Car Culture

Quote: Evenbob

Easy. Plastic instead of metal wherever they
can get away with it.

Automatic, 8 speed transmission, Air conditioning, smog controls, 10 air bags, 40 cup holders, sub-woofer...

The new "entry level" compacts, used to be known as "sub-compacts" back in the day when "seating for 5" meant four anorexic teenage girls and a midget sitting sideways on the floor. Nowadays, the Golf, Civic, Corolla, etc. can actually seat regular sized Americans. If you want the true small car experience, go overseas:

Quote: Ayecarumba

It's okay if you don't mind people laughing and pointing.

What was that design based on, a bathysphere?

Quote: rxwine

Quote: Ayecarumba

It's okay if you don't mind people laughing and pointing.

What was that design based on, a bathysphere?

Hehe...I think the license plate explains it: PEA

Reminds me of an illustration from a Richard Scarry's Busytown:

Quote: Face

Golf line, 1,750lbs old vs 3,075lbs new. I checked the Civic line for sh!ts and gigs - 1,500lbs vs 2,923.

How do they cram a whole 'nuther car in there?!

It just doesn't make any sense. Everyone cries about mpg, whether from a cost of operation standpoint or an environmental one. My racecar is about as spartan as they come, even when it was a street car. But without 10 computers, without tax subsidies, without a bespoke motor than runs on burrito grease and unicorn piss, I could make it a 50-70mpg hyper miler using completely stock, excessively common parts. The only "downside" is said setup would have 85-90hp. One might say that's too little, even dangerous if you were a highway driver. But that 90hp comes in a package under a ton, that's 90hp per ton. Your car might highlight its 210hp; all cars do. But when it's in a 4,000lb package, guess what? Still ~90hp per ton. We'd have comparable 0-60 times, comparable 60-100 times, and mine would stop faster, turn harder, get twice your mpg, etc and so forth. And I could build mine for under $2k lol.

All them old cars are more fond as memories than they were in their time. I as well long for some manufacturer to make a 2,000lb small car with good mileage. But various consumer demands make it impossible. Want those rattles gone? Gotta make it stronger and heavier. Safety? Heavier. Ride so you do not feel the paint on the road when you change lanes? Heavier. A/C, and a host of other options? Heavier.

My dad's old Falcon was probably 2,500 or so pounds. But it was so spartan by today's standards that it would never sell. Japanese cars even in the very early 1980s were rattletraps. So was the Rabbit.

Quote: AZDuffman

... So was the Rabbit.

My Aunt and Uncle bought one of the early ones brand new. I was holding onto the roof whilst climbing in the back, when my aunt pulled the door shut, pinching my fingers between the upper door frame and roof. My fingers were fine because the upper frame on that car was made of thin metals that only served to keep the glass from rattling and didn't provide any stiffness to the frame. Today's model is a different story. I would probably need to put my severed fingers in a plastic baggy with some ice as we rushed to the hospital for some micro surgery.

Quote: Ayecarumba

The new "entry level" compacts, used to be known as "sub-compacts" back in the day when "seating for 5" meant four anorexic teenage girls and a midget sitting sideways on the floor. Nowadays, the Golf, Civic, Corolla, etc. can actually seat regular sized Americans. If you want the true small car experience, go overseas:

Pah! The "average American" is 71" and 168 - 200lbs, depending on frame. I'm 72", 188. I'm the average American. I dunno if you've seen a CRX in the flesh, but they are small. And before I caged, welded, and put the seat on the floor, I was perfectly comfortable in it. The only bitch I have about it is the same I have for a perfectly reasonable late model Mazda 6; it's too low. That's likely from a decade of pick em up driving as opposed to a design flaw.

A Smart is too small. A CRX is on the fringe, but solidly within the "good" category. Fiat 500? That's about the very limit before you've gone too far.

But let's remember, my bitch isn't so much about "big". It's about "FAT".

Quote: AZDuffman

All them old cars are more fond as memories than they were in their time. I as well long for some manufacturer to make a 2,000lb small car with good mileage. But various consumer demands make it impossible. Want those rattles gone? Gotta make it stronger and heavier. Safety? Heavier. Ride so you do not feel the paint on the road when you change lanes? Heavier. A/C, and a host of other options? Heavier.

My dad's old Falcon was probably 2,500 or so pounds. But it was so spartan by today's standards that it would never sell. Japanese cars even in the very early 1980s were rattletraps. So was the Rabbit.

Pah! Again!

If you don't want rattles, turn a screw. Tight parts don't rattle. And things where that ain't an option, like an entire door, need only be padded properly. Two bitty rubber stoppers is all it takes for your 100lb hood to be as smooth as silk. Same for the weather stripping in your door or trunk.

Safety? Pah! If I had to hit a wall at 60, I'd prefer a 1,800lb F1 to a 18,000lb dump truck, TYVM. Safety is a product of design, not mass.

Comfort? Pah! It's all in the suspension. Grandpa's Crown Vic rides like butter, the police interceptor that pulled him over rattle your teeth out. Same car, just different shocks and springs. Look at your own car, silky smooth when you bought it, your own personal chiropractor now. Why? Shocks are worn out. Hell, just getting away from painted on low profile tires and get up into some 70 and 80 series will smooth you right out. Start dumping damper and rebound, take a few hundred out of the spring rate and even a 70's era Bug will ride like a GD cloud =p

I'm tellin' ya, I got a goldmine here. Move over, Ferdinand Porsche.

Quote: Face

Tight parts don't rattle. And things where that ain't an option, like an entire door, need only be padded properly.

I hear there's like this "stuff" that dudes use when they are mounting six 15" subwoofers in their Unicorn Honda that's great for damping down rattle sound. You just fill the inside with it.

Quote: Face

Safety? Pah! If I had to hit a wall at 60, I'd prefer a 1,800lb F1 to a 18,000lb dump truck, TYVM. Safety is a product of design, not mass.

How about a head on collision? You can drive any zipper car you want and I will take a Kenworth tractor. [25k lb. naked] You can even listen to some cryin, dyin and going somewhere music, and I will listen to Lynard Skynard singing "That Smell". https://youtu.be/Un-AY204Ir4

You don't like them odds? Ok, we both hit a moose doing 55 on a moonless night. Rocky is comin right through your cab, hair, blood and spit, will be all that is left of either of you, and a face full of airbag. I will get out and see if there is any salvageable meat, then get back in, check the heat and music and drive away. There is no replacement for displacement.

"Pain is an excellent teacher" Petro

ps: keep your dick beaters off the Crown Vic : )

Quote: petroglyph

. Rocky

FYI Bullwinkle. Rocky is the squirrel.

(or I'm just getting old, if you were referring to something else)

Quote: rxwine

FYI Bullwinkle. Rocky is the squirrel.

(or I'm just getting old, if you were referring to something else)

Good catch