Man, I haven’t seen a copy of Painful Car Geek and Insufferable Pedant in years. It was just dumb luck that I found this one, crammed in a gap between the water heater and that huge box of oily rags I keep in my basement. I even remember this issue, from 2007.
I remember picking up this issue back in the day just for that 40 years of side marker lights article—it still may be the best retrospective on marker lights I’ve seen, and the heated op-ed by guest columnist William F. Buckley Jr. about the betrayal to the American spirit when the law was changed to mandate amber front side reflectors instead of clear is something anyone interested in cars should read. It remains some of Buckley’s best automotive writing ever.
There were so many good issues of Painful Car Geek; I’ll have to keep my eyes open for more.