My condolences to those who'll miss him, but there are sure a lot worse ways to go.

Of course, now my mind is going strange places. A Turbonique rocket axle, a set of mesquite tires, some foil-wrapped meats wired to the underbody...at least it'd give the EMTs something tasty to snack on, if they could distinguish the steak from your own smoking remains.

"Honey, why did you buy those swaybars and coilovers?"

"Just keeping our gas investment secure, dear..."

(And if that fails, I recommend everybody keep some sort of innocuous-seeming implement of destruction in their car. A three foot length of fuel hose is about a dollar and makes an excellent whip, if you've got a matching trucker cap for the low-budget Indiana Jones effect. Nothing like a good beatin' stick for those close-range confrontations.)

I think I've done this several times in Race Driver: GRID, but mostly in the Audi R10. Obviously this guy just was playing in Pro Mode--no time rewinds.

"There isn't a system on a car that is triple redundant"

This must not be counting the bolts on any commonly serviceable component on a Toyota, is it? Because for every one you see, there's at least 4 more you don't that always appear only after you've either broken the part in question or dismantled everything ELSE in a 10-inch radius.

Disclaimer: This method isn't so good to spot motorcyclists, but they're usually moving so much faster than you are it doesn't matter, this method has not been tested on Caterhams, this method has not been tested with the Flatmobile, applying this method in a H2 and failing to notice a certain mid-90s Corolla because your damn sightlines are too damn high anyway may result in severe injury if the driver survives, this method may cause neck stiffness due to lack of periodic stretching, those with follicular impairment are advised to adjust the rearview until just BEFORE they see their shiny shiny heads as the reflection of the sun may cause dazzling and loss of control, this method is not intended as a replacement for any medication, do not taunt happy fun method.

Step 1: Press sweaty left cheek--the upper one, please--against driver's side window. Adjust mirror outward so you can just barely see the edge of your car from your vantage point.

Step 2: Put head as close to the centerline of the vehicle as possible. Adjust right mirror (or for the Luddites, enlist help to do this for you) so you can just barely see the side of your vehicle from this position.

Step 3: Adjust your rear view mirror such that you can just barely see the edge of your own hair.

How do you drive with this setup? Easy. The thing that you spend most time looking through--the windshield--has this big mirror thing in the top middle. When vehicles move leftward or rightward out of your rear view, they ought to seamlessly merge into your sideviews. When they advance and vanish past your sideviews, you should be able to see them come into view WITHOUT turning your head to either side of your car. Ideally you'll have the mirrors so precisely aligned that as one headlight of the car in the left lane moves out of your rear view mirror it's immediately visible in the left mirror and so forth so you can 'split' the front of a car to the accurate width between its headlights as seen in your mirrors.

This doesn't work so well for traffic that's more than one lane away, you still have to actually move your head once in a while, but it'll damn well remove most of the neck-twisting shenanigans.

Disclaimer: I got this method from Tom and Ray and NPR, but it really does work well despite that and my nonverbatim recounting.

Bonus feature...have a key-locked cord length alteration, customizable by the owner. "Sorry, Tiffany, if you want to shift into 5th you'll have to stop listening to your music, the cord just isn't long enough."

I'd think something like a MR2 Spyder would be about ideal. (Yes, I do deliver, over 700 orders by now.)

If you can squeeze thousands of foot-pounds of torque out of a dinky 302/327/whatever with modern bolt-ons and a bag of cash, just imagine what this could do with the same treatment. Oh yeah, it'd need duallies like the Nazi ballcarrier, but if you found a sturdy enough place to chain it to you could probably rev it up and start dragging the Earth backward.

If I had the money, I'd absolutely get one of these built, no questions asked. It's the perfect art-deco approach to roadstering.

Well, anything bigger than an Isetta...

Looking at the end result here, I have to go for the MR8 on points. With the supercharged 1.6 it was a 15-second car and could still be prone to just a bit of snap oversteer despite the design of suspension and alignment specs to try and tame it down a bit. As it's a Toyota, it'll be driveable after the swap, and GIGANTIC V8 TORQUE (grunt grunt grunt) plus much more weight over the rear wheels means you're likely to go sideways for half a block and then ass-first into a lightpole precisely one block from where you first stomped on the loud pedal. It'll kill you, but you'll have a little taste of paradise in your mouth when you go. The Fieightro? It'll just catch on fire with double the cylinders and burn down your garage. You may even live through it, but the agony of not knowing how it would've driven pales in comparison to knowing exactly how, and then losing your life/labor/time/sanity.

(Actually, a lot of the MR2 Mk 1 folks make theirs the Mk 1.5 by swapping in the terrifyingly robust 3SGTE. That can also get you up around 300-600 horses from a 2.2L 4...)

I don't need no drivers license
I'm too reckless to survive
It's like a carburetor instigator
Feels all right
Feels all right

Drivin' in a Slick Black Cadillac
It's got solid gold hubcaps
It makes me feel like a king
I only need one thing
And that's a Slick Black Cadillac (get up)

You know I got a fully equipped rock 'n' roll machine
At speeds that take me high, high, high
At dead man's curve
I only hear one word drive, drive, drive
Drive, drive, drive

My machine is making headlines
It gives me love and everything
It's like an institution of revolution
It feels all right
Feels all right

Drivin' in a Slick Black Cadillac
It's got solid gold hubcaps
It makes me feel like a king
I only need one thing
And that's a Slick Black Cadillac (pull over, woooo)

I got the coppers on my tail
Just for me an A.P.B.
The sirens spinnin'
Though it's me who's winnin'
There're after me
There're after me

Before they know just what happened
I disappeared to their surprise
I got a Cadillac monkey on my back
And I don't mind
No, I don't mind

Drivin' in a Slick Black Cadillac
It's got solid gold hubcaps
It makes me feel like a king
I only need one thing
And that's a Slick Black Cadillac (hold on)

Slick Black Cadillac
It's got solid gold hubcaps

Slick Black Cadillac

I lay it down, spin wide and get laid in back, oh yeah

Drivin' in a Slick Black Cadillac
It makes me feel like a king, alright!

(Jeez, why bother changing them? They work fine as-is.)

I've actually seen one of these on the highway (north on I-5 from Vancouver, if anybody's curious) and, recovering from my stupor long enough to frantically scrabble for the camera, at least got a shot. They look a bit goofy standing still, but they look NICE in motion....except for the ass, which is all kinds of eyecatching for the wrong reasons. It's like a streetcorner hooker in fishnets with massive backne.

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I'll see you a STUN Runner ("WOOOHOOO!"), built from the Stunt Drivin' hardware but so much more slick, and raise you a Road Blasters. I played that game all over the continent.

If we expand into the 90s, when I was 10 and up, we could talk about the endless bootlegs of Commander Keen, sneaking Wolf3D onto school computers, getting Spear of Destiny via 5.25 floppies, or perhaps letting X-Com and Fallout and TIE Fighter suck my life and grades away...

Seconded on the Tri-Flow recommendation. I used to use that stuff on my bike before I was old enough to light smashed dinosaurs on fire and let them do the work for me. It'd last through multiple hose-blasting cleanings and let the mechanisms freewheel pretty much until you got bored waiting for them to stop on their own.

Do I care if I look cool, crammed like a sardine into a Corolla? No, not really...because it's shiny and black and makes a pleasant sound (headers + IS300 muffler = interesting combination) and can hang with the executive jackwads in Bimmers on the California freeways through traffic. I fit, it runs well and can catch things it shouldn't, what does it matter if I'm picking my nose at a stoplight and listening to Blues Brothers classics with the windows down?

Then I saw the windshield at the other end.

Damn, just another Gallardo.

*(unless your particular belief system considers the natural human desire to attempt to make more humans as something evil and wrong)

1) "My 16" -- the stark contrast between a gleaming straight-16ed roadster and this LePiece will have you weeping like you're a 16-year old princess who's just been dumped.

2) "MI6". -- If you've ever watched any James Bond movies or read any of the novels, this interpretation will positively leap to mind, which means that not only are you then channeling BRITISH hell and unobtainable suavity into the LePiece, every time you have to go in on a creeper you'll be quite literally lying back and thinking of England.

Besides, power-to-weight-wise, this looks a pretty phenomentally fun way to kill yourself. And then there's the Monkey Wrench Racing MR-S...