Quote - In other words: Do not smooth. Really, don't. And if you still do, clean up your mesh afterwards and remove those vertices that aren't needed.

Good advice. Smoothing isn't your friend when you're trying to learn good modeling technique, you need a certain amount of experience to use it to your advantage.

Quote - His '55 Volkswagen is just 21.900 polys, full interior, engine and even boot with spare wheel included.

Hmmm... it's admirable, and a great example of what can be done, but I'd question the distribution of those polys. There's not much point in adding small interior details (like window winders) when the largest curves (roof gutters, wheel arches) are so badly facetted that they won't really stand up to a close-up shot. One of the promo images shows a view in through the open door, the interior looks great but the edge of the roof and doorframe look awful. I think he tried to spread his poly budget too far, those major curves really need more love.

EDIT: Actually, the blurb says it was made for Poser4, I suppose everything got a bit facetted up close in those days, (Posette's shoulders included) so the car would have fitted in just fine. ;-)