Post a picture you took today

I still like my fake analog in my truck. Touchscreen is fine too but acting newer is all elongated tablets. Not a fan
 
I used to run a transmitter that broadcast whatever I was listening to to every fm radio in the vicinity, lol. FMradios have a weakness, so everyone using fm, on my way to work was listening to my playlist, lol. Some CD players use that same intermediate frequency, so it takes them over too, lol.
 
XR7-4.6 said:
Yeah who knew 100 years of using beautiful analog gauges, designers had it all wrong and could just mount half a shitty LCD TV to the dash!
Click to expand...

You could argue that mechanical gauges would be considered analogous .. however, I disagree since most manufacturers started using electronic analog gauges when the technology became more viable around 40 years ago. The electronic analog gauges still require a physical motor to turn the needle - I've replaced enough GM stepper motors in gauge clusters, and lets not get started on the Tbird odometer .. 🙄

I still tend to find that tapping on a mechanic gauge is necessary to get an accurate reading. 🤭
 
Grog6 said:
I used to run a transmitter that broadcast whatever I was listening to to every fm radio in the vicinity, lol
Click to expand...

This might explain why I will occasionally have my FM rock and roll station switch to Mexican folk music while driving home from work in traffic. 🤔
 
dDUBb said:
You could argue that mechanical gauges would be considered analogous .. however, I disagree since most manufacturers started using electronic analog gauges when the technology became more viable around 40 years ago. The electronic analog gauges still require a physical motor to turn the needle - I've replaced enough GM stepper motors in gauge clusters, and lets not get started on the Tbird odometer .. 🙄

I still tend to find that tapping on a mechanic gauge is necessary to get an accurate reading. 🤭
Click to expand...

An analog clock is an analog clock whether it’s mechanical or quartz, same goes for analog gauges, as far as the user interface is concerned they’re identical. An LCD screen with a drawing of real analog gauges isn’t fooling anyone, it’s just cheap to manufacture junk that won’t work right in 10 years. At least stepper motors and gears were cheaply and simply repairable.
 
I still haven't gotten around to adding a vac/boost gauge on my SS. There is a PID for the MAP sensor that could be used for a gauge / display / or even phone app .. but I still prefer the idea of running a vacuum line off the manifold for a mechanical gauge for some reason. Also the fact that I want it integrated into the gauge cluster .. the SC got it just right. 🤔
 
These "stick-on" displays, which never look like anything but a nightmarish afterthought, really is my biggest beef with modern designs! I was hoping it was just a passing fad but it seems they've all thrown all their eggs into that basket... :zpuke:
 
theterminator93 said:
These "stick-on" displays, which never look like anything but a nightmarish afterthought, really is my biggest beef with modern designs! I was hoping it was just a passing fad but it seems they've all thrown all their eggs into that basket... :zpuke:
Click to expand...

They look like they’re supposed to retract into the dash but broke like a old pop-up headlight

1703458775957.jpeg
 
I had an 83Firebird, and I had to smack the hood after I turned On the Lights, lol. Then the headlights would pop up.
Subframe connectors would really help those cars. It was more flexible than Lazarus is. Lazarus has a few broken spotwelds.
I have to put some fresh gas in him, and Get him driven. The gas in him was bought 3 1/2 years ago, and didn't want to run; I'll add 5 gallons of gas, and that'll help a bunch.
 
theterminator93 said:
These "stick-on" displays, which never look like anything but a nightmarish afterthought, really is my biggest beef with modern designs! I was hoping it was just a passing fad but it seems they've all thrown all their eggs into that basket... :zpuke:
Click to expand...
With the price of screens now it must save a significant amount compared to using actual gauges. Maybe gauges will eventually be something only seen in premium cars?
 
You won't need gauges in your self driving EV of the future .. 😉
 
dDUBb said:
You won't need gauges in your self driving EV of the future .. 😉
Click to expand...

About 5 years ago two folks were arguing and held a bet at a bar I used to frequent, I think it was in meals, but the bet was by 2029 we'd have self driving cars. Both parties were very confident. We thought it was silly that we'd have to remember that bet, but its coming
 
Kenz said:
With the price of screens now it must save a significant amount compared to using actual gauges. Maybe gauges will eventually be something only seen in premium cars?
Click to expand...
Luckily that savings has been passed onto the consumer… oh wait
 
True, those cost cuttings keep the price down. But it's 80K, it would take what, maybe another 5 grand? Then it wouldn't have some of the same cheapness as a a new Kia.
 
MSRP on a 03 Cobra was $36,800, inflation adjusted that’s 61,410.20. I doubt it’s costing Ford any more to produce the dark horse from raw materials than the old SVT, and the 03 Cobra had a way cooler gauge cluster than the new one
 
It costs almost the same to build any model car from a manufacturer .. especially if most of the parts are sourced in house. That cost was somewhere around $5k per vehicle when I worked at NUMMI; as long as they pushed volume, those 20k MSRP cars would run the factory .. the premium models upwards of $40k were the money makers. It's about the same for those high end cars - even the special Carbon Fiber wheels they up charge another $20k for .. that's not how much Ford pays. It's all about mark up everywhere along the chain before the buyer gets the car. 🤔
 
Doesn’t help that the Mustang demographic has seemed to skew significantly older in the last 20 years and those buyers have more disposable income allowing Ford to plausibly charge that much. It’s become Ford’s Corvette.
 
XR7-4.6 said:
It’s become Ford’s Corvette.
Click to expand...
It's become Ford's only car.

I want to emphasize that because none of this should be surprising when you look at the complete picture of how the buyer landscape has changed.
 
Irv said:
It's become Ford's only car.

I want to emphasize that because none of this should be surprising when you look at the complete picture of how the buyer landscape has changed.
Click to expand...

I always argue that the demographics have changed because it's what the manufacturers are producing. We can't buy cars from Ford anymore because Ford doesn't make cars anymore. For example, my wife and I would have happily purchased another Taurus after the last one was totaled, but it's no longer available. Instead, we got a Hyundai Tucson. We looked at the 2015 - 2019 Explorers, but she said it was too big for her, so the Hyundai won.
 
CDsDontBurn said:
I always argue that the demographics have changed because it's what the manufacturers are producing. We can't buy cars from Ford anymore because Ford doesn't make cars anymore. For example, my wife and I would have happily purchased another Taurus after the last one was totaled, but it's no longer available. Instead, we got a Hyundai Tucson. We looked at the 2015 - 2019 Explorers, but she said it was too big for her, so the Hyundai won.
Click to expand...

Unless she had to have a new car used Tauri are available through the 2018 model year. Did you look at the Ford Escape - Jointly developed by Ford with Mazda and similar to the Hyundai Tucson, or the Ford Edge SUV (Smaller than the Explorer)?
 
CDsDontBurn said:
I always argue that the demographics have changed because it's what the manufacturers are producing. We can't buy cars from Ford anymore because Ford doesn't make cars anymore. For example, my wife and I would have happily purchased another Taurus after the last one was totaled, but it's no longer available. Instead, we got a Hyundai Tucson. We looked at the 2015 - 2019 Explorers, but she said it was too big for her, so the Hyundai won.
Click to expand...
I look at it like this: many people today who are our age 20 years ago are barely interested in cars at all. They're a better match for the automated appliances on wheels, vehicle-as-a-service snake oil of Tesla. There's definitely been a demographic shift. As older car enthusiasts stop driving, they're not getting replaced by new drivers who want the same thing.

Our tastes are less likely to change and are probably fundamentally the same as they used to be, and we should be better off now than we were when we were younger. Theoretically, we should be able to afford to drop $80K on a Dark Horse. Not all of us want one (or any Mustang) though.

My opinion is that Ford abandoned cars because they weren't willing or capable of building a solid (define that how you want) car that touched on what people who still wanted Ford cars liked about them. I'm not sure what the hell that is, but Chevy's going through the same thing. Maybe decades of cost-cutting doesn't help your reputation when Honda and Toyota are out there and even shitbox Nissan Altimas are perceived as better.

Then if you want the upscale experience that our older selves may want or afford, you look to Germany. Lincoln was dead after the Town Car which was propped up by livery services. Probably even before that because they had no successor planned to even keep that market. At least Cadillac had plans and leveraged the Corvette and Camaro engineering teams' work.

If you ask me, I'd probably say that Ford lost me after their last chance at a respectable sedan, the Taurus, ended up having the dimensions of a whale and the interior room of something much smaller than that. This is no joke—I completely wrote off the fourth gen SHO because I couldn't stack it and the Thunderbird on my lift. Realistically though, how seriously was I considering one? Not very. It was a distant fifth on my list up until that point. It failed at all the things that made the third gen SHO a cult classic, and we know that had nothing to do with looking like a jellybean.

In reality though, Ford lost me after the Terminator Cobra because the only sedans I wanted from them were made in Australia. But even then, I would have only counted as one potential customer.
 
Last edited:
Irv said:
My opinion is that Ford abandoned cars because they weren't willing or capable of building a solid (define that how you want) car that touched on what people who still wanted Ford cars liked about them. I'm not sure what the hell that is, but Chevy's going through the same thing. Maybe decades of cost-cutting doesn't help your reputation when Honda and Toyota are out there and even shitbox Nissan Altimas are perceived as better.
Click to expand...
Having grown up with Ford cars, I would disagree with this one point. The Fusion was a proper and solid Ford car. We prefer it as a family car over our Edge every day of the week. The only thing that would make it better is if we had gotten the Liftback and Wagon variants here.

Ford could and did easily build proper sedans. They simply just gave up and decided to cater to the CUV masses.

Volkswagen did the same by eliminating their wagons, off-roaders, and non-GTI hatchbacks. Now all they have is the Jetta and a smorgasbord of CUVs that have all abandoned the Volkswagen ethos of "Drivers Wanted" and "Fahrvergnügen". It's pathetic.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Back
Top