Permalinks and mod_rewrite – how to make query url look like directory

Have made a very poor start on this.

Have created a dummy site non-wordpress site on my local machine using a .html file, one or two php files etc.

in the .htaccess file I put

RewriteRule ^used-cars/([0-9a-zA-Z]*)$ /used-cars/$1/
RewriteRule ^used-cars/([0-9a-zA-Z]*)/$ /ht/?make=$1

so if I enter
https://localhost/ht/used-cars/Abjh4/ #URL FOR DEMO ONLY – WON’T WORK

it shows up as such in the browser but looks for :
/mypage.php?make=Abjh4
SO AS SUCH, IT WORKS.

TWO THINGS.

1) Above example: can’t figure out how to get it to work as follows:
https://localhost/ht/used-cars/ford/fiesta/
to show above url but look for
/mypage.php?make=ford&model=fiesta

2)If I add this [two rewrite rules above] to the WordPress .htaccess file after the
# END WordPress
bit, it makes no difference whatsoever.

So I need a heads up on how to get a rule that I know works (in one sense) to work with the WP rules and not break anything.

2)

Small update to the above:

RewriteRule ^used-cars/([0-9a-zA-Z_-]*)/([0-9a-zA-Z_-]*)$ /used-cars/$1/$2/
RewriteRule ^used-cars/([0-9a-zA-Z_-]*)/([0-9a-zA-Z_-]*)/$ /ht/?make=$1&model=$2

works to turn
https://localhost/ht/used-cars/ford/fiesta/
into (on server end)
/mypage.php?make=ford&model=fiesta

** BUT ** it breaks if I just put

https://localhost/ht/used-cars/ford/

saying
Not Found

The requested URL /used-cars/ford// was not found on this server.
*note* TWO trailing slashes at the end…

One step forward, and two steps back…

Just FYI here’s my .htaccess

# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /mysite/
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
#RewriteRule . /carcompare/index.php [L] L denotes LAST - i.e. dont' follow any more Rewrite Rules
RewriteRule . /mysite/index.php 

</IfModule>

# END WordPress

#RewriteRule ^old\.html$ new.html  THIS ONE WORKS
RewriteRule ^used-cars/([0-9a-zA-Z_-]*)/([0-9a-zA-Z_-]*)$ /used-cars/$1/$2/
RewriteRule ^used-cars/([0-9a-zA-Z_-]*)/([0-9a-zA-Z_-]*)/$ /ht/?make=$1&model=$2

In the above example normal WP rules work fine, my redirection rules being ignored. The /ht/ bit on the last line is wrong but I’m aware of that – that’s not the issue.

…. is there anybody out there….

??

Maybe this just can’t be done?

let me know if you find some solution for this.

Thanks,
Arpita