Before Fiat married Chrysler it was just Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino, but most people probably would have told you it stood for this: “Fix It Again, Tony.” My dad took this as a personal challenge and adopted a 1979 Spider 2000 in the ’90s. The car’s still in the family. Actually, it practically raised me.

Listen, the Mazda Miata wasn’t always around to be everybody’s default modest mid-life crisis car. And even when it was, the Alfa Romeos, Triumphs, MGs and Fiats that inspired it still had innate appeal, what the French call je ne sais quoi and tragic car fans describe as “character.”