Spare engine, even though it is quite functional and necessary even:

So, does the ad copy mean that I am likely to break down during the test drive, left in the dark looking for someone to give my battery a jump and hoping that the approaching headlights belong to a tow truck instead of a maniac looking to eat someone?

Oh that's what we're still missing here - DCI Hunt's old Ford Cortina GXL:

Fill the trunk with cachaça and drive it home through Central America. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, when you take it to a proper garage it is serviced by people who have done this kind of stuff for living for a while. When you take it a vocational school, it is serviced by a group of people who have never wrenched professionally. So, if your Mitsu needs a CV or something straightforward like that, yeah, no problem. If your Audi is experiencing mysterious electrical issues that are going to need a 9th level master diagnostic wizard to perform an exorcism, this is not the place for it.

My wrenching skills improved very quickly when I had to get my 20 year old hooptie back together by 7am so I could go back to work and admin some more systems. Very educational, but I wouldn't recommend it. Now I'm at a more comfortable situation where I try to keep 2 cars running and one being worked on at a time.

Ah yes, "The Fumigator"... I seem to recall that these were all safety orange. Or maybe those few that I saw in that particular color were so bright that they faded out the memory of their less eye-searing peers.

This is what I came here to say, but I see you've got that already covered...

I can't think of any. Renault Safrane comes in 11.2 cm too short, even Vel Satis only comes 2.0 cm away from the massive 4880mm total length for it.

Ok, found one! The 1993-1997 Pontiac Trans Am broke the five meter barrier and no one noticed... 5004mm according to Wikipedia.

Here's another idea... When the Gen-2 Focus debuted in Europe, it started another round of "Europe gets the good stuff and US gets shafted" wailing. How about finding a nice (buahahahahaa! Ok, one that is more metal than rust) Opel Kadett D, and compare that to a Chevette which is riding on Kadett C's RWD T-body.

I like the Finnish Line series, because I have a personal connection to it. I left Finland 12 years ago, back when many of the cars featured here were just normal daily beaters or maybe even brand new desirable cars. That Mirada was a real flashback, there were two of them that were permanently on sale in "Keltainen Pörssi" classified paper.

I like the Murilee Martin style applied here; while Euro cars lived through the 70's sucking leaded gas through their carburetors, they were (at least 'FDM' models were) incredibly crude and spartan - automatic transmissions and air conditioners were considered opulent luxury items. IIRC leather interior option for a W126 cost as much as two Ladas. What we really need is an Opel Ascona vs. Chevy Cavalier comparison test.

Anyways, keep up the good work, live the dream!