A few questions for Kaiser:
1. With the growing threat of the mafia along with growing racial tensions, do local/county/state American law enforcement agencies militarize like OTL? What's Daryl Gates (the pioneer of SWAT and later a very controversial LAPD chief) up to?
2. I mentioned this months ago, but how is the international car market? I'd assume that American automobiles dominate the nations outside of the Pakt, but how would the industry change? Would America even have a sports car market, considering European roadsters inspired the most notable American sports cars like the Corvette and Mustang? Also, how are the cars in the Pakt? I know that the VW Beetle reigns supreme, especially under the Goebbels era, and I think that might continue under Remer due to his militaristic vision. Outside of Germany, how are the markets of notable car producers like France and Italy? What's the status of Ferrari and Lamborghini (if they're even created)?
3. What does TTL's firearm picture look like? How is Mikhail Kalashnikov doing, if he's even alive?
1) There is a trend of militarization of internal security forces such as the Police, which is quite prone to abuses such as in the Southern States.
2) Okay this might be interesting because the scenery is a drastic change from our world's reality.
First, Volkswagen is King across Europe, Mercedes, BMW, Porsche and other private companies were all put under the State-commanded Volkswagen after Goebbels' purges of the Corporate sectors in 1960. Yes, the Bettle is pretty much a synonym of German car, but there are still more luxurious vehicles available for the German high society despite Goebbels' attempts at bringing his brand of Populism to the automotive sector (yes, very hypocritical of him, but that's not new).
As far as the rest of Europe goes, Fiat still exists and is still the big boss in Italy. They survived the 1943-1960 period when Gweman industries were eating everything in sight thanks to generous concessions by Mussolini, exemptions in the Pakt deals, and of course the Italian national pride never would allow them to drive a bettle in Tuscany. For France, it's a more sad situation as Renault, Citroën and Pegeaut (just to name some big names) to varying degrees all opposed the German occupation and eventually they were dissolved (Pegeaut was the last one to go in 1951 after Darnand's takeover), differently to Italy, there was little protection of their internal market against German companies. One example was that in 1957, the French racing team in the "Tour d'Europa" used a German-manufactured car. The situation has somewhat improved for French manufacturers after the Angriff, but they still have a long way to go before they actually are competitive again.
Speaking of competition, as it's something Hitler was enthusiastic about, automobiles have a greater emphasis in Europe here as a symbol of propaganda and prosperity of Europe. During the late Hitler years and the Hess Era, there were several new competitions and games between European nations to emphasize the unity of the Pakt. One example is a Mediterranean race from Lisbon to Istanbul (naturally the Italians have the lead in this). The Germans used to win most of the races until 1960, the purges of the Angriff and the incorporation of the more prestigious German brands under the Volkswagen led to a decline of Quality of German cars during the Goebbels Era as he generally preferred to encourage the development of popular cars. Le Mans' 24 is still happening, but it's overshadowed by some competitions in Germany itself.
As for America, one must consider the effects of the Long Era. Ford, Chrysler and General Motors all would be suffering thanks to Longist policies, Estes Kefauver had a blank cheque to go after companies which went against the government's new fiscal policies. Long specifically went after companies which lobbied for the Democrats and Republicans (although the Ford Motors company did back his 1948 campaign, that quickly changed after the Populist Party was founded). There has been a growth of small companies and even regional ones, but unless you have some important friends in the department of Treasure or the White House, you can expect to be classified as a major corporate entity and suffer the exorbitant tax rates of the US Government (as expected, this wasn't lessened at all by Hoffa). Those major companies do still exist and have their strength, but they have no access to the European Market (whatever assets the Nazis didn't seize, they had to sell due to the "American Protection Act", that forbids American companies from engaging in commerce with "enemy" nations.
And if you think Russian cars of the Soviet Era are bad, then you really shouldn't look to the ones the Russians have now, they had to adapt to the vast expanses and rough terrain of Siberia. Tell you what, the Russian cars are rustic with no comfort at all, but that's one tough tin can which will never break down on you.
3) Armaments are even more emphasized in this world where wars are an almost weekly occasion and countries just pop nukes like confetti. Kalashnikov still was able to produce his weapons and had the perfect testing ground during the Second Russian Civil War (if anything he would've gotten the AK model earlier).
