The Autopian

The gasoline engine has taken so many different shapes and forms over history, from familiar inline-fours and V8s to beautiful radials. But someone has to maintain these things, and more elaborate engines may be equipped with dozens of spark plugs. Chrysler once made a tank engine that had 60 of them!

His name is Billy, and his business, “Pasadena Motor Vehicle Registration & Transfer Service,” shares a nondescript building with his small used-car dealership off of Pasadena’s busy Foothill Boulevard. A few months ago I walked in with two huge problems: I had a car with zero paperwork, and I had another car that the world didn’t know existed.

One of the biggest c...

Oh, snap! You gotta be a Member to enjoy this sweet, sweet content. Why not join today? Click here, or on the graphic!

The post

You know what I miss that cars often had up until the ’90s or so, and are almost extinct today? Badges. Not the usual make/model badges, though, we still have plenty of those, I mean the highly-specific feature badges that cars used to proudly display. Actually, not even just features – also technical details.

You know what I mean, right? There was a time...

The diesel engine continues to be one of the greatest inventions in transportation. Much of the world runs on diesel, and if these engines aren’t reliable, they can cripple vital transportati...