The Autopian has branched in many directions. We’re ostensibly a car site, but we will really cover all kinds of transportation whenever we see fit. Apparently, there is one market we have left untapped, and it’s coverage of late-night car topics. Well, turn on Night Panel and cuddle up under some blankets!
Jason wrote about a slide-in Citroën truck, and maybe he got a little steamy. TheDrunkenWrench:
You know that strange, satisfied feeling that comes from when two objects fit together well? The way you feel when two things in your hands just snik into place, making a satisfying noise and just the right kind of tactile feeling? Usually that feeling involves some kind of tension and release, pushing over a point of resistance…
TORCH. IT’S 8 IN THE MORNING. Keep your Harlequin Romance descriptions for Late Night Autopian. The Lateopian, which I imagine as some kind of Red Shoe Diaries about taillights.
Bags:
She walked up to him in the warm glow of his tailights. She was unsure of the year of his Beetle in the dark night, but she didn’t care. All she cared about was one thing – and he already knew it. With a gentle touch he illuminated the amber indicators before she spoke a word – and with that she was left unable to speak, her breath taken from her lungs.
This morning, Matt ended the Morning Dump by asking you to build a garage with one vehicle from each of the Big 2.5. Once again, poor Stellantis caught a stray. Taargus Taargus:
Smoldering ash. I picked the Jeep Wrangler 4xe from Stellantis, and it burned down the garage.
Finally, Matt wrote about how the Acura Integra Type S is a dude magnet. I have to agree with our readers here. TheDrunkenWrench gets another nomination!
I had neon pink wheels on my white Genesis Coupe for about 6 years. It attracted a lot of attention, both at car shows and in the general public.
Women loved it, including both girlfriends I had during that time (both drove completely blacked-out cars, oddly enough).
But dudes got SO MAD. They’d think I was a girl in traffic, or make assumptions about sexual orientation. I never clarified the latter, cause it was funny to see them be uncomfortable. Screw your bigotry.
So yeah, embrace bright colours and have some fun.
If you like bright colors, embrace them! Who cares what gender you identify as? Love what you love and ignore the haters. Have a great evening, everyone.
Top graphic image: Saab
I have mixed feelings about the Saab night panel. I initially loved it in my 9-3 convertible. Then one night I blacked out the panel… and most of my gauges never lit up again.
As for offbeat stories I was reading an article yesterday about how Canada was at one time trying to bring back the beaver population by parachuting them into hard to get too areas. Well it has planes so that should work
I never thought writing romance novels was my calling. Really any writing at all.
But apparently I just hadn’t found my niche. No surprise that Torch was my muse.
Was it seeing him wield that data-laden piece of salami that did you in?
Just wanted to say, Torch & co, doing a “night panel” themed after the old Saabs, instead of some regular boring dark mode, is one of the most pleasing digital experiences I’ve had in a looong time (and I worked in the IT industry until recently). Taking something ordinary and making it a piece of nostalgia is exactly how I imagine doing design that’s good, accessible and also tells a story ❤️ It’s the little things…
I love how all old dashboards eventually turns into “night panels” 😀
I one of my budget beaters, a half million kilometers Citroën BX Estate diesel, the starter step of the ignition key barrel also gave up, and I rewired it to the unused switch of the dead electric mirror adjusters, that had given up years ago.
Talk about anti-theft technology!
Though that too everytime I started it 🙂
Thanks!
I actually wrote a whole long-ass response to TBQ, but then re-read Matt’s phrasing of “what would your garage look like” and couldn’t pass up that hanging slider over the plate.
Woo! A double feature! Thanks Mercedes!
I drove a Volkswagen Dasher that I have mentioned before. It was painted in hundreds of colors, with a brush, and I would mix a new color for every brushstroke. Opinion was somewhat divided amongst the public, a couple times children would come up and kick the car. On the other hand, a couple times I was stopped at a stoplight, and a girl would just open the door and get in.
NYC in the 70s was so much fun.
Got a pic?
Fun times on the Minnesota Strip?
When I first met my future wife at work I had a ’96 Neon Coupe in Lapis Blue, was the base blue-ish color that had the molded blue rubbermaid bumpers, very 90s, but my family and pretty much everybody thought it skewed more on the side of purple, and some, including my now wife, wondered if I skewed on the less straight side because of it, also rented a double wide with my best friend at the time so that didn’t help. As soon as I wrecked it and got a 4WD Truck my now wife and I started dating. I’ve seriously considered trying to find another one just to cruise around in, but am content with diecast replica of one for now.
Damn, sometimes I wish we could post pictures. I’d love to see TDW’s Genesis. I could open discord and check there, but it’s bedtime, sigh
If you go to the comment on the post, I embedded a couple of images into my comment.
I’ve had people tell me, on more than one occasion, they love my truck but could never be seen in the pink/magenta paint and would have to repaint it. It’s the factory color! It was fine in 1993 I think you can handle it now!
Did that get you out of helping them to move too? If so:
TOTALLY WORTH IT!!
Never have to worry about someone wanting to borrow your truck.
Americans are so weird about colors.
Nobody blinks an eye about red.
But light red? Hide the children and quit looking at me that way!!
It’s in our DNA. Back 250ish years ago, when we saw someone wearing a bright deep red uniform, we knew we were in good shape. But some grizzled guy in a faded pink uniform with patched areas that looked like they had once been bullet or bayonet holes? We knew we were in a world of hurt.
The issue is ColorFast. It hadn’t been invented yet. Also powered loams had not been invented yet. A British solider was given a fresh deep red uniform when they joined up. This uniform was not regularly replaced and would fade over time, particularly in the field (e.g. combat areas). Over time, the most experienced, toughest British troops were wore pink uniforms. So there was a time in UK history that Pink was the color of bad-asses.
Except as late as the 1920’s, pink was the boys color (because it was light red – red being a strong, masculine color) and pale blue was the girls color.
My friend in high school got a good deal on her Chevy Blazer because they could not move it off the lot due to its fantastic magenta (factory) paint. Certainly made an OK car unforgettable.