One Horrid Automobile

[Phog Allen]

I have grown to despise mini vans. It seems that invariably if there is a traffic jam in a drive through lane of any sort or an obstacle in the roadway it always has its epicenter around a mini van. The bloody things are everywhere and almost always piloted by a woman distracted whilst using her mobile phone. Okay, maybe a bit stereotypical and harsh but tell me you haven't noticed some of this?

I find it somewhat ironic that we are surrounded by these ruddy things because our all knowing regulators deliberately made the full sized car extinct(think station wagon) with the CAFE regulations. So since light trucks and vans are not subject to the same levels of mileage restriction that cars are, people moved into this new(in the mid 80s) class of vehicle. We have been plagued with them since.

Cheers, Todd

 

[August West]

....full sized car extinct(think station wagon)...

Cheers, Todd

I find the Ford Flex most closely resembles the older full sized station wagons.

Spoiler

 

[Black Adder]

My mom's Pacer was banana yellow. 3 on the tree with an 8 track. Admittedly it was one of the ugliest cars made but it had a surprisingly stable ride due to a wide wheel base and visibility was above average. I suppose I should have been embarrassed driving the thing but AMC cars were pretty common then. You can't really laugh at some kid in a Pacer if you're driving a Gremlin.

Don

 

[Argonaut]

My parents had a Gremlin when I was four or five years old. I thought it was cool because there was a rust hole in the floor board in the back. I could watch the road whiz by under the car, then later learned it's true potential. I'd load my pockets with gravel and drop them through the hole in the floor when we were going down the highway anytime mom would complain that someone was tailgating. She didn't know I was doing it, but it did wonders for backing up tailgaters. I guess I was sneaky enough that the other drivers never suspected where the pieces of gravel striking their vehicle came from, at least nobody ever followed us home to beat the tar out me.

 

[Stubblefield]

I find it somewhat ironic that we are surrounded by these ruddy things because our all knowing regulators deliberately made the full sized car extinct(think station wagon) with the CAFE regulations. So since light trucks and vans are not subject to the same levels of mileage restriction that cars are, people moved into this new(in the mid 80s) class of vehicle. We have been plagued with them since.

Cheers, Todd

Wagons were becoming unfashionable before CAFE, but CAFE did them in. And CAFE is the reason we see few wagons here now.

Nowadays, the big three need trucks and SUVs to stay alive, as they are by far their most profitable segment.

 

[Ender78]

All of these posts bring to mind the really old cartoon that featured a car winning a race then falling part as soon as it crossed the finish line... Wish I could remember the name of it so I can find it on youtube

 

[An Traein Dubh]

The first car I bought myself was a Geo Metro. The primary feeling I got sitting behind the wheel of this two stroke engine was fear.