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Detroit, 11:44 AM
Sun Nov 22
10 posts in the last 24 hours
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10:49 AM
Well, I have a close cousin to this van, and its a 1983 model. It will be undergoing a cosmetic restoration this summer, and I plan on doing a series of posts about it.
10:21 AM
okay, i lie... i forgot about all my time spent in church vans driving from indianapolis to where-ever... i was trying to forget those.. 15 passenger vans with 20 kids and 4 days worth of luggage each... crazy parent drivers passing rush hour traffic in kentucky at 85 on the shoulder... oh.. god... ***curls in to fetal position.....***
09:23 AM
10:03 AM
...but I do know that I'd commit war crimes for a manual transmission/slant-6 Dodge (they exist, but are likely rarer than hens' teeth). That would be ripe for a junkyard turbo AND a waterbed.
10:52 AM
11:19 AM
If that car was even marginally less horrid, Hyundai would have stopped being a punchline 5 or 10 years sooner.
...granted, not that Malaise-era Detroit engineering was better; I mostly just think that everyone was accustomed to crap-ass cars, unless they were open-minded enough to drive a damn ferrin' car.
11:41 AM
@UDMan: ....and he hasn't done that adorable little dance since.
11/07/09
Alas, group think has thus far prevailed. Bigger is supposedly always better.
Idiots. #1977
11/08/09
You raise a good point, but Mistubishi or Suzuki would need to build a small pickup in North America to be viable, not import it from overseas. There has been a 25% tariff on imported pickup trucks since 1963. The tariff was retribution for Europe tripling the tariff on chicken imported from the US - hence the name "chicken tax". Mahindra is attempting to get around the tax before selling their small pickup in the US. #1977
11/07/09
It was just fine as a work truck, and with C4 seats, was fairly comfy for long trips, too.
"Fairly" is a relative term. I'm not about to trade either the beater E320 or my wife's RX300 for one if I need to road-trip. #1977
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11/07/09
It would allow me to fill the bed for home improvement projects, pull a decent-sized pop-camper and still get better fuel economy than any other truck.
The Mahindra is still too big, but it may have to do. Jury is still out. #1977
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11/07/09
many of the automotive supercars that most of us would give our left nuts for get absolutly horse dung efficiency compaired to most 1500-2500 trucks out there... yet I never hear the same complaints about sports cars when someone sees a loan person driving one around
"Why would someone need that ferrari 430 Scuderia?"
the ferrari 430 Scuderia gets 11-16mpg after all... where as a 2009 Hemi ram gets 13-19mpg.
If some dude wants to buy a giant truck/suv that gets 10 city and 15 highway and use it to commute back and fourth to a desk job... who are any of us to bitch about it when most of us lust over less efficnet and less useful automobiles.
that dude with the giant truck... a vehicle that obviously makes that person happy... is doing it with twenty percent better mielage then the guy in the Lamborghini Murcielago (8/13). but no one cares about the lambo do they?
They see one and say "I'd kill for one" as the guy in the truck behind him gets people flicking him off and posting photos of it on bitter hippy websites (refering to FUH2.com )
Bottom line here.
If someone's choice in a vehicle makes them happy... whether it be a Murcielago or a Hummer H2... Big Deal.
Motortrend has a E92 M3 right now that is averaging 16mpg. Thats what I average in my 01 Suburban.
but guess which one gets complaints.
I'm just not a fan of Hypocrisy or bitterness about someone's choice in a vehicle that makes them happy.
When there is a website out there where bitter angery people post images of them flicking off high end euro sports cars or Gibson Custom Citations because of how wasteful they are... some of the hypocrisy will be gone, but we'll just have more bitter people who have their noese where they shouldn't be. in other people's busness.
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11/08/09
however when it comes to capatalism, if you don't buy it... they will stop making it. which the current non-existance of the 1977 Datsun King Cab (and its 11.3 Cubic Feet Of Cab Space!) something tells me it's not around for a reason. #1977
11/07/09
11/07/09
Find a junk yard civic sedan and add 3 feet of the second rear passenger area to the middle of your hatchback and slap the trunk bed on after the rear wheels.
Trust me, it's a VERY GOOD idea and I think the commentariat would agree.
11/07/09
Everything's just gotten out of hand in terms of scale to the point where they're difficult to use for actual work. #1977
11/07/09
Kings ain't what they used to be. #1977
11/07/09
11/08/09
They did rust though - mom made the mistake of sideswiping a fence with ours and the rust on the damage was instant - plus we had an exhaust manifold rust off. #1977
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11/07/09
Don't even get me started on the Lincoln / Denali crap... #1977
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And for those who have never seen an original Mini in real life; an original Mini is to a 2009 Mini what this Datsun King Cab is to a 2009 F150. #1977
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11/07/09
They weren't big, but the load-to-overall ratio was pretty high. They did their job, they were sturdy and durable. Given the amount of small PUs sold from the Japanese, forcing the US makers to introduce the Ranger, etc, there were lots of other folks that found them useful. #1977