Okay but what if I install servos and ask Claude Code to operate the vehicle for me?

I think that would lead to this:

Do you want to accept emails from "For a limited time, save up to 35% on orders from Fluppsi! Click Yes for this amazing opportunity!"

After playing it repeatedly since 2002, if I find out that Splinter Cell is not a 100% accurate simulation of an NSA employee's work day, I'm going to be very upset.

"10 people being killed by nuclear power is a tragedy. 5 million people being killed by coal mining and burning is a statistic." - Josef Stalin

"For me, it meant ditching my three iPhones, one MacBook, two even bigger desktop monitors [...]"

Is it so unusual for "desktop monitors" to be bigger than a MacBook that it needs to be pointed out?

It’s far, far more unusual to have three iPhones? The modern consumer, ladies and gentlemen.

Personal phone, work phone, and older model backup you keep in a drawer.

"That wasn't real Communism! It's actually great when done correctly!" /s

Given that there are no hills to climb on an oil tanker, and the distances involved are a few hundred meters at a time (at most), a bicycle seems so much better, cheaper, simpler, doesn't need charging, easier to fix.

However, 3 wheelers quickly reach their limitations in turns, since you can't lean to balance. So making a C5 go much faster than its original top speed could be risky.

I don't think the speed would be an enormous problem; the legal (powered) speed limit for e-bikes in the UK is essentially the same as when the C5 was new, at 25km/h. So as long as you stick with a stock EU/UK standard controller you should be fine.

And you'd get a fantastic amount more grunt uphill and a longer range with a modern battery and motor.

Could the car lean if it had electric suspension? Is this a fundamental limitation of a 3 wheeler with 2 in the back or is it just difficult to achieve?

It certainly could. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carver_(automotive_company). Got raving reviews from testers

“On BBC's Top Gear programme in 2002, Jeremy Clarkson said, "I have to say, absolute hand on heart, I've never had so much fun in a car, really and truthfully, and I don't think I'd ever tire of it."”

There’s an electric two-seater now. Around €12k

The explanation is in the word "novel": it's a fictional book that is explicitly presented as fictional. Fiction means "made up", not claimed to be based on facts.

That seems like a good game to play with your children. If it teaches them to regard any dubious statement skeptically and use critical thinking to figure out how likely it is to be true, that's a valuable life skill.