I just finished a 3,000-mile road trip from Los Angeles to upstate New York in a U-Haul truck and Mitsubishi Montero (I was helping my friend and former Jalop Andrew Collins move). Since I need to somehow get back to my house in Michigan, I had no choice but to buy a car. So on a whim, I purchased a 1965 Plymouth Valiant, and though it may look like just a standard old 1960s sedan, trust me: There was a method to my madness.

Andrew keeps telling me that there is a cheaper, easier way to travel long distances — something having to do with “1/2 ρ V2 × S × CL” — but I’m just not buying it. We all know that the most effective way to go anywhere is to travel by Plymouth. And not just any Plymouth, one powered by the Leaning Tower of Power.

That’s the nickname for the most unkillable American motor in history: The Chrysler slant six — so named for the 30-degree angle that its cylinder bores make with the Z-axis