Electric cars...

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Americans are often called Yankees in Europe.

A lot of these names are stereotypes formed from very little knowledge, most of us don't know much about the American Civil War, and that's if we know anything at all. The term in Europe, and Australia as well, comes from the song Yankee Doodle.

 

[Judge]

A lot of these names are stereotypes formed from very little knowledge, most of us don't know much about the American Civil War, and that's if we know anything at all. The term in Europe, and Australia as well, comes from the song Yankee Doodle.

With the reality that the term came from Native Americans, who referred to so many Dutch settlers in the New York area as "Jan Kees". After all, all those white folks looked alike.

Well, the second time we went "Over There" we did it to music in 1942:

 

[Forest Cat]

What makes/models do you consider to be "dull"?

I just see many American cars to be obnoxiously oversized. But then all the cars I've owned personally were foreign cars. Three Japanese and two British. I like "small".

There's just a lot of small ugly plastic cars on the roads here. When you drive around you see a nice car here and there, but mostly it's small underpowered plasticy cars. One reason for that is because the bigger and more powerful a car is, the higher the price. The taxes on cars are outrageous. Makes your wallet bleed and makes you cry.

I just see many American cars to be obnoxiously oversized

That's the great thing about them, the size. I saw an old Cadillac the other day, that thing was the size of the Titanic. It looked great.

 

[Judge]

There's just a lot of small ugly plastic cars on the roads here. When you drive around you see a nice car here and there, but mostly it's small underpowered plasticy cars. One reason for that is because the bigger and more powerful a car is, the higher the price.

Guess you won't be getting a Shelby Ford Cobra then. Pity. Not particularly big, but pricey.
Not electric, but you can't have everything...boo-hoo.

Watch out for the Cobra "knockoffs". Nice, but not the real thang.

That's the great thing about them, the size. I saw an old Cadillac the other day, that thing was the size of the Titanic. It looked great.

That was the first Cadillac I ever "drove". The man who nicknamed me "Judge" who would put me on his lap so I could drive....or at least steer his brand new 1960 Cadillac. Not so much a big car, but what I called a "whale".

 

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[Judge]

 

[Forest Cat]

Guess you won't be getting a Shelby Ford Cobra then. Pity.

I did some math and if I become a drug lord I think I can afford to buy one, a real one, and pay all the taxes on it.

 

[Judge]

Someone in my family already have one. But I did some math and if I become a drug lord I think I can afford to buy one, a real one, and pay all the taxes on it.

One common denominator about classic car shows. You discover both owners and builders have one thing in common. -EXCESSIVE WEALTH

 

[Mary Terry]

You’re not wrong at all. The batteries of these all electric cars are something to be very concerned about. Like I said, these things depend on electricity to function and must get it from some source which is actually creating pollution to create the electricity that is necessary for the car to function. It is essentially an endless cycle of pollution.

I think the theory is that if all electricity is generated by a single source (a power plant), then that source can implement better pollution controls than the pollution created by millions of gasoline vehicles. I don't know enough about it to agree or disagree with the theory.

 

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Someone in my family already have one. But I did some math and if I become a drug lord I think I can afford to buy one, a real one, and pay all the taxes on it.

Out of curiosity I've just been searching classic cars in Norway and I see what you mean about a love for US cars. I did find one Aussie icon, an Australian made 1963 Chrysler Valiant. They weren't the most popular cars here but they had a reputation for simply refusing to die, they never broke down.

 

[Judge]

Out of curiosity I've just been searching classic cars in Norway and I see what you mean about a love for US cars. I did find one Aussie icon, an Australian made 1963 Chrysler Valiant. They weren't the most popular cars here but they had a reputation for simply refusing to die, they never broke down.

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60s Plymouths. But why did they have to be so damned ugly? And yes, they stayed around for a very long time. My uncle had a love affair with Chrysler-Plymouth. I still recall his 1964 Chrysler New Yorker. One huge rocket. Scared the hell out of my mother to drive it. Dual quads. Backing it out of my uncle's garage must have taken close to 2 gallons of gas.

 

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60s Plymouths.

We started out just rebadging Plymoths but 1963 was the year that we started building our own.

 

[Judge]

We started out just rebadging Plymoths but 1963 was the year that we started building our own.

My mother's side of the family loved 'em all the way back to the early 50s.

Something for everybody I guess.

 

[Judge]

We started out just rebadging Plymoths but 1963 was the year that we started building our own.

Did Aussies drive older ones prior to 63 with left-hand drive? If so, now that's dedication!

I always smile at the rare moments I see anyone in a right-hand drive car.

 

[Forest Cat]

I always smile at the rare moments I see anyone in a right-hand drive car.

I have driven that a few times, it's terrible, every time I reached for the stick to shift gear, I opened the door and fell out of the car.

 

[Judge]

I have driven that a few times, it's terrible, every time I reached for the stick to shift gear, I opened the door and fell out of the car.

Yeah, my concern as well. I mean talk about disconcerting! Made worse with all the roundabouts we have here.

 

[Outdated]

I think the theory is that if all electricity is generated by a single source (a power plant), then that source can implement better pollution controls than the pollution created by millions of gasoline vehicles. I don't know enough about it to agree or disagree with the theory.

That could possibly be a fair enough theory but it goes out the window as we switch to generating electricity from renewable sources.

This is only my personal opinion but I always saw electric cars as just an interim technology and not practical enough in a lot of situations to really be viable. It works OK where you've got densely populated places like Europe and the US, lots of city centres not too far apart. For countries like Australia, Canada, Argentina, Chile and Brazil it's never going to be the best answer.

 

[Outdated]

Did Aussies drive older ones prior to 63 with left-hand drive? If so, now that's dedication!

No, except for in special circumstances left hand drive is illegal here. If you import a left hand drive car you can get a special permit to drive it but the permit only lasts 3 months and there's no repeats. Conversion is compulsory.

I imagine there's a few special exceptions for classic cars in car clubs but for most of us it's not an option.

 

[Judge]

This is only my personal opinion but I always saw electric cars as just an interim technology and not practical enough in a lot of situations to really be viable.

That's when I look at lithium battery technology and make the same conclusion.

Something will have to give relative to a power source to make those electric vehicles realistically permanent.

 

[Judge]

No, except for in special circumstances left hand drive is illegal here.

Interesting. To my knowledge not one state prohibits them, nor the federal government. But then it reminds me of all those right-hand Post Office mail delivery trucks.