Voyage to Holland, part two

Where was I before an insomniac three-year-old interrupted me?

That’s right, the Chrysler/Maserati TC thing, which should really be known as what happens when a broke Italian manufacturer and a semi-broke American manufacturer get together and put too much wine, a LeBaron convertible, and some soft Corinthian leather on the corporate American Express card one very fuzzy and hard to remember afternoon. How are we going to justify this bender? A joint (smoking) cooperative project!!!

It was wrong wheel drive, it looked too much like a $12,000 LeBaron, and was one of the few things from the 80s that made the Merkur look like a good idea. But it was (probably) more reliable than the best Biturbo on its best day, and not much worse than the worst Omni GLH turbo on its worst day.

It’s been a while since this thing has seen the road on anything other than a rollback truck.

Apparently this fine piece of tin has been misfiled in the past.

Nice looking engine.

Premium recommended.

Risking attack by wasps, raccoons, wombats, or what-have-you, I popped open the driver’s door.

Oh, my goodness gracious! That’s a stick shift, and believe it or not, a clutch pedal behind the fuse box (the frame that really proves the clutch pedal was not in focus, and I’m not spending two and a half hours in the car to reshoot a clutch pedal)! What a Lemony driver’s car!!!! And what’s with that pine cone?

Egad, it’s like they took the Italian Barcalounger look from the Biturbo and added K-car parts! Run away! Run away!!!

The pine cone in the front wasn’t the only one. After seeing what was at least dozens, if not hundreds, in the back REALLY led me to run away before some rodent gave me rabies. Eek!