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How did a Mercedes taxi reach 4.6 million kilometres? Gregorios Sachinidis kept his 1976 Mercedes-Benz 240 D working in Thessaloniki for decades. Its recorded distance came with substantial mechanical
Can tire shaving help when you need to replace one AWD tire? Sometimes. A specialist can remove tread from a matching new tire to bring it closer to the wear of the other three. It may avoid replacing
The speed readout was there a moment ago, floating neatly above the bonnet. Put on sunglasses and it fades, perhaps to the point where it seems to have disappeared altogether. An expensive electronic
Open the boot of most small cars from the 1960s and you would expect shopping, a spare wheel or perhaps a toolbox. In a Citroën 2CV Sahara, the engine would be taking up much of that space. The o
Topping up the washer tank ought to be one of the least complicated jobs a car can demand. Open the bonnet, find the right cap, pour. There is no good reason for it to become an ongoing conversation w
Being unable to put fuel into an almost-empty car is a peculiarly annoying problem. There is diesel in the pump, space in the tank and apparently no reason the two should have trouble meeting. Yet the
A delivery van usually gets noticed because it is blocking something. Nissan found another way: give it a face, a rounded shell and the proportions of a snail that has somewhere to be.The S-Cargo
Deer whistles offer a particularly appealing bargain. Attach a small device to the front of the car and, supposedly, the air passing through it will warn animals before you reach them. There is no scr
A Porsche with oars sounds like something its owner bought after an unfortunate encounter with a flooded road. In the 1950s, however, Porsche was developing a vehicle for which getting into the water
The Ford Nucleon looks as though someone moved the passengers forward to make room for a very important piece of luggage. Its cabin sits near the nose, leaving an enormous rear section between the fin
A retired police car can make an ordinary used-car listing look expensive. There is plenty of room, a purposeful set of steel wheels and the promise of hardware built for a harder life than the school
Among the cars in Citroën’s heritage collection sits something that makes even the company’s stranger experiments look quite sensible: a helicopter. Two seats, a bubble-like cabin and
There was a time when a dead battery in a manual car meant looking around for two people willing to help. One took the wheel, the others pushed, and with a little speed and a well-timed release of the
The car has stopped. Your foot is on the brake, the selector says P, and everything feels settled. Then you release the pedal and the car shifts slightly on its wheels.On a slope, that little move
Open the back of an early Honda CR-V and the cargo area looks ordinary enough. There is room for shopping bags, a muddy pair of boots, perhaps a cooler. Then you lift the floor panel and discover that
An engine splash shield can make a ridiculous amount of noise for a piece of plastic. One corner slips out of its clips, drops a few inches, and begins scraping the road. You hear it over the radio. Y
Open the door of an early Mini and one of its best ideas is easy to miss. Beneath the window sits a surprisingly generous storage pocket, especially for a car that looks as though it barely has room f
A photograph of a Citroën DS traveling with one rear wheel missing looks as though someone has caught the car halfway through a mechanical disaster. The body sits unexpectedly level. The front wh
A rooftop tent can look perfectly at home on a small hatchback until someone opens the owner’s manual. The roof-load limit says 75 kilograms. Two adults weigh considerably more than that, even b
At a classic car show, a Trabant can attract two kinds of attention. Some people remember one from the streets of East Germany. Others have heard that it was made of cardboard and want to know whether
