Automotive bull5hit facts thread

[Supernaut]

I saw this and thought it might be appreciated here.

[Formula Autos]

In the early '80s Austin Rover had a secret plan to have all their Austin car model names start with an M. This was to fit in with Mini, Metro, Maxi, etc.

 

The car that became the Ambassador nearly became the Austin Mega, due to it being the next size up from the Maxi in Austin's range, and this being the logical extension of Mini, Maxi, .... No-one knows why it didn't, and the M names continued after this with the Maestro and Montego.

[Tamworthbay]

In the early '80s Austin Rover had a secret plan to have all their Austin car model names start with an M. This was to fit in with Mini, Metro, Maxi, etc.

The car that became the Ambassador nearly became the Austin Mega, due to it being the next size up from the Maxi in Austin's range, and this being the logical extension of Mini, Maxi, .... No-one knows why it didn't, and the M names continued after this with the Maestro and Montego.

It was because the 'a' is silent, as in M bassador, sadly the badge makers had just taken delivery of an ultra secret new device designed to remove all confusion from the world of English - the automated spell checker. And since that day no word has ever been spelt incoretcly.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

The Range Rover* Evoque has never actually been produced at the Halewood plant, JLR just bulk purchased Landwind X7s and swapped the badges.

They would have got away with it, but some mental case in China started making comedy convertible versions and they accidentally found their way over here and everyone realised it was a massive piss take.

[DavidB]

 

The carrying handle on the top of 5 litre bottles of mineral water were developed so they can be easily carried back along motorway hard shoulders and perilous unpaved a-roads to your k-series engined car.

[Noel Tidybeard]

I saw this and thought it might be appreciated here.

 

RED CARD we'll have NO akchewal phacts in this thread ifyoudontmind

[inconsistant]

 

The carrying handle on the top of 5 litre bottles of mineral water were developed so they can be easily carried back along motorway hard shoulders and perilous unpaved a-roads to your k-series engined car.

 

Heritage have always produced mineral water and they do still.

[Urko]

Many people assume that the little kick up at the end of the roof of the Allegro estate was there to house the tailgate torsion bars.  In fact, it was a late addition for aerodynamic reasons as airflow over the car was reaching the speed of sound at motorway speeds and so they needed to interupt the flow to avoid problems with a sonic boom on urban motorways. 

[Tamworthbay]

Volvo sat navs have Scotland programmed as home from the factory.

[Parky]

Trackers fitted to Lagunas send a signal to the RAC and AA so patrols can always make sure they are in range of the inevitable FTP.

 

As a result, all breakdown services are equipped with every sensor fitted to Laguna 2's

[LC Torana]

The name "Laguna" was coined after an early test mule let water in through door and sunroof seals, and there was a lagoon in the footwells.

 

The factory workers' nickname for the car stuck, and made it through to production.

[vulgalour]

All those jokes about rear engined Skodas were actually development notes leaked one drunken night down the pub and predate the production dates of the Skoda models concerned.

[Ghosty]

Nissan Leaf with regenerative braking? 

 

Leave a brick on the brake pedal overnight for free charging!

[Parky]

You can also recharge the Leaf and Tesla by parking them under an electricity pylon or next to a substation.

 

In California, Gyms are starting to connect their equipment directly to customer vehicles so you can charge your car as you use the treadmill or rowing machines

[xtriple]

You can also recharge the Leaf and Tesla by parking them under an electricity pylon or next to a substation.

 

In California, Gyms are starting to connect their equipment directly to customer vehicles so you can charge your car as you use the treadmill or rowing machines

Out!

 

Completely true!

[fordperv]

New electric cars are sold with an emergency jumper in the boot, if they run out of power the protocol is to rub the car vigorously with the jumper for 1 minute and the static produces enough power to get 1 mile

[martc]

New electric cars are sold with an emergency jumper in the boot, if they run out of power the protocol is to rub the car vigorously with the jumper for 1 minute and the static produces enough power to get 1 mile

 

Next generation electric cars are to be equipped with velour seats and itching powder allowing you to generate electricity whilst sitting (squirming) at the wheel.

[Tamworthbay]

The Nissan Leaf was named after the famous Leaf Eriksson, his brothers juke, Qashqui and 280z have also been similarly honoured.

[Pillock]

The first VTEC system was demonstrated by Yugo in 1989, when they took a Sana and added a Sturmey-Archer three-speed hub to the timing chain.

Whilst the design called for computer controlled servo operation, this proved problematic and instead they mounted the gear selector from a Raleigh Chopper on the centre console. Position 1 was for normal driving, and 2 would give advanced throttle response.

 

The owners manual gave great warnings about moving to the third position which would introduce so much valve bounce that the inlet and exhaust valves could swap places. 

[inconsistant]

Mentioned before I think but VTEC is short for 'very technical'.

[John F]

In an emergency, all Nissans can be used as metal huts.

[martc]

Dangling rubber static earth straps were in fact part of an experimental electric car project, the straps picking the current up from conductors in the road, Scale Electric style.

 

Problems with dogs and drunks electrocuting them selves when urinating on the conductors caused the project to be abandoned, the conductors being buried under the road.

 

Years later the conductors have been exposed again and are now the basis of modern day inner city tram systems.

[John F]

The Yugo brand was misinterpreted as an instruction by Toyota, who subsequently developed & launched the Aygo.

[Pillock]

Lancia have just demonstrated their latest "youth market" car where all controls and instrumentation are replaced my emotions.

 

The speedo is marked out with increasingly worried faces from ☺️ through 😕 to 😱

 

Other controls include

 

🙆 Sunroof

🚪 Door Ajar

🏁 Sports Mode

🚜 Diesel Level Low

💩 Engine Management

[Parky]

Out!

 

Completely true!

Really? Fuck me that's amazing, I honestly had no idea

[xtriple]

Really? Fuck me that's amazing, I honestly had no idea

:-P :-D

 

No idea, just 'sounds' plausible! Sorry....

[Parky]

If you say Renault Laguna three times to your cars Bluetooth voice recognition system, the car immediately goes into Limp mode (or grenade mode if it's a diesel)

 

Best tried in Addison Lee minicabs

[Felly Magic]

The Renault Laguna II diesel is the most reliable car in the world, PHACT

[richardthestag]

It is rather fashionable in modern times to blame the british motor trade demise on lazy arsed workers and militant cunt shop stewards.

 

However root cause was actually a rather embarrassing management directive aimed at government bean counters to drive down cost. For three whole months in 1974 every car shipped out of BL's flagship Speke plant was missing half the pistons from the engine. Quite where the 50% of missing pistons went is unclear.

 

This mistake was only noticed by a particularly keen mechanic who not only managed to remove the spark plugs from a 6 month old TR6 but then managed to drop his cigarette end into one of the cylinders. Upon trying to retrieve his tab because it had another two lugs on it he was dismayed to find it wouldn't relight as it was soaked with engine oil.

 

His complaints to management about compensating him for the lost ciggie were met with a full blown investigation.

 

One of these cars recently surfaced at a classic car auction, so be aware.

[Justin Case]

Dangling rubber static earth straps were in fact part of an experimental electric car project, the straps picking the current up from conductors in the road, Scale Electric style.

 

Problems with dogs and drunks electrocuting them selves when urinating on the conductors caused the project to be abandoned, the conductors being buried under the road.

 

Years later the conductors have been exposed again and are now the basis of modern day inner city tram systems.

RED CARD

 

There was really such a system, the Lorain System. The first Wolverhampton electric trams used this system but it had to be abandoned because so many miners electrocuted themselves crossing the road in their hob-nailed boots after a shift down the pit that the output of the Black Country coalfield  fell to a dangerously low level.