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The tone of this article is always a bit off to me and I can never figure it out. This seems like some sort of bragging, boasting and I don't understand why tha

The tone of this article is always a bit off to me and I can never figure it out. This seems like some sort of bragging, boasting and I don't understand why that is appropriate. I'm not a car person, I don't have the same draw to then as a lot of folks, I've lived in Toronto for the past decade and don't know anyone who owns a car... With that said, I'm trying to understand why this article isn't met with a response like "it is extremely unethical to operate a vehicle in this condition. The drastically increased cognitive load, poor stopping performance, and lack of modern safety features makes this vehicle a lot more likely to hurt strangers when you hit them" I never understood old car culture, let alone old and broken car culture displayed here. Surely a vehicle operator would have reduced response time with the increased cognitive load to any divergent situation and be placing other's lives at risk by not having their equipment maintained to an expected performance standard. Not to mention the lack of braking, and lack of things like crumple zones etc, plus feeling light headed from engine fumes and poor ventilation. I understand being into old technology, I've been involved in restoring old tape machines and vinyl cutting lathes, broadcast audio consoles etc, but I don't understand ignoring the fact that you are exposing unconsenting members of the public to an increased risk of injury or death because of your interest in old technology. I don't understand accepting the freedom of that choice when it exposes unconsenting others to more risk just for your own personal interest. I can't help but harshly judge the author for their reckless decisions because the car isn't restricted to a closed course and can severely impact others lives simply because they enjoy the thrill of it.

inconceivable 3y ago
i'm a car guy and i also think it's dumb. he should fix his car.
- technothrasher 3y ago
  If you're on old car guy, you'll know he's purposely exaggerating for effect and pulling many issues across the car's time and placing them all together. Many of us have faced the issues he's describing at different times with older cars and so we can relate and nod our heads. The fact that he's a professor of automotive engineering, and has pictures of the drivetrain out of the car and a welder in hand doing bodywork shows that he doesn't actually drive a neglected 914 like a foolish teenager. I've bought many an abused old car, including a 951 a couple years ago that had many similar issues. So I know what he's talking about. That doesn't mean I didn't fix the car and have it running smoothly now.
  - inconceivable 3y ago
    i'm old enough to need GI exams, and yeah cool flex, i understood that reference, i'm also a watercooled porsche guy, except this nostalgia about broken cars is not something i participate in. never have, never will. i don't get wishy washy over when i was so broke i couldn't fix everything (cars, house, computers, etc.) as soon as they developed issues. those weren't the good old days. the good old days were when i first started making enough money to make sure all of the stuff i owned was always in excellent condition and not a danger to myself and everyone else.
mistercheph 3y ago
Don’t conceal your hatred behind a mask of a desire to understand something novel, you just don’t like it. Consider being more open to viewpoints that differ from yours, instead of setting up ad-hoc verbal jousting games that make actual communication impossible like, “Oh my, I simply do not understand why somebody would want do such a thing!”. Imagine if someone said that to you about something you liked, would you make a sincere attempt to explain why someone might do such a thing? In my own foolishness, I will say something sincere to your insincerity. Risk-aversion varies wildly among people, and everything you choose to do exposes unconsenting members of the public to risks that could have been avoided. For example, getting in an 8000-lb NPC mobile that is designed to numb you from the outside world with 25” touchscreen infotainment centers might (in some ways) be more hazardous to the health of pedestrians and other vehicles that a 2000-lb car that was designed, engineered, and is now driven for the sole purpose of engagement between driver, machine, and road. And with respect to the matter of maintenance, the only cars of vintage that are in perfect condition are those that are never driven. These machines are incredibly complex, and as they age, they take on many problems that have varying degrees of seriousness, any owner that can afford to will take reasonable steps to bring the car into a drivable state, but there are many quirks, odds, and ends of operation that the machine will exhibit that are either too mysterious at present or too expensive to fix, and so the operator does exactly what any rational person faced with using a legacy system that is complex and undocumented, they make an attempt at patching the problem imperfectly and dealing with some technical debt in the future instead of rewriting from scratch today.
- palijer 3y ago
  I'm not concealing my hatred of this, sorry if I somehow gave that impression. Let me say this clearly then; I hate when people make selfish and reckless decisions that can severely impact the lives of others without their consent. It's unfair and should not be allowed, and I think they should be judged harshly for it. I always try to maintain an open mind however, so stating that I don't understand the appeal of making such decisions isn't some game I'm playing. I legitimately don't understand the appeal and am open to hearing arguments for those decisions.
  - 3y ago
quickthrower2 3y ago
No parking brake is the one that gets me. How do you do a hill start? I guess you need to use the actual brake, clutch and accelerator at the same time? How hard to fix the gearbox and retrofit a choke too?
- duck 3y ago
  Most trucks don't have a parking break that is useful for hill starts either (i.e. it is another peddle), so yeah, you just get good at heel-toe.
- sgarland 3y ago
  You get good at very rapidly transitioning state, or heel and toeing. Both are useful skills.
  - detourdog 3y ago
    I have driven manual until mu EV and I don’t understand the hill start problem/question. leave it in gear and it might not roll turn wheels so it wedges against the curb. The rest can be done with footwork a d sensitivity. My uncle always wanted the emergency brake working for when the brakes would fail. That was driving until the mid to late 70’s.
    - fragmede 3y ago
      Hillstart problem is when you're pointed uphill, stopped, and need to start going. Without the handbrake, the car will fall backwards when you lift off the brake. So you'll need to be good at working the clutch, or use your heel and toe on the gas and brake at the same time, or risk going backwards into the car behind you.
- avhon1 3y ago
  I have a manual-transmission sports coupe (1988 Ford Thunderbird) and the parking brake is useless for hill starts. It's a ratcheting pedal to the left of the clutch pedal. Releasing the parking brake requires leaning forward and pulling a release lever on the left side of the foot well. I do hill starts by taking my foot off the brake and pressing the gas , and balancing on the clutch.
lmm 3y ago
> Surely a vehicle operator would have reduced response time with the increased cognitive load to any divergent situation Maybe. I would think it more plausible that a vehicle that requires the operator to actively engage in its operation would, well, keep the operator engaged, and therefore their overall reaction time would likely be faster than a typical driver. > and be placing other's lives at risk by not having their equipment maintained to an expected performance standard. > Not to mention the lack of braking, and lack of things like crumple zones etc, plus feeling light headed from engine fumes and poor ventilation. I'd bet that all of that adds up to less endangering of others than the mass and size of today's popular vehicles. > I don't understand ignoring the fact that you are exposing unconsenting members of the public to an increased risk of injury or death because of your interest in old technology. I don't understand accepting the freedom of that choice when it exposes unconsenting others to more risk just for your own personal interest. I take it you don't understand the legality of driving cars on the public road at all then? In fairness neither do I, but if you figure that one out then this one will likely follow. > I can't help but harshly judge the author for their reckless decisions because the car isn't restricted to a closed course and can severely impact others lives simply because they enjoy the thrill of it. Fun is the one thing that justifies everything else we do. While I agree that it's bad to endanger other people, IMO fun is a much better reason than simple carelessness or keeping up with the joneses.
- necovek 3y ago
  > Maybe. I would think it more plausible that a vehicle that requires the operator to actively engage in its operation would, well, keep the operator engaged, and therefore their overall reaction time would likely be faster than a typical driver. While I believe you are right on average, an attentive driver not fighting their vehicle is going to have better reaction times than an attentive driver who does. But to support your point further, reaction times for each of us on the road differ depending on the circumstances (personal, vehicle, road and traffic). Safe driving is when we are attentive enough to react to common "failures" in traffic and avoid any catastrophe. "Common" as in there is no fast enough reaction time when someone decides to eg. head-on you at the last second in regular traffic conditions as you are passing them in the other direction on a two-way street. Or someone jumping in front of you at exactly the moment you are passing by (even driving at 20 mph is enough to kill a pedestrian jumping in front of a moving car, even with the driver breaking as quickly as possible). It's useful to remember that we are all participating in traffic (and life) together, and we rely on general sanity of each participant to avoid disasters.
duck 3y ago
Of all the things I read on the internet today, this might be the most mind blowing one - you lived there for 10 years and don't know a single person with a car in Toronto?
- CosmicShadow 3y ago
  That is the portrait of a typical Torontonian.
  - xcxcx 3y ago
    They don't know a single person with or without a car
- selectodude 3y ago
  Isn’t highway 401 the widest freeway in the world? No cars though, eh.
  - wlonkly 3y ago
    It is! But like New York City, if you live in the built-up urban area, a car is often more of a hindrance than a benefit. Ridiculous parking rates, a good transit system, a mostly-flat city with an okay cycling network, dealing with car ownership isn't worth it. I lived in Toronto for 14 years, sold the car I arrived with after two years, and bought a car a couple years before the pandemic after we moved into a less central, but still urban, neighbourhood. Neither car had dedicated parking, we had a street parking permit which meant I could usually park within a block of home. I did know people with cars, but I knew a lot more people without. The main reason we bought a car in 2018 was that Car2Go, which offered one-way car share trips in Smart cars, pulled out of the city. On the other hand, if you live in the suburbs, you virtually have to have a car. The 401 at rush hour is filled with people coming in and out of the city core.
mock-possum 3y ago
Yeah no I’m with you, the attitude is offputting.
speed_spread 3y ago
Admittedly, their is some masochism there, maybe due to some unresolved childhood trauma. But it's also about taking something that once had good value but is now old and decrepit and deciding to live with it as it is for what's left of it. The challenge is not fixing it but rather changing ones perception, expectations and behaviours around it, making it a proxy for the real world and also for your own body which will let you down eventually. You could call it a form of stoicism? It's about a car but it could be about a blender or software with which you have a love/hate relationship and yet decided to keep using as a test of your own emotional, physical and mental resilience.
lelanthran 3y ago
You're being unnecessarily judgemental. The things you do for fun almost certainly has an externality as well. I feel that, these days, it isalmost fashionable to be anticar to a ludicrous degree.
- RC_ITR 3y ago
  > The things you do for fun almost certainly has an externality as well. About 45k people died in car accidents in the US in 2022, which if treated as it’s own category outside of accidents would be just outside the top 10 in causes of death. 2x more death than firearms. Lots of things have externalities, very few things have as severe externalities as cars. Said differently, go to a sporting event of 30k people. Statistically, five of them will die in a car accident this year (45k/300mn =0.015% or about 1 in 6500). Edit: I guess it’s not fashionable to cite statistics on here. I get it, the drivers won the debate a long time ago, but at least articulate why your disagreement with words.
  - kortilla 3y ago
    It’s not fashionable to cite irrelevant statistics. How many of those car crashes you cited were due to 60 year old cars?
  - lelanthran 3y ago
    > About 45k people died in car accidents in the US in 2022, which if treated as it’s own category outside of accidents would be just outside the top 10 in causes of death. 2x more death than firearms. > Lots of things have externalities, very few things have as severe externalities as cars. > Said differently, go to a sporting event of 30k people. Statistically, five of them will die in a car accident this year (45k/300mn =0.015% or about 1 in 6500). > Edit: I guess it’s not fashionable to cite statistics on here. I get it, the drivers won the debate a long time ago, but at least articulate why your disagreement with words. You're being downvoted because you are attempting to mislead with statistics. The numbers for 2017 (prior to the pandemic, which skews the numbers) are from https://www.healthline.com/health/leading-causes-of-death#heart-disease https://www.healthline.com/health/leading-causes-of-death#he.... They don't separate out vehicle accidents, so I'll use your 45k number. 1. The leading cause of deaths is heart disease, more common amongst people who smoke (very few) and obese people (very many) = 635k people, or about 14x more people die due to heart disease than motor vehicle accidents. 2. Accidental deaths = 161k. IOW, you're 3.5x more likely to die from a non-vehicle accident than from a vehicle accident. You know which type of deaths match the numbers for auto accidents? Suicides! All-in-all, that 45k number you give is almost statistical noise: vehicles account for a mere 1.8% of deaths in the US.
robmusial 3y ago
> The tone of this article is always a bit off to me and I can never figure it out. This seems like some sort of bragging, boasting and I don't understand why that is appropriate... ... > With that said, I'm trying to understand why this article isn't met with a response like "it is extremely unethical to operate a vehicle in this condition..." Because it's not bragging or boasting. I don't even think it's meant to be taken literally. Especially seeing that the author is an engineer and professor. It's like a car guy pastiche of folk tale/tall tale. Just like I wouldn't respond to a story of Paul Bunyan to criticize him for eating 50 pancakes a minute I don't feel the need to point out that this car sounds unsafe.
- coffeebeqn 3y ago
  Just the fact that it sounds like it maxes out at 35mph it sounds intensely safer than your average heavy and fast SUV/pickup/EV
squokko 3y ago
My guess is that operators of cars like this kill far fewer people per hundred million miles traveled than soccer moms in their SUVs texting with their Frappuccinos but I'm willing to be proven wrong with data.
- XorNot 3y ago
  And yet if your failing brakes are the reason any particular pedestrian dies, that'll mean nothing to the person you kill. "Nothing's happened yet" is not how safety works.
  - yipbub 3y ago
    > Norman Garrett was the Concept Engineer for the original Miata back in his days at Mazda’s Southern California Design Studio. He currently teaches automotive engineering classes at UNC-C’s Motorsports Engineering Department in Charlotte, North Carolina and curates his small collection of dysfunctional automobiles and motorcycles. Being a recognized expert in the field, he might understand how safety works.
    - philipwhiuk 3y ago
      "Do as I say, not as I do"?
      - yipbub 3y ago
        Why, what's he saying?
dotancohen 3y ago
> Norman Garrett was the Concept Engineer for the original Miata back in > his days at Mazda’s Southern California Design Studio. The author is not your typical automotive enthusiast. He is an expert in the field, and knows very well the perils of this car. Those old Porches are an experience unto themselves, separate from the experience of getting from point A to point B. You would drive one for the same reason that you would climb Mount Everest. Not because it is fun or useful, but rather for the adventure and uncertainty about ever returning home. This article does a terrific job of conveying that adventure.
- zirgs 3y ago
  The trip to the end of the driveway isn't very adventurous. You can't legally drive any farther with this deathtrap.
  - dotancohen 3y ago
    Presumably the vehicle is licensed in the state. Take your complaints about licensing unsafe vehicles to the state - far more unsafe vehicles are licensed to owners who are ignorant of the vehicle's condition than to those who are aware.
throwaway22032 3y ago
[flagged]
dotancohen 3y ago
> Not to mention the lack of braking, and lack of things like crumple > zones etc, plus feeling light headed from engine fumes and poor ventilation. Actually, the 914 did have crumble zones. The car was very advanced for its time, with a mid-engine layout and even fuel injection in the late 1960s. I won't excuse the author's refusal to fix his brakes, windows, rust holes, or clutch linkage, but the car itself could be brought to a relatively safe standard for cars of that period.
- dreamcompiler 3y ago
  This particular car does not have fuel injection. The author talks about "dual Webers."
  - dotancohen 3y ago
    No, only the four cylinder models did, but the point being was that the technology in the VwPorche was very advanced for its day and general criticisms of typical cars of the period (no crumple zones) do not apply.
networkchad 3y ago
[flagged]
barbs 3y ago
I get the feeling that the author is a car enthusiast, and the vehicle in question is a hobby project and not something to be driven on public roads. I think the fact that it is unroadworthy is the point of the whole article i.e. "good luck stealing this car, here's a big list of all the things wrong with it that make it a nightmare to drive".
- zirgs 3y ago
  Where would you drive a car like that then? On your driveway?
  - Klonoar 3y ago
    Some people don't drive them, they just enjoy working on them for the engineering aspect. Same way Linux people tinker with their setups. ;) Some people haul them to tracks for vintage racing. And then yes, some people drive them.
    - technothrasher 3y ago
      > Some people don't drive them, they just enjoy working on them Yep, I bought a '72 Triumph GT6 a while ago and drove it just enough to get it the few miles home. That thing really was a death trap and made this 914 look brand new. This was about five years ago, and it's still not back on the road. I'm working on it as I can put money into it and enjoying every moment. > And then yes, some people drive them. For fun, I drive my '86 Porsche 951. I put about six months of work into that, and it is reliable and drives beautifully.
kortilla 3y ago
Perhaps your reactionary pearl clutching is severely misplaced. The author didn’t say he drove it anywhere busy or that he really drove it much at all. I can’t help but judge you harshly for actually thinking the author is careening down a street at any speed with the windows up “light headed on fumes”.
throwawaaarrgh 3y ago
I could argue that stupid people are a larger danger to society than this old car, and harshly judge anyone who doesn't support eugenics. But it turns out that having an extreme opinion backed by a meager rationale with no evidence isn't a great way to go through life.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
freetanga 3y ago
Probably much safer to have around that a juggernaut SUV from 2019, driven by a soccer mom running to do errands like her life depends on it while texting on her phone with her friends about last night. Sorry for the oddly specific and somewhat sexist example, but I got clipped twice on a bike by such a vehicle.
- necovek 3y ago
  I know you are aware of this, but I'll still insist :) How did you establish it was a "mom" (as opposed to an aunt or someone taking care of someone's kids), that she was texting with "her friends" or even texting at all, and what the topic of her texting was (if it even was texting)? Maybe it was a girl borrowing her brother's (who is a dad: I am assuming you noticed child seats or kids) car looking at the weather forecast at her phone driving recklessly? Yeah, I get annoyed at people using their phones while driving (both when they drive recklessly and when they drive too slow making everyone around them nervous). So you should too. Moms running errands should not be the target of your anger :)
DeathArrow 3y ago
You are not a car person, you don't know someone who owns a car, you don't understand the car culture and yet you are commenting on it.
- ant6n 3y ago
  I am not a car person, but I have to deal with cars and drivers 99.9% of the time I am outside. I would rather not, but they don’t allow me that choice, and they will also fight to the last man and beyond 4C warming for their „right“ to endanger me and my kin, as well as accelerate the rapid destruction of the only known habitat.
darkclouds 3y ago
> "it is extremely unethical to operate a vehicle in this condition. Maybe you have point, but its not quite sharp enough, because condition is but part of the problem. You see here in the UK we something called MOT tests which vehicles have to pass every year once a vehicle reaches its 3rd or 4th year. A minimum standard of braking force has to be achieved by each wheel, irrespective of road conditions or whether the vehicle has ABS to avoid it skidding, increasing the odds of an out of control crash. Sure the minimum braking force is a blunt instrument, but its a starting point before we get into the finer peculiarities of how to stop a vehicle in different situations, like on ice, something I understand Canada has plenty off! So are you telling me, that all the combined wit and intellect of the Canadian govt and people results in a failure to have a mandated annual road worthiness tests for the vehicles on their road? And then when you go on about the lack of crumple zones, braking performance and fume emissions, maybe you have a point here, but then we only have to look at the logging equipment to fell the Canadian forests are hardly helping the greenhouse gas problem of the planet. Crumple zones, do Canadians wrap their buildings and street furniture with pillows to ensure they have crumple zones for cyclists, or is this just stealth victimisation of someone who cant afford the more popular 911 let alone retromod it like a million dollar 964 Singer Porsche? I dont understand accepting the freedom of the choice of people like you when it exposes unconsenting others to more half baked ideas and illegitimate govts for their own dislike of an internet article. I will still commend you on your dadaism, but sadly I fear I might just be able to out dada even more prominent adherents to the movement like salvador dali himself or the majority of the LLM AI's on display today.
- scrlk 3y ago
  FWIW, the author's 914 would be exempt from the MOT requirement, as it's over 40 years old (and assuming that no "substantial changes" have been made in the last 30 years). https://www.gov.uk/historic-vehicles https://www.gov.uk/historic-vehicles
  - Symbiote 3y ago
    You still need to keep the car roadworthy (next page from your link), and this car would fail two of the main three points. I only checked one historic vehicle insurance provider, but it's also a condition for insurance.
strogonoff 3y ago
Tech we use is us (see: EMT and embodied cognition), and so we care about it like we care about ourselves. Phone is our memory and communicative capabilities, bicycle or car is our feet, and both are visible to other people. Car culture will be a problem for as long as cities are built for them and people feel the need to regularly morph into car-persons (plus a couple of generations after), because a car is literally part of its driver. Good public transport and getting rid of private cars in the midst of us will help, but it will be a slow road to get there, especially in countries that place premium on freedom of movement (they don’t want to be beholden to government-run public transit in case government goes rogue). Meanwhile cities will continue to intersperse walkable areas with private vehicle accessible roads. Proximity of private cars to people means people are always in danger, and the desire to show off, like others show off nice attire or haircut and geeks show off custom mechanical keyboards (as well as to satisfy own childhood examples, if parents drive) by driving expensive or weird cars sadly increases bad outcomes (because such cars are generally fast, large, or broken). That all said, the guide to stealing Porsche 914 was an entertaining read.
- spookie 3y ago
  > Good public transport and getting rid of private cars in the midst of us will help, but it will be a slow road to get there, especially in countries that place premium on freedom of movement (they don’t want to be beholden to government-run public transit in case government goes rogue). Honestly, I don't think cars are going anywhere. Granted, I understand your sentiment if we're talking about the city. I live in a rural area, in Europe. Its mountainous, and generally only a 4x4 works when going somewhere close to the rivers. Even more so for people with olive trees or vineyards doing agricultural work. And that's ok, but these people also need to be able to go back to the city/town, where they live. Hell, I need to use a donkey to get to some places :)
- TacticalCoder 3y ago
  > ... by driving expensive or weird cars sadly increases bad outcomes Just saying: of all the brands in the US the one that has the least average accident by brand ownership is... Porsche. At this point, seen the sheer car hate all around, I don't drive a Porsche because I care about what other people think. I drive a Porsche because I don't give a fuck what they think (and I know they wrongly think it's a car creating lots of accidents, when it's actually the brand driven by the safest drivers out there).
jmkd 3y ago
The tone of the article is wry, such things are worth tuning in to.
THENATHE 3y ago
I used to feel the same way about a stick shift: “why would we encourage people to take one hand off the steering wheel and spend and extra second or two fucking with a knob while also feathering two pedals at once to move the car when instead you can just press the gas and go” It just ain’t that simple. Maybe when I’m 70 and shouldn’t be driving a lot of these assists that are in cars nowadays will help me. But I was driving my aunt’s car recently and it thought it saw someone in the lane I was going to merge to and literally jerked the steering wheel back to stop me from hitting nothing. I almost got in a wreck because that stupid fucking car thought it knew more than me. I now drive a 98 Nissan Frontier 5-speed and couldn’t be happier with it. When and if it breaks down, I’m buying a 94-2008 Nissan Frontier 5-speed, a 94-2000 Ford Ranger with a 5-speed or a 76-85 square body with (hopefully) a 5-speed. Do I really care about the old car? No. Do I just not want all of the new garbage? Yes. If they remade my truck EXACTLY as it is but with a better, newer engine, better, newer airbags, more durable modern suspension, etc, and sold it for 60k I would take out a loan fucking right this instant. But modern cars fucking suck. They’re all shitty and people have been disillusioned into thinking a giant 3000lb hunk of metal made in 2023 hitting someone going fast is going to hurt the someone more than a giant 3000lb hunk of metal made in 1973 going fast is severely disillusioned about what makes a 3000lb hunk of fast moving metal dangerous.
- Gud 3y ago
  There is a big difference between driving a vehicle that requires manual gear change and a vehicle that is in disrepair.
- mschuster91 3y ago
  > They’re all shitty and people have been disillusioned into thinking a giant 3000lb hunk of metal made in 2023 hitting someone going fast is going to hurt the someone more than a giant 3000lb hunk of metal made in 1973 going fast is severely disillusioned about what makes a 3000lb hunk of fast moving metal dangerous. That's the thing with crash resistance progress - two cars colliding into what would have been a fatal crash in 1973 have pretty good chances of everyone leaving alive with barely more than a concussion trauma.
  - 3y ago
globular-toast 3y ago
I'd much rather have enthusiasts with a strong mechanical sympathy driving clapped out 60 year old sports cars than angry idiots in SUVs with twice the weight and power and controls that feel like a video game. As for the pride aspect, it's cool to be able to understand how a vehicle works from top to bottom. You can't do that with modern cars. You certainly can't use your knowledge to coax a modern car into working in the same way. The author truly owns and is the master of his vehicle. Could you say the same for any of your machines?
Cthulhu_ 3y ago
I don't understand why you (and others in these comments) are so judgmental; it's an old-timer, it's a hobby. Nobody has these replies when it comes to older computers, electronics or software. I mean the equivalent in more usual HN posts is how to exit vim or do anything in emacs, but people get super excited about it even though the software is as old and complicated to use as this car is. Let people have and enjoy things.
- messe 3y ago
  > Nobody has these replies when it comes to older computers, electronics or software Because they’re not putting others in danger when used?
  - detourdog 3y ago
    many have the replies with new self driving cars. Public roadway vs. private basement activities. I grew up in a family of car enthusiasts and basically I lost interest in driving them once kids arrived. I still love the machinery and Donald Healy’s 100-4 is my all time favorite vehicle and designer. The rawness of early development and the intuitive bonds of the machine is very similar to 8 bit computing. The whole thing is Knowable. My 78 year old uncle still races 49 MG TC he took a 50 year break after High school. He loves old car problems.
    - technothrasher 3y ago
      > Donald Healy’s 100-4 Ack! You call yourself a British car fan and you misspell Healey? May Lucas, the Prince of Darkness, haunt you. ;)
      - detourdog 3y ago
        There are drivers and there are spellers. Was I wrong about the 100-4 or 100-s?
- namdnay 3y ago
  I don’t think anyone would mind if the vehicle was being driven on private roads
evanreichard 3y ago
Exact reason why I think it should be illegal to own anything other than a Volvo XC90. It’s objectively the safest car, and anyone who purchases anything else is reckless and unethical.
- dharmab 3y ago
  Man, repairing my XC90 sucked. I remember ripping the busted blower motor out through the passenger footwell because the service manual called for a full removal of the dash and A/C system which exceeded the value of the car. And the rear four spark plugs were horrible to replace. Anyway, no, I don't think everyone should be required to drive a huge SUV with either a notoriously fragile transmission or a gas guzzling V8 motor. To say nothing of the unreliable sensors in the engine bay.
Eric_WVGG 3y ago
I really hate this condescending tone, but taking your comment at face value, I have one very serious rebuttal: I’ve driven brand new cars, and this exact same car. It is quite easy for one’s attention to wander in a “perfect” car. An old car requires one to pay attention to their driving. imo it’s all been downhill since the advent of power steering.
mauvehaus 3y ago
Having driven my share of vehicles that I would describe as "having character" and my wife would describe as "a shitbox" I can answer. All the quirks eventually become part of your muscle memory for driving that car. At first while you're figuring out the quirks maybe it takes your mind off of traffic a bit. After a while though, you know that you have to hesitate and wiggle the gear lever just so to get 2nd, and do it without thought. Conpare it to using vi or emacs. At first it's a lot of thought to just move the cursor around. With practice, it's fluid and second nature.
andrewaylett 3y ago
Just because a thief would find themselves driving the car on public roads in the state described doesn't mean that the owner would actually do the same. It's amusing that the car is lacking in security features, but that doesn't make it easy to steal. It's funny that it's hard enough to drive that a previous thief gave up and (essentially) gave it back. The biggest hint is in a caption: "I’ll make sure the drivetrain is in the car, by the way." He's obviously working on the car to try to make it better, and there's no way he's actually going to put the drivetrain back in the car just in case someone wants to try stealing it.
ot1138 3y ago
You can't text on your phone while driving a stick shift. As others have said, manual transmissions tend to make for safer drivers.
- hoosieree 3y ago
  Counterpoint - given that people will always text and drive, the auto makes the task slightly safer.
  - ot1138 3y ago
    I'm assuming you don't drive manual. It's just not possible to drive stick and text because your right hand is constantly busy
    - hoosieree 3y ago
      My first car was a manual, and several cars since then. I can assure you not only is it possible to drive stick and text, it is possible to concurrently drive stick, text with T9 word, adjust the radio, and put fire sauce on a chalupa while it's snowing at night. The trick is to be an idiot teenager.
      - ot1138 3y ago
        LOL! Ok you got me there. Idiot teenagers can do just about anything provided it's stupid enough!
alvah 3y ago
If you live in a Western city and genuinely don't know anyone who owns a car, it's not much of a surprise that you never understood old car culture - how would you?
allenrb 3y ago
Your concerns are not entirely unreasonable, and I say this as a car enthusiast temporarily in remission (parent of young children). Some of the things you mention do indeed make the vehicle less safe to those around it. However: Where I believe you are missing a critical point is in assuming that the overall situation with a modern and “safe” vehicle is better. You’ve got entertainment systems, touch screens, driver aids (reducing the need for concentration), quite possibly child-sourced distractions (even when they are not screaming, they can be plenty distracting). Now add to that the weight of a modern vehicle and the owner’s relative lack of concern/awareness/love for it, and to assume that someone driving around in a somewhat ragged antique is necessarily the bigger hazard could… potentially be open to debate.
LanceH 3y ago
Every car guy has an attachment to a car the empirically doesn't return the value of what is put into it. Some are able to get past this and be "productive" with their car hobby. A lot will have a car that sits in the garage and doesn't move, but is always worked on. Some have a car (like this 914) that can only be driven by one person. Specifically referencing 914', they are incredibly fun to drive. The mid engine places the weight between all 4 wheels in a way that it handles like magic. There is always the dream of this car returning to it's glory. This guys is facetiously admitting it's just a dream.
thsksbd 3y ago
He's not driving it, the thief is! And, if you read his bio you'd see that this guy is not a mere car guy, but in the pantheon of car guys. When he takes it for a spin around the block he's doing what any mechanic does when diagnosing cars - driving it to see why the car doesnt: steer well, stop well, move well, etc.
bityard 3y ago
> I'm not a car person I think that says enough, the article is quite obviously a humor piece aimed at car people. It's not weird or strange that you didn't get it.

inconceivable 3y ago

i'm a car guy and i also think it's dumb. he should fix his car.

technothrasher 3y ago
If you're on old car guy, you'll know he's purposely exaggerating for effect and pulling many issues across the car's time and placing them all together. Many of us have faced the issues he's describing at different times with older cars and so we can relate and nod our heads. The fact that he's a professor of automotive engineering, and has pictures of the drivetrain out of the car and a welder in hand doing bodywork shows that he doesn't actually drive a neglected 914 like a foolish teenager. I've bought many an abused old car, including a 951 a couple years ago that had many similar issues. So I know what he's talking about. That doesn't mean I didn't fix the car and have it running smoothly now.
- inconceivable 3y ago
  i'm old enough to need GI exams, and yeah cool flex, i understood that reference, i'm also a watercooled porsche guy, except this nostalgia about broken cars is not something i participate in. never have, never will. i don't get wishy washy over when i was so broke i couldn't fix everything (cars, house, computers, etc.) as soon as they developed issues. those weren't the good old days. the good old days were when i first started making enough money to make sure all of the stuff i owned was always in excellent condition and not a danger to myself and everyone else.

mistercheph 3y ago

Don’t conceal your hatred behind a mask of a desire to understand something novel, you just don’t like it. Consider being more open to viewpoints that differ from yours, instead of setting up ad-hoc verbal jousting games that make actual communication impossible like, “Oh my, I simply do not understand why somebody would want do such a thing!”. Imagine if someone said that to you about something you liked, would you make a sincere attempt to explain why someone might do such a thing? In my own foolishness, I will say something sincere to your insincerity. Risk-aversion varies wildly among people, and everything you choose to do exposes unconsenting members of the public to risks that could have been avoided. For example, getting in an 8000-lb NPC mobile that is designed to numb you from the outside world with 25” touchscreen infotainment centers might (in some ways) be more hazardous to the health of pedestrians and other vehicles that a 2000-lb car that was designed, engineered, and is now driven for the sole purpose of engagement between driver, machine, and road. And with respect to the matter of maintenance, the only cars of vintage that are in perfect condition are those that are never driven. These machines are incredibly complex, and as they age, they take on many problems that have varying degrees of seriousness, any owner that can afford to will take reasonable steps to bring the car into a drivable state, but there are many quirks, odds, and ends of operation that the machine will exhibit that are either too mysterious at present or too expensive to fix, and so the operator does exactly what any rational person faced with using a legacy system that is complex and undocumented, they make an attempt at patching the problem imperfectly and dealing with some technical debt in the future instead of rewriting from scratch today.

palijer 3y ago
I'm not concealing my hatred of this, sorry if I somehow gave that impression. Let me say this clearly then; I hate when people make selfish and reckless decisions that can severely impact the lives of others without their consent. It's unfair and should not be allowed, and I think they should be judged harshly for it. I always try to maintain an open mind however, so stating that I don't understand the appeal of making such decisions isn't some game I'm playing. I legitimately don't understand the appeal and am open to hearing arguments for those decisions.
- 3y ago

quickthrower2 3y ago

No parking brake is the one that gets me. How do you do a hill start? I guess you need to use the actual brake, clutch and accelerator at the same time? How hard to fix the gearbox and retrofit a choke too?

duck 3y ago
Most trucks don't have a parking break that is useful for hill starts either (i.e. it is another peddle), so yeah, you just get good at heel-toe.
sgarland 3y ago
You get good at very rapidly transitioning state, or heel and toeing. Both are useful skills.
- detourdog 3y ago
  I have driven manual until mu EV and I don’t understand the hill start problem/question. leave it in gear and it might not roll turn wheels so it wedges against the curb. The rest can be done with footwork a d sensitivity. My uncle always wanted the emergency brake working for when the brakes would fail. That was driving until the mid to late 70’s.
  - fragmede 3y ago
    Hillstart problem is when you're pointed uphill, stopped, and need to start going. Without the handbrake, the car will fall backwards when you lift off the brake. So you'll need to be good at working the clutch, or use your heel and toe on the gas and brake at the same time, or risk going backwards into the car behind you.
avhon1 3y ago
I have a manual-transmission sports coupe (1988 Ford Thunderbird) and the parking brake is useless for hill starts. It's a ratcheting pedal to the left of the clutch pedal. Releasing the parking brake requires leaning forward and pulling a release lever on the left side of the foot well. I do hill starts by taking my foot off the brake and pressing the gas , and balancing on the clutch.

lmm 3y ago

> Surely a vehicle operator would have reduced response time with the increased cognitive load to any divergent situation Maybe. I would think it more plausible that a vehicle that requires the operator to actively engage in its operation would, well, keep the operator engaged, and therefore their overall reaction time would likely be faster than a typical driver. > and be placing other's lives at risk by not having their equipment maintained to an expected performance standard. > Not to mention the lack of braking, and lack of things like crumple zones etc, plus feeling light headed from engine fumes and poor ventilation. I'd bet that all of that adds up to less endangering of others than the mass and size of today's popular vehicles. > I don't understand ignoring the fact that you are exposing unconsenting members of the public to an increased risk of injury or death because of your interest in old technology. I don't understand accepting the freedom of that choice when it exposes unconsenting others to more risk just for your own personal interest. I take it you don't understand the legality of driving cars on the public road at all then? In fairness neither do I, but if you figure that one out then this one will likely follow. > I can't help but harshly judge the author for their reckless decisions because the car isn't restricted to a closed course and can severely impact others lives simply because they enjoy the thrill of it. Fun is the one thing that justifies everything else we do. While I agree that it's bad to endanger other people, IMO fun is a much better reason than simple carelessness or keeping up with the joneses.

necovek 3y ago
> Maybe. I would think it more plausible that a vehicle that requires the operator to actively engage in its operation would, well, keep the operator engaged, and therefore their overall reaction time would likely be faster than a typical driver. While I believe you are right on average, an attentive driver not fighting their vehicle is going to have better reaction times than an attentive driver who does. But to support your point further, reaction times for each of us on the road differ depending on the circumstances (personal, vehicle, road and traffic). Safe driving is when we are attentive enough to react to common "failures" in traffic and avoid any catastrophe. "Common" as in there is no fast enough reaction time when someone decides to eg. head-on you at the last second in regular traffic conditions as you are passing them in the other direction on a two-way street. Or someone jumping in front of you at exactly the moment you are passing by (even driving at 20 mph is enough to kill a pedestrian jumping in front of a moving car, even with the driver breaking as quickly as possible). It's useful to remember that we are all participating in traffic (and life) together, and we rely on general sanity of each participant to avoid disasters.

duck 3y ago

Of all the things I read on the internet today, this might be the most mind blowing one - you lived there for 10 years and don't know a single person with a car in Toronto?

CosmicShadow 3y ago
That is the portrait of a typical Torontonian.
- xcxcx 3y ago
  They don't know a single person with or without a car
selectodude 3y ago
Isn’t highway 401 the widest freeway in the world? No cars though, eh.
- wlonkly 3y ago
  It is! But like New York City, if you live in the built-up urban area, a car is often more of a hindrance than a benefit. Ridiculous parking rates, a good transit system, a mostly-flat city with an okay cycling network, dealing with car ownership isn't worth it. I lived in Toronto for 14 years, sold the car I arrived with after two years, and bought a car a couple years before the pandemic after we moved into a less central, but still urban, neighbourhood. Neither car had dedicated parking, we had a street parking permit which meant I could usually park within a block of home. I did know people with cars, but I knew a lot more people without. The main reason we bought a car in 2018 was that Car2Go, which offered one-way car share trips in Smart cars, pulled out of the city. On the other hand, if you live in the suburbs, you virtually have to have a car. The 401 at rush hour is filled with people coming in and out of the city core.

mock-possum 3y ago

Yeah no I’m with you, the attitude is offputting.

speed_spread 3y ago

Admittedly, their is some masochism there, maybe due to some unresolved childhood trauma. But it's also about taking something that once had good value but is now old and decrepit and deciding to live with it as it is for what's left of it. The challenge is not fixing it but rather changing ones perception, expectations and behaviours around it, making it a proxy for the real world and also for your own body which will let you down eventually. You could call it a form of stoicism? It's about a car but it could be about a blender or software with which you have a love/hate relationship and yet decided to keep using as a test of your own emotional, physical and mental resilience.

lelanthran 3y ago

You're being unnecessarily judgemental. The things you do for fun almost certainly has an externality as well. I feel that, these days, it isalmost fashionable to be anticar to a ludicrous degree.

RC_ITR 3y ago
> The things you do for fun almost certainly has an externality as well. About 45k people died in car accidents in the US in 2022, which if treated as it’s own category outside of accidents would be just outside the top 10 in causes of death. 2x more death than firearms. Lots of things have externalities, very few things have as severe externalities as cars. Said differently, go to a sporting event of 30k people. Statistically, five of them will die in a car accident this year (45k/300mn =0.015% or about 1 in 6500). Edit: I guess it’s not fashionable to cite statistics on here. I get it, the drivers won the debate a long time ago, but at least articulate why your disagreement with words.
- kortilla 3y ago
  It’s not fashionable to cite irrelevant statistics. How many of those car crashes you cited were due to 60 year old cars?
- lelanthran 3y ago
  > About 45k people died in car accidents in the US in 2022, which if treated as it’s own category outside of accidents would be just outside the top 10 in causes of death. 2x more death than firearms. > Lots of things have externalities, very few things have as severe externalities as cars. > Said differently, go to a sporting event of 30k people. Statistically, five of them will die in a car accident this year (45k/300mn =0.015% or about 1 in 6500). > Edit: I guess it’s not fashionable to cite statistics on here. I get it, the drivers won the debate a long time ago, but at least articulate why your disagreement with words. You're being downvoted because you are attempting to mislead with statistics. The numbers for 2017 (prior to the pandemic, which skews the numbers) are from https://www.healthline.com/health/leading-causes-of-death#heart-disease https://www.healthline.com/health/leading-causes-of-death#he.... They don't separate out vehicle accidents, so I'll use your 45k number. 1. The leading cause of deaths is heart disease, more common amongst people who smoke (very few) and obese people (very many) = 635k people, or about 14x more people die due to heart disease than motor vehicle accidents. 2. Accidental deaths = 161k. IOW, you're 3.5x more likely to die from a non-vehicle accident than from a vehicle accident. You know which type of deaths match the numbers for auto accidents? Suicides! All-in-all, that 45k number you give is almost statistical noise: vehicles account for a mere 1.8% of deaths in the US.

robmusial 3y ago

> The tone of this article is always a bit off to me and I can never figure it out. This seems like some sort of bragging, boasting and I don't understand why that is appropriate... ... > With that said, I'm trying to understand why this article isn't met with a response like "it is extremely unethical to operate a vehicle in this condition..." Because it's not bragging or boasting. I don't even think it's meant to be taken literally. Especially seeing that the author is an engineer and professor. It's like a car guy pastiche of folk tale/tall tale. Just like I wouldn't respond to a story of Paul Bunyan to criticize him for eating 50 pancakes a minute I don't feel the need to point out that this car sounds unsafe.

coffeebeqn 3y ago
Just the fact that it sounds like it maxes out at 35mph it sounds intensely safer than your average heavy and fast SUV/pickup/EV

squokko 3y ago

My guess is that operators of cars like this kill far fewer people per hundred million miles traveled than soccer moms in their SUVs texting with their Frappuccinos but I'm willing to be proven wrong with data.

XorNot 3y ago
And yet if your failing brakes are the reason any particular pedestrian dies, that'll mean nothing to the person you kill. "Nothing's happened yet" is not how safety works.
- yipbub 3y ago
  > Norman Garrett was the Concept Engineer for the original Miata back in his days at Mazda’s Southern California Design Studio. He currently teaches automotive engineering classes at UNC-C’s Motorsports Engineering Department in Charlotte, North Carolina and curates his small collection of dysfunctional automobiles and motorcycles. Being a recognized expert in the field, he might understand how safety works.
  - philipwhiuk 3y ago
    "Do as I say, not as I do"?
    - yipbub 3y ago
      Why, what's he saying?

dotancohen 3y ago

> Norman Garrett was the Concept Engineer for the original Miata back in > his days at Mazda’s Southern California Design Studio. The author is not your typical automotive enthusiast. He is an expert in the field, and knows very well the perils of this car. Those old Porches are an experience unto themselves, separate from the experience of getting from point A to point B. You would drive one for the same reason that you would climb Mount Everest. Not because it is fun or useful, but rather for the adventure and uncertainty about ever returning home. This article does a terrific job of conveying that adventure.

zirgs 3y ago
The trip to the end of the driveway isn't very adventurous. You can't legally drive any farther with this deathtrap.
- dotancohen 3y ago
  Presumably the vehicle is licensed in the state. Take your complaints about licensing unsafe vehicles to the state - far more unsafe vehicles are licensed to owners who are ignorant of the vehicle's condition than to those who are aware.

throwaway22032 3y ago

[flagged]

dotancohen 3y ago

> Not to mention the lack of braking, and lack of things like crumple > zones etc, plus feeling light headed from engine fumes and poor ventilation. Actually, the 914 did have crumble zones. The car was very advanced for its time, with a mid-engine layout and even fuel injection in the late 1960s. I won't excuse the author's refusal to fix his brakes, windows, rust holes, or clutch linkage, but the car itself could be brought to a relatively safe standard for cars of that period.

dreamcompiler 3y ago
This particular car does not have fuel injection. The author talks about "dual Webers."
- dotancohen 3y ago
  No, only the four cylinder models did, but the point being was that the technology in the VwPorche was very advanced for its day and general criticisms of typical cars of the period (no crumple zones) do not apply.

networkchad 3y ago

[flagged]

barbs 3y ago

I get the feeling that the author is a car enthusiast, and the vehicle in question is a hobby project and not something to be driven on public roads. I think the fact that it is unroadworthy is the point of the whole article i.e. "good luck stealing this car, here's a big list of all the things wrong with it that make it a nightmare to drive".

zirgs 3y ago
Where would you drive a car like that then? On your driveway?
- Klonoar 3y ago
  Some people don't drive them, they just enjoy working on them for the engineering aspect. Same way Linux people tinker with their setups. ;) Some people haul them to tracks for vintage racing. And then yes, some people drive them.
  - technothrasher 3y ago
    > Some people don't drive them, they just enjoy working on them Yep, I bought a '72 Triumph GT6 a while ago and drove it just enough to get it the few miles home. That thing really was a death trap and made this 914 look brand new. This was about five years ago, and it's still not back on the road. I'm working on it as I can put money into it and enjoying every moment. > And then yes, some people drive them. For fun, I drive my '86 Porsche 951. I put about six months of work into that, and it is reliable and drives beautifully.

kortilla 3y ago

Perhaps your reactionary pearl clutching is severely misplaced. The author didn’t say he drove it anywhere busy or that he really drove it much at all. I can’t help but judge you harshly for actually thinking the author is careening down a street at any speed with the windows up “light headed on fumes”.

throwawaaarrgh 3y ago

I could argue that stupid people are a larger danger to society than this old car, and harshly judge anyone who doesn't support eugenics. But it turns out that having an extreme opinion backed by a meager rationale with no evidence isn't a great way to go through life.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

freetanga 3y ago

Probably much safer to have around that a juggernaut SUV from 2019, driven by a soccer mom running to do errands like her life depends on it while texting on her phone with her friends about last night. Sorry for the oddly specific and somewhat sexist example, but I got clipped twice on a bike by such a vehicle.

necovek 3y ago
I know you are aware of this, but I'll still insist :) How did you establish it was a "mom" (as opposed to an aunt or someone taking care of someone's kids), that she was texting with "her friends" or even texting at all, and what the topic of her texting was (if it even was texting)? Maybe it was a girl borrowing her brother's (who is a dad: I am assuming you noticed child seats or kids) car looking at the weather forecast at her phone driving recklessly? Yeah, I get annoyed at people using their phones while driving (both when they drive recklessly and when they drive too slow making everyone around them nervous). So you should too. Moms running errands should not be the target of your anger :)

DeathArrow 3y ago

You are not a car person, you don't know someone who owns a car, you don't understand the car culture and yet you are commenting on it.

ant6n 3y ago
I am not a car person, but I have to deal with cars and drivers 99.9% of the time I am outside. I would rather not, but they don’t allow me that choice, and they will also fight to the last man and beyond 4C warming for their „right“ to endanger me and my kin, as well as accelerate the rapid destruction of the only known habitat.

darkclouds 3y ago

> "it is extremely unethical to operate a vehicle in this condition. Maybe you have point, but its not quite sharp enough, because condition is but part of the problem. You see here in the UK we something called MOT tests which vehicles have to pass every year once a vehicle reaches its 3rd or 4th year. A minimum standard of braking force has to be achieved by each wheel, irrespective of road conditions or whether the vehicle has ABS to avoid it skidding, increasing the odds of an out of control crash. Sure the minimum braking force is a blunt instrument, but its a starting point before we get into the finer peculiarities of how to stop a vehicle in different situations, like on ice, something I understand Canada has plenty off! So are you telling me, that all the combined wit and intellect of the Canadian govt and people results in a failure to have a mandated annual road worthiness tests for the vehicles on their road? And then when you go on about the lack of crumple zones, braking performance and fume emissions, maybe you have a point here, but then we only have to look at the logging equipment to fell the Canadian forests are hardly helping the greenhouse gas problem of the planet. Crumple zones, do Canadians wrap their buildings and street furniture with pillows to ensure they have crumple zones for cyclists, or is this just stealth victimisation of someone who cant afford the more popular 911 let alone retromod it like a million dollar 964 Singer Porsche? I dont understand accepting the freedom of the choice of people like you when it exposes unconsenting others to more half baked ideas and illegitimate govts for their own dislike of an internet article. I will still commend you on your dadaism, but sadly I fear I might just be able to out dada even more prominent adherents to the movement like salvador dali himself or the majority of the LLM AI's on display today.

scrlk 3y ago
FWIW, the author's 914 would be exempt from the MOT requirement, as it's over 40 years old (and assuming that no "substantial changes" have been made in the last 30 years). https://www.gov.uk/historic-vehicles https://www.gov.uk/historic-vehicles
- Symbiote 3y ago
  You still need to keep the car roadworthy (next page from your link), and this car would fail two of the main three points. I only checked one historic vehicle insurance provider, but it's also a condition for insurance.

strogonoff 3y ago

Tech we use is us (see: EMT and embodied cognition), and so we care about it like we care about ourselves. Phone is our memory and communicative capabilities, bicycle or car is our feet, and both are visible to other people. Car culture will be a problem for as long as cities are built for them and people feel the need to regularly morph into car-persons (plus a couple of generations after), because a car is literally part of its driver. Good public transport and getting rid of private cars in the midst of us will help, but it will be a slow road to get there, especially in countries that place premium on freedom of movement (they don’t want to be beholden to government-run public transit in case government goes rogue). Meanwhile cities will continue to intersperse walkable areas with private vehicle accessible roads. Proximity of private cars to people means people are always in danger, and the desire to show off, like others show off nice attire or haircut and geeks show off custom mechanical keyboards (as well as to satisfy own childhood examples, if parents drive) by driving expensive or weird cars sadly increases bad outcomes (because such cars are generally fast, large, or broken). That all said, the guide to stealing Porsche 914 was an entertaining read.

spookie 3y ago
> Good public transport and getting rid of private cars in the midst of us will help, but it will be a slow road to get there, especially in countries that place premium on freedom of movement (they don’t want to be beholden to government-run public transit in case government goes rogue). Honestly, I don't think cars are going anywhere. Granted, I understand your sentiment if we're talking about the city. I live in a rural area, in Europe. Its mountainous, and generally only a 4x4 works when going somewhere close to the rivers. Even more so for people with olive trees or vineyards doing agricultural work. And that's ok, but these people also need to be able to go back to the city/town, where they live. Hell, I need to use a donkey to get to some places :)
TacticalCoder 3y ago
> ... by driving expensive or weird cars sadly increases bad outcomes Just saying: of all the brands in the US the one that has the least average accident by brand ownership is... Porsche. At this point, seen the sheer car hate all around, I don't drive a Porsche because I care about what other people think. I drive a Porsche because I don't give a fuck what they think (and I know they wrongly think it's a car creating lots of accidents, when it's actually the brand driven by the safest drivers out there).

jmkd 3y ago

The tone of the article is wry, such things are worth tuning in to.

THENATHE 3y ago

I used to feel the same way about a stick shift: “why would we encourage people to take one hand off the steering wheel and spend and extra second or two fucking with a knob while also feathering two pedals at once to move the car when instead you can just press the gas and go” It just ain’t that simple. Maybe when I’m 70 and shouldn’t be driving a lot of these assists that are in cars nowadays will help me. But I was driving my aunt’s car recently and it thought it saw someone in the lane I was going to merge to and literally jerked the steering wheel back to stop me from hitting nothing. I almost got in a wreck because that stupid fucking car thought it knew more than me. I now drive a 98 Nissan Frontier 5-speed and couldn’t be happier with it. When and if it breaks down, I’m buying a 94-2008 Nissan Frontier 5-speed, a 94-2000 Ford Ranger with a 5-speed or a 76-85 square body with (hopefully) a 5-speed. Do I really care about the old car? No. Do I just not want all of the new garbage? Yes. If they remade my truck EXACTLY as it is but with a better, newer engine, better, newer airbags, more durable modern suspension, etc, and sold it for 60k I would take out a loan fucking right this instant. But modern cars fucking suck. They’re all shitty and people have been disillusioned into thinking a giant 3000lb hunk of metal made in 2023 hitting someone going fast is going to hurt the someone more than a giant 3000lb hunk of metal made in 1973 going fast is severely disillusioned about what makes a 3000lb hunk of fast moving metal dangerous.

Gud 3y ago
There is a big difference between driving a vehicle that requires manual gear change and a vehicle that is in disrepair.
mschuster91 3y ago
> They’re all shitty and people have been disillusioned into thinking a giant 3000lb hunk of metal made in 2023 hitting someone going fast is going to hurt the someone more than a giant 3000lb hunk of metal made in 1973 going fast is severely disillusioned about what makes a 3000lb hunk of fast moving metal dangerous. That's the thing with crash resistance progress - two cars colliding into what would have been a fatal crash in 1973 have pretty good chances of everyone leaving alive with barely more than a concussion trauma.
- 3y ago

globular-toast 3y ago

I'd much rather have enthusiasts with a strong mechanical sympathy driving clapped out 60 year old sports cars than angry idiots in SUVs with twice the weight and power and controls that feel like a video game. As for the pride aspect, it's cool to be able to understand how a vehicle works from top to bottom. You can't do that with modern cars. You certainly can't use your knowledge to coax a modern car into working in the same way. The author truly owns and is the master of his vehicle. Could you say the same for any of your machines?

Cthulhu_ 3y ago

I don't understand why you (and others in these comments) are so judgmental; it's an old-timer, it's a hobby. Nobody has these replies when it comes to older computers, electronics or software. I mean the equivalent in more usual HN posts is how to exit vim or do anything in emacs, but people get super excited about it even though the software is as old and complicated to use as this car is. Let people have and enjoy things.

messe 3y ago
> Nobody has these replies when it comes to older computers, electronics or software Because they’re not putting others in danger when used?
- detourdog 3y ago
  many have the replies with new self driving cars. Public roadway vs. private basement activities. I grew up in a family of car enthusiasts and basically I lost interest in driving them once kids arrived. I still love the machinery and Donald Healy’s 100-4 is my all time favorite vehicle and designer. The rawness of early development and the intuitive bonds of the machine is very similar to 8 bit computing. The whole thing is Knowable. My 78 year old uncle still races 49 MG TC he took a 50 year break after High school. He loves old car problems.
  - technothrasher 3y ago
    > Donald Healy’s 100-4 Ack! You call yourself a British car fan and you misspell Healey? May Lucas, the Prince of Darkness, haunt you. ;)
    - detourdog 3y ago
      There are drivers and there are spellers. Was I wrong about the 100-4 or 100-s?
namdnay 3y ago
I don’t think anyone would mind if the vehicle was being driven on private roads

evanreichard 3y ago

Exact reason why I think it should be illegal to own anything other than a Volvo XC90. It’s objectively the safest car, and anyone who purchases anything else is reckless and unethical.

dharmab 3y ago
Man, repairing my XC90 sucked. I remember ripping the busted blower motor out through the passenger footwell because the service manual called for a full removal of the dash and A/C system which exceeded the value of the car. And the rear four spark plugs were horrible to replace. Anyway, no, I don't think everyone should be required to drive a huge SUV with either a notoriously fragile transmission or a gas guzzling V8 motor. To say nothing of the unreliable sensors in the engine bay.

Eric_WVGG 3y ago

I really hate this condescending tone, but taking your comment at face value, I have one very serious rebuttal: I’ve driven brand new cars, and this exact same car. It is quite easy for one’s attention to wander in a “perfect” car. An old car requires one to pay attention to their driving. imo it’s all been downhill since the advent of power steering.

mauvehaus 3y ago

Having driven my share of vehicles that I would describe as "having character" and my wife would describe as "a shitbox" I can answer. All the quirks eventually become part of your muscle memory for driving that car. At first while you're figuring out the quirks maybe it takes your mind off of traffic a bit. After a while though, you know that you have to hesitate and wiggle the gear lever just so to get 2nd, and do it without thought. Conpare it to using vi or emacs. At first it's a lot of thought to just move the cursor around. With practice, it's fluid and second nature.

andrewaylett 3y ago

Just because a thief would find themselves driving the car on public roads in the state described doesn't mean that the owner would actually do the same. It's amusing that the car is lacking in security features, but that doesn't make it easy to steal. It's funny that it's hard enough to drive that a previous thief gave up and (essentially) gave it back. The biggest hint is in a caption: "I’ll make sure the drivetrain is in the car, by the way." He's obviously working on the car to try to make it better, and there's no way he's actually going to put the drivetrain back in the car just in case someone wants to try stealing it.

ot1138 3y ago

You can't text on your phone while driving a stick shift. As others have said, manual transmissions tend to make for safer drivers.

hoosieree 3y ago
Counterpoint - given that people will always text and drive, the auto makes the task slightly safer.
- ot1138 3y ago
  I'm assuming you don't drive manual. It's just not possible to drive stick and text because your right hand is constantly busy
  - hoosieree 3y ago
    My first car was a manual, and several cars since then. I can assure you not only is it possible to drive stick and text, it is possible to concurrently drive stick, text with T9 word, adjust the radio, and put fire sauce on a chalupa while it's snowing at night. The trick is to be an idiot teenager.
    - ot1138 3y ago
      LOL! Ok you got me there. Idiot teenagers can do just about anything provided it's stupid enough!

alvah 3y ago

If you live in a Western city and genuinely don't know anyone who owns a car, it's not much of a surprise that you never understood old car culture - how would you?

allenrb 3y ago

Your concerns are not entirely unreasonable, and I say this as a car enthusiast temporarily in remission (parent of young children). Some of the things you mention do indeed make the vehicle less safe to those around it. However: Where I believe you are missing a critical point is in assuming that the overall situation with a modern and “safe” vehicle is better. You’ve got entertainment systems, touch screens, driver aids (reducing the need for concentration), quite possibly child-sourced distractions (even when they are not screaming, they can be plenty distracting). Now add to that the weight of a modern vehicle and the owner’s relative lack of concern/awareness/love for it, and to assume that someone driving around in a somewhat ragged antique is necessarily the bigger hazard could… potentially be open to debate.

LanceH 3y ago

Every car guy has an attachment to a car the empirically doesn't return the value of what is put into it. Some are able to get past this and be "productive" with their car hobby. A lot will have a car that sits in the garage and doesn't move, but is always worked on. Some have a car (like this 914) that can only be driven by one person. Specifically referencing 914', they are incredibly fun to drive. The mid engine places the weight between all 4 wheels in a way that it handles like magic. There is always the dream of this car returning to it's glory. This guys is facetiously admitting it's just a dream.

thsksbd 3y ago

He's not driving it, the thief is! And, if you read his bio you'd see that this guy is not a mere car guy, but in the pantheon of car guys. When he takes it for a spin around the block he's doing what any mechanic does when diagnosing cars - driving it to see why the car doesnt: steer well, stop well, move well, etc.

bityard 3y ago

> I'm not a car person I think that says enough, the article is quite obviously a humor piece aimed at car people. It's not weird or strange that you didn't get it.