The Autopian community has a near superhuman ability to turn serious car subjects into something to laugh about. I missed a few COTDs, so here’s a supercut to end your week!
Brian wrote about how 16.5-inch wheels used to be a thing until people started getting hurt. Regular Wheels have “safety humps” which help support the tire and reduce the chance of de-beading after deflation. A. Barth:
That means, in the case of a sudden flat tire, the safety humps will keep the tire mounted
I’m conflicted about which stupid music-related comment to make:
You can hump if you want to
or
My lovely safety humps
Urban Runabout:
Ow We Want The Hump!
Gotta Have That Hump!
Also, I have the humor of a teenager, so I found this exchange hilarious. HO:
Steel is an alloy.
Hangover Grenade:
Your mom is an alloy.
Sorry, HO’s mom!
Brian wrote about how Jeep decided to have journalists promote its 2026 Cherokee Hybrid instead of buying a Super Bowl spot. Sadly, this ad, which has an AI bear, doesn’t quite hit like Chrysler brands’ ads used to. 5VZ-F’Ever and Ever, Amen looks deeper:
I thought someone put ayahuasca in my oatmeal but then I realized it’s just a big metaphor for the merger. Billy Bass is Carlos Tavares, the bear is the global car market, and the eagle represents investors.
The oddly dense kid must be the average American car buyer and the dad represents us – just watching the whole thing burn and shaking our heads.
I get it now.
….a Super Bowl-level advertisement … that it won’t be airing the Super Bowl. Instead, the automaker is releasing the ad today in the lead-up to the event in an attempt to capitalize on the buzz.
So Jeep really is circling the Bowl.
Jason wrote about how the Jaguar Type 00 doesn’t have a frunk under its long bonnet. Emil Minty made the same reference as Urban Runabout:
Ow, we want the frunk
Give up the frunk
Ow, we need the frunk
We gotta have that frunk
Jason wrote about vans that look like a loaf of bread. DriveSheSaid:
Thank you for not keeping this information on a knead-to-dough basis!
Matt wrote about how the last Stellantis CEO somehow burned $26 billion of the company’s money. IRegretNothing, Esq, DVM, BBQ:
I hope you get that sit down with Carlos Tavares, Matt. You can ask him why everyone thought he was a business visionary, and he will reply “Acting!”
Finally, Anonymous Person posted quite a story in Bishop’s post about the Pontiac Bonneville:
I’ll forever remember the last Bonneville I ever got to drive.
September, 2001. I was working in Tacoma, WA. I was supposed to fly home on the 11th, but my job got delayed so I rescheduled my flight home to the 13th.
Well, we all know what happened on September 11th. My flight on the 13th was cancelled. I called Avis rent-a-car and asked them if I could take the rental car I already had (A brand new loaded Bonneville SSE) from the Seattle area all the way back to northern Wisconsin and return it at the airport location close to where I lived.
Surprisingly, they had no problem with this. They told me there would be no drop fee, and no mileage fee, and they wished me safe travels. So I packed up the car on the 13th and headed out to begin my almost 1900 mile trek back home.
I stopped at Yellowstone National Park on the way home. It was almost devoid of tourists. I got to see a few cool geysers. I spent nights in hotels in Bozeman, MT and Pierre, SD on my way home.
A trip I’ll never forget.
Have a great evening, everyone!
Top graphic image: Tire Rack
Woohoo, a two-fer! Thanks, Mercedes! 😀
Hangover Grenade absolutely got me with that one. Skewering accurate but needless pedantry (i.e., “steel” vs “alloy” is common parlance when discussing wheels, if not strictly accurate) and then taking it unexpectedly to the perfect, lowest common denominator of humor.
I guess if both your parents were into different genres of metal (music), that would make you an alloy?
9/11 Trips. My favorite story was from a customer. He had turned in his rental and was at the airport when they stopped transportation. He got a taxi back to the hotel and got a room for the day. Ended up sitting around all day calling every possible rental car place with a group of 8-9 other travelers. Then he got an idea.
He rented a U-Haul. The other guys chipped in. By they time they left, they had 6 or so guys in the back with a cooler, a folding poker table, a couple air mattresses and some battery powered lights and a radio. Someone would drive until they got tired, stop at a gas station and after everyone did a “bio-break” they would switch drivers and keep going. I think he said they dropped people off in 4 different states and because they were hot-seating the drive, they made good time, even with the very winding path across the country.
Was he traveling with a polka band and an irresponsible mother of a lost boy?
I think this is my first inclusion into the COTD club.
Thanks for liking my little trip down memory lane. 🙂
Thank you for sharing it, that really is a great story born out of a difficult moment in time.
I saw the Men Without Hats at a Canada Day celebration back before the Pandemic. Was shocked and disappointed to find that:
1) They weren’t all men
2) At least one of the men was wearing an hat
I actually saw George Clinton around the same time. Can’t confirm if he was singing about funk or a frunk, but I can confirm he said the wrong city when he was trying to get the crowd hyped.