When Did Cars Become Spaceships?

Rolling Stone ^ | 05.19.2026 | Scott Keogh

[big truck]

M y first car was a 1980 Volkswagen Rabbit. It was a hand-me-down from my mom, manual transmission. You never forget popping clutches, stalling left and right. The car was, let’s say, semi-end-of-life when I got it. It was a classic Volkswagen that, mechanically, ran forever. But it had roll-up windows and the handles had popped off. God knows where the real handles were. We had these vise grips I would use to roll down my window, then hand it to my high school buddies in the back so they could do the same. I’ve got 4,000 memories from inside that vehicle.

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TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Miscellaneous; Travel
KEYWORDS: cars; clickbait

[Bshaw]

“You just described my 1997 ford ranger! 250,000 miles except, mine is two wheel drive. It does have AC!”

I thought the same thing when reading the article; I had a 1982 VW Scirocco with 221,000 miles on it, and the thing just would not die. You needed to be Lou Ferrigno to pinch the door handle to open the door, the window crank made the most awful noise when operating, the clutch would go all the way to the floor to release gears, and the buttons had all busted off of the Blaupunkt stereo system, and one needed a pair of vice grips to turn the knob.

Drove that Scirocco to a junk yard and told them I wanted to turn it in. The guy asks, “Does it still run?” I said, well yeah, I didn’t carry it here.

He gave me a check for $500.00 for it.

[Red Badger]

naturally aspirated...........would not meet the current EPA standards for fuel economy or pollution control.

[The Duke]

Today I decided to install a re-manufactured engine and transmission in my 2003 Expedition. When researching new SUVs there were far too many negatives to consider, including the use of turbocharged engines.

[Wallace T.]

The Trump Administration has rolled back Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, undid state mandates for EVs, and eliminated penalties for violating CAFE standards. While these are good moves, the Administration and Congressional Republicans have done nothing to deregulate the numerous features that add to the initial cost and expense in buying a car or truck. To their credit, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration missed its initial rule-finalizing deadline, pushing realistic implementation timelines into late 2026, 2027, or later. The invasive technology that is supposed to go into 2027 and later models puts Big Brother into the driver's seat.

[logi_cal869]

[Carl Vehse]

In addition to all of the electronic spy gear, modern cars are made of plastic, to meet government mileage diktats, and designed to crumple into an unrepairable mess when hit with anything more than a hard stare in order to meet government crash safety diktats.

Even the bumper on the 1971 Scout looks like it could bend if hit by a line drive.

There used to be cars that had bumpers:

Of course, some vehicles don't need bumpers.

[Bratch]

[John Milner]

These are cars I owned, after driving several of my father’s junkers in HS.

57 Ford Custom 2 door post. 223 6 w/OD. My brother still has it. Was our grandparent’s car new. Now has 390.

64 Ford Custom 4 door. Dad bought for $60 from a coworker who went to AAMCO and was told transmission was going. He parked it under cedar trees for several years. That caused rust everywhere. 289 Automatic. The exterior looked like crap but the interior was nice. Never had any trouble with the transmission.

79 Pinto Wagon. 4 Speed. Starting out as a working person so this was a nice car in 1981!

84 Tempo 2 door 5 speed. First ever new car.. I splurged for the removable sunroof and cruise control but opted out of the AC.

89 Tempo 2 door 5 speed. Direct replacement for the 84 but with A/C and no sunroof. Bought in Dec 89 as a leftover from the previous year so got a heckova deal.

89 Ranger 4X4 Extended Cab. Automatic. For my side hustle that required accessing some sketchy terrain. Bought used in 91.

[1Old Pro]

Back when the men wanted a Cadillac, Lincoln or Buick car to signify that they made it.

[Vermont Lt]

My brother rebuilds old military jeeps. I saw one in pieces the last time I was in his shop. I was reminded of how “simple” they were. And yet…they are 70-80 years old and can still go just about anywhere.

[Z28.310]

And to lock the door, one had to hold the thumb button down when closing the door.

[al_c]

Every time I see an ugly-as-sin Tesla ...

They may be boring as heck looking, but they make a great commuter beater.

My fun car ...

[IYAS9YAS]

I guess a handle with a button on the end of it is too much for people to comprehend these days.

Too cheap to fix. The electric ones are several hundred and will certainly fail before a handle and cable ever would.

[exnavy]

Yeah, you hate to see a car like that go.

[discostu]

Depending on the manufacturer, I think Japanese cars avoided that and American didn’t but I might have that backwards.

And remember 2 key cars, that was very American, the round key for the doors the square one for the ignition.

Honestly when you start looking into all these little complications you begin to realize why we’ve got all this electronic stuff. It really did get rid of a lot of nuisances. And introduced some, but usually fewer.

[T.B. Yoits]

My wife's car has an electric parking brake. I guess a handle with a button on the end of it is too much for people to comprehend these days.

That's about the cost to design, test, manufacture, install, and service. It's much easier for them to make it a switch.

[Disambiguator]

I thinks it uses a servo motor, judging by the sound.

[T.B. Yoits]

The electric parking brake is likely replicated on different vehicle models from the same manufacturer as well, instead of distinct lever-and-cable designs for each vehicle.

[Chickensoup]

No not in 20 plus years

[Chickensoup]

So you can control the car totally. In any weather.