What would you like in an automobile ?

[kmccune]

1.No hydrocarbon swaps .
2.A body or chassis that doesnt rust out.
3.True flat free tires .
4.Standard controls
5. Reasonable safety without "airbombs "
How about the rest of the proletariat ,what would you like ?

[Burning Petard]

Reliability. to know that if I do the maintenance as listed in the owner's manual I can jump in and drive from the East Coast to the West Coast without any problems even if it has 100k on the clock.

Good braking and cornering. total weight under 3000 pounds loaded with two adults and a couple of suitcases.

Room for 2 comfortable adults in the front seat, with enough headroom and the headrest shaped so I can still wear a cowboy hat while driving. Backseat can be small.

Electronic gadgetry that works without alot of hunting through screens. Some of these things from the factory are more dangerous than texting while driving.

Power system that gives lots of torque. Be able to merge in high speed traffic entrances. Reliable cruising speed of 75mph. Not interesting in a top end of 130+ If it is electric, I want power stations everywhere. I want a touring car that will work as a short range commuting car.

snailgate

[Crackpot]

People that know what's reasonably accomplishable with automotive design

[oldr_n_wsr]

All the stuff that came (and didn't come) in a '64 Dodge dart (or plymouth valiant) but without the rusting out.
225 slant six
push button tranny
torsion bar fromt suspension
leaf springs
am radio
bench seats
points/condensor/rotor
oil filter facing downward so oil goes all over the swing arm when you change the oil filter

[MajGenl.Meade]

I'd like Kaley Cuoco.....

[RayThom]

#1. No payments.
#2. A full-size spare tire.

[Big RR]

I agree with 2 RayThom, as well as a good jack and lug wrench that do what they're supposed to do.

[MG McAnick]

In answer to the original question: ME in the right car. Say a 1957 Mercedes 300SL Gullwing. I don't need Kaley. I have Mrs Mc.

I agree with 2 RayThom, as well as a good jack and lug wrench that do what they're supposed to do.

RayThom and Big RR, do you know why they put those crappy $2 jacks and 50¢ lug wrenches in cars?

It's because they ran out of the $1 jacks and 25¢ lug wrenches.

Speaking of 300SL Gullwings, a while back I googled the guy that I knew when I was a freshman in college who owned one. There was a nice article about him in the college town's newspaper dated about 16 months ago. He'd gone skydiving for his 93rd birthday. I remember his 50th birthday, thinking that he was too old to enjoy the 300SL or his Porsche 911. He had ten other cars at the time, including a two passenger tandem seating Messerschmit, a BMW Isetta, and a 1929 L29 Cord.

Google also came up with a phone number for him, so I called him. He remembered a kid who'd worked in the shop where my boss worked on the 300SL, but at nearly 95, he didn't' remember my name. I remember getting a ride in it, but he gave so many rides that he didn't specifically remember mine. I DO. We talked cars for nearly half an hour. He's still a car guy, although he no longer drives. His son has the 300SL, and has no intention of selling it. No problem, I don't have the $1,000,000 to $2,000,000 it would probably take to buy 300SL serial #5 anyway.

[kmccune]

Wow good posts ,have to agree on that Gull Wing ,I dont believe that styling we ever be dated .
1.The torque ,yes!
2.The 3000# weight ,yes ! there are so many benefits to having a car with reasonable weight.
3.The bullet proof slant six(the last place I seen one was in a Pettibone telefork lift tractor )
4.Kudos on the rest,the people using this forum do not lack common sense-bring some more on folks

[RayThom]

I agree with 2 RayThom, as well as a good jack and lug wrench that do what they're supposed to do.

RayThom and Big RR, do you know why they put those crappy $2 jacks and 50¢ lug wrenches in cars?
It's because they ran out of the $1 jacks and 25¢ lug wrenches.

FYI: I don't drive anywhere without a lightweight floor jack, jack stands, a 25" breaker bar, and 3/8" and 1/2" socket wrench sets in the trunk. If I can't fix something myself then I call AAA Roadside.

[Bicycle Bill]

▼▼▼  HER

The one in the back, with the glasses and the dark-blue top.
I want her in my car (again).
More than anyone can ever imagine.

-"BB"-

[kmccune]

Apologies ,image didnt come through .

[RayThom]

... The one in the back, with the glasses and the dark-blue top.
I want her in my car... More than anyone can ever imagine.

Porsche? Are you STILL pining away for Porsche? Now that commitment. A little creepy and morose, but commitment nonetheless.

Unrequited love can be so destructive to a fragile psyche. As Loretta Castorini once said, "Snap out of it!" It's time to move on.

[Bicycle Bill]

Don't know what has happened.  I was able to see it last night; now I can't even bring the picture up from the link in my bookmarks.
And no, Ray, it is not Porsche.  If you look at the URL for the image, though, you might get a clue.

-"BB"-

[MajGenl.Meade]

Was that her?

[Lord Jim]

What I want from an automobile:

1. I stick the key in, turn it, and the engine starts running.
2.I put it in gear, press the gas pedal, and it starts moving.
3.I take my foot off the gas pedal, press the brake pedal, and it slows down and/or stops moving.
4. I take my foot off the brake pedal, put it on the gas pedal, and it speeds up and/or starts moving.
4. It continues to do this till I reach my destination.

That's pretty much it...

[Joe Guy]

If you look at the URL for the image, though, you might get a clue.

Oh, I see. It's a tripod.

[datsunaholic]

 If you look at the URL for the image, though, you might get a clue.

Weird. I tried image searching google for the image name that failed to link....

And came up with Kat Von D.

Didn't know you were into that, BB.

Actually, Google couldn't find anything with that image name "kath-kat-con", so it "suggested" Kat Von D.

So, I went to the site that the photo was referenced from and found that it was the old Cafe Darte fTf gallery from ~1999-2000.... and found my ugly mug on there (as DaBrown, when we played whirlyball. Good God, that was 16 freaking years ago, I was in my 20s). Oh, the old Cafe Darte fTfs.... I went to a few. And I know I've met at least one person on this board in person (at one of the San Francisco ones, which means it's pretty obvious who that is).

But I also found the page the image links from, which allowed me to see the image. And I remember a little history. So I know who you're talking about, but since the page actually NAMES the person (well, by her old internet handle) I won't post it here. Anyone else can do the same internet sleuthing I did.

[datsunaholic]

Now, as for what I'D like in a car....

Well, same as I already got. Maybe less rust. Fewer mushrooms. Definitely fewer bald-faced hornets (they came out of hibernation today. In the middle of I-405. In traffic.)

[Bicycle Bill]

If you look at the URL for the image, though, you might get a clue.

Oh, I see. It's a tripod.

After MUCH searching, I found this picture of her from a sci-fi/fantasy convention we attended together in the Twin Cities back in 2005 (and as you can see, datsun, she is about as far from Kat von D — which no, is not my particular cup of caffeine-free herbal tea — as you could imagine).  She is dressed in costume as "Bissonomy", a personage briefly mentioned in passing in a novel by the late Terry Pratchett:

By law and tradition the great Library of Unseen University is open to the public, although they aren’t allowed as far as the magical shelves.  They don’t realize this, however, since the rules of time and space are twisted inside the Library and so hundreds of miles of shelving can easily be concealed inside a space roughly the thickness of paint.  People flock in, nevertheless, in search of answers to those questions only librarians are considered to be able to answer, such as "Is this the laundry?" "How do you spell surreptitious?" and, on a regular basis: "Do you have a book I remember reading once? It had a red cover and it turned out they were twins."

And, strictly speaking, the Library will have it ... somewhere.  Somewhere it has every book ever written, that ever will be written and, notably, every book that it is possible to write.  These are not on the public shelves lest untrained handling cause the collapse of everything that it is possible to imagine.* (footnote: *Again)

Moist (Moist von Lipwig, protagonist of the novel), like everyone else who entered the Library, stared up at the dome.  Everyone did.  They always wondered why a library that was technically infinite in size was covered by a dome a few hundred feet across, and they were allowed to go on wondering.

Just below the dome, staring down from their niches, were statues of the Virtues: Patience, Chastity, Silence, Charity, Hope, Tubso, Bissonomy* and Fortitude. (footnote: *Many cultures practise neither of these in the hustle and bustle of the modern world, because no one can remember what they are.)

Moist couldn’t resist removing his hat and giving a little salute to Hope, to whom he owed so much.  Then, as he wondered why the statue of Bissonomy was carrying a kettle and what looked like a bunch of parsnips, he collided with someone who grabbed him by the arm and hurried him across the floor.

Well, she took this brief bit of information and worked up a costume for the Masqued Ball on Saturday night — including the parsnips, the tops of which you see hanging out of the kettle.  One of the judges was Mr. Pratchett himself (he's the one with the beard), who promptly named her the winner for having taken such little information and having gotten it exactly correct.  The above picture was taken that night.

THIS is the woman who is welcome to share my car any time she so desires.

-"BB"-