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Ocnblu doesn't have an excuse not to go hybrid with that sexy thing. The streets of Lancaster Pennsylvania will never be safe from this thing and it's manly wrath towards lesser automobiles. Wonder if Israel will allow ICE if it is powered by Hummus?

Oh... gag me with a spoon

All the engineering, race-testing, performance data that has taken solid rubber 3-in wide tires to -say- 375-22s degree of traction (nevermind slicks) tossed RIGHT OUT THE WINDOW in order to look like an insufferable idiot. Might as well use solid rubber Model T tires.

They make plenty of fun about Jaguar's and Land Rover's build quality. Just last season on Amazon's Grand Tour they did old Jags challenge and had plenty of laughs about their build quality. They don't discriminate who they make fun of. That's why they are so great. Clarkson loved plenty of American cars too, owned Ford GT.

Clarkson is the man and doesn't give a crap about offending people.

I don't see full size pickup trucks selling much in Europe, they are just too wide, probably a foot wider than full size luxury cars due to the side view mirrors. Have fun with that. The Ranger Raptor should do decently there though.

I said it once and I'll say it again.. outside of the S-Class, GL-Class, AMG, SL, and upper EClass models.. Mercedes interiors are no better than my Impala LTZ's interior. I mean it too. There is NOTHING inside that suggests that "this car costs $20K more than a mainstream vehicle." Its why I always find myself perplexed.. confused.. when comparisons are made between say a CTS and an E-Class.. and the reviewer, usually from Motor Trend, says the Benz interior is better. I'm like are we looking at or sitting in the the same car. In terms of this I've been in the High Country, Denali, Limited, and Big Horn.. and This is in no way looks to be on their level in terms of LUXURY

People said the same thing about tiny, tinny miserly Euro cars when gas was 33-cents here. Then they became increasingly available and buyers found appeal in them. If Rollers, Bentleys, A8s and 5000lb s-classes can find buyers, just think what an imminently more capable, comparatively luxurious and far more exclusive F-150 Platinum could do over there.

Far more cost effective -both from the project cost and the ensuing value issue- to rebuild the original engine that to engineer/retrofit an electric powertrain into an antique auto. ANY IC engine can always be rebuilt.

I wouldn't worry about it.

Reminds me of the truck in “Twister” which came out the same year....

Pic taken in 1996 (note that generation Ram in background) :

The ministry of Energy in Israel made the announcement that in 12 years, Israel would be fully reliant on Natural Gas, Solar and Wind power to support the nation for electricity and transportation. 2030 is the year all gas / diesel ICE auto's will be banned. Companies that need medium and heavy duty trucks will have to buy Natural Gas trucks and for consumers all choices will be electric or natural gas. This is on top of stopping all importation of Coal from the US and changing their energy plants to 100% Natural Gas and adding wind turbines off the coast and solar throughout the country. The goal is 83% natural gas and 17% renewable energy production for the country starting in 2030. Currently the country as of today is 71% natural gas, 27% coal and 2% renewable. They have managed due to contract obligations long term to reduce their reliance on outside needs and coal as an example will only be used as a backup source as they complete their obligations under contracts to the US. Israel discovered in 2010 the Leviathan field 10KM or 6 miles off their coast what is considered to be one of the world's largest natural gas fields and comes online January 2019. This field is expected to reduce to zero their reliance on the US for natural gas exports. Israel has signed deals to supply Jordan, Egypt with Billions of cubic feet of natural gas over the next 10-15 years. This comes on top of the Tamar gas field that was discovered in 2009 and started production in 2013. By 2020 Israel is expected to be energy independent for the first time. As the supply lines are finished to Jordan and Egypt, natural gas delivery will start in the 4th quarter of 2019. We then have Denmark who has also announced the end of all gas / diesel new car sales by 2030. Yet here is where they have diverged from the rest of europe that will allow existing auto's to stay on the road till replaced / retired. Denmark has announced that due to the vote of the people, 17 years from now or 2035 all auto's period allowed on the roads must be electric. This means if you have an old auto you like and want to keep it running, you will have to convert to electric. As it stands here is the current date of new gas / diesel auto sales banned: 2025 - Norway 2030 - France, Netherlands, Ireland, India, Austria, Japan, Netherlands, Portugal, Korea, Spain and Israel 2030 - Cities that will ban new gas / diesel auto sales are Athens, Madrid and Mexico City 2040 - The UK has set this as the date for the end of new ICE auto sales. The following places have set electric auto sales targets - China, US, Japan, Canada, Norway, UK, France, Germany, Netherlands and Sweden. 2050 all of the European Union will only be allowed to sell electric auto's. China will have a major effect on the world as they have stated percentage goals for new auto sales for a company with 2019 being the start with 10% of all new auto sales per company must be electric. This goes up every year, it was 8% in 2018, 10% for 2019, 12% for 2020 and so on for the Chinese ZEV mandate. China is currently on track this year to sell one million electric auto's, 149% increase over 2017. Overall, countries around the world are pushing to change the way things have been which will have a large impact on the original oil producing OPEC nations. Independance from reliance on energy from other countries is at an all time high as countries move to have no reliance on other places and be self sustaining by using renewable energy or existing forms of energy they have discovered. Times of Israel Story UPI Story CNN Business Story. Investors Story on China Electric auto sales Electrek story on China EV sales

There's no 'mainstream exotic car culture' in the US either, but I see Maseratis weekly. I'm not saying Ford would need to sell 900K F-Series a year there, they could be exclusive luxury play things, like a Lambo. Rare, expensive, luxurious. Same segment as a Lambo, just with a tailgate. :D

After 10+ hrs of hard cubeless cubicle work (incl. a 4 hr WebEx w/ IBM support) I'm chilling w/ the furs having pizza and beer...listening to some cool Chillwave retro synth. https://youtu.be/5C_gUic3cCo

Still have to pay people to drive EV. The take-away from that is there will be strong opposition to the implementation of a ban. Median household income in Denmark is $38K US. People are not going to be able to 1. afford EVs unless heavily subsidized, and 2. not going to be able to afford conversion. Big Gov't likes to talk the talk, we'll see if the talk flies.

Is this what you mean? https://www.magazinauto.com/mutant-kad-se-spoje-toyota-prius-subaru-baja/ I have no idea why someone would want to merge a Prius with a Baja subaru, but I figure this is about as close as a Toyota Mutant I could find 500 plus years early!

Won't matter in terms of Israel. All the surrounding nations have enough Toyota trucks to last until the year 2565. At which point it will no longer mattet because we will all be mutants.

The 1938 Oldsmobile Automatic Safety Transmission started the greater adoption of auto driving and increased safety by keeping both hands on the steering wheel. This is what eventually morphed into the 1940 Hydra Matic automatic transmission. The last of this car known to exist is going up for auction according to the Hemmings blog. This is one of 475 1938 L-38 Convertible Coupes built which is also the last for Oldsmobile with a rumble seat. The AST was a $100 option. This car also had the optional dual side mounts $65, deluze radio, $66.50, electric clock $15, fog lamps $6.25 and optional heater $15. This car is expected to sell for between $55,000 and $75,000 dollars. Yes as this car started the automatic transmission story, the event of electric cars seems to be ending it as the lack of need for a transmission is pretty common. The only exception to this is in 200 Mph EVs. Seems technology is truly replacing what allowed for mass movement of people in a new form. Green Car Report Story

I'm a 'bottom line' type of person, it matters little IMO if the E motor is "cheap" if the whole project is going to cost $50,000 to $250,000. Or $500,000. I too am eager to get my car completed. ?

ROFLMAO - This fad is just stupid!

I'm in the process of replacing a V8 ICE powertrain with a more modern one, only 11-12 years newer in my case, and everything has to be changed, everything. Beside the obvious, also exhaust, brake lines, and electrical aspects. Just dealing with my gas tank is taking at least 16 hours (some of that is elective)- pegging shop rate at $110/hr, that would be $1760 just on the fuel system. I can't even reuse the original throttle linkage- so that has to be re-engineered. Putting an EV powertrain where a longitudinal V8/trans/driveshaft/rear was would be 500 hours in labor in a shop no problem- that's $55,000. Then you have parts on top of that. Just as OEMs cannot sell EVs at competitive prices to ICE equivalents (and make a profit), one-off retro-fitting is enormously expensive. Neil Young has stated he believes his LincVolt project will have cost around $500,000.

OK; I suppose if you blow the side wall of a block out, it's not repairable, but such has been spray welded back together before. You could ALWAYS find a replacement block- there are even long block Tucker motors out there today. Once you have to fabricate mounts/plates and re-engineer an electric motor/battery packs where a ICE/ transmission/driveshaft was, you are getting into MAJOR hours time-wise, and time = money. Bolt-in usually always trumps re-engineering. The other thing to consider if the thinking is - a marked increase in power is going to require a lot of other tangential upgrades, such as brakes & tires. A '37 Olds coupe is only 95 HP as a 6 / 110 as an 8, in a 3200 lb car. A nissan leaf is 3500 lbs but has 147 HP and arguably; markedly better brakes. We're not talking about putting a 100 Kw Tesla motor in a '37 Olds that's otherwise stock, are we??

Amazing he talks about quality fit n finish and the crap that has been built by Jaguar, Land rover, etc. is just pathetic. Have to say, I did get a great laugh out of watching it.

https://www.dailymotion.com/6bf8e0e4-c9ef-4f9b-82a5-efe8dab194fa You talking about this video? Americans do whatever Americans do, Incest! What a douche bag, no wonder they lost their empire. Clearly not interested in living life.

I would agree, they have been building out a couple thousand charge points a year and the various stories tend to imply they will be speeding up the ability to have charge points everywhere but nothing about what level or type. Be interesting as norway is on this push also to have the country all EV in the near future. So should be a gauge for bigger places on how they need to implement the charge infrastructure. Course the VW build out will help the US big time.

I've never heard of a 'plastic' pan in 'Ye Olden Days of Yore', or prior to this century, but I'm not surprised there's already a number of examples already. Plastics encompass far more composition variants than steel or aluminum, and as for heat- if OEMs have worked out plastic intakes years ago on TOP of an IC engine, I have no worries about a plastic oil pan on the bottom end. Just take the propaganda in with a critical eye; the Daimler pan posted above isn't 30% larger capacity because it's plastic- if anything the plastic versions are obviously much thicker-walled. The shape is different.

"It's a tarted up Nissan."

That needs to be addressed before someone gets seriously hurt or worse. It's very common for people to have their head out the window for better tire placement spotting. And apparently it's not just the trucks. Then there is sticking owners with a very expensive tab for a problem that shouldn't exist.

In Europe the level of car's luxury is lower I believe in general. So A-class MB is not expected to be at the same level as we expect here. In regards to vans, we just visited Italy this year and took a transfer from the airport to another town, the van was MB and it definitely felt more luxurious than any other van I have been in.

I think it all depends how much you pay and what you expect for the money, When you buy a MB I don't believe you expect to get an interior at the same level as Chevy.

I just did a little googling and they've been around for a long time and apparently the 2015+ F150 has had them.

I drop a few Oats in your bucket my friend along with a new wood chisel! Thinking on this more, this is where electric powertrains or a modern ICE powertrain can keep these babies on the road if the OEM is not longer working.

Crying shame that car is the last of its kind. Buying oats for horses when electric cars have not taken over. A Horse with no name will be pulled around by a horse with no name.

• Got a fuel return fitting, so drilled another hole in the tank for that; 1/4-in rubber return line. That hole allowed me to see inside the tank fairly well, there is some residual rust inside here & there- not heavy but more than I would have expected. Tank has been dry since about 1995-96, was it there before? Have a very good radiator shop up the street, going to see what they say about getting it boiled/coated (they did the COE's tank in '03). This, after my buddy & I successfully got the fuel pickup assembly installed- took about 30 mins and a good 10 drops of the half-washers into the tank. • Pipes for the header surgery are en route, as are mufflers. Made a cardboard 'muffler' to gauge room underneath, they may get close to the driveshaft- I don't have that yet so I don't know what diameter it'll be. The ladder bars are crowding where the mufflers will likely be (in front of the rear axle... but I may have room to hang them all the way back under the quarter panels. • Started messing around with the braided fuel supply line & the fittings- think it's figured out.

Totally agree with you as they do look very similar and I think unless you have them side by side to see the size difference, many will confuse if it is an XT4 or XT5. Even with the subtle differences in the plastic lower valance in the front they are allot alike. True family resemblance.

My 16 GTI lease is up in just a few months. I had always planned to buy something cheap to kick around in once it went back. Something dailyable, but still kinda fun. This just came along so I jumped on it. The thing is actually quite enjoyable. You don't realize how much you miss having a manual until you get another manual. I'm loving it!

Take a 650HP Tesla P100D powertrain, 2 2017 Chevy Volt Batteries and one Honda S2000 and you have a wicked fast auto!

Well, certainly not everyone is going to agree with much of this paragraph!

WOW, What a Plastic Puke box of garbage. That coming here will only be bought by badge snobs that do not understand a real truck or the quality of a truck they have here but the stupid 3 point badge on the grill and all the cheap ass black plastic interior. The dash is pathetic. This is anything but Luxury, Cheap ass Chinese garbage if I did not know who supplied the truck. Pathetic.