As you know, I’m all about getting you the most up-to-date, breaking car news as it happens. That’s why I need to inform you, as soon as possible, about a somewhat unexpected car that showed up in a music video from three decades ago. The car isn’t exactly an impossibility, as such, but it’s definitely improbable, and it also shows up in one of the very few – possibly the only – music video that features a Cushman Haulster as its hero vehicle.
This video came up by chance, or perhaps by algorithm, via the YouTube-generated mix of music I was playing in a background window while I worked. The song is Cake’s cover of Gloria Gaynor’s dramatic disco anthem I Will Survive, and is done in a sort of deadpan way that makes it unexpectedly funny. The choice of having the video themed around a traffic cop tooling around in a Cushman giving tickets is also unexpected and somewhat wry.
Have you seen the video? Here it is:
It seems that this was Gloria Gaynor’s least favorite cover of her song because it uses profanity. That’s a shame; I love profantity!
The video was shot in San Francisco, and since it follows a traffic cop giving tickets, there’s plenty of cars featured. Cars like this old ’72 Plymouth Duster:
I feel like Dusters were perpetually in about this condition. Like they came from the factory with a hood that wouldn’t close and a bashed-in grille. Maybe all of those were part of the option package that also got you an AM radio.
There’s a swanky 1990 Porsche 911, too, made more dashing with the vivid green neon sign reflected on its hood and windshield.
But the car I really want to talk about is this one:
See that? A Citroën 2CV! It’s a pretty unexpected car for San Francisco in the 1990s, but as far as American cities go, SF if probably one of the ones you’re most likely to find a 2CV in, so it’s not like, jaw-dropping, just unexpected.
It seems to be in really great shape, too, with that striking red roof and what looks like very good paint. Someone really likes their 2CV, and it does look great in that alleyway, which has a color scheme that sort of mirrors the car.
I think it’s a ’66, based on the grille, though it’s hard to see many details. The bumper is interesting, and looks to be one of these safari-type bull-bar/tubular bumpers, with the inner mesh removed. These were fairly popular aftermarket 2CV bumpers back in the day, and I bet were welcome in a traffic-dense city like San Francisco.
The 2CV is the most interesting car in this video, but I think the hero has to be that little Cushman!
These workhorse three-wheelers crawl all over cities and work sites and are usually ignored, but they’re worth taking a moment to think about. Really, they’re America’s Piaggio Ape, a do-anything three-wheeled truck/utility vehicle.
These are still used in traffic enforcement and utility jobs all over the place; if you live near a college campus, there’s probably a hidden fleet of these in some underground garage near you. They come in gas and electric versions, even diesel ones, and they seem to be outfitted to do almost anything that involves moving people or stuff around some area at slowish speeds.
This video also likely is the music video to show the most Cushmans – Cushmen? – in one shot:
It’s glorious, in its own humble way.
I haven’t ever seen the video to this excellent song, until your article popped across my feed. Thanks for that!
ditto! Come to think of it, despite owning most (all?) of their discography, I’m not sure I’ve seen any of their music videos.
Note the Harley Servi-Cars in the background of the last picture.
Don’t see the Cushmans much anymore, but baw gawd I saw so many Apes in Denmark, buzzing through towns or along bike lanes. Legally they’re treated like mopeds so you can let your kid/apprentice run deliveries in one, or stick an espresso machine in the back and park it on a plaza.
Damn, Fashion Nugget is instant time travel for me like pretty much nothing else. I can practically smell the mold growing in my dorm room coffee maker.
I’m not surprised to see a California 2CV. West coast seemed to have may more than the average number of Citroen importers, along with the climate to encourage survival of those imports. Still a pretty active community all along the coast.
My initial thought was the Duster…. but as soon as I saw the 2CV… I knew that was it. I actually like this song (the original… it’s a guilty pleasure…I’ve never heard of these guys), but I listened to this awful cover until the 3:35 mark just to see if there were any other cars.
Sorry, Gloria, but that’s the best version of the song ever.
I agree, the bass line is what does it for me in the Cake version.
I salute the possibly long-dead artist who gamely sketched the Cushman for the cover of that manual, even adding a little reflection or something on the side glass.
Also, specifying ‘on road’ begs the question: Was there an off-road version?
My weed dealer drives one of those three-wheeled trucks. I’ve been meaning to ask him why
Clearly he’s a Kushman.
Take your damn upvote, sir.
This was so good, I’d almost accuse Jay Vette of being your alt just to set up that joke.
COTD.
DAMMIT.
I guess it really is true that whenever you buy a car, you start noticing them everywhere.
I love Cake but they’re one of those bands where one album (in my case, Fashion Nugget) is enough. Like, I’ll never change the channel when they come on, but I never felt the need to get another album.
I also feel like John McCrea figured out the secret to vocal longevity; lots of singers blow out their voices when they’re young and spend the rest of their lengthy career either downtuning, autotuning, rewriting melodies, or just cracking. But Cake will sound exactly like the record for eternity, thanks to that amazing flat delivery. Long live Cake!
Fashion Nugget is pretty solid, but in retrospect I would highly recommend Comfort Eagle.
I listened to their first four albums in heavy rotation a lot last year and that ended up rising to the top for me. It’s not as “iconically Cake” as the first 3, but I still think it’s the best (the later stuff thinned out and wasn’t as good).
Agreed
Comfort Eagle is definitely a great one. You can’t go wrong with the first 4 albums. I own Showroom of Compassion and had to look up the tracklist, because I realized it is so forgettable that I couldn’t remember a single song on it. It’s not bad, but nothing really stands out (I know Sick of You charted pretty well, but it’s never going to be iconic like the older stuff).
If that’s “Short Skirt/Long Jacket,” then yeah, I can see how that could top it. I’ll check it out. To the internet! [spinning bat logo]
Indeed it is 🙂
Other absolute gems on there:
Opera Singer
Shadow Stabbing (written years before the album came out)
Long Line of Cars
Love you Madly
Meanwhile Rick James
I saw them at a small venue about a decade ago, they were fantastic live.
Nice reference! I saw them at a brewery last year for like $40, standing room only, it was like the 90s all over again.
Not surprising at all, since Cake was one of the most car-heavy bands of the modern era — Stickshifts and Safety Belts, Long Line of Cars, Race Car Ya-Yas, plus incidental references and sound effects across tons of other songs. Honorable mention to their (slightly overrated) hit The Distance, which used racing as an analogy for material excess and the rat race, which were common themes in a lot of their stuff.
How do you afford this rock & roll lifestyle, Torch?!
Don’t forget about Satan Is My Motor!
Yep! Also, Alpha Beta Parking Lot…”breathing in the fumes from so many idling cars” still counts
The Mountain Goats are another one with a lot of car references sprinkled in.
My cousin and her husband are car people, Stickshifts and Safety belts was their wedding song.
Love You Madly was the song my wife and I picked to have for our entrance into the reception after the ceremony.
Yeah, they are out on tour, and theoretically working on new stuff. I saw them here in Asheville last summer in a smallish out door venue.