Quick Shifts

Each week I bring you the top stories in the auto industry along with my commentary or sometimes amusing thoughts about the craziness that goes on in the world of cars.   

Stories you’ll find today:

• The Bucking Bull Caper That Was All Bull
• Volkswagen to Drivers: Pony Up for More Ponies
• Restaurant Welcomes First Mercury-Based Meal Deal
• Domino’s Tried to Deliver the Future—Now It’s on Bring a Trailer. 

The Bucking Bull Caper That Was All Bull.  Turns out the great Michigan muscle car caper of 2025 was less Oceans Eleven and more “Larry forgot to check the trailer.” Ram’s $34,000 “Bucking Hemi” mechanical bull—basically a rideable tribute to horsepower with a giant ram’s head—was reported stolen after the Roadkill Nights event, prompting a police investigation, dramatic press releases, and  a CEO-approved “this is bull****” statement. Detectives began sniffing out clues, only to discover the heist had all the sophistication of a misplaced lawn chair because the bull was never stolen at all. A contractor had simply loaded it up, driven it 600 miles to North Carolina, and was probably halfway through a Bojangles combo before seeing news stories about the “theft.” Sheriff Michael Bouchard, not amused, called it “a tremendous waste of valuable investigative time,” which is cop-speak for “don’t ever call us again.” Ram sheepishly admitted they only pieced it together days later and thanked everyone, especially the sheriff’s office, for “bringing RAM’s Bucking HEMI home”—as if it had been rescued from a gang of international livestock smugglers instead of returned by a guy who made a wrong turn at packing up.

Volkswagen to Drivers: Pony Up for More Ponies.  Volkswagen has officially joined the “subscriptions for everything” movement, and this time it’s not streaming movies but streaming horsepower. Owners of the ID.3 Pro and Pro S in the U.K. can now pay about $22 a month, $220 a year, or nearly $900 for life to unlock horsepower that’s already sitting dormant under the hood, boosting output from 201 hp to 228 hp, because apparently the only thing greener than EVs is VW’s imagination for squeezing wallets. Yes, it’s like buying a burger and being told the ketchup is downloadable content. VW insists it’s flexibility, not gouging, but the optics of charging for performance that already exists make it feel more like a corporate version of daylight robbery with a warranty. Reddit and forums erupted immediately, calling it “SaaS gone wild” and vowing never to buy cars with paywalls, while others wondered how long before heated seats, top speeds, or even turn signals come with a “subscribe now” button. The kicker is insurers don’t care since the car is rated for the higher output from the factory, so you’re literally paying extra for bragging rights and a slightly zippier commute. At this rate, don’t be surprised if VW offers a “Premium Horn” package or charges extra to make your headlights actually turn on.

Restaurant Welcomes First Mercury-Based Meal Deal.  It takes a special kind of determination to crash a car you’re not even driving, but one man with a tow rope, a Mercury Montego, and absolutely no grasp of physics managed to do it twice in front of a restaurant. The plan seemed simple enough: tow the old Montego with another car across the parking lot. What actually happened looked more like a slapstick audition tape, with the rope snapping three times, the Montego rolling away like a rebellious shopping cart, and the driver diving out of his car as if he were saving the world from certain doom. Instead of gently coming to rest, the Montego went full nutso-mode, smashing into a Pho and Teriyaki joint not once but twice, because when you mess up this badly, the sequel is mandatory. The poor curb, wall, and storefront glass all played supporting roles in this live-action demolition derby, while the tow operator’s pride took home the award for “most totaled.” After the carnage, the man simply walked away and left the Montego sitting there like a kid in timeout after a sugar binge. Moral of the story: if your tow rope is longer than the plot of a Fast & Furious movie and about as reliable, maybe it’s time to call a real tow truck before your car turns into an uninvited dinner guest.

Domino’s Tried to Deliver the Future—Now It’s on Bring a Trailer.  Back in 1984, Domino’s apparently decided that hot, fast pizza required hot, fast innovation. Instead of just hiring more teenagers with Datsuns, they commissioned a fiberglass fever dream called the Tritan A2, a three-wheeled, canopy-topped, jet-fighter-meets-go-kart contraption that looked like something you’d unlock at level 27 of a video game. The idea was that these would shuttle pies with futuristic efficiency, except reality reminded Domino’s that most pizza runs aren’t on an airstrip. The program fizzled and these things vanished into the same black hole that swallowed Crystal Pepsi. Fast-forward four decades and one of these unicorns, serial number 7 of just 10 ever built, has reemerged in Michigan with a heroic 40 miles on the odometer, which is about three large pepperoni deliveries if you skip tip. While it was originally powered by a 440cc Savkel rotary engine, it now comes with a swapped-in 670cc Predator V-Twin, meaning you can deliver your thin crust with either historic novelty or small-engine fury. It’s legally classified as a motorcycle, so technically you can tell people you bought a “bike” without explaining that it looks like an experimental Cold War drone. Domino’s had once replaced the rear passenger seat with a pizza warmer because God forbid your thin crust go lukewarm on the drive over, but now that’s been pulled, leaving you with just enough storage for a large and maybe a two-liter. The seller tossed in both engines like it’s a Buy One Get One special. At auction, bidding hovered around $4,500, but late in the auction, it got to over $25,000 and sold, which is absurdly reasonable for a rolling slice of failed corporate innovation that doubles as a conversation piece at Cars & Coffee, where you’ll forever answer the same question: “Wait, did Domino’s really deliver pizza in that thing?” Yes, they did, briefly, and now you too can relive that glorious moment when corporate America decided the future of pizza delivery was a three-wheeled fiberglass submarine with headlights.  If you want to see this very unusual vehicle, click here.