20 silliest car ideas

Duke

Duke

Duke

Man of Honour
Joined
29 Jun 2003
Posts
34,679
Location
Wiltshire
Some good ones in there :)

Mercedes Benz's 600 unwanted functions
In May 2004, faced with a barrage of criticism about recalls (including one for a new electronic braking system that could fail), a Mercedes executive publicly stated that the company had removed no fewer than 600 electronic functions from its cars. What did they all do? Clearly nothing very useful, as nobody ever noticed they had gone.
Click to expand...
Austin Metro reversing lights (1980)
When the Metro was launched, the basic version did not get reversing lights - you had to buy the more expensive model to enjoy safe reversing in the dark. However, it was much simpler to have only one wiring harness and one set of rear lights for all models. So the base models had reversing lights - but the little 5p bulbs were not fitted. Some enterprising garages offered to fit them while the car was in for servicing - at rather more than 5p.
Click to expand...
Ford DOHC 8 valve (1988)
At the start of the 1980s, the Japanese started the trends towards 16 valve four-cylinder engines, and soon it was clear no-one would design a large 4 cylinder engine with only 8 valves any more. Except Ford, apparently. In 1988, to general bewilderment, the Sierra and Granada appeared with a new DOHC (twin cam) 8 valve engine. Even at the launch, Ford people quietly hinted that the engine was not long for this world and it died when the Mondeo was launched in the early 1990s with a 16 valve engine. The words, "false" and "economy" spring to mind.
Click to expand...
VW Polo Harlequin (1995)
Quite why VW would want to turn a perfectly sensible supermini into a clown's car is anyone's guess. Not surprisingly, it was a difficult car to sell, until a bright salesperson hit on the idea of selling them to driving schools. As each body panel was a different colour, repairing scrapes was much cheaper - there was no need to match the colour of different panels.
Click to expand...
Fiat Bravo immobilizer (1995)
Fitted to a number of 1990s Fiat, this was a good idea in principle - an inertia switch that would cut all electrical power in an accident. What was not so sensible was putting it under the driver's seat. Jump in a bit too enthusiastically, and the car could point-blank refuse to start.
Click to expand...
Austin Allegro quartic steering wheel (1974)
The ultimate silly idea. Apparently the designer of the Allegro (yes there really was one) doodled a dashboard with a slightly squared-off steering wheel. The boss of Leyland, Lord Stokes (a man who never met a stupid idea he didn't like) saw it and decreed that it should go into production on the Allegro to demonstrate its modernity. No doubt, if he could have found square tyres, it would have had those too.
Click to expand...
Subaru wiper actuated four-wheel-drive (1988)
Subaru is known as Japan's most eccentric car company, but this was extreme even for them. The Subaru Coupe Turbo had a system that automatically turned the transmission into four-wheel-drive whenever the wipers were switched on. After all, a few spots of rain in the Tesco car park do make four wheel drive an essential requirement.
Click to expand...

More @ http://motoring.aol.co.uk/motoring-galleries/20-silliest-ideas/article/20080215060809990001
 
Duke said:
Ford DOHC 8 valve (1988)
At the start of the 1980s, the Japanese started the trends towards 16 valve four-cylinder engines, and soon it was clear no-one would design a large 4 cylinder engine with only 8 valves any more. Except Ford, apparently. In 1988, to general bewilderment, the Sierra and Granada appeared with a new DOHC (twin cam) 8 valve engine. Even at the launch, Ford people quietly hinted that the engine was not long for this world and it died when the Mondeo was launched in the early 1990s with a 16 valve engine. The words, "false" and "economy" spring to mind.
Click to expand...
I had a 5dr Sierra 2.0 GLSi DOHC in white. It was awesome, then. :(
 
At the start of the 1980s, the Japanese started the trends towards 16 valve four-cylinder engines, and soon it was clear no-one would design a large 4 cylinder engine with only 8 valves any more. Except Ford, apparently. In 1988, to general bewilderment, the Sierra and Granada appeared with a new DOHC (twin cam) 8 valve engine. Even at the launch, Ford people quietly hinted that the engine was not long for this world and it died when the Mondeo was launched in the early 1990s with a 16 valve engine. The words, "false" and "economy" spring to mind.
Click to expand...

I'm fairly sure it was done to pass emmisions requirements which the old pintosaurus couldn't manage. Iif it allowed them to keep selling cars whilst they developed their 16v engine, then it wasn't really a false economy. They also made a 16v head for it and put it into the unfortunately named RS2000. Was a very heavy engine though.

Anyway, Ford carried on making 8v (pushrod) engines long after the early 90's.
 
Duke said:
Fiat Bravo immobilizer (1995)
Fitted to a number of 1990s Fiat, this was a good idea in principle - an inertia switch that would cut all electrical power in an accident. What was not so sensible was putting it under the driver's seat. Jump in a bit too enthusiastically, and the car could point-blank refuse to start.
Click to expand...
I had a similar issue with my 2003 Ford Ranger. I misjudged the size of a pothole one night and hit it rather hard. 20 seconds later the engine sputtered to a halt. I though I'd done serious damage the truck. Nope. It's just that the inertia sensor was activated by the bump, thus disabling the electric fuel pump.

Cost me $120... (grumble, grumble)
 
MG ZT V8/ Rover 75 V8 (2003)
In the dying days of Rover, the need for new models to replace the desperately dated 25 and 45 was overwhelming. So what new model did the muppets in charge sanction? A V8 version of the MG ZT/ Rover 75. Both models sold a combined total of 676 examples over their entire production run, but it gave management something to play with - so much more fun that actually running a car company.
Click to expand...

WTF - this is pretty much the best car that came out of there in recent years! A definite future classic.
 
Lol, gotta love Rover group.

I've also noticed they mentioned the Xantia having the hand brake on the front. I always asumed this was done because suspension could sink down unevenly, causing the length of the wheelbase to change slighly meaning the one axel had to be able to turn freely even if the car was braked using both the gearbox and the hand brake.

Either that of a method of punishing any joy rider who attempted a handbrake turn.
 
VW Polo Harlequin (1995)
Quite why VW would want to turn a perfectly sensible supermini into a clown's car is anyone's guess. Not surprisingly, it was a difficult car to sell, until a bright salesperson hit on the idea of selling them to driving schools. As each body panel was a different colour, repairing scrapes was much cheaper - there was no need to match the colour of different panels.
Click to expand...

Someone near me has one of these, unfortunately she's not a professional clown.
 
MrSix said:
Have you ever driven one?

They suck ween.
Click to expand...

I'm guessing you haven't. I've read nothing but positive things.


And Fox, I'm guessing the guys who designed it knew that the company was going down the pan, so why not have some fun. I'm glad they did.
 
Austin Allegro quartic steering wheel (1974)
The ultimate silly idea. Apparently the designer of the Allegro (yes there really was one) doodled a dashboard with a slightly squared-off steering wheel. The boss of Leyland, Lord Stokes (a man who never met a stupid idea he didn't like) saw it and decreed that it should go into production on the Allegro to demonstrate its modernity. No doubt, if he could have found square tyres, it would have had those too.
Click to expand...

Not true. They designed the dash and had the tooling made. Then when they put a round wheel on, it blocked the dash instruments. It was cheaper to make a quartic wheel than retool the dash instruments.

Still classic BL design quality tho!

After the police refused to go near them after stacking a few, they gave in and redesigned the dash and put a round wheel on.
 
Oi, don't knock Allegro's. When I were a lad, I bought a brown one for £25 and sold it 4 months later for £50. Comfortable ride and strangely reliable too.
 
Using a button chunky enough not to look out of place in the arming sequence of a nuclear warhead to laughingly illuminate a rubbish little LCD clock.

MY00 Impreza :)
 
Fiat Bravo immobilizer (1995)
Fitted to a number of 1990s Fiat, this was a good idea in principle - an inertia switch that would cut all electrical power in an accident. What was not so sensible was putting it under the driver's seat. Jump in a bit too enthusiastically, and the car could point-blank refuse to start.
Click to expand...

never heard of that system, and i know FIATs quite well. I wonder how many more of these are made up.
 
Ed said:
Oi, don't knock Allegro's. When I were a lad, I bought a brown one for £25 and sold it 4 months later for £50. Comfortable ride and strangely reliable too.
Click to expand...

I'm not knocking it :) My first 2 cars were allegros :D Fantastic fun, comfy and handled amazingly well for a bouncy castle!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom