There was once a time when flying was a real event. You dressed up in your best clothes, made sure you were on your best behavior, and you probably paid a lot of money, too. The aircraft were large and luxurious, with the biggest in airline fleets containing flying bars and lounges in them. But flying isn’t like that today, and I think we can all agree on one thing.
Jason wrote about how much it sucks when someone reclines their seat in Economy class. I agree. Once, someone managed to crack my laptop’s screen by reclining their seat in just the perfect way to jam the screen between my tray table and their seatback. I’m also a bigger person, and scooting your seat back makes my tiny space even smaller. First Last makes a great point:
Just want to weigh in to say that *this* is the kind of bullshit Americans should be arguing about instead of tearing each other apart over their political grievances.
Jason also wrote a Cold Start about a seriously janky trailer ball on a Toyota, and KYFire gets me with this one:
This is something I imagine my dad doing.
0% Form
50% Functionality
100% Cheap
5VZ-F’Ever and Ever, Amen:
The only thing that would make me happier is if it was towing another Corolla with a similarly bespoke front towbar
Juanmi82 pumps the brakes on this madness. I love how many of our readers are all kinds of engineers:
Ex-towbar mechanical engineer here. The bumper bar is made of tinfoil in comparison to a towbar.
The bumper bar must withstand 1 crash deforming the intended way. As far as I remember, a towbar is fatigue tested to 60% of its rated load for 2 million push-pull cycles.
The Bishop wrote about Pontiac’s attempt at a Malaise Era GTO with the Can Am, and Erik Hancock has me remembering childhood:
That All American interior looks like a bowling alley. From the colors to the shape of the console, it makes me want to type in ‘ASS’ as my player name, dry my hands on the air vent, and go throw some gutter balls with AC/DC on the sound system.
Brian wrote about how the Subaru BRZ is now $5,000 more expensive than a Toyota 86. But don’t worry, Toyota will make up the gap. NC Miata NA:
The BRZ is $5,000 more than the GR86
Toyota dealers: GR86s mandatory add-ons include $999 for paint protection, $999 for fabric protection, $999 for door edge guards, $999 for tire nitrogen, $999 for Lo-jack, $999 for wheel locks, and $999 for 3 oil changes.
Have a great evening, everyone!
My grandfather was a commercial airline pilot, flew from ’49-’81, so he was fully engrossed in the “Sky Captain” mindset with a flock of stewardesses trailing along in his wake like ducklings (though he was married at the time…never broached THAT uncomfortable question). But from the time I first flew to the time he passed, he and my grandmother made sure I had nicer outfits I was supposed to wear on the plane. I now get into trouble when I tell my family that we don’t fly looking like we’re lounging on the couch.
Much like the joke in Big Bang Theory about “bus pants”, I have “airplane pants”.
My favourite are a set of very baggy painter’s jeans with pockets everywhere so I can carry so many things for comfort & convenience. Toss a set of headphones, phone charge cables, little bracket that clips your phone to the airline traytable, pack of chewing gum, passport, wallet, keys, snacks. Function > Form.
Same. Just got a new set of plane pants. They are light weight cargo pants that have as much storage space for random crap as my carryon. They are decent enough looking so that if I have on a company logo polo, I meet the dress code for my entire industry.
It’s not my dad’s suit and tie, but I can’t think of many professions, or even churches now that are that formal.