Jesse Singer articles

The neighbor leaves for work every morning. His EV charger stays behind. So if someone nearby needs a little extra range and the charger is just sitting there...what’s the harm in plugging in for a while? The answer depends on more than whether the homeowner notices.

It started with a few sticky spots on the windshield. Now the hood looks like somebody glazed it with maple syrup every time you park in your own driveway. The tree belongs to your neighbor, but the branches are hanging over your property. So surely you can grab a saw and make the problem disappear. Right?

Having the neighborhood treat your driveway like a public turnaround is more than just annoying. But does it justify the spike strip you want to use to make them stop? Well...

The price was settled. The money was sitting in the bank. All that remained was handing over a check and driving home. Instead, the dealer rejected the payment and started pushing a loan nobody had asked for. That may be perfectly normal—or the moment this deal stopped smelling right.

Buying a 1978 Corvette at a bargain price probably felt like the kind of deal people brag about for years. Then the first mysterious drip appeared underneath it and someone casually mentioned something called a “birdcage.” Now that great deal is beginning to feel slightly less great.

Some of these habits waste time. Others cost you money. And a few may guarantee that your mechanic remembers you for all the wrong reasons. How many have you done?

In 1957, Tulsa lowered a brand-new Plymouth into an underground vault, covered it with concrete and promised to bring it back exactly 50 years later. The city expected a perfectly preserved glimpse of the past. What it eventually pulled from the ground was something else entirely.

Chrysler spent a full year designing it, another 15 months building it and a small fortune turning an almost impossible sketch into a fully functioning car. It was supposed to be the company’s most dramatic glimpse of the future. But the public never got to see it...

For eight years, Mike searched for another version of the car he had once driven. The hunt stretched on so long that finding the right one began to look increasingly unlikely. Until his wife made sure the car came home.