Which car is cooler

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I recently took a trip to the store to buy a couple things and saw this car in the parking lot. The juxtaposition between this car and my car struck me so I parked next to it and took this picture.

Couple questions;

Which car is cooler?
Which car is worth more "as is"?
Which car changed society more?
Which car is mine?
 

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I recently took a trip to the store to buy a couple things and saw this car in the parking lot. The juxtaposition between this car and my car struck me so I parked next to it and took this picture.

Couple questions;

Which car is cooler?
Which car is worth more "as is"?
Which car changed society more?
Which car is mine?
Tesla
Tesla
Ford
Tesla
 
-A Model T out and about is way cooler. It takes an effort to drive one, let alone keeping it roadworthy. A model s just requires some bucks. I see s's on a regular basis; don't believe I've ever seen a t on the road.

-Id have to guess the Tesla. I don't think model t's are particularly valuable.

-Definitely the t.

*I reserve the right to change the above answers in 100 years.

-Which is yours? I don't remember you bragging about your Tesla all the time, so it must be the t :p

I do agree that they are both important and interesting cars. I probably would've staged the same picture.
 
Ford
Tesla
Ford
Tesla

So if you want to be cool, unload that over-hyped electric golf cart and buy a few Model Ts.
 
The jeep in the background would like to make a case for number 3.
 
Looking at those two cars, I'm wondering a different question. What would a car look like today, if it were designed to be as inexpensive to manufacture as possible, while still being roughly as reliable as anything else on the market. No special features, nothing fancy. How much would it cost? Maybe make it three wheeled, so it wouldn't have to have baby damage proof crash resistance. Is a $5000 car possible?
 
Looking at those two cars, I'm wondering a different question. What would a car look like today, if it were designed to be as inexpensive to manufacture as possible, while still being roughly as reliable as anything else on the market. No special features, nothing fancy. How much would it cost? Maybe make it three wheeled, so it wouldn't have to have baby damage proof crash resistance. Is a $5000 car possible?

There are compact trucks like the Dodge 700 that are $12k or so. I don't know that $5k is realistic but I would think that it could be done for a bit more. Of course, stuff like that is not available in the US market.

https://moparinsiders.com/the-all-new-2021-ram-700-is-mexico-bound/
 
There are compact trucks like the Dodge 700 that are $12k or so. I don't know that $5k is realistic but I would think that it could be done for a bit more. Of course, stuff like that is not available in the US market.

https://moparinsiders.com/the-all-new-2021-ram-700-is-mexico-bound/

living part-time in Mexico, we see the cool VW, Chevy, Ford and Ram offerings that the manufacturers won’t bring to the US.

Neat little fuel-efficient vehicles but they’ll interfere with sales of larger, more profitable vehicles.
 
living part-time in Mexico, we see the cool VW, Chevy, Ford and Ram offerings that the manufacturers won’t bring to the US.

Neat little fuel-efficient vehicles but they’ll interfere with sales of larger, more profitable vehicles.

That’s what annoys me. It seems like the days of offering basic, budget minded vehicles here in the US is a thing of the past. I think there would be a ton of new vehicles sold if something was offered at the $10-12k price point. Obviously the manufacturers can do it, they just don’t want to.
 
That’s what annoys me. It seems like the days of offering basic, budget minded vehicles here in the US is a thing of the past. I think there would be a ton of new vehicles sold if something was offered at the $10-12k price point. Obviously the manufacturers can do it, they just don’t want to.

Just a little over your price point. Divide by 20 to get $US.

79C3A7C7-B6B8-4155-8B60-D473AB3DDDC8.jpeg
 
Obviously the manufacturers can do it, they just don’t want to.
They sell anything people will buy. The government won't allow those cheap vehicles because they don't have 500 airbags, backup camera, crumple zones, side impact beams, braking assist, and the list goes on. They also generally use simpler powerplants that wouldn't pass 1st world emissions regulations. The compact cars we do get are about as cheap as they can be and still meet regulations. They have to sell enough of them to bring down their CAFE numbers on the larger cars they do make a profit on.

That's not the whole story though. It's the same thing we see with airplanes.... nobody buys the base model cirrus. We are (collectively, not individually) so rich and so spoiled in this country that there isn't enough demand for simple cars. Luxury, or at least the illusion of it, sells.

You used to be able to buy a Chevy w/t pickup. They had no options and were among the cheapest vehicles you could buy. I don't think they even sell a model like that anymore. I do see fleet pickups that are pretty basic, so it might be possible to buy something like that from a fleet leasing company, although they may not want to deal with a single buyer either. My '97 is still doing what I need it to, although with 170k on the clock I may be in the market before long. The electrical system is starting to noticeably break down. I no longer have power locks or a radio, and the dash flakes out at times. What do you suppose today's pickups will look like in 25 years?
 
What would a car look like today, if it were designed to be as inexpensive to manufacture as possible, while still being roughly as reliable as anything else on the market. No special features, nothing fancy.

Henry Ford purd near put Ford Motor out of business by trying to stick to his "cost is everything" concept in the 20's. One big problem with that business model is that people who want to save money on a car buy a used car - not some minimally equipped new car. People who buy new cars want something nice - that's why they buy new.
 
Baseline/entry level car prices from the major manufacturers don't seem to have changed much in inflation adjusted dollars. The baseline Honda Civic has been $23,000 and some change since 1990. The bar for what passes as the minimum has just come up. Given economies of scale, it wouldn't surprise me if it is more expensive to produce a baseline car without some of these features even if you tried given most of your demand will be for cars with th.

https://www.torquenews.com/1083/myt...more-expensive-1990-honda-civic-vs-2020-civic
https://www.nadaguides.com/Cars/1990/Honda/Civic/4-Door-Sedan-LX/Values ($10,450 in 1990 dollars = $22,987 in 2022 dollars)
https://automobiles.honda.com/tools...kZJRlMkRUNDOkdDJEVDWDo=&payment=&paymentType=
 
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You used to be able to buy a Chevy w/t pickup. They had no options and were among the cheapest vehicles you could buy. I don't think they even sell a model like that anymore. I do see fleet pickups that are pretty basic, so it might be possible to buy something like that from a fleet leasing company, although they may not want to deal with a single buyer either. My '97 is still doing what I need it to, although with 170k on the clock I may be in the market before long. The electrical system is starting to noticeably break down. I no longer have power locks or a radio, and the dash flakes out at times. What do you suppose today's pickups will look like in 25 years?

You still can buy a work truck. I think they start at around $38k.

Government required equipment has definitely caused the vehicle base prices to go up, but I’m not convinced that it’s on the order of tens of thousands of dollars. Aside from regulations and mandatory equipment, I think the American consumers and the manufacturers have equal parts blame for taking the US car market where it has gone.
 
Not to get too political about it, but I do believe that there are a lot of people who can't reasonably afford a car in the 15k range but could maybe around 5-8k....and I think they'd do it now. I think we've gone overboard with safety and emissions, too. Now before people start throwing rocks at me on environmental issues, keep in mind that what used to be thought of as a pollution problem was VOC's and NOx. Well, fuel injection is pretty cheap and takes care of VOC's, and is the cars are running little engines they're going to make less CO2, which is the current pollutant to receive highest whining rating. As far as safety goes, there's a limit to how much we can or should do. We're not going to have perfectly safe cars or airplanes. Lee Iacocca turned around Chrysler, in part, by introducing the K-car. It was cheap, reliable, slow, and not really safe.

Or the short version - I think we're selling cars as if we're in the 1950's, and our economy and technology are booming. They aren't. Ford and GM are selling to a shrinking market of well to do people.
 
Maybe it’s just living in a suburb of a large city but I see Teslas everywhere.

Even in my smallish town of under 25,000, I am seeing more and more Tesla cars. They are mostly traveling through, looking for a charger so they can make it the next charger.

I may be the odd one here, but does the Tesla only have something like 5 colors?
 
The boring, dime a dozen, lack of personality Tesla won't ever top a list of cool cars. Impressive no doubt, but in no way is a car that you see 5 at a time at a stop light ever going to be cool.

I miss the first-gen roadster based on the Lotus Elise. That one made me excited about an electric car. Then again, I'd probably be just as happy (if not more happy) to have a Lotus Elise.

2010_tesla_roadster_16364809978358f49e8eadfe4faIMG_6720-scaled.JPG
 
Even in my smallish town of under 25,000, I am seeing more and more Tesla cars. They are mostly traveling through, looking for a charger so they can make it the next charger.

I may be the odd one here, but does the Tesla only have something like 5 colors?
4 more than the ford.
 
4 more than the ford.

“Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it's black”. Henry Ford

During the early stages of the Model T production, the car was available in almost any color, except black. Except from I think 1914 to 1925 it came only in black more due to economics. Ford wanted to produce the most number of automobiles in the least amount of time and apparently the color black dried faster. The very first model came in red. Later models of the Ford Model T came with a variety of colors such as green, bright red, dark blue, maroon, brown, grey and of course black.

And don't get me started about folks that buy a black vehicle in the desert and complain about it being hot in summer...
 
1. Could be either. Ford is open top, Tesla has air conditioning. I think.
2. Ford, if it is in decent condition.
3. Ford, hands down.
4. Prius. He said he parked next to it, but he didn't say he was parked next to it when he took the picture.
 
They sell anything people will buy. The government won't allow those cheap vehicles because they don't have 500 airbags, backup camera, crumple zones, side impact beams, braking assist, and the list goes on. They also generally use simpler powerplants that wouldn't pass 1st world emissions regulations. The compact cars we do get are about as cheap as they can be and still meet regulations. They have to sell enough of them to bring down their CAFE numbers on the larger cars they do make a profit on.

That's not the whole story though. It's the same thing we see with airplanes.... nobody buys the base model cirrus. We are (collectively, not individually) so rich and so spoiled in this country that there isn't enough demand for simple cars. Luxury, or at least the illusion of it, sells.

You used to be able to buy a Chevy w/t pickup. They had no options and were among the cheapest vehicles you could buy. I don't think they even sell a model like that anymore. I do see fleet pickups that are pretty basic, so it might be possible to buy something like that from a fleet leasing company, although they may not want to deal with a single buyer either. My '97 is still doing what I need it to, although with 170k on the clock I may be in the market before long. The electrical system is starting to noticeably break down. I no longer have power locks or a radio, and the dash flakes out at times. What do you suppose today's pickups will look like in 25 years?
My first truck was a 94 Silverado. Under the hood it looked completely empty. I could stand on the wheel wells when a head gasket went out. It even had a light on a retractable cord in case you needed to do something under the hood. My '04 Sierra engine bay was "modernized". Packed to the gills. And in subsequent years the 2012 and 2016 have gotten worse. What all the extra stuff under the hood is or does...no clue. The 94 had everything but Bluetooth. The 04 had rear disc. The 2012 had freaking drums.
 
That’s what annoys me. It seems like the days of offering basic, budget minded vehicles here in the US is a thing of the past. I think there would be a ton of new vehicles sold if something was offered at the $10-12k price point.
You see them in other countries that don't have the safety regulations that we do. I doubt many Americans looking for a budget car would choose them over a used, but higher-end, car.

I may be the odd one here, but does the Tesla only have something like 5 colors?
Currently five color choices. Three additional colors are in the works. Either white or (dark) silver are included in the base price. Blue, black, and red are paid upgrades ($1,000, $1,500, and $2,000 on the Model 3).

Wraps are a popular after-market option. People are putting on all sorts of crazy colors and designs with wraps.
 
Guy down the street has a 1912 Baker Electric. He has been restoring it for years and is finally done.
Over the years, I've seen him drive it in the middle of the night when no one is around.
He thinks the big debut will be in late May. All the gearheads in the area are quietly going insane, waiting to see it.
I will take pictures.
 
Guy down the street has a 1912 Baker Electric. He has been restoring it for years and is finally done.
Over the years, I've seen him drive it in the middle of the night when no one is around.
He thinks the big debut will be in late May. All the gearheads in the area are quietly going insane, waiting to see it.
I will take pictures.

That is totally awesome.!!

In the very late 1800s and very early 1900s there were more electric cars on the road (there was approximately 200 miles of paved roads in the USA back then) than gas engine cars. Of course they only had a 10 to 15 mile range with top speed of 15 miles an hour. The one single thing to put electric cars out of business was.....wait for it..... the electric starter....no more sending the wife or kids up front to crank on the crank to get the engine started, where a back fire could break the starter persons arm. That is if a person could afford a electric starter for their car.
 
Toyota's Land Cruiser and Hilux lines. Not sure why they're not being sold in North America anymore (The Land Cruiser).
The Hilux will kill the Tacoma, so that's probably the reason for that one.
 
That is totally awesome.!!

In the very late 1800s and very early 1900s there were more electric cars on the road (there was approximately 200 miles of paved roads in the USA back then) than gas engine cars. Of course they only had a 10 to 15 mile range with top speed of 15 miles an hour. The one single thing to put electric cars out of business was.....wait for it..... the electric starter....no more sending the wife or kids up front to crank on the crank to get the engine started, where a back fire could break the starter persons arm. That is if a person could afford a electric starter for their car.

The first road vehicle to do 100kph was electric, really awesome looking too:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Jamais_Contente

upload_2022-4-29_14-23-58.jpeg
 
no more sending the wife or kids up front to crank on the crank to get the engine started, where a back fire could break the starter persons arm.

I remember my first experience with a crank starter. I was in junior high, and I stalled an ancient International Harvester tractor, pulling a wagon, on the railroad tracks that ran through the ranch where I worked. The tractor had an electric starter, prone to locking up and requiring disassembly to get moving again, so when it locked up I was highly motivated to grab the crank and figure out how to use it.

We only had one or two trains a day come through, but still... Fortunately, I'd at least been briefed on how not to get my arm broken if the engine backfired.
 
Came out to the airplane parking lot one day and saw this cool juxtaposition....

CFACAD18-F9DE-4833-A43B-BB7FBBB338C7.png
 
The boring, dime a dozen, lack of personality Tesla won't ever top a list of cool cars. Impressive no doubt, but in no way is a car that you see 5 at a time at a stop light ever going to be cool.

Wasn't this also true when the model T was in full production? Everyone had one?
 
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