

My wife thinks it’s pathetic that I still carry my old cell phone with me everywhere. She’s probably right. If I could leave it behind, I would, but I’ve got two holdover uses that the iPhone just does better then the Atrix. One is Rev, the app that interfaces with my car’s OBD2 port to give me engine error codes and other info. This is, admittedly, a buy in problem. I got the OBD2 unit when I was still ensconced in the iOS world, but if I’d been doing the picking after making the switch, there are other^[3] alternatives available for the Android system.

The other problem is Audiobooks.  Because of the way iTunes segregates content, it is able to handle audiobooks better then the Android devices. This is probably a fixable problem too, but I just haven’t gotten there on the other system yet. Finally, there’s the integration. Because everyone and their brother owns an iOS device, manufacturers have gone out of their way to support them. My car stereo does this, for example, and so it’s easier to have the iPhone and use it to play music/books in the car then trying to work out something as smooth involving my other devices.

Portable Storage
80gb iPod Classic

I had this thing lying around and just decided to stick it in my bag in case I need to get files to somebody. It’s smaller then a comparable portable HDD and works nearly as well. It also has the benefit of being pretty rugged, it’s been tossed around and dropped plenty and still spins up when I need it.

Media playback.
Boxee Box, Xbox 360 Elite/Windows Media Center, Logitech Revue

All of my media lives on a Windows 7 based file server in our tiny living room closet. Up until recently, everything was pushed to the TVs via Xbox 360s using the Media Center Extender capability built into windows. This is actually a pretty good system; it plays just about any content your server has a codec for, the interface is easy to use, and its quite reliable. But it wears a bit thing around the edges. You can only have netflix associated with one Xbox, so we had to make  a choice between having it in the living room and the bedroom. There’s also zero support for other streaming content, which is becoming more and more vital these days.

I bought the Boxee Box on something like a whim about 6 months ago now and I’ve been seriously impressed by it. It plays all of the files the Xbox Media Center used to better and smoother^[4] and plays content that lives on the web. Lots of providers have Boxee apps, but any that don’t can be gotten at via the built in web browser. I have been really impressed by the Boxee so far, and very well might have bought a second already if it weren’t for our next item

The Logitech Revue is a really intriguing piece of kit. I had absolutely no interest in it at its original price tag of $250, but when Logitech announced they were slashing the price down to less then half that, I started paying attention. This was an Android device, after all, and I’m in love with my tablet and phone. The announcement that Android 3.1 was coming to the GoogleTV platform, and to the Revue in particular, had me on the ropes. I went ahead an bought one. It’s still running the old OS; 3.1 is announced but not released yet^[5] . In its current state, the device isn’t really ready for prime time, but it has the angle of promise in its future.

In either case, once I can finally give up my remaining Xbox for media purposes^[6] , I’ll be able to swap the fileserver’s OS for something more suited to its purposes like FreeNAS. That will be a long process, but will more then likely yield excellent results.

 
I think that just about covers us on my daily use set of technology. Next up on the agenda: my daily carry.

1. although cheaper then buying both
2. and I still wouldn’t have if not for my lovely wife
3. and arguably better
4. the Xbox freaks out on HD content with lots of movement, like the flocking birds scenes in Planet Earth
5. and the leaked dev/hack version has features then the stock OS
6. I’ll still play games on it

Parameters

If I was just naming my favorite cars, I’d run out of slots before I ran out of muscle cars. Unless I was feeling a bit sporty, then it’d be roadsters and track cars from here until the day is long. So let’s set some parameters before we start.

First: Five vehicles. I could easily do ten or twenty but I fear that would wear a bit thin. You, my loving audience, can and I suspect shall, listen to be pontificate on this subject again, so we’ll keep this entry from rambling on forever.

Second: Five different kinds of vehicles. If this really is a dream garage, there’s no sense having 5 supercars and nothing you can stick the dogs in when you’re on your way to the park. I don’t think one vehicle can do it all, but between five we should be able to get pretty close. We’ll say “Daily Driver”, “Track Day Special”, “Luxury Occasion”, “Classic” and leave one wild card. At the end of the day having a sixth slot for “tow vehicle” would be nice to, but that sort of service can be rented if need be.

Third: Despite my protestations at our current political climate, I live in the US of A, and so I’ll restrict my choices to what’s available here^[2]. I love the Australian Ford Falcons but I can’t drive one here; so what’s the point?

Fourth: I’m not going to talk engine swaps or suspension upgrades here. I’ve got a whole other list of “Crazy ass project cars I want”. For the purposes of this list, factory spec only.

Daily Driver / Grand Tourer

What kind of a world do you live in if your daily driver is an Aston Martin DBS? An awesome world, that’s what.

There are a lot of good choices for this category, from Jaguar’s XKR, the Ferrari 599, or the Bentley GT, but there is no real competition for the DBS. It’s not the fastest Grand Tourer^[3] ,  and it might not even be the most luxurious, but it definitely has the most charisma.

There are practical considerations if you plan on driving an Aston everywhere. The V12 does guzzle down more fuel then the little four banger in my car, but I’m surprised to learn that you can get 18 mpg out of it. Which means puts it one better then my old Taurus. Don’t worry though, I’m sure you can make that savings up and more on insurance^[4] . You won’t have a back seat of course, but that just gives you an excuse to leave the dogs at home, or not to pick your in-laws up at the airport. Most importantly though, you’ll probably be late nearly everywhere you go, having pushed your way through hordes of slack jawed onlookers, stunned into quiet revelry by the sheer beauty of it^[5] .

Something for the Sunny Track Day

I wracked my brain on this one and I’m ever so slightly disappoint that the best I could come up with the “easy” answer of the Ariel Atom. Anyone who’s ever seen one trying to rip Jeremy Clarkson’s face off^[6] knows about this car and probably lusts after it. I considered the offerings form Lotus, and the Lotus remakes offered by Westfield. I even considered giving this slot to the DP1 from Palatov Motorsport but that’s still in development^[7] . There’s a whole lineup of performance Porsches more at home on the track then the street. But at the end of the day, the Atom is exactly what you want and, moreover, it’s nothing more.

A Porsche Boxter Spyder would be a blast around a track, but it’s still offered with AC and a radio. On the other end of the spectrum, you could buy a Radical Racer and outclass anything that’s not a pure bred track machine, but you’ll need someone to help you split the car in half every time you want to get in or out. The Ariel is the perfect balance between the two. You can drive it to the track, if you’d like, and you won’t even need to swerve around the speed bumps as you do. At the track, you won’t have to feel guilty for lugging anything spare around every corner. Unless you count the passenger seat, but I’ll let that slide so long as I get to scare the pants off the occasional ride along.

Addendum: I went with the original Atom here,  not the one with V8 because the idea of a vehicle with 550bhp going to the rear wheels and a curb weight that makes my Miata look like it’s been ordering too many Big Gulps scares the pants off me. If I could learn not to kill myself with only 300bhp, I could upgrade later.

Luxury People Mover

I like a company that lets you order their limousine with the hottest engine. Is there a reason to have 503bhp in this kind of car? I honestly can’t think of one, but I still want it. Jaguar XJ LWB Supersport, in black, tan leather, piano wood trim and then pile on the optional extras until the order form outweighs the table. Except, there’s an option to remove the privacy glass, and I’m honestly not sure if I want that. I’d quite like privacy glass; can I get a second divider to run length-wise through the cabin too? Everyone could be totally alone.

Owning a long wheel base car seems to imply that you’re going to hire a driver all the time, but I don’t see why that has to be. I’d quite like to have a car I could fill with slightly drunk ladies and drive them from restaurant to bar to club and so forth^[8] . Then I’d hire a driver when I wanted to be the one slightly drunk in the back. I can’t seem to find out if it’s got a tow rating, but with 503bhp it could probably haul the Atom to the track. Heck, I’d take it on the track too if I could. I’d wear my peaked cap, and we’d pull up alongside Lotuses and offer them Grey Poupon. I’ve taken the joke too far, haven’t I?

There are other options for the luxury limo. The Rolls Royce Phantom is quite a car and Maybach has a range of cars. But neither has the clean lines of the Jag, which went from one of the ugliest cars ever in its previous gen to a stunning peak of beauty with its current one.  And although both have the restrained opulence of a true limousine, the XJ has the roguishness of a Jag.

Something to Wax Nostalgic

I said I wracked my brain over the Ariel Atom, but that was nothing compared to the amount of mental hand wringing I did over what to include for my classic. There are ten million dollar Ferrari’s out there, and certainly no one would fault me for trying to taut the virtues of the Shelby Cobra. But my insidious need for at least a hint of originality pushes me off the beaten path. So we arrive at the 1970 Mercury Cougar XR7 with Cobra Jet 429 engine. I’ve always liked the Cougar^[9] ; I’ve always liked Mercury for that matter, and found the company’s lack of clear vision and ultimate fall into disgrace annoying.

The original Cougar seemed like a good idea to me. You take the wildly popular Mustang, give it a slight push up market with some new sheet metal and accessories^[10] and try to sell it to the people who found the Mustang too lowest common denominator. That plan ultimately proved unsuccessful of course; proving yet again why I don’t get to make decisions for car companies.

The Cougar hasn’t been latched onto by nostalgia the way the Mustang has and since it had less then stellar sales numbers to begin with, there aren’t too many left on the road today. So you’ve got a car which is as cool as its more popular sibling, but that nobody knows it. It’s the hipster of blue oval muscle cars!

Wild Card

I know I said I was going to limit myself to North American cars only, but this is the wildcard! How could I resist the siren song of the world’s most powerful station wagon^[11] ? Who even put’s a twin turbo V10 engine into a car like this? Thank god it’s got all wheel drive. Look at that rear end; this will certainly carry the dogs if I need it to and a full load of passengers, and probably a full bedroom set as well. Then you can drive all that home at a million miles an hour, in the wet.

I know I can’t technically have the thing here, but I’d be willing to jump through hoops to get it or replicate it over here^[12] . Not in red though, because the beauty of a bonkers station wagon is that it shouldn’t be bonkers. Give it to me in silver or white; I’ll fill it full of dog hair and the urine of terrified passengers.

1. the temptation to fantasy cast Mistborn is palpable, for example
2. mostly, that’s what wild cards are for
3. the Italians make it around the Nüburgring faster, the Bentley has more horsepower
4. and quite possibly tickets as well. Though if I were a cop, I’d only ever pull one of these over to gawk at it
5. By the by, don’t think I didn’t think about the original DBS. I like the look of that one almost as much, but I’ll opt for modern comfort for this slot
6. and then set a blistering track time
7. and you won’t be able to take that on the street
8. especially if I’ve got that privacy glass
9. the original at any rate
10. Headlights that disappear behind the grill! How could you not love that?
11. which sounds better in the Anglo version “estate car”
12. Certainly you could start with an S6 or A6 and replicate from there

I’m talking about a car by the way.

It’s a gold, first gen XR-7 and I’m really glad someone is driving it. Based on the frequency I see it in the parking lot, it’s somebody’s daily driver^[1] . It’s certainly not a trailer queen, one of the doors is half in primer. But the Miata with No Name has a nasty looking parking lot ding on it, so I’ve got no place to throw stones.

I have a solid respect for anybody who drives a classic car on a daily basis. They display a devotion to the interesting, the cool, the object with personality over all the comfort and convenience of something from the current millennium.  Were I a bit more daring, I’d like to think I’d be one of them^[2].

So, a silent salute to that Cougar’s driver. Keep her on the tarmac.

1. or a seasonal daily driver
2. also, if I wasn’t so scared of driving a vehicle from a time when 15 mpg was “really good”