A Tesla ‘El Camino’ Exists And It’s Awesome: COTD

One of our favorite kinds of trucks is a pickup that’s based on a car. The most famous of which is the Chevrolet El Camino, but there was also the Ford Ranchero, the Ford Durango, the Dodge Rampage, and all of Australia’s utes. Tesla hasn’t ever officially sold a ute, but that didn’t stop one mad engineer of a woman from making her own.

Today, our wonderful editor and graphics extraordinaire, Pete, wrote an Autopian Asks about cars that should be turned into El Caminos. That Autopian Asks featured a digitally edited Tesla with a Honda Grom in its bed. But this actually does exist! Big Harv:

Simone Giertz made a Tesla Camino-and drove it to the Cybertruck launch.

Simone built her ‘Truckla’ in 2019, a few years before the launch of the Autopian. However, it’s totally worth highlighting Simone’s work. She’s an inventor who creates things that you never knew needed to be created. She’s perhaps most famous for the Truckla, a Tesla Model 3 that got turned into a functional truck after a date with some cutting and welding tools:

If you have 30 minutes or so to spare, you should watch the build video:

Kristen Lee also wrote about her in 2019, and that article is worth reading.

Brian wrote about the company offering modifications for the Ferrari 599, and why Ferrari likes suing its own enthusiasts. I think Ferrari might be the least-liked brand by Autopian readers. Mr E:

I think it’s masterful how Ferrari has managed to force the majority of its customers to allow themselves to be bossed around by them after they’ve paid lots of money for the pleasure of owning one of their cars.

It’s also rather sickening.

Surely, someone makes a sticker of Calvin pissing on a Ferrari badge?

Also, here’s an unexpected reader twist. Spopepro:

The world of false scarcity luxury goods. Hermès is the world’s most expensive gachapon. How many scarves do you have to buy before you are offered the opportunity to order a bag? The fun is finding out!

FndrStrat06:

Hermes is ridiculous on a whole other level, but all fashion brands manipulate value through false scarcity and FOMO.

I like a nice pair of shoes, I have a few pairs of Louboutins. They make a few thousand, then change production lines to the next ‘season.’ Repeat ad nauseam. Limited edition pairs go for tens of thousands, and they’ll make maybe 10 of them, all reserved for celebrities and their whale customers than have already spent $100,000 or more

There’s no reason to stop production on a certain style other than just because. It’s gross. All of mine are secondhand, which makes me feel a little better about indulging myself.

Dolsh:

TIL the Venn diagram of Autopian readers and Christian Louboutin shoe wearers has a little more overlap than I thought.

Have a great evening, everyone!

Topshot graphic image: Simone Giertz/YouTube