Pictured above is a factory stereo pulled from a 2011 Toyota Prius. The yellow warning sticker reads, “CAUTION: Insert only one CD into the slot at a time.”
Single-slot CD changers have been around for decades and their functionality is clear to anyone with a three-digit IQ.
Are Prius owners having trouble understanding how a CD slot works?
Click to play.
The clip runs about 14 minutes and includes an interview with CEO Sergio Marchionne and designer/SRT chief Ralph Gilles. There’s also exclusive footage of Chrysler’s manufacturing facilities as well as Chrysler’s headquarters in Auburn Hills. Marchionne says he moved out of the isolated top-floor “chairman’s tower” and into an office among engineers.
Marchionne, surrounded by Italian state security, then takes an Alfa Romeo 8C around the company’s rooftop test track in Turin.
The compact disc is a stage-5 clinger, refusing to accept its place in history alongside the compact cassette. As consumers go, I’ve become a laggard, hanging on to equipment well past its expiration.
Fast Tube by Casper
I wasn’t always this way. In high school (the 90s) I carried a portable Mindisc player, an Apple Newton, and an IBM Thinkpad, none of which got me laid by the way. Before wireless data was a big deal, I had a Novatel CDPD cellular data modem, good for about 14.4kbps if I was really lucky. Unlimited data service from GoAmerica (through AT&T) back in 2000 was about $65 per month, a high price for limited urban coverage.
Some people get tattoos to assert their edginess. Nerds buy gadgets they don’t need.
At auto shows, DVDs and CDs only recently emerged in place of glossy paper brochures — the auto industry tends to lag when it comes to the adoption of consumer technology (Lexus offered a tape player in the SC430 until 2010). Now, auto manufacturers are handing out thumb drives filled with videos and clever presentations.
Software publishers, among the last to abandon optical media, are transitioning away from DVDs to write-protected USB thumb drives. Apple offers Mac OS X on a flash drive while Windows 7 is available for legal download. Microsoft offers a free utility to install the Windows 7 ISO to a USB drive, no configuration files or FDISKing necessary.
I use CD-RWs for MP3 playback in my Saab convertible (2010 JVC stereo) where leaving an iPod in the car or using my phone for music playback is cumbersome and impractical. The only nuisance is having to erase the disc and re-record it (at low speed to avoid read errors) whenever I update the playlist. 700MB is enough for 6-8 hours of music, plenty for a week of driving.
Now, all-digital head units without CD mechanisms are available for well under $100. Due to the absence of moving parts they promise greater reliability and larger buttons, displays, and knobs. The CD’s last holdout, the automobile, may finally be disappearing.
As for DVDs, if not for the limited selection of streaming movies on Amazon Prime and Netflix, I’d never watch them again.
It seems that optical media, despite its ubiquity and nearly three decades of dominance, is finally fading away.
Do you still use it?
I’ll take it!
I needed a new (used) hood for my old Saab and the local PickNPull finally had a car in inventory, a silver 1989 naturally aspirated 900 sedan. The problem was, I needed some way of carrying it home.
A nice day for junking.
Sure, I could have driven my car into the city and installed the replacement hood in the junkyard parking lot, but what if a bolt refused to come loose or what if started raining? I figured the best option would be to rent a full size pickup, bring the hood home, clean up the small rust spots, and have it painted and installed later.
Once again, I booked with Enterprise where I was promised a Ram, Silverado, or F-150. Unfortunately, they called me the following morning to tell me they were out of half ton trucks and offered a Chevy Colorado as an alternative. I measured the Saab’s hood and due to the wraparound clamshell shape, it was too large to fit into the bed of a midsize truck, so they offered a full size cargo van instead.
Again, there was the dilemma of whether it would fit through the van’s doors, so I brought some measuring tape to the Enterprise location to see for myself. It was going to be a tight fit.
$58 got me a day and 150 miles with a white Chevy Express panel van, GM’s dependable workhorse for plumbers, electricians, traveling bands, and cake shops.
I’ve done a lot of vanning in my time (yes, that’s a verb), finding myself behind the wheel of a couple Econolines, a Rally Vandura, and a Mazda MPV. The MPV wasn’t much of a utility van but it did offer three rows of seating and rear wheel drive, used primarily to haul musical instruments and equipment.
I once drove a GMC van 300 miles to a car meet in Indianapolis, deboarding through the back door on a hydraulic wheelchair lift like some kind of low-end royalty.
On another occasion I rode in the back of a red Econoline in nothing but a plastic lawn chair, holding on to whatever I could as it leaned like a wine glass around corners. Additionally, I personally know the guy who owns the original “Free Candy” van — it was seen on Leno a couple years back.
I guess you could say that vanning is my “thing,” so when Enterprise offered one as a pickup truck alternative, I was naturally pleased.
Most would spurn the venerable cargo van for its lack of charisma, suspicious demeanor, and its lowly status as a somewhat of a social pariah. They’ve been associated with everything from working-class heroes to failures at life who use them as temporary residences.
Fast Tube by Casper
But that’s what makes them so darn great. If you’re down on your luck, you can grab a box of clothes, toss in a mattress, and move right in. If you happen to have a panel van with no side windows, the police and the neighborhood watch won’t know you’re living inside, stealing wifi and eating food cooked on a 12-volt hot plate. And when life finally turns around, it doubles as a handy utility vehicle.
To heck with society, a big panel van is all a man needs.
I will admit, while I was driving the Express around my quiet suburban neighborhood at night to run errands or go to dinner, long after regular daylight business hours, I felt as if the local police were watching me with extra care. A brown guy in a white van could only mean trouble, right?
Let’s talk about the 2011 Chevy Express.
It’s huge. I overestimated my measurements and we (my roommate and my friend Marvin) were able to load it through the back door at an angle with plenty of space to rest it on the rubber floor.
The van I received from Enterprise looked like this:
Yep, that’s a van. I could have taken my own exterior photos but staging it with some pretty scenery in the background would have been a bit silly.
2011 Chevrolet Express, 16620 miles
Express 2500 vans come with a 4.8L Vortec V8 with 280hp and 295 lb-ft of torque (6.0L 324hp V8 optional), mated to a smooth six-speed automatic transmission.
My base-model van included a rubber utility floor covering, two vinyl bucket seats, air conditioning, rear wheel drive, manual locks, manual mirrors, and manual windows. The only added features were a crummy sounding but easy to use AM/FM radio with no tape, CD, or aux input and… well that’s it. Front air conditioning is standard. Rear AC is optional.
GM gives retail customers the option to save $240 by deleting the spare tire. I didn’t check underneath to see if it was present but I’m hoping Enterprise didn’t cheap out by omitting it. For a retail buyer, the price would have come to $26,590, a reasonable deal for a vehicle with limitless configuration options, but for anyone who doesn’t need a large covered cargo area, a shortbed Dodge Ram can be had for under $20,000.
Bonus: The Chevy Express and GMC Savanna are built here in St Louis.
Driving the Express was more car-like than I expected.
The six-speed transmission shifted smoothly and throttle tip-in was slow and easy to modulate, important to keep my cargo load of books and car parts from sliding around. The easy shifts kept the cabin from jostling around with each gear change, important in a vehicle that could be carrying sensitive items like glass antiques or a tall wedding cake.
There’s a manual mode on the column shifter for selecting your own gear, handy for towing and climbing or takeoffs in the snow, and a there was a button on the dash with a trailer icon.
The gauges are nicely laid out with a digital display that can show the tachometer, fuel economy information, distance to empty, oil life status, trip computers, tire pressure, and more. When you start the truck the digital text display does a nifty sweeping animation.
The 70s-inspired loosey-goosey steering, awful ergonomics, hilarious handling, and freight train braking typical of GM vans are long gone. All good things to lose, but because of these modernizations, the era of vanning as a motoring novelty is over. Sadly, the ultra-comfy, throne-like front seats of the old GM vans are gone as well, and the old Delco radios sounded a little nicer.
Around town, the Chevy Express drives like a tall Impala, emulating the big sedan’s average steering, average handling, average braking, and average feedback. I could spin around the parkway without worrying about tipping over on my side and I could brake without having to plan ahead by marking it on my calendar for next week.
Unfortunately, after a day and more than 100 miles on the road my back was aching a bit. Yes, the seating position is much improved over GM’s long-discontinued Vandura and G20 vans, allowing more space for the left foot by moving the wheel arch away from the driver’s seat. Climate and radio controls are closer to the driver as well but the seats lack the depth, support, and long-distance comfort of the old van.
For people who spend all day in these vehicles for their livelihood, that slight bit of discomfort is kind of a big deal. The Econoline has the edge here.
Ride quality is a positive with some of the bounciness of past GM vans smoothed out. A series of surface undulations will eventually get the van rocking fore and aft, but it recovers quickly. Of course, the ride is noticeably more stable with cargo in the rear.
In the end, with combined city and highway driving, I averaged 17.0 mpg. The following day I stopped at the BP station and filled the tank to 3/8, which is where it was when I picked it up from Enterprise the day before. I noticed a Flexfuel label on the filler cap and selected E85 at $3.59 per gallon. It only saved me about four bucks over regular unleaded — Missouri doesn’t subsidize the cost as aggressively as some others states. The next driver might notice some extra power but lose 10-30% of his fuel economy. Not my problem.
Next time, I’d like to rent Nissan’s new NV, a monster van with Nissan’s torquey VK56 V8.
For now, a silver Saab hood sits in my guest room. I’ll need to go over it with some POR-15 to eat the surface rust and then take it over to my preferred body shop for prepping and painting.
RATINGS:
Powertrain: 8/10 — At first, I was going to criticize the transmission for being mushy and the throttle for having a slow tip-in until I realized how important it was for cargo stability. Takeoffs were smooth and gear changes were pleasingly lazy, keeping my car ports from slamming against the bare walls of the van. Acceleration with the 4.8L Vortec V8 is adequate.
Braking: 8/10 — Pedal action is easy enough to modulate with surprisingly good stopping power as I approached traffic jams on the interstate. It feels like being behind the wheel of a large sedan.
Steering/Handling: 7/10 – For a van, it corners sufficiently and offers a modest level of feedback. There’s nothing sporty going on here and perhaps there shouldn’t be. It tracks down the road straight and true and goes around street corners without feeling like a motor home. You could even push it just a little bit.
The ride is fairly smooth and with a cargo load in the back it’s reasonably steady.
Audio/Accessories: 6/10 — The manumatic shifting feature is handy for towing and climbing. Air conditioning worked exceptionally well, as expected in GM products.
Clear analog gauges display oil pressure, coolant temperature, fuel level, speed, and voltage. A transmission temperature gauge would be a nice addition. A tachometer, fuel computer, trip computer, oil info, and tire pressure are all within the two-line digital display, accessible with four small but confusing buttons located to the left of the gauge cluster.
The basic AM/FM head unit had two speakers, no CD player, no cassette, no satellite radio, and no auxiliary input. How GM charges an additional $150 for this garbage is beyond me.
If I was to rate the Express on options, I’d give it 10/10. The possible configurations of engines, doors, interiors, seats, and side panels is endless. GM smartly recognizes its full size van as a multifunction tool, a means to an end. The more ways to use it, the better.
Interior: 3/10 — When I climbed in the first thing I noticed was the nasty creaking of the door handle. Instead of using a single, solid piece of plastic, it’s two pieces poorly sandwiched together around what I assume is a solid door handle underneath. The layout of the controls is logical and ergonomically reasonable… for a van. Some of the climate controls were a little bit of a reach. Hard, drab plastics cover the rest.
There is, however, plenty of storage for personal items and three large cup holders in the middle.
Comfort: 5/10 – There’s a nice fold-down arm rest and tall seat backs. Cushioning feels perfectly adequate but the seats lack the long-distance depth and width of GM’s older vans. My lower back was just a little bit sore after 100 or so miles.
Quality/Reliability: 8/10 — They’re built to last and they typically do. The only wildcard is the six-speed auto.
Overall Value: 7.8/10 — It’s a handy multifunction tool with a history of good dependability, but it’s long overdue for a major update. These GM vans date back to 1996, before I was old enough to drive. With Nissan now competing in the cargo van market, it may be time for GM to come forward with additional improvements.
VERDICT:
GM’s Express and Savanna offer superior fuel economy and a plethora of options and customizations, but check out the Ford Econoline for its comfort and value and the Nissan NV for its V8 engine and tall roof.
More on vans:
http://jesda.com/2011/08/05/the-joy-of-vanning-full-sizers-compared/
There’s only so much to say about a mundane rental car, so I’ll throw in some photos of last weekend’s St Patrick’s Day shenanigans.
I sent my Saab to my specialist for transmission maintenance and cruise control service, and because it was taking a few days I booked a rental car. [I recently sold my Cadillac Seville, whittling myself down to one vehicle in case I need to move away for work or school opportunities.]
Thanks to an special from Enterprise, $34 scored a 2011 Toyota Corolla LE from Friday through Monday ($9.99/day weekend deal) and they picked me up at home. If not for cruise control, an MP3 stereo, and 4-speed automatic transmission I would have assumed it was a stripper model.
It looks like a brand new ten year old used car. The door sticker confirmed that it rolled off the assembly line in June of 2011.
The outdoor temperature display is a nice feature, although a fuel consumption readout would have been more useful (available as an option). The gauges and displays are otherwise as plain as ever, a trip back to the 90s.
Really, the entire car looks and feels like it came from the Clinton era, not an entirely bad thing when you consider that the Corolla’s steady dependability [partly due to its lack of technology] has helped it earn the title of best-selling automobile in the world. Every 40 seconds, someone on this planet is buying a new Corolla.
In Bangkok they use them as taxi cabs, subjecting them to brutal climate conditions and poorly paved streets, brutalizing the torsion beam suspension. Here in America, decade-old examples fall into the hands of careless high schoolers who can’t be bothered to change the oil, but they start and run everyday without complaint.
Indisputably, the Corolla deserves praise for its role as a global workhorse, as it has been for decades. Unfortunately, working hard doesn’t necessarily translate into high marks for style, comfort, or performance.
THE BODY
Toyota’s designers recently sculpted the headlights, tail lights, and hood to give it a more Camry-like appearance, lending the Corolla a slightly more expensive but somewhat awkward look. The unusually high ground clearance, tall fenders, and high ceiling combined with a short wheelbase give it a stubby, compromised stance.
A decade ago, styling could be cast aside as a low priority — buyers of compacts cared more about ownership costs than curbside appeal.
In recent years, the new Ford Focus, Mazda 3, Chevy Cruze, and Hyundai Elantra have surpassed the Corolla (and the Honda Civic) in comfort, performance, style, and standard features. As Americans downsize in response to high fuel costs, compacts have emerged as the new standard, and the downsizing public expects the same creature comforts they enjoyed in the larger and more expensive vehicles they traded in.
This poses quite a problem for a stodgy car determined to stay in a pre-9/11 world.
THE INTERIOR
Inside, the cabin extensively uses durable but hard plastics. A few swaths of padded fabric add a bit of comfort and well-fitted panels give the impression of quality until you touch the harsh surfaces.
There are a total of EIGHT cupholders — two in the front center console, one in each door, and two in the rear. Stay thirsty, my friends.
There’s a front door pocket and cup holder.
This rear door also has a pocket and cup holder.
Rear center cup holders fold out from the back of the front center console. They feel quite flimsy.
Two generously sized glove boxes built into the passenger side dashboard provide space for documents and sunglasses. An additional storage compartment is in the center console under a small lid.
With a few exceptions, the panel gaps are tight and even. It presents well compared to past Corollas but against the competition it looks tired, cheap, and dated.
Rear seat passengers are treated to hard seating that feels a bit like a park bench. Cushioning is too firm and the seating position is unusually straight and upright. Thanks to the Corolla’s tall roof, head room is more than adequate.
I suppose a typical Corolla owner would put his or her school books here… or cases of Natural Light.
The center stack is laid out logically except for the clock, rendered useless by forcing the driver to take his eyes off the road to read the time. Knobs and switchgear feel reasonably durable and precise.
The inside of a Corolla is a drab place to be, like hanging out at the DMV.
THE DRIVE
Driving a Corolla is a plain, uninteresting experience, like operating a dishwasher.
As I backed out of the Enterprise parking lot I immediately noticed the overboosted steering. Rotating the wheel back and forth met with almost no resistance. Later on, I learned that it was an electric steering system, not hydraulic, which reduces weight and complexity and saves a bit of fuel. Unfortunately, there’s a big trade-off in driving enjoyment.
To give the Corolla a bit of credit, the steering wheel does transmit surface imperfections reasonably well, but turning doesn’t feel like a real, physical act. It’s a bit like playing with a video game controller. Yes, your finger movements cause the on-screen character to perform a task, but you aren’t actually performing it. You’re asking the machine to do something for you and hoping it executes properly.
Think of it as an artificial representation of steering rather than the real thing.
The throttle pedal is much the same way, isolated and disconnected from the mechanical actions of the car. Stepping on it offers almost no physical resistance and few of the engine’s vibrations can be felt through the feet. If you’ve ever played a sit-down racing game at an arcade, the pedal on the floor is nothing but a shallow electronic representation of a car, a piece of plastic with a spring underneath. If you want to control a machine that looks, sounds, and feels like an actual automobile, you’ll have to graduate to the real thing — likewise with the Corolla.
While I may be inclined to blame drive-by-wire technology, most manufacturers seem to understand how to make it feel as if the pedal is still connected to a throttle cable. Toyota, at least with its Corolla, has not.
ONWARD TO ST PAT’S
I drove to the city on Saturday morning to pick up my friend Paul. I don’t wear bright green, nor do I own anything in that hideous color, so we headed to a costume shop for St Patty’s attire. I ended up in this classy shirt:
Paul knew someone who was part of a non-profit group that was operating some parade floats, so we drove to the staging area nearby to join.
I parked the car; as we walked around the corner we saw the floats quickly pulling away. He and I took off running (I look like an idiot when I run, so you can imagine by reluctance) and jumped aboard while it was in motion, like a cliche movie scene where the eager protagonist runs after a train leaving the station.
Coincidentally, the float happened to be themed after a steam train.
The most important part about this story is the free beer. Sure, it was a Bud Light, but would you say no to free Bud Light?
(I suppose some would.)
Approaching the main parade route, we took in the sights, sounds, and unfortunate smells of St Louis City.
We arrived at the staging area and hopped off the float for a break at Sybergs where I regrettably had a shot of Jagermeister.
The teal blue car to the right is a Packard.
A Jeep meet is taking place in that parking lot.
Nice C4 Corvette.
The weather, so far, was cooperating. It was 79 degrees with a nice breeze and storm clouds were not expected to reach the city until later in the afternoon.
After a drink and piss break at the bar we climbed aboard. There was a porta-potty on the trailer but I didn’t want to risk falling or peeing on my leg in while going around a corner.
Quite a crowd.
I was having a much better time than my facial expression suggests. The sun was in my eyes and I was still recovering from the Tylenol PM I took the night before to get myself to wake up early.
Approaching Union Station
Metro PD, friendly and omnipresent.
Someone carved a statue of me.
😀
We picked up speed heading south through Soulard.
Deboarding
Unloading
From here, Paul and I went to a keg party. Unfortunately, the walk from the car to the house was more than a mile in a thunderstorm that arrived just as we parked. Paul carried a 20-pack of Bud on his shoulders the entire way.
There wasn’t a whole lot going on when we arrived so we walked all the way back, leaving the beer behind, and headed to McGuirk’s to meet up with Paul’s wife. You can imagine how crowded an Irish pub is on a rainy St Patrick’s Day.
It was still early in the evening but I was ready to take a nap… for 12 or more hours. We walked back to Paul’s house where I fell asleep on the couch at an unusually early 9 pm.
On a groggy Sunday morning, Paul and I drove to Courtesy Diner where we sought much-needed nutrients, most of which I left in the toilet the night before. Chicken-fried steak, bacon, toast, eggs overeasy, and hash browns have never been so heavenly.
CONCLUSIONS
My Saab was delivered later that afternoon with fresh transmission fluid, new vacuum lines, and a new transmission filter, then on Monday I gave the dependably dreary Corolla back to Enterprise.
Fuel consumption for the weekend was 29 mpg, an adequate number for mostly highway driving but far short of the Hyundai Elantra’s EPA-rated 29/40 mpg (33 combined).
My back was a bit sore after spending 165 miles behind the wheel. Although the seats offer surprisingly thick side bolsters, lumbar support is inadequate. This is not a car I would enjoy on a road trip.
I’m left scratching my head, baffled by how Toyota manages to unload more than a million of these worldwide every year. In developing regions like Southeast Asia, India, and Brazil I can respect the Corolla as a significant upgrade over, say, a rickshaw or a donkey. But here in America and especially Western Europe, the options for fun-to-drive, feature-packed, and fuel-efficient cars are endless.
Is the Corolla a microcosm of Toyota itself, coasting along on its stellar reputation while offering nothing more than mediocrity? Perhaps.
There is, however, something to be said about ubiquity. No matter where you go on this planet, Corolla parts are widely available along with people trained to service them. It’s Generation X’s Volkswagen Beetle minus the Nazi legacy.
RATINGS:
Powertrain: 5/10 — The “intelligent” transmission usually responds well but sometimes feels a bit delayed. Perhaps because this is a rental car the system is constantly learning behaviors of several drivers. Four gears is rather inadequate and has an adverse effect on fuel economy. At 26/34 mpg, the Corolla lags behind many of its competitors.
The somewhat anemic 1.8L engine is well insulated from the cabin. The throttle pedal movement feels cheap and fake, too much like a game or driving simulator.
Overall, it’s a fairly sufficient amount of power (132 horsepower) delivered in a somewhat sufficient manner. Stay out of the left lane.
Braking: 4/10 — Pedal action is a bit spongy. ABS is far too aggressive, eager to come on even in dry weather. The Goodyear Eagle LS tires may be part of the problem, offering poor traction in wet weather. The brakes are easy enough to modulate but stopping distances may be too long in an emergency.
Steering/Handling: 3.5/10 – Steering communicates the road surface adequately but movement and weight feel terribly artificial. The somewhat soft suspension allows the car to lean more than it should while turning but the highway ride is nice and steady.
Somehow, the Corolla manages to feel isolated in a way that isn’t at all comfortable or luxurious.
Again, the Goodyear Eagle LS tires are no help in the rain, squealing in mid-throttle turns. This car was equipped with traction control but it didn’t seem to do anything.
Audio/Accessories: 7/10 — The use of a stalk for cruise control seems a bit out of date but it works just fine, located in a convenient position attached to the steering wheel. It maintains cruising speed accurately over gentle inclines.
The four-speaker MP3 stereo is unexpectedly bright and powerful, somewhat compensating for the dreariness of the rest of the car. Unfortunately, the CD player has no random playback function, something which would be nice when listening to 700MB of music. For everything else, there’s an auxiliary input jack for iPods and phones.
The digital clock is in a bafflingly low position on the center stack.
Interior: 4.5/10 — Plastics are hard and nothing feels very expensive, but panels are mostly well-fitted. No squeaks or rattles were present.
Believe it or not, the Corolla is quieter on the highway than the Lincoln Town Car. Though expansion joints are heard and felt, wind and tire noise is nicely muted.
This score would be higher if the competition wasn’t exceedingly competent.
Comfort: 4/10 – Heavy side bolsters do their job as the Corolla exhibits quite a bit of lean in turns, but padding is too firm and lumbar support is lacking. Rear seat passengers have sufficient space but the seating position is too vertical.
Quality/Reliability: 9/10 — It’s dependable and reasonably well made.
Overall Value: 5.5/10 — A history of dependability is the only thing the Corolla offers but the price tag (over $15000 for LE) isn’t low enough to offset what the car otherwise lacks. Competing cars from Mazda, Hyundai, and Ford offer similar dependability with more style, features, fuel efficiency, and comfort.
VERDICT:
Pick up an old Corolla (any age) as a spare car, winter beater, or something to give your 16 year old kid as a set of training wheels. There’s absolutely no reason to buy one brand new.
We often joke about Toyotas accelerating unintentionally, but the aging Corolla is going nowhere fast.
Specifications:
132 hp I-4 VVT, 128 lb-ft torque
4-speed intelligent auto (26/34 mpg) or 5-speed manual (28/35 mpg)
Front-wheel drive
Optional sunroof, bluetooth, and USB
2734 lb curb weight
102.4 inch wheelbase
Datsun is an odd brand, and Nissan itself is an odd company, created out of a series of mergers and acquisitions over the course of half a century.
In the 1930s, Nissan acquired DAT Motorcar, resulting in a two-tier brand strategy where Nissan was used on more luxurious models while Datsun was applied to small, economical cars. The word “Datsun” simply meant “son of DAT,” and son was replaced by sun in reverence of the Japanese flag and because “son” means “lose.” As for the DAT name, it came from the initials of the company’s partners in 1914.
In the 1960s, Nissan merged with Prince Motor Company, the manufacturer behind famous model names like Gloria, Laurel, and Skyline. The current-day Infiniti G37 traces its history back to Prince’s 1957 Skyline.
In America, Datsun was applied to cars while Nissan was reserved for trucks. Then, in 1986 the Datsun name was dropped entirely. Nissan became the company’s single global brand until 1990 when Infiniti was introduced to the US market.
Just a week ago there were reports of the Datsun name making a comeback, to be applied to entry-level economy cars in markets where people may be transitioning from mules and rickshaws to cars. In other words, don’t expect to see a new Datsun in America anytime soon.
There’s a lot that happened in between but it adds up to quite a lengthy story. You can read about Datsun’s corporate history on NICOClub.com.
—————————————-
Now, let me introduce you to Alice, a red 1967 Datsun wagon I had the privilege of driving back in December.
Greg and Becky Childs of Surprise, Arizona found this gem on bringatrailer.com, a sharing site for classic car ads of all brands and nationalities. When someone sees an interesting ad on eBay, a forum, or Craigslist, it gets posted and discussed on BaT. Even if you aren’t in the market, it’s great for looking at four-wheeled time capsules.
Alice was owned by Peter Murnik, the actor who plays Trooper Bergen on FX’s “Justified,” and it was located 380 miles away in California. I’ve done some long-distance cross-country internet purchases, but I’ve never had the guts to drive home a 40 year old car. Greg paid the guy, got the title, hopped in the Datsun, and headed home — no breakdowns, no drama.
The car was in unrestored condition, a good thing as it leaves an empty canvas to work with and guarantees that no questionable work was done before.
The interior was fully in tact so much of the labor involved detailing, cleaning, and replacing the carpets.
As for the motor:
“We settled on a plan to build a stroker motor. A stroked 1600 is a fairly common build. Basically, it involves using the U20 crank (from a 2000cc Datsun engine) and different pistons. Ultimately, we decided on a .030 overbore along with the stroker crank and rods, and a custom ground cam (440 Lift / 276 Duration)… These changes effectively make the 1600 into a roughly 135-hp, torquey 2-liter (without sacrificing appearance or reliability). Since the 1967 came with a 3-main block, and we wanted to use a more robust 5-main block, a motor from a 69 Roadster was sourced. I retained the original block (just in case anyone ever wanted to return it to a “numbers matching” car).”
The leaking Borg-Warner 35 automatic was sent to a shop for refurbishment. The brakes and suspension were also rehabilitated with new springs, bushings, calipers, and hoses.
While Alice was sent away for a new coat of red and white paint, Greg and Becky polished and cleaned the exterior trim pieces and badges. Then the new, larger 2.0L motor (upgrade from 1.6) went in.
By the end, this little red wagon was fully restored and sharp as a tack.
When I say sharp, I mean trophy-winning sharp. It could have rolled out of a 1967 Datsun showroom.
In October, Sam Mitani at Road and Track ran a story covering the Japanese Classic Car Show in Long Beach. Alice got a bit of national attention, making it into the splash photo:
And while Alice may be a classic, she’s no garage queen, driven a couple times each week where the public can see and admire an artifact of Japanese history. I’m a firm believer in cars being treated like machines, exercised and used regularly as they were intended.
Now, let’s talk about the drive…
In the picture below, there’s a tube attached to the door. You fill it with water or ice, take off down the road, and the air rushing over a soaked pad cools the interior. It does not, unfortunately, remove humidity, which is why they’re often referred to as desert coolers.
The cooling effect, unfortunately, only lasts for 75-150 miles before having to be refilled. Some had electric fans so they could be enjoyed while idling in traffic.
Inside the desert cooler.
A view of the cooler from inside the car.
And of course there’s heating.
The entire body is adorned with attractive painted pinstriping.
In the background you can see Greg’s 1931 Ford Model A, which I also drove, and my silver 2001 Cadillac Seville.
Plenty of cargo space.
Automatic 411s were quite rare. The Borg-Warner 35 was a predecessor to the BW T37 in my Saab. It’s a stout, dependable unit.
The “SSS” trim level originally received a 1.6L R16 I-4 which produced about 90 horsepower. As mentioned earlier, this motor has been upgraded, producing 135hp.
I climbed inside and was greeted with a beautifully trimmed and intelligently designed cabin.
Everything is 3/4 scale from the little bucket seats to the switchgear and panels. Imagine your child’s Power Wheels, upsized to fit grown-ups.
I grew up in a Datsun household. We had a rusty pickup from the 1970s as well as an orange-and-primer B210 with floors that had completely rusted through. This wagon’s vinyl and glue smells immediately brought back childhood memories of sitting in the bench seat of dad’s white Datsun pickup and the water that intruded the cabin whenever the B210 drove over a large puddle.
Alice started up immediately, settling into a gently buzzing idle. In the picture above you can see how close together the seats are, but the squarish Pininfarina-penned styling allowed for sufficient head room — an upright seating position similar to a modern Mini Cooper. A family of four could cruise across the desert comfortably while achieving more than 30 mpg.
It’s a small car, without question, but even with two fat guys in the front it didn’t feel cramped.
In the center of the dashboard underneath the radio were three knobs labeled C, L, and W. Unsure of what they were, I thought about playing with them but my friend Ian advised that I probably shouldn’t. I assume they mean Choke, Lights, and Washer. The shaft AM radio was functional.
After familiarizing myself with the interior, I pulled column shifter into Drive and took off.
Fast Tube by Casper
The light, easy steering and user-friendly controls made it easy to casually cruise around the neighborhood at moderate speeds. The upgraded 135hp motor had sufficient torque to push 2000 lbs of car (plus two guys), quietly taking off without complaint.
A four-speed manual would have added some briskness but it would have detracted from the low-effort cruising feel of the wagon. Borg Warner’s dependable BW-35 3-speed automatic was also used in MGs, Citroens, Jaguars, Reliants, Austins, Volvos, Rovers, Triumphs, European Fords, and Morrises. Thanks to its popularity, having the unit serviced or replaced is generally not a problem.
Here’s some extended discussion on it:
http://www.mgexperience.net/phorum/read.php?48,1680737,page=1
Like a lot of older cars, braking performance required little a bit of planning ahead.
I’m a fan of wagons, especially when you look through the rear view mirror (above) and see that extra bit of car that you otherwise wouldn’t in a sedan. In addition to practical advantages, the wagon format elongates a car’s visual appearance, conveying length and a little bit of luxury.
And Alice has more charm and delight in her D-pillars than most cars have from bumper to bumper.
You can learn about this Datsun’s detailed restoration process here:
http://www.nicoclub.com/archives/1967-datsun-wrl411-1.html
“Release Me,” a 2007 single by Oh Laura, was featured in a Saab commercial calling for the ‘release’ of the power of nature (biopower). It seems fitting that off-beat Saab would choose not only a Swedish band, but an indie band as well.
Fast Tube by Casper
Lowe Brindfors, an ad agency in Stockholm, came up with the concept to promote the brand’s leadership in forced induction and biofuels while lending it a degree of much-needed emotional depth.
The 40-second clip presented Oh Laura to an international audience, catapulting the band to platinum sales and widespread popularity in Australia, Scandinavia, and the UK. The song was not, unfortunately, released or promoted in the United States. However, the 11-track imported album, “A Song Inside My Head, a Demon in My Bed,” is available from Amazon for $9.
The album’s other offerings are certainly pleasant enough but fail to deliver anything groundbreaking, swimming around in luke warm country-rock soup. Frida Ohrn’s vulnerable, engaging vocals, which bear a strong resemblance to Christina Perri and Alanis Morisette, feel terribly underutilized on most recordings.
————
Saab was always a brand that attracted analytical types — architects, professors, economists, and engineers. While the marque enjoyed a depth of loyalty envied by most of the industry, it lacked the mainstream emotional appeal that brands like Chevrolet, Cadillac, and BMW enjoyed.
Fast Tube by Casper
“Move Your Mind” and “The Most Intelligent Cars Ever Built” were 1980s slogans that won over a wealthy and well-educated demographic, but nothing tugged at the heart strings until 2007’s “Release Me.” Some consider the song a story about Saab itself, shackled under the bureaucratic management of a careless, directionless General Motors.
Unfortunately, like a captive animal released into the wild, Saab died just two years after declaring its independence from GM.
Here’s the music video for “Release Me”:
Fast Tube by Casper
————
Album Rating: 4.5/10 — It’s background music for a coffee shop.
Ad Rating: 9/10 — Between the awkward sterility of “Welcome to the State of Independence” and the abject absurdity of “Born From Jets”, Saab finally found a way to present itself to the masses, too little too late.
Watch as he takes the buffer and haphazardly and impatiently brutalizes the surface of this Escalade:
Fast Tube by Casper
He’s like an ape shaking a stick.
From the video comments:
“Should change the title to swirl installation. Keep the damn pad flat, how can you call yourself a detailer and not know this? Stop throttling it up and down, using the edge to polish, you are going too fast over the Escalade, it doesn’t appear you are using any polish either. What a complete hack. But by all means keep it up, I make good money fixing hack jobs like you just did on that Escalade. I bet it looks hideous in the sun.”
It seems like basic sense to use a concise pattern and consistent speed to avoid burning the paint surface and creating additional swirl marks. Additionally, randomly moving all over the vehicle as he does means coverage will be inconsistent and incomplete, resulting in a surface that looks uneven.
This is how he does paint work:
Fast Tube by Casper
I doubt he’s using a ventilated dust-controlled room. The absence of a mask or respirator means the fumes are going straight to his head, which may explain why his polishing jobs appear to be the work of a drunk.
It’s one thing to screw around and do a hack job on your personal beater car. It’s another to charge customers as a “professional” for sloppy work. The fact that he’s proud enough to share it on Youtube is baffling — he’s clearly oblivious to his total lack of ability.
For a job poorly done:
VSF DETAILING
3166 Tampa Rd
Oldsmar FL 34677
727-678-4872
After more than two decades, the front and rear panel inserts on my Saab 900 were beginning to show their age. I also hate grey. The fronts were changed to black vinyl in 2010 but I never got around to taking care of the rear speaker grilles until tonight.
They looked fine but the fuzzy material is quite dated.
They’re held on by simple velcro. I assumed one of my speakers was blown but discovered that the black fabric covering the speaker grilles had come partially unglued, causing a fluttering noise at certain frequencies.
Twenty years of dust coated the plastic which ended up all over my desk. I ripped off the old fabric and peeled off the glue.
I traced the speaker grille opening over the back side of a large vinyl sheet. I cut out a hole leaving half an inch from the outside edge of the tracing.
Then, I cut slats about a half inch apart, which would be folded back along the backside of the plastic and glued.
I tried three different adhesives. The upholstery glue took too long to dry, forcing me to use a Swingline stapler to hold the fabric in place.
Epoxy dried too quickly, before I even had time to press the edge of the fabric on to the plastic.
Superglue gel ended up being the most effective, drying quickly, costing the least, and being easiest to apply.
Nice result. The creases in the vinyl should hopefully go away over time, especially as the outdoor temperature rises.
Installed. Not great, especially because the corners are a bit crude, but it works. For the front I used padding material since its where my arm rests against the door.
Total cost:
$10
In 1939, a series of World War II posters were released by the British government, intended to reassure the public and encourage support for the war effort.
The first published sign read:
The second read:
Finally, the third:
The posters were reserved for use during times of crisis and catastrophe but the third, with perhaps the most timeless message (“Keep Calm And Carry On”), never saw publication.
Recently, a copy appeared at Barter Books in Northeast England. At an auction, the shop owners acquired boxes of books, one of which contained the third unpublished poster. Because it was now public domain, the poster was hung on the wall inside the store and copies of all three posters were offered for sale.
The message was rediscovered just in time for the 21st century’s war, recession, and instability. While this isn’t a crisis on the level of World War II, the validity of the message remains true: Keep calm and carry on.
It has since been satirized and parodied, applied to political movements and pieces of pop culture. Now, Saab owners are using it to keep the faith, as a rallying cry, as they wait for a suitor to purchase the now-bankrupt automaker.
The video below tells the story of the poster’s origins and how it was found:
Fast Tube by Casper
Below is a hooded sweatshirt with Saab’s Griffin logo in place of the crown:
A Saab alternate version of the poster:
Some parodies and twists on the theme:
