My Japanese friends from school were amazed that the US has so much land available that we would have parking lots. The idea of using that much potential vertical space just to occasionally store a car was astonishing.
People fall way further than 134 feet in freefall when skydiving; air is significantly less dense than water, thousands of feet change in seconds is no big deal when done in the atmosphere. Tens of thousands and then you've got problems, most specifically insufficient oxygen with near-zero air pressure and frostbite from cold.
The conspiracy theory / legend I heard was that New Coke was an intentional transition point -- Coke before then was made with sugar and Coke after then was made with corn syrup -- and they knew the transition would be rough, so they introduced something vastly different so people would just be happy to have their drink back a few months later, when they couldn't easily compare the variants with sugar vs corn syrup.
You left out the best part about the driver in the rear seat -- he had to wear a "seat costume" that was very different looking than the normal seats. Also, it wasn't _always_ blind-driving, they fit a *mirror* into the head-rest hole that the driver could see out but not us in. Clever, but not so good for continuity. But could you imagine a show on TV today that helps independent truckers and migrant workers unionize???
Go little doggie go!