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.
NFW that was shot in San Francisco. Check the snowfall and the legit south Philly locations.
Lol, three decades ago. Yeah right!
Oh god.
Actually the correct plural is cushes-man
Like Whoppers, Jr.
Cake will be performing at a three day gig in Sacramento this coming March 21, 22, & 23 as a benefit for my local community radion station, KVMR (kvmr.org) which has an internet feed).
I’ll be going to one of those shows. And KVMR is the best mf’ing radio station on the planet.
Everyone is certainly welcome to their opinion, but I’m a big fan of KOZT from Ft. Bragg, CA, that I discovered years ago driving around Mendocino. KOZT.com The DJs are cool, old-time SFO and LA DJs from big stations in the day. You should listen to the five minute-ish local newscast they do every half hour from 6:00 to 9:00 AM PT. You only need to listen to it once a day, because it’s almost identical every time. Other than the stock market prices. But the music is on point with my era, and Dred Scott is witty as hell and Kate Hayes, who follows him at 10 AM PT has the most soothing voice I have ever heard.
And I will check out KVMR, because I am open-minded and stream stuff from up and down the west coast. 91X.com XETRA-FM down in San Diego/Tijuana has played some stuff I had never heard before but enjoyed. Their studios are in SD, but the transmitter is south of the border (hence the X) and I think they’re allowed to broadcast at twice the power of stations in the US. At least that used to be the case.
Up in Washington, I just stream the stations I like.
All the DJs at KVMR are volunteers. Shows change about every two hours and every show is available to stream for two weeks after the initial broadcast. They offer DJ training to get community folks involved with broadcasting what they want. There are no nannys telling DJs what they can and can not play (well. other than the FCC). Some DJs have been doing their show for 20-30 years. KVMR also live broadcasts several full weekend festivals events like the Bluegrass, Celtic, Strawberry, and others along with live music from local venues.
Love this article! Keep up the great work. We need more like this and less like… Well anything on mainstream media. Those with writers aspirations, please consider content and style like this…
Drove a Cushman from 89′ to early 91′ when I was a meter maid.
Great fun. You can lift one wheel in turns and scrape that opposite front end baby!
Sprightly pick up, and banging through the gears with the stick was brilliant.
Wrote 64 parking tickets on my first day. I was the terror of the town, an absolute prick about it. You were going down to pay the man chump. No mercy for miscreants, power went to my head. A real case study of what happens when a skinny little nerd gets some authority and little oversight.
Great days.
I’d love to hear more reflections about what that job was like. It’s gotta be hard being detested by everyone who sees you.
You could ask an ICE agent what that’s like. On second thought, don’t do that.
Oof. Double oof bc a large percentage of our country seem to be big fans.
Not large, just vocal (and stupid).
That’s actually a helpful perspective to keep in mind.
What an unusual job the more I think about it. The way you know you’re “good” at it is the number of times someone shouts expletives at you. Similarly, if more than once a day someone says “thank you,” you’re doing something wrong.
And despite universal hatred, without you we’d all complain about no parking bc ppl camp out at the meters. Of course none of us will ever appreciate you for the service you provide.
Utterly thankless job by John Q. Public. Got yelled at. Screamed at. Threatened.
Chief of Police loved me! I was raking in the revenue. And when I could score a handicapped space violator, cha-ching baby! Hundreds of bucks flowed in.
I prowled all the grocery store lots looking for people without handicap tags in the blue spots.
You should have seen then run when they saw my little blue light flashing and heard the roar of my mighty 13 horsepower.
And that’s all I did for 8 hours a day in a town of about 12k gentle folks. Every inch of street was covered, I knew all the hot spots, all the frequent flyers.
Five bucks an hour. I was rich.
College town. Those kids got shaken down hard for parking violations. You know how they are, privileged little twerps, I thought to myself, with more than a hint of self righteous indication and envy, you can’t just park anywhere! You’ll pay!
Meanwhile the homeowners also hated me for my overzealous zeal.
That lady with her double cab F-250 in her driveway hanging over the sidewalk and right down into the gutter? Bam! Two tickets baby.
She popped open the second floor window and let fly enough profanity to make a sailor on shore leave blush when she saw me.
Came down to the chief and filed a formal compliant.
“Were you blocking the sidewalk and making it inaccessible for wheelchair users?” Chief asked her, tapping his pencil on the counter ( meant he was annoyed) while I stood there behind him sweating down my pencil neck into my polyester uniform shirt that was too big cuz’ it was sized for real men.
“Yeah. So? It’s my damn driveway. Where else in the hell am I supposed to park?”
“Request denied. You can’t block sidewalks. Park someplace legal.”
She let loose again with the sailor talk while I kept squirming.
It was the longest three years in the good citizens parking lives. They held a parade and town kegger when I moved on to flipping burgers at Micky D’s.for mo’ money. (Mind on my money and money on my mind)
Man I loved that Cushman. Didn’t wear a helmet back then, nor a seat belt. Me and that thing were tight. Glory daze. Hallelujah. Amen.
Thank you for sharing all of this. You know, having the power to ticket ppl parking in handicap spots and blocking sidewalks sounds incredibly gratifying. I’m not sure it would be good for my soul, but man I’d love to get to do that all day.
Love me some Cake. 🙂
The era and condition of that Duster look legit like Al Bundy’s Dodge that always breaks and disappoints the family
Must be something about Cali. Literally the only place outside of maybe a Museum that I have seen a running 2CV on the road. My siting was along a dock road in Oceanside California (Between LA and San Diego) I always thought they were all Red, though I did see that video on MTV in the 90’s so I guess I should have caught that.
The postal system in Belgium used red 2CV delivery cars. many of which were exported upon being decommissioned.
There are 2CVs on the road in Seattle. A guy with a blue one is always running around my part of town. Not the only one.
I’ve seen one in the Southcenter Costco parking lot.
I can’t remember the last time I saw one on the road in the UK, even though they were sold here.
🙁
Cushmans are perfect for videotaping crime sprees!
The Duster reminds me of the story my dad likes to tell: my aunt and uncle owned a Duster back in the mid-1970s, and my grandmother could never remember the name of the car – she always referred to it as a Sweeper. Close enough I guess!
Then again maybe Grandma was throwing shade – Grandpa worked for AC Delco so she might have been mad that my aunt and uncle didn’t by a GM product.
Understandable, wasn’t there a model called Feather Duster? lol
Yes, the first time Mopar used aluminum body stampings since the ’60’s Super Stock days.
My grandmother thought the Duster was called the “Powderpuff.”
It’s such an interesting band. They are just on the other side of being a novelty act (think Weird Al). The fact that they had the commercial success they did via MTV and radio is pretty surprising given they have songs where not only is the chorus “sheep go to heaven, goats go to hell,” but the final repetition is sung by a children’s chorus. So delightfully weird. I think their vibe fits nicely with this site and humbly nominate them to be the official band of the Autopian.
It never made it as a single (as far as I know) but Jolene is one of the most beautifully haunting songs I’ve heard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6BKeODv7Yc
I 2nd that nomination of the official band of The Autopian. Well, maybe the unofficial band anyway. Cake has such a garage band sound and I have listened to many of their songs wrenching underneath some car or another. And, my first car was a Duster but the one in the video looks showroom compared to mine.
Cake has at least 3 bangers about cars on Fashion Nugget – The Distance, Race Car Ya-Yas, and Stickshifts and Safetybelts!
Short Skirt Ling Jacket has convertible LaBaron references. Italian Leather Couch has some car stuff in there too.
I always pictured Cake as being just one guy with a trumpet. Obviously there’s a whole band there, but one guy with a trumpet could probably cover Cake pretty well.
You need someone on glockenspiel.
How do you afford that rust-free lifestyle?
With a short skirt and a long jacket.
Go see a live show and report back. Cake is awesome live in a small venue.
well I live in Sacramento so sounds like that’s what I’ll be doing in 2 months.
Thank you for this JT. I am shocked that there’d be an article about a Cake song on here and it wouldn’t be The Distance. There’s got to be at least one post worth of material in that.
Or Stickshifts and Safetybelts!
“I need you to be here with me / Not way over in a bucket seat”
Yeah slight bias to The Distance but only because I think it was their first breakout hit and therefore their most well-known song.
I think in this case Cushmans is the correct plural because Cushman is a proper noun and should stay singular rather than a pronoun.
I’ve never paid much attention to Cake beyond radio play, and the only video I’ve seen was a parody where the girl in the short skirt and long jacket was somebody’s kid sister. I do like Rock and Roll Lifestyle.
.
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.
Yea, same! For an instant, I was genuinely surprised that they have videos (of course they do), so I’ll check more out this evening.
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?
I take it to mean “despite everything you would assume by looking at it, you can actually operate this on public streets.”
https://www.ransomes.com/manuals/832973.pdf?m=0
There is a big range of Haulsters, in both 3 and 4 wheel variants. Some of them are called Turf Trucksters, and I guess lawn is a kind of off-road?
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.
I am not their alt, although I did make that comment intentionally to set up this joke lol
We’re all a team here.
Well, then, I won’t retract my COTD nom, but I will applaud your subtlety because I wouldn’t have caught it at first glance 🙂
DAMMIT.
I was waiting to see who would get it lol
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.
I’ve never seen them live, but imagine they have to put on a show unlike anything else.
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 favorite band, one of my favorite authors, and my favorite Magic: The Gathering content creator/shitposter. John Darnielle really does it all. He’s a bad influence on that last point, though. He gave me some tips on a mill deck that’s just mean.
I’m reading This Year (the book, not the song) right now, one entry per day. I’m hoping he sprinkles in some background to some of the car references, because so many of his songs are such encapsulations of moments in his life. It would be fun to read his memories of those cars.
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.
Just stop before the “sit across the table from you wishing I could run” part 🙂
One of their best songs, great choice.
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.