Sunday Brief: Houston’s School-Bus Scare, Fox‑Body Fever, and a WRC Door Gone AWOL

I spent the morning flipping between dash-cam clips, auction photos, and a WRC livestream replay—exactly the sort of coffee-fueled triathlon that makes this job addictive. Three stories bubbled up, and together they paint a neat little portrait of car culture today: how we behave around buses, what we’re willing to pay for nostalgia, and how rallying remains gloriously, terrifyingly unscripted.

Safety First: Houston Police Shadowed School Buses—What They Saw Wasn’t Pretty

Officers followed school buses in Houston and, according to the report, found exactly what you’re afraid they’d find: drivers behaving badly around kids. Think rolling past an extended stop arm, nose-out creeping into the oncoming lane, impatient overtakes the moment the bus’s red lights flicker off. If you’ve ever watched a stop from your rearview mirror—as I’ve done more times than I can count—you know the vibe: a cocktail of hurry, distraction, and “it won’t be me.”

I’ve ridden along on a couple of traffic-enforcement mornings over the years. The pattern never really changes: the first handful of violators insist they “didn’t see the lights,” the next few blame the car behind them, and one person always says there wasn’t time to stop. There’s always time to stop. We make time.

What matters on your next school run

• When a school bus extends its stop arm and flashes red, treat it like a red light. Period. In most U.S. states, traffic in both directions must stop on undivided roads.
• Yellow flashers mean slow down and prepare to stop—don’t race them.
• Expect kids to cross in front of the bus, not behind it, and watch for late sprinters who forgot their lunch.
• Put the phone face down. Even “just a quick glance” is too long in a school zone.

We talk endlessly about advanced driver assistance, blind-spot sensors, and big crash-test stars. Useful stuff. But around a school bus, your right foot and your patience remain the best safety tech there is.

Collector Corner: Someone Just Paid New-911 Money for a 1992 Mustang—Still in Its Plastics

File this under “the Fox-body is a bona fide blue-chip now.” A 1992 Ford Mustang—still wearing its interior shipping plastics—traded hands for new Porsche 911 money. Yes, six figures for a time-capsule pony. I looked through the listing photos twice, the way you linger over an old concert poster in a proper frame: the factory plastics, the chalk marks on suspension bits, that factory sheen you can’t fake if you tried.

I’ve spent a lot of seat time in Fox-bodies. Driven hard, they’re simple and honest, with the 5.0 HO’s burly torque doing its best bar-band impression: big riffs, slightly ragged, more fun than polished. By 1992, the 5.0 was rated at 225 hp and roughly 300 lb-ft, plenty to light up a pair of 225s and throw you back to a time of cassette holders and trunk-mounted amps.

So why the hysteria for a wrapper car? Scarcity and story. Originality has become the ultimate flex. A few owners I’ve spoken to won’t even peel off the factory seatback plastic—“It’s part of the artifact,” one told me, shrugging like that isn’t the most delightfully obsessive sentence you’ve heard all week.

Why Fox-body values are surging

• Nostalgia: Gen X and elder Millennials are buying the posters they grew up with.
• Condition: Untouched, low-mile examples are genuinely rare—and getting rarer.
• Drive feel: Light, analog, and lively at sane speeds. You don’t need a racetrack to have a laugh.
• Culture: From street scenes to time-capsule concours, the Fox has serious cred.

Perspective check: 1992 Mustang 5.0 vs. modern 911 (base)

Does a Fox-body drive “better” than a modern 911? Of course not. That’s not the point. You’re buying a moment in time, preserved in plastic, the promise of a Sunday-morning burble and a thin-rimmed wheel that actually talks back. For some folks, that’s worth as much as PDK perfection. Honestly? I get it.

Rally Japan: Fourmaux Retires After Losing a Passenger Door

Rallying doesn’t care for tidy narratives. One minute you’re threading through tight Japanese asphalt; the next, a passenger door is gone and your rally is, too. Adrien Fourmaux retired after a wild moment that separated his car from one of its doors—one of those incidents that makes even seasoned fans blink, rewind, and mutter, “Did that just happen?”

I’ve seen doors pop open mid-stage before—usually a quick reach and slam fixes it. Losing a door outright? That’s rare, and it’s a safety and structural headache you don’t nurse to the next time control. It’s a tough break because Japan’s stages reward flow and confidence; an interruption like that is a mental reset you rarely bounce back from over a rally distance.

Quick takeaways

• Rally Japan’s narrow, technical roads punish the smallest miscue.
• Component integrity at rally speeds isn’t a suggestion; it’s life-and-limb critical.
• Retiring was the sensible call. There’s always another stage on another weekend.

The Throughline

From school-bus stop arms to six-figure Fox-bodies to a rally car shedding a door, the common denominator is judgment. We choose when to lift, what to value, how much risk or romance we’re willing to buy. Some days it’s patience at a crosswalk. Others, it’s plastic still on the seats. Either way, the best car stories start with a decision and end with a lesson.

FAQ

• Is it illegal to pass a stopped school bus?
  In most U.S. states, yes—if the bus has its stop arm extended and red lights flashing, traffic in both directions must stop on undivided roads. Always check local laws, but when in doubt, stop and wait.
• Why are Fox-body Mustangs getting so expensive?
  A mix of nostalgia, scarcity of unmodified examples, and a growing appreciation for their simple, analog driving feel. Time-capsule cars command a serious premium.
• How powerful was a 1992 Mustang 5.0?
  The 5.0 HO V8 was rated around 225 hp and roughly 300 lb-ft, good for about a six-second 0–60 mph when new.
• How much is “new Porsche 911 money”?
  A base, modern 911 typically lives in the low-to-mid six-figure range before options.
• Did Adrien Fourmaux really retire after losing a door at Rally Japan?
  Yes. A wild incident led to the passenger door parting ways with the car, and he retired from the event afterward.