A tractor-car:
On my commute this morning I saw a big old 1970s era Ford Country Squire station wagon. Light brown, with loads of fake wood paneling, and still wearing the blue California license plate from that era.
This one below is a lot like to the car I saw. I’m not 100% sure the one I saw was a '73, but it’s pretty close. Same shade of brown, same paneling, same overall style, similar grille if not exactly the same. The one I saw was not nearly as nice as that one, though. It was faded and pretty much and old beater, but still cool to see a car from that era on the road.
I forgot the generic minivan (Nissan, maybe) that passed me on the highway Saturday. Nothing out of the ordinary about the vehicle, but the roof box was wide open and we were just waiting for skis to fly out and impale our windshield in true Final Destination fashion.
Other cars eventually got the driver to pull over and deal with it before I ended up running over another pair of skis at highway speed.
Otherwise known as a cleverly disguised log.
Not an interesting car, so much as an interesting tire cover. (Click to see the full image.)
if you ever need a reason for why US-cars went to the crapper, just look at the outside dimensions of this car and compare it to the cramped interior space. It seems 60-70% of that space are not available to “transporting people” (the main goal of driving, right?).
why would you have 3meters of space in front of you with NO practical use at all? that is the automobilistic equivalent of “running the heating in your house on max. settings while having all windows open in full winter”
Or watch this pair from Ed’s Auto Reviews.
It is indeed pretty much all style, no substance.
It was before my time, but I have heard that there was a general association at that time that “long hood = luxury”. And the hypothesis as to why that was is that it dates back to when straight-8 engines were commonplace. Picture something like a 1920s limo with a straight-8 under the hood versus a 4-cylinder Model A. The limo would have needed a really long hood to contain the really long engine, and that created an association that luxurious cars have long hoods. In the 1970s there still would have been people alive who remembered that era, and still had that mental association, even though the V8s that were in use by then didn’t actually require all that length.
As an Italian, I appreciate being able to gesticulate without smacking my knuckles against the windshield. Thank you very much.
problem is - the 3 meters are in front of the windshield … (which was my main line - huge car with little space for people in the car, and lotsa space for metal in the car)
;o)
But clearly they needed all that space
To make it extra fun, those cars needed frequent tune ups. Toolboxes needed band-aids for your knuckles. A tune up on something like that can’t be done with out bleeding.
The sad thing (well maybe good thing) my wifes 4 cylinder car would leave that in the dust.
Yesterday I saw a cherry red El Camino. It was cherry.
So do Teslas fold out into robots, or something?
Pro tip: When you’re cracking that bolt loose, push the wrench with an open palm. Then you don’t bash your knuckles into something when it finally moves.
for “weird” reasons, I once owned a 76 Chrysler Cordoba … with a 3 meter hood.
For me as a european, it was really ridiculous … especially the 1 meter of space in front of the radiator to let the horn/clackson “breath” better, acoustically speaking.
ohh … and lets not forget the 2 spears they put into the engine bay, so that a sideswipe would not only be a financial problem, but also take out your liver. ;o)
When I was a teen I had a '64 Galaxie 500 XL with a magnificent V8 390 engine in it, bright red. Way too much power for a kid to play with…but the little black 2024 Kia Soul I picked up a couple days ago can run rings around it on about a third of the gas.
Hello from SoCal. I’m in South Pasadena where the police cars are all Teslas.
“South Pasadena Launches Nation’s First All-Electric Police Fleet” — July 2024
➜ South Pasadena Launches Nation's First All-Electric Police Fleet - City of South Pasadena ■
This looks like a Tesla Model 3. Or possibly a Model X.
I know that the Belmont, CA police use electric motorcycles. Those are pretty cool. I once borrowed a friend’s electric motorcycle and commuted to work on it for about a month. At the end of that month I was impressed. An electric motorcycle might be in my future!
One of the vehicles I played with a lot while learning how to work on cars was my dad’s 72 LTD. First thing I learned how to do was replace the fuel filter, which screwed directly into the carburetor. Second thing I learned how to do was removed the fuel filter’s threads that snapped off inside the carburetor after I over tightened it.
A 1977 Toyota Celica Liftback
Very clean, very straight. These are nicely-designed cars.
