Million-to-one mix-up

Occasionally I find myself trying to get into the wrong car in parking lots, because I don't bother to look that closely at the car. If it's the same color and shape as mine, and parked in the same general location, I assume it's mine. But that's not always true. I realize my mistake when the key doesn't fit.

Back in 1985, a case like this occurred. A couple tried to get into a car in a shopping mall parking lot that was the same make, model, and color as their own. But it turned out that the cars had identical keys as well. So they got into the car and drove away. They only realized the mix-up when they noticed that the stuff inside the car wasn't theirs. When they drove back to recover their own car, they found out that the owner of the other car also had the same last name as them. And finally, this all happened on April Fool's Day, but I'm trusting that it happened as reported, since the news report appeared after April 1st. [Bangor Daily News - Apr 3, 1985]

Posted By: Alex - Wed Jun 12, 2013 - Comments (16)
Category: 1980s, Goofs and Screw-ups, Cars

Instant Car Crash Guaranteed!

Original ad here. (Scroll down.)

Posted By: Paul - Sat Jun 08, 2013 - Comments (4)
Category: Death, Chindogu, 1950s, Cars

They Warn the Car Behind

From the Washington Post - May 2, 1915. So whatever happened to the idea of electric gongs supplementing turn signals.? Seems like it could actually be useful.

Posted By: Alex - Wed May 22, 2013 - Comments (9)
Category: Motor Vehicles, Cars, 1910s

Irish Car:  The Shamrock

Why there is no Irish car industry today. From Wikipedia.

Shortly after production began, however, design flaws became apparent. Although the car was big and heavy, it used a relatively small Austin A55 1.5 litre engine, which limited performance. The A55 also provided the transmission and suspension. Another problem was that the rear wheels were shrouded by body panels and a rear wheel could not be removed (for puncture repair for example) without dropping its axle..... Production of up to 10,000 cars a year was talked about but as few as ten complete cars were produced during the six months before production ceased. After the factory closed, the unused parts were dumped into the local lake, Lough Muckno.

Posted By: Paul - Thu May 16, 2013 - Comments (5)
Category: Regionalism, Success & Failure, 1950s, 1960s, Europe, Cars

Wild at the Wheel

The filmmakers seem to have hired an Iron Butterfly cover band to do the soundtrack, which makes all the dangerous risk-taking seem alluring..

Posted By: Paul - Sat Apr 20, 2013 - Comments (3)
Category: Accidents, Daredevils, Stuntpeople and Thrillseekers, Death, PSA’s, 1970s, Cars

Fritz von Opel

Fritz von Opel was one of those early-20th-century rocket-besotted guys who pioneered this exotic means of propulsion. Just look at his rocket car go in the film clip above! (Narration in German, but not necessary to comprehension.)

But von Opel's innocent excitement had its darker side. I give you the 1929 newspaper article below. Specifically, the enlarged sentence.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Mar 29, 2013 - Comments (7)
Category: Inventions, War, Space Travel, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, Europe, Cars

Early Solar-Powered Car

A 1912 Baker Electric car that was retrofitted with a solar panel by Charles Escoffery for the International Rectifier Corp. back in 1960. The panel cost $20,000. (I don't know what that would be in present-day money, but it wouldn't be cheap.) With the panel, the Baker could run at 20 mph for three hours. International Rectifier hoped to soon be churning out "noiseless, smogless" solar cars for $5000 each. It's 53 years later now, and we're still waiting. Source: Newsweek (Mar 7, 1960) & M3GA.

Posted By: Alex - Sat Feb 16, 2013 - Comments (4)
Category: Inventions, 1960s, Cars

Mercedes Benz Commercials

Maybe it's just me, but I find these commercials remarkably creepy, inauthentic, unappealing, ineffective and misguided, given my perceptions anyhow of who buys a Mercedes.

What do you all think?

Posted By: Paul - Sat Dec 08, 2012 - Comments (8)
Category: Business, Advertising, Humor, Stereotypes and Cliches, Europe, Cars

SUV Lightning Strike in Russia

In the good old days, a lightning strike would be bad news, but your vehicle might still run.



I'm guessing the computer gets fried and the poor schlep behind the wheel gets to sit and think what to do next.

The strike is bright from the outside, so I'm just wondering what the immediate thoughts of the driver were.

Posted By: gdanea - Sat Sep 29, 2012 - Comments (12)
Category: Cars

World’s Smallest Car

This car won a place in the Guinness Book of World Records -- less than 18 inches tall!!



If this car was in the US, a roll-bar would be mandatory, kind of defeating the shortest car attempt!!

Posted By: gdanea - Fri Sep 28, 2012 - Comments (4)
Category: Cars