The racism on this site is appalling. Why can't we stick to enjoying the cars and leave the bigotry out of it?
ROCKWELL TURBO ENCABULATOR
You forgot the Rockwell Turbo Encabulator. I think I have to go watch that movie again. I actually have a physical copy of it, but search the title on YouTube and have a monestically-spaced series of phenom benzamine laughs!
I see this guy driving around a fair amount, so he must live in Mission Hills or the beach area. It's a sweet car.
Hey I am totally freaked out! Oops, no radio and no cigarette lighter, nowhere to plug it in. Oh well.
My California-based solution is to drive with the top down as often as possible. That way you can't hear the phone ring, you can't hear the people on the other end speaking, and they can't stand the wind noise on any mic I've tried. Thus "No talk while driving" is achieved without too much difficulty.
Yes, it is horrendously hard to make cars light these days. I talked to Dave Hill (the Corvette guy) about it a couple years ago - he couldn't see how anyone could get a car under 3000 lbs. The Vette has balsa wood, carbon fiber, etc. and still exceeds that, as does a 911.
The Insight is light because it has aluminum structure, plastic body panels, alloy spare wheel and jack!, manual seat adjust, no storage cubbies, doors that won't slam, carpets with little if any sound deadening, tiny dimensions, thin glass, 12v battery smaller than a motorcycle, suspension made of match sticks, etc.
And a miniscule motor, titanium rods, magnesium pan, yada yada. The hybrid battery pack weighs about 45 pounds, the same as its tiny transmission and the same as half a tank of gas. The entire hybrid system is about 150 pounds. No doubt that is more than a turbo or maybe even less than a tiny diesel weighs.
But you get a kick out of it, and you can use it when you couldn't use a turbo. And I'm averaging 58.6 over the past 25,000 miles. Cheap, but not slow.
My Honda Insight weighs 1700 lbs and IS fun already. A bit more hp and better suspension and BINGO! CRZ ((oh yeah, better looks)
Being a Citroen owner/lover, I have to say I also like this car. In the flesh it's a beautiful piece of work. Can't say how it drives as it was just sleeping on the sidewalk at SEMA when I spotted it.
I paid $4.01 9/10 for Arco premium this morning in my 2CV. It took $16 for half a tank.
My Honda Insight is in the shop today but when I get it back, it's off to the station for $3.79 regular - a tank last 600 miles which is about 3 weeks for me.
DAGNABIT Jethro! That car's only 20 miles from me.
What the hay, it could be mine and a feature story for Jalopnik!
What the hay, it could be mine and a feature story for Jalopnik!
BTW, for all you that wrote it off due to the cost of filling the hydraulic system with green LHM fluid, this might be a red fluid car, 1969. In which case you can use all that Dexron ATF that's laying around in the garage since you decided to do an O/H on that Turbo Hydramatic back in '77, but then came to your senses.
And being the owner of 3-4 British cars and 3-4 Citroens at the moment (depending on how you define "owner" and "car"), I can assure you it's a tie on rust-bucketness.
"No, honey, I don't own that car, not exactly"
"Yessir, this little baby's my pride and joy"
"Uh yes, officer, I do have the registration here, somewhere. Well it might be back at the house. The front plate? Well, it might be back at the house too. In France. That house. Uh, the yellow headlights, well you see ..."
Y'all know how it goes.
Citro - Mike
I worked for an automotive publisher and was able to get the stationery from several of the OEMs. We created mock Technical Service Bulletins and recall notices and sent them to our company executives, recalling their cars.
If I remember correctly, the most creative one said that his wiper motor was likely to catch fire, and the way to diagnose it was to start up the wipers (while car was parked) and carefully time each sweep with an accuracy to within a few fractions of a second. We saw him head out to the car with stopwatch in hand and spend 20 minutes timing various wiper strokes. The windshield was practically worn through by the time he finished.
When he turned and saw a bunch of us dying of laughter at the window he knew he had been had!
What we didn't know was that he was supposed to trade in his car for a new one that day, and the deal got postponed due to our prank.
I'd be glad to send you a genuwine HUMBER Super Snipe badge. I have several and have never figured out why I bought them 20 years ago.
Got 'em right over shere with the Studiebaker badges, the 5 1/4 inch floppy drive, the Betamax, and my timing light.
What's wrong with you guys? I love it!
Ah, to have been there to say hi!
My fleet is rarely on the road, given all the moms in Excursions and F450 Super Duty trucks jamming the Southern California roads on their way down for a latte. Not to mention average highways speeds of about 80 mph in morning traffic.
My fleet is rarely on the road, given all the moms in Excursions and F450 Super Duty trucks jamming the Southern California roads on their way down for a latte. Not to mention average highways speeds of about 80 mph in morning traffic.
Cool? How can they NOT be the coolest thing on 6 wheels?
I talked to the owner of this car; he sleeps in it so no one from the club steals it at night!
Hi guys,
That might be an "EMA" motor but it sure isn't a Corvair. They have 6 cylinders, remember? A big fan on top, fan belts going over and around the top, distributor in another place, etc.
That might be an "EMA" motor but it sure isn't a Corvair. They have 6 cylinders, remember? A big fan on top, fan belts going over and around the top, distributor in another place, etc.
Watching the video, I am struck by the choice of a 2-row keypad for dialing. What the heck is that?
Please! I don't care how nice the plastic texture is, it's plastic wrapped around shapes that don't need to exist anywhere in the universe - especially in front of a person's face for XXX,XXX miles. Does Lutz think these leaked shots impress us more than the taped-up plastic of a week or two ago?
I looked through the SuckMyRide site and discovered only two NOKIA phones are supported!
Give me a break.
And there is a different list of supported models depending on you country, by Ford / Lincoln / Mercury vehicle and your cellphone service provider.
Ford is losing their butts financially and they need this kind of support headache?
I don't think so...
