Sometimes your car comes to you with a personality all its own. Other times, it's the things that happen to it in your care that make it individual. Yesterday, we asked you what special quirks your car has, and here are the top ten.
Welcome back to Answers of the Day — our Jalopnik summer feature where we take the best ten responses from the previous day's Question of the Day and shine it up to show off. It's by you and for you, the Jalopnik readers. Enjoy!
Photo Credit:eviloars
10.) Lotus Esprit Door Sills
Suggested By: sr20spitfirehotrod
Why It's Great: We recently heard about some of sr20's escapades with the long arm of the law, but we're only now hearing about the long arm of his Esprit's door sills. Of course, this quirk applies to many a big-silled car, but sr20 illustrates it so well: "Girls always complain when wearing skirts, but it signifies the compromise you make to have the car you want. You sit in, swing your inner leg in, then get the last one in and attempt to position yourself."
Photo credit: 98Octane
9.) Pushbutton Transmission
Suggested By: armyofchuckness
Why It's Great: While it may not be that odd to those of us who are familiar with the Dodge pushbutton transmission control, putting someone new in the driver's seat is a recipe for confusion. And then, once the confusion goes away, fascination. Pushing buttons on the dashboard to change gears is probably one of the coolest technological decisions ever made by the American auto industry, only now rivaled by Jaguar's big glowing dial on the center console.
Photo credit: How I See Life
8.) Camaro Won't Turn Right
Suggested By: Lord Dr. Nurburgring III, Esq.
Why It's Great: Taking a page from it's Nascar-flavored brethren, Dr. Nürburgring's friend's 1980's Camaro does not turn right. Its steering wheel gets stuck, and the car refuses to do it. Like Derek Zoolander, the car was clearly born for the runway.
Photo credit: MSVG
7.) Tercel Door Mirror
Suggested By: StreetsideStig
Why It's Great: StreetsideStig's Tercel arrived from Toyota without a right side door mirror. Was it ordered that way? Did it fall off in the shipping container? Did a roving pack of vagabonds snatch it while the car was sitting in the dealer's lot? We'll never know. What we do know is that Streetside should be extra careful when making right turns or changing lanes on the highway.
Photo credit: dave_7
6.) Chevy C-10
Suggested By: coryd
Why It's Great: Coryd's vintage C-10 has all sorts of issues. Some of the best include: horn beeps during right turns, the throttle gets stuck on residential roads, and the best of the three: the truck will not turn off, even if the ignition key is removed, as long as the fan is on. Regardless of how that one came to be, it's an excellent quirk, and a fun trick to show off at parties.
Photo credit: nycbone
5.) Buick Bee Alarm
Suggested By: TheCeleryStalker
Why It's Great: Celery Stalker's first car was a 1967 Buick Special. It did not have cruise control, but it did have the next best thing. A small red knob under the speedometer could adjust a little indicator in the dial to a certain speed. When the car passed that set speed, a swarm of angry bees would engulf the cabin. Or a buzzer that sounded like them, at least. Passengers were freaked out, Celery was freaked out, and it took some time to figure out the culprit.
Photo credit: mobilene
4.) Automatic Seat Belts
Suggested By: teampenske3
Why It's Great: Once fairly ubiquitous, automatic seat belts have gone the way of leaded gasoline and in-car ashtrays. To still have a car with them whirring around your ears and choking you half to death is an oddity, and is likely to surprise, and then terrify, your passengers.
Photo credit: YouTube
3.) Porsche 944 Sunroof Pop
Suggested By: Kate's Dirty Sister
Why It's Great: You've got to love zat German engineering. The seals were so good on Kate's Dirty Sister's 944 that when the windows were up and the doors closed, the sunroof would pop out of its tracks. How's that for aluminum und schteel?
Photo credit: gregory_gdp
2.) Cavalier Fuses
Suggested By: JediRaiden
Why It's Great: Jedi's car had a cavalier attitude when it came to a working fuse panel. Apparently, every time the car went over a big enough bump, the fuel pump's fuse would go. Jedi got so used to it that it became normal to throw the car into neutral, while still rolling, and replace the fuse on the fly. Impressive, young one.
Photo credit: dave_7
1.) 1969 Jeep Wagoneer Starter
Suggested By: Irishman
Why It's Great: This one is so complicated, I'm just going to let Irishman take it from here:
"1—Put the key in ignition and turn it on.
2—Take 1/2 x 30" iron rod and 24 oz. ball peen hammer from under driver's seat.
3—Pop the hood.
4—Slide rod through two loops of coat hanger wire mounted to engine until the end of the rod touches the base of the starter.
5— Press and hold the remote starter button mounted to the fender. Wait for a loud click.
6—Whack the end of the rod with the hammer. Starter engages and engine starts."
Photo credit: mashleymorgan