My aunt had a 1965 Oldsmobile Starfire convertible (just like this one, except dark blue with white top and white interior) with that same engine ("police interceptor" option) but in a smaller and sleeker car.
The Olds my dad had was just one huge boat.
A 240, right? Oddly enough I saw one of those just last week. Completely stock on the outside, but with a set of speakers that filled half the boot...webwit wrote: My own favorite along those lines is the old Volvo Station. Drives like a powerful car, has the fuel consumption and crash safety of a tank, and you could haul stuff with it like a van, which I loved. Now if I need to transport something big, I must use a transport service or rent a van. If I wouldn't live in the city with it's small streets and small parking spaces, I would like a car like that again.
Cars were my obsession before keyboards. The old or interesting ones still are - sadly, for the most part over here it's a rubberdome world where cars are concerned. And 30s cars are an interesting study - the innovations in styling all happened at fairly specific times, so it's easy to guess a date by looking at the style. If it had been a 20s one I'd have had much more trouble working out a date...
Could not agree more, but the Yanks got cooler oldies. Love how this is turning into a "car stories" thread. I snapped these two recently while on my bike, both classics. Love the BMW 3.0 CSI, that shape.
Two birds with one stone.
My city, Indianapolis, is basically serving as experiment for electric car sharing in the United States. We have this service called Blue Indy, based on the Autolib service that has been successful in a few large French cities. Indianapolis is a sprawling mess with some of the worst public transport in the country for a city of its size, so the mayor and French billionaire Vincent Bollore decided to use the city as a testing ground (with public funding, of course). The service is intended to fill a convenience gap that the public transport system clearly lacks. Theoretically, if the service is successful in a sprawling American city like Indianapolis, it could work anywhere else.seebart wrote: True, electric cars are becoming a realistic option. German car makers have long ignored the subject but are now finally coming out with electric models. We also have quite a car-sharing boom in the cilties here in Germany. I sometimes use some of these services, quite practical for shorter trips.
Spoiler:
Yea, super fast charging stations that are not brand exclusive and quick battery swaps will be necessary for electric cars to succeed at a massive level. We are too accustomed to a convenient, quick fill up. Imagine a network of charing stations and battery swaps as common as gas stations. That's what it will take to alleviate "range anxiety."webwit wrote: They will have a problem if there aren't any big breakthroughs in battery technology. I wouldn't do this. They add to the pain by making those batteries and loading stations brand exclusive. What I want is make a pit stop at a generic battery station and swap my battery for a fully charged one.
Add that to the cost of installing a charger in your home. I think a Tesla Model S uses as much electricity as everything else in your house while it is charging, and the range of a Tesla is what most people need to alleviate range anxiety. You cannot realistically own a long-range electric car without owning a home and investing a couple thousand dollars in equipment and professional hookup to actually charge the thing.
Not only that but the battery technology itself is far from mature. The whole concept of electric cars has a long way to go IMO but at least something is happening be it experiments like Indianapolis or eccentric business people like elon musk. The japanese have some decent electric cars on the market but the range of course is limited.
Yea, the geopolitical and environmental consequences of our dependence upon oil is the worst part of the whole industry. I would like to think that a world without oil dependence would be a better world. But perhaps it also means new places for conquest, conflict, and destruction. We are humans, after all, adept at creating a messy world.webwit wrote: I wonder what a world with battery powered vehicles would look like. And I don't mean the vehicles or traffic, but the power shift. The Middle East will go bankrupt and their problems of western invasions will stop, with the "terrorism" hopefully as well. The new wealth would go to the countries with the "rare earth" materials. Will they get rich, bombed by the US (for freedom, of course), or both?
Right, we've managed to fuck this planet up in very short time if you look at the timeline. I read the other day that amino groups were found on some other rock in space (forgot the details now) and that since amino groups are the origin of humans we may well be aliens if amino groups hit the earth with a meteoroid.
Funny that the Middle East will be able to easily generate large amounts of solar energy for itself, when it wants to.
I actually believe it is realistic possibility that the Earth was seeded with life from a different planet. Whether it was intentional, I am not sure. We'll find out if they return.seebart wrote:Right, we've managed to fuck this planet up in very short time if you look at the timeline. I read the other day that amino groups were found on some other rock in space (forgot the details now) and that since amino groups are the origin of humans we may well be aliens if amino groups hit the earth with a meteoroid.
So basically any moderately organized Middle East country will be fine in a post-oil world, and the rest of the world won't give a shit about them anymore, unless they have the raw materials for batteries buried in the sand or have a layover in Dubai.fohat wrote: Funny that the Middle East will be able to easily generate large amounts of solar energy for itself, when it wants to.
And, if all the oil is not sucked out in the immediate future for the people who are alive today to burn, future generations will be very appreciative of whatever oil is left, because what it is really useful for is making plastic!
Like many grand endeavors, they start with high hopes. Sometimes the results are less satisfactory than anticipated.
I hear it's jam-packed with tourists already.
