Cars, Man

[TPA]

Would you happen to be from ZA?

Nope. Never visited there either. Although, the irony of that video is that my first car was a W123 Mercedes...which was older than me. It ran, had AC, which is all I needed.

Growing up we had a neighbor that owned an orange 427 Stingray with the giant side pipes.
He would blast his way up our street and my pop would roll his eyes..

One of my cars had a 4.5L V8. Out of the box it was quite fast for its time and reasonably quiet...but I wanted quieter, so we put on a quieter exhaust. At idle it was imperceptible, even standing next to the car. The car's AC made the only noise. When giving it full throttle, there was minimal noise in the cabin, with not much else outside. Driving 3+ hours with no engine noise? Priceless.

 

[SCEMan]

3000 Cars!
Sailing from China to Mexico...

Massive ship carrying 3,000 cars sinks in international waters

On the ship was 70 fully electric vehicle and 681 hybrids, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

www.usatoday.com

 

[TPA]

@SCEMan : Think on the bright side, it's another 800 or so EVs which won't be on the roads....but all of that child labor that made those batteries went to waste.

 

[dc38]

@SCEMan : Think on the bright side, it's another 800 or so EVs which won't be on the roads....but all of that child labor that made those batteries went to waste.

Dark.

**on another note, so many tesla drivers tailgate, stick halfway out on opposing turns, force their way into cutoff merging, slow start at green lights (5s+), block intersection boxes...is it them doing this, or is it the cars?

 

[TPA]

Dark.

**on another note, so many tesla drivers tailgate, stick halfway out on opposing turns, force their way into cutoff merging, slow start at green lights (5s+), block intersection boxes...is it them doing this, or is it the cars?

I've seen some of the dark side of humanity, which is why I look out for it. As "bad" as oil is, they're not using child labor.

and no, that isn't the car. I have >200k+ miles of experience with Bosch Mobility Solutions' self-driving systems of various versions, along with having done some code improvement. While I've not seen Tesla's code, I have driven their cars a few times and in my experience neither Bosch nor Tesla's systems will do that, minus possibly the slow start at lights. The next time you see a Tesla behaving badly, take a look and see if the driver's hands are on the steering wheel. I'm willing to bet the answer is yes.

 

[aznsx]

is it them doing this, or is it the cars?

Centainly could well be the cars, but more likely the target buyer demographic;-)

 

[dc38]

Centainly could well be the cars, but more likely the target buyer demographic;-)

Why jack the car when you can just interface the brain?

 

[TPA]

Why jack the car when you can just interface the brain?

You can't interface with what isn't there.

 

[Chauncey Gardener]

 

[orbital]

+

I'll take the blue Corvair on the right.
Leave the paint alone, put $30K on very good suspension , disk brakes and a turbocharged 2.5L motor (light weight)
5-speed manual

typo fixed

 

[TPA]

A guy at my church has a Corvair in nice shape and has a custom license plate, "UNSAFE".

 

[orbital]

+

I'v seen this Corvair race in person having a big heavy V8 in back.
Takes alot of understanding with suspension (and driving) to make sure the back end doesn't swap places with the front.
....... ask Porsche

 

[Sabrewulf]

Loved cars all my life, but the past decade has been a jeep decade haha!
3.5" suspension and 38" tires.

 

[AZPops]

This;



Too big? Try this; Ok, it's got a similar foot print, but it's still a cool rig. ..



These are for the older folks;

 

[mcbrat]

way back about 75 pages ago, I posted a 68 Firebird. I still have it (25 years now), and have added to the fleet. nothing as nice as the bird, but stuff to tinker with.... my current set of Toys....

 

[Sabrewulf]

 

[Galane]

Those Earthroamers cost a fortune yet don't have proper flush toilets like any decently much less insanely expensive RVs. If I had the $ to drop on an Earthroamer I'd insist it have a toilet like a motorhome that costs a mere $250K.

 

[AZPops]

Those Earthroamers cost a fortune yet don't have proper flush toilets like any decently much less insanely expensive RVs. If I had the $ to drop on an Earthroamer I'd insist it have a toilet like a motorhome that costs a mere $250K.

Like most things, everyone has their preferences. However, there isn't a class A motorhome, Class B 4x4, or Class C 4x4 (Class b and c without some heavy mods) that will take you where the Earthroamer will. In other words, there are compromises a person will make, in reagrds to what they want to accomplish. Speaking for myself, the cassette black tank, is a small compromise. I'm not certain, but I think you can carry an extra tank. There are some great chemicals that decompose, as well as deodorise the tank, so minimal smell.

Before the following examples, dumping tanks is a messy chore. ... :)

I lived full time in a 1997 40ft Fleetwood American Eagle class A motorhome for over a decade. Traveled to, and lived on varous projects during this time. I also boondocked (live off grid) for extened stays. The reason I was to take these extended off grid camping was due to this motorhome had a 150gl diesel fuel tank (allowed me to run the genst 24/7 without having to cut it off), 100gl fresh water holding tank, 60gl grey tank, and 40gl black tank. Onan Quiet 7.5kw generator, solar panels on the roof, inverter, etc,, etc,

When on a construction project. The above specs allowed me to park the motorhome on site for a week at a time. I'll head out once a week to fill the fresh water holding tank, and dump the tanks (I used the site's portable toilets) . Then picked up supplies for the week. All these features, and the Eagle will not take me where these 4x4's will (incuding a class b, and c).

The Earthroamer has 95gl fuel tank, 100gl fresh water holding tank, and a 40gl grey tank. As well as the equipment to take you WAY off grid for an extended adventure. In a compact foot print.

If a person prefers a flush toilet. There are smaller alternatives, such as a class b 4x4 RV. However, average specs while staying off grib, is for shorter stays. For example; 30gl or less fuel tank(remeber, the genst is running off this fuel), 30gl freah water holding tank, 24gl grey tank, and 8gl black tank. A class b 4x4 is stil around $200K plus. However, unless a person does some exteme mods, it ain't following a Earthroamer. If they did, the person's stay is limited by the fuel, and holding tanks.

But heck, Earthroamer's a dream coach. ... :)

 

[Galane]

The Revcon was a dream coach, aside from the manufacturer's decision to put Chevy van tail lights on the back of a Ford.

 

[TPA]

About a decade ago I did some work for one of the suppliers for cars, along with one of the manufacturers. It wasn't work I necessarily wanted to do, it was my car being a total lemon and trying to get it working reliably.

The short of it: Regulation by bureaucrats makes terrible / unreliable cars.

Could they make an engine which would be trouble-free for 500,000 miles? Yep. It'd be a cast-iron block, no turbo, and they'd prefer you run it on leaded gas. What about accessories, could they make those last forever? Sure. Larger motors with more windings, minimal electronics or at least beefier electronics, the use of more solid materials. Could they make cars safer? Sure. A more rigid passenger compartment, more reinforcement/deflection beams, more padding, better seats, better restraints. Could they make cars look better? Sure. Remember pop-up headlamps? Tail-fins? nice sharp angles?

BUT... regulations stop most of this. Focusing on tailpipe emissions (rather than actual efficiency) means complex emissions equipment and necessitates electronics. Efficiency ultimately means less weight, which means lighter-weight parts. Pedestrian-safety standards requires cars look like jelly beans, with aerodynamics for efficiency reshapes that to a suppository.

Why are spare tires a dying breed and plastic engine parts becoming more common? Carmakers trying to meet regulations.

Also, let's remember that the USA insists on having its own regulations for everything (with California also wanting their own separate rules). Mexico & Canada use the same instrument clusters, the same as Europe and elsewhere. BUT... not the USA! Getting back to the problems of my original car, the problems I was experiencing were common in US models but didn't exist in their worldwide versions. Why? Because modifications had to be made to make these cars US-compliant, with all of these modifications being a bolt-on.

As far as the extra doodads in the cabins, blame the marketing departments. Especially in America, shiny things and bling sells, not reliability and safety. If the latter mattered, no one would be driving a Korean car or even many Japanese cars.

Interesting, Car accident deaths increased in USA since 2019, I wonder what else corelates with that to increase deaths, and no doubt accident rates, , hmm, me thinks, drugs legalizations, soft on crime policies, maybe, just maybe open borders...
As far as cars, they have gotten safer than ever, due to passive and active systems.

Drivers' skillsets and courtesy went to crap during the lockdowns and never recovered. For that matter, decorum and civil society never returned either.

Somewhat dread the day I have to go buy another vehicle.

I know the feeling. When I traded in my 2004 M45, with 225,000 miles on it (to the mechanic at the dealership who always serviced it), I knew it was the last "honest" car I'd drive. Yes, the throttle was by wire in that car, and would erroneously go to full-open-throttle about once a year, but that was about it. Everything else in that car was from prior decades in terms of technology.