Editing Gaston (comics) (section)

===Gaston's car===
[[Image:Fiat 509 06011701.jpg|thumb|Fiat 509 at the European Motor Show [[Brussels]] 2006, decorated like Gaston's car.]]
Gaston drives an old [[Fiat 509]], which he acquires in gag #321, decorated with racing patterns that he added himself.<ref>{{cite comic | writer=[[André Franquin|Franquin, André]] | story=Gag #327 | title=[[Gaston Lagaffe|Gaston]] | volume=5 | date=1997 | publisher=[[Dupuis]]}}</ref> However its top speed still allows passengers to safely pick flowers on motorway verges.<ref>Gaston nº 12</ref> Much humour derives from the car's extreme state of decrepitude; for example, a friend of Gaston is able to "waterski" behind it on a slick of oil, while Gaston strenuously denies any such leaks. The car also produces huge quantities of (often toxic) smoke, even more so when Gaston converts it to run on [[coal]]. Customisations and ill-fitted upgrades include:
* An emissions filter fitted to the exhaust pipe which turns out not to let ''anything'' through, causing the exhaust to come in the front.<ref>{{cite comic | writer=[[André Franquin|Franquin, André]] | story=Gag #447 | title=[[Gaston Lagaffe|Gaston]] | volume=8 | date=1997 | publisher=[[Dupuis]]}}</ref>
* A bag in which exhaust fumes are collected. Unfortunately, Gaston thoughtlessly empties the bag in a busy street, rendering everyone unconscious.<ref>{{cite comic | writer=[[André Franquin|Franquin, André]] | story=Gag #448 | title=[[Gaston Lagaffe|Gaston]] | volume=8 | date=1997 | publisher=[[Dupuis]]}}</ref>
* [[Snow chains]].<ref>{{cite comic | writer=[[André Franquin|Franquin, André]] | story=Gag #550 | title=[[Gaston Lagaffe|Gaston]] | volume=10 | date=1997 | publisher=[[Dupuis]]}}</ref>
* A [[snowplow|snow-plough]] device that sucks the snow into a heater, which, instead of evaporating the snow, fills the passenger compartment, freezing the occupants.<ref>{{cite comic | writer=[[André Franquin|Franquin, André]] | story=Gag #551| title=[[Gaston Lagaffe|Gaston]] | volume=10 | date=1997 | publisher=[[Dupuis]]}}</ref>
* [[Seatbelts]], which accidentally wrap around the rear axle.<ref>{{cite comic | writer=[[André Franquin|Franquin, André]] | story=Gag #664 | title=[[Gaston Lagaffe|Gaston]] | volume=13 | date=1997 | publisher=[[Dupuis]]}}</ref>
* An [[airbag]] which smothers the driver (Prunelle claims it allows a less messy death in case of accident).
* A [[wind turbine]] that peels apart the car's roof, flying away with Prunelle dangling underneath.<ref>{{cite comic | writer=[[André Franquin|Franquin, André]] | story=Gag #863 | title=[[Gaston Lagaffe|Gaston]] | volume=17 | date=1997 | publisher=[[Dupuis]]}}</ref>

The car is inadvertently rocket-powered on two separate occasions.

Some of Gaston's colleagues are terrified at the very thought of sitting in the Fiat – Prunelle swears on several occasions that he will never set foot in it again.  The car is also the source of many clashes with [[Joseph Longtarin|Longtarin]], as Gaston endlessly devises schemes to avoid paying parking meters, even going as far as parking it up in a tree or faking roadworks.